Dede’s Weblog

Scary Bonding Moments

Nothing seems to interest me more than how relationships come about, even if how they appear is strange. When I was younger, movies intrigued me, especially the ones my parents watched. They usually watched horror movies and I was never allowed to watch them, but that never stopped me. I frequently snuck down into the basement after I was supposed to be asleep to see what they were watching. They eventually caught on and started letting me watch the movies because I quite often fell asleep in the middle of them. For the most part it was because I never understood what was going on. After my mom moved out, the time we spent together was often attending movies. The movies we saw were horror movies. We mostly went to see this genre of movies after our most stressful weeks, or the weeks we felt the most overwhelmed with the work we had to do. We enjoyed getting that adrenaline rush and then that total rush of fear was like a stress reliever to us. Now, when my mom visits me at school, we definitely take the time to go watch the newest horror movie. No one else in my family enjoys watching these movies as much as my mom and I. When I begin to think about it, I questioned myself as to why I do not go see “chick flicks” or drama movies with my mom, or even go shopping to help foster my relationship with her. This seems to be what the rest of my friends do with their moms. It seems like they always do something completely “girly”. It made me think that maybe it was weird or slightly out of the ordinary that my mom and I watched horror movies together as sort of a bonding time. I know that everyone is different and that different families find different ways to bond based on interests. In some cases, horror movies bring other relationships closer, like a brother and sister, or boyfriend and girlfriend, and not necessarily the mother-daughter relationship. I was curious if fear had anything to do with fostering relationships.

The nature of horror movies is to scare the individuals watching them, but then at the same time they can foster a relationship between two people. I am not necessarily talking about a girlfriend or boyfriend relationship, but a relationship between a mother and daughter. According to Roxanne Duursma (2006), “Most likely, you’ve heard the saying that daughters are a mother’s best friend.  Well, this goes both ways.  Sure, we have our really close friends that we can call whenever we have problems, but our mom’s will always be there, regardless” (p.1). I think this is how most mother-daughter relationships are. Mothers and daughters will inevitably form a relationship.

Now, placed in a movie setting with elements of fear, how does this become a bonding moment? Josh Kinal (2000) mentions that, “As a feeling, horror may mean anything from loathing and fear, to intense dislike” (p.70). I hypothesize that fear plays a big part in horror movies and fear could play a big part in fostering a relationship. Everyday there is a family that is going through a hard part of their lives. Events such as death in the family can harbor fear. Fear in that situation can bring the family together, along with grief. So how have people not thought of combining fear and movies to figure out how relationships are developed? People rarely think of horror movies as events where an actual relationship can be formed or enhanced. They think of it as a time of screaming or crying or covering their eyes. The nature of horror movies is disgusting and gruesome, thanks to modern movies. According to Kinal (2000), (after mentioning several movies), “Each of these films touches upon the potential for reality to rebel against the individual; and the fear they generate in their audiences arises partly from the disturbing convergence of reality and fiction” (p.70). For the most part, this is why horror movies scare people, but this fear that is generated from this could allow for bonding. Figuring this issue out may be difficult to accomplish, but through thorough research and an interview with my mom, I will come up with a conclusion. First off my methodology will be explained, then a review of some subgenres of horror, followed by my results and conclusion.

Methodology

I found interviewing my Mom and roommate to be very helpful in determining what activities enhanced bonding between mothers and daughters.  This information, along with the articles I was able to locate which addressed this subject helped bring me closer to the conclusion I was searching for.  Although interviewing in person would be the optimum method of interviewing, it was not possible in the case of talking with my Mom.  We talk daily, so this would be nothing out of the ordinary.  I found eight questions that addressed our relationship, and what affect horror movies played in helping us bond.  This particular interview took about 30 minutes to complete.  Interviewing my roommate was easy since I am with her on a daily basis.  We talked about her relationship with her Mom to give me a basis of comparison.  We talked for about 15 minutes about this, and I had five questions for her to answer.  Searching for articles specific to my topic was definitely not an easy task.  Through researching the Libraries Humanities search engine and Psychology articles, I was able to find a little bit of information regarding the relationship between fear and bonding.  Five peer reviewed articles about horror movies and five non-peer reviewed articles about mothers and daughters bonding in a fear related situation provided me with the information necessary to allow me to complete my paper. 

Literature Review

To understand the type of mother-daughter relationship a horror movie can create, the fear involved in the different subgenres of horror movies needs to be understood. There are so many different types of horror movies, and different fears evoked in them, but I will be discussing three of the different subgenres. First, the three horror movie subgenres and how they evolved along with the fear involved will be discussed. This will allow me to further understand how horror movies have enhanced my relationship with my mom.

The first major subgenre regards vampires and everything associated with them. An in depth review of this genre was done by Carol Fry and John Robert. They both believe that this subgenre of horror movies has done some evolving itself. Fry and Robert (2002) mention, “Part of the joy of watching afternoon double-feature from the 1930s through the 1960s was the assurance that the monster was going to get his occasionally her- just desserts in the final few minutes of the film” (p.1). This also brought about fear in the viewer.  This was always the fun part of the classis vampire horror films, and then eventually they changed. Then Fry and Robert (2002) state, “But horror movies have changed. Dan Curtis’s 1973 version of Dracula and the John Badham directed Dracula are two examples of a fundamental shift in the formula for vampire movies. Both Curtis and Badham add a love plot to Stoker’s novel” (p.1). They mention how this addition of love into the plot has changed the horror movie genre as a whole. Mixing a love story into horror has been unheard of before this point. Both Fry and Robert speak of how many facets they eventually gave Dracula as this horror subgenre went through an evolution. Fry and Robert (2002) mention seeing Dracula in movies as both an old, frail man and a sex object:

We see Dracula when Harker arrives in Transylvania as an old man, and the visual impression is decidedly unsympathetic. His skin is pasty white, he appears forgetful at times, and his hairstyle and dress, though the mode of his youth project a sort of decadent effeminacy to a modern viewer. Then when he arrives in England, we see him as incubus, a sexual night monster from medieval folklore, part man and part beast, mounting Lucy in the garden’s maze. (p. 2)

This subgenre continuously evolves and vampires are viewed in many different ways.

The next subgenre is the zombie subgenre. Kyle Bishop (2006) mentions the origin of the word zombie, “According to anthropologist Wade Davis, the modern English word zombie most likely derives from the Kimbundu term nzumbe, which means ‘ghost’ or ‘spirit of a dead person'” (p.197). Bishop (2006) also mentions, “Zombie cinema is essentially a macabre romp-a live-action comic book brought to the big screen both to horrify and entertain” (p. 197). The article mentions that this horror movie subgenre has made quite an impression on video games as well. Overall, it has changed popular culture. The idea of regular people turning into something ghoulish became quite popular in the 1960s with George Romero (197).  Bishop (2006) states, “The zombie genre does not exist prior to the film age because of its essentially visual nature; zombies do not think or speak-they simply act, relying on purely physical manifestations of terror” (p. 197). Bishop talks about how most of these movies take place during times of the apocalypse, like the movie, Night of the Living Dead (p. 202). This subgenre became so popular because of the realistic aspect of it, which generates fear in the majority of the audience. Bishop (2006) mentions the reasoning behind why zombie movies are so appealing to viewers, “The physical form of the zombie is its most striking and frightening aspect: It was once-quite recently-a living person. The one-time protagonists of the movie become its eventual antagonists: thus, the characters cannot fully trust each other” (p. 203).

            The last horror subgenre I will mention is the one that has become popular today, the “slasher” films. Examples of these would be, Scream, all of the sequels to Scream, Halloween, and Friday the 13^th.  In the article, “From Final Girl to Final Woman: Defeating the Male Monster in “Halloween” and “Halloween H20″, the specific Halloween series is reviewed discussing the “slasher” movies and how the woman is typically the victim in them. Kelly Connelly (2007) states in her article, “Being the lowliest example of suspect genre, the slasher film has been the subject of much ridicule and little serious criticism. Nonetheless, the slasher film has been an enormously resilient genre” (p.13). When this subgenre became popular the horror genre itself was changing greatly. Connelly (2007) mentions, “The mid-1970s marked a change in the structure and action of horror films. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, released in 1974, and Halloween released in 1978, spurred a new subgenre of horror films; the slasher film” (as cited in Jankovich, 1992, p. 104). Connelly (2007) mentions that with this subgenre emerging that a new protagonist is also emerging, the female (p.14). Connelly (2007) then states, “The survivor, whom Clover terms the Final Girl, represents the ability of the female to rescue herself and, in so doing, to achieve active empowerment” (p.14). Connelly goes into a deep description using examples from the movie Halloween explaining how this horror subgenre came about and how females became important characters in them. This subgenre leads to a form of female empowerment (Connelly, 2007, p. 14).  The “slasher” films allowed women to be powerful and defeat the men. Connelly (2007) mentions that it seems that those who are killed in the movie Halloween, as well as other “slasher” movies, seem to have been teenagers that “act out sexually” (p. 15). The powerful female character in the movie, Halloween, eventually lead to her being empowered and avenging the deaths of those she loves.

            Each of these subgenres portrays fear, in that each brings that question “what if this happens to me?” The nature of watching a vampire suck the life out of someone, zombies being people who cannot talk, and seeing regular people get chased by serial killers with knives, make a viewer realize that all of this could reflect real life events. This will bring two people together realizing that no one is invincible and that you should spend every time you can with someone close to you.

            There now is a big question concerning the horror movie genre as a whole, are the movies losing originality? Steffen Hantke (2007) states, “The current slump, according to many fans, began in the 1990s with the so-called neo-slasher. Successful with large audiences but received with apprehension by fans and critics, Wes Craven’s Scream was, depending on who you asked, either the best or the worst thing to happen to horror film” (p.191). Hantke blames the more modern subgenre of horror movies on the current decrease in quality of horror movies. He says that it is mostly because so many of the horror movies are just being “remade” now and that there is no more originality left. Eventually they will run out of classic horror movies to remake and then they will be stuck. They will have to start remaking the remakes (Hantke, 2007, p. 192).  Kinal (2000), on the other hand, believes that as long as scary things go on in society that there will always be horror movies to make that will scare people (p.72). He (2000) states, “This is how horror achieves its aim of carrying fear and threat generated by a story into the lives of its audience. By reflecting the society in which it is created, the film gives the audience the ability to associate itself with the characters in the film” (p. 72).

Results

Even though from the research, it appears that the horror movie genre is not doing so well, my mom and I cannot get enough of them. I asked my mom several questions concerning horror movies and our relationship. Firstly, I asked her how she got into horror movies and she stated, “I got into horror movies because I have kind of an “escapist” personality and I got thrilled to be scared. I get easily bored” (C. Fago, personal communication, February 24, 2008). My mom mentioned that we are similar, which makes bonding relatively easy.  She also mentioned, when I asked for a specific reason as to why we started watching horror movies:

You’ve always been a fearless type person; you always wanted to go on roller coasters with me. I always wanted to do crazy stuff and have fun, and that has rubbed off on you. Your dad and I were always fans of horror movies, but your dad didn’t like them as much as me. He never wanted to ride roller coasters or be fearless like me, but you were always more of the brave and adventurous one. Horror movies just seemed to fit into that pattern. What better way to get close to somebody than to get scared together? (C. Fago, personal communication, February 24, 2008)

She believes that since we both like horror movies that is our bonding time, especially since we both like the same types of horror movies. When I asked what her favorite and least favorite subgenres of horror movies to watch with me was, she said, “Vampire movies are my least favorite to watch with you because I know you don’t really like them and they actually have scared you. My favorite kinds are the suspense thriller type movies because when you jump it is hilarious, because it is usually at non-jumpy parts” (C. Fago, personal communication, February 24,2008).  The University of Chicago Press Journals (2007) states, “This novel approach to emotion reveals that people experience both negative and positive emotions simultaneously — people may actually enjoy being scared, not just relief when the threat is removed”(pgrph.5). My mom agreed with that statement. She stated after I read to her part of the article, about a particular time that we enjoyed being scared because it took our minds off of reality. She states, “Yes, I agree. But, horror movies are also a good healing mechanism. For example, when my mom died, instead of sitting around and being sad, we went to a horror movie and it made us lose our thoughts and it made us scared of somebody else’s problems” (C. Fago, personal communication, February 24, 2008). In this case, the fear that was in movies we watched allowed us to escape reality and think about issues not involved with us. My mom feels that when she was married my relationship with her was not too great, but as soon as she moved out, we began watching movies together and we connected. She states, “It has made us closer because we have a shared experience. It makes us want to spend more time with each other. We have a very good relationship, probably because we watch movies together and enjoy these times together” (C. Fago, personal communication, February 24, 2008).

 I was curious as to why my mom thought I watched horror movies. My mom mentioned, “Because you want to challenge people to scare you, and you know what? I am the same way. Our personalities are very similar so that’s why you want to do it, which is probably why it is so easy for us to bond” (C. Fago, personal communication, February 24, 2008). According to Gina Shaw (2007), “Women grow up and our energy is largely turned toward men, but the original love relationship is with a mother. If we as daughters don’t acknowledge that, we’re closing ourselves off from a great source of power and fulfillment and understanding of ourselves” (Quoted from Lee Sharkey, Ph.D., 1997). The mother- daughter relationship is a big part of each of their lives. Unfortunately most people do not think that their relationship cannot be enhanced by watching horror movies. My mom thinks, “People don’t think of fear as bringing them together. They want to think of something sweet and mushy, but that just isn’t realistic” (C. Fago, personal communication, February 24, 2008).

After interviewing my mom, I interviewed my roommate to get a different perspective on mother daughter relationships. I asked her similar questions and a clear conclusion was reached. I asked my roommate Sara what she did when she was younger with her mom. Sara stated:

We would go shopping together and we would rearrange my room a lot (I really liked to rearrange my room). We also liked to bake together and often we would go out to lunch with my aunt and her daughter. This helped our relationship, we weren’t like best friends but we were close. (S. Duncan, personal communication, March 29, 2008)

This quote allowed me to figure that my mom and I are different than at least one of my friends. I continued the interview and asked her how her relationship is now with her mom now that she is older and she stated, “We still go shopping and still bake foods together. We also like to try new recipes and spice it up a bit! It’s good, we still aren’t best friends because we still argue and stuff. Eventually we make up and we are fine” (S. Duncan, personal communication, March 29, 2008). Both Sara and her mom still do things together that they both enjoy and it is certainly different than how my mom and I are. Next I just wanted to see how she and her mom feel about the horror movie genre. I asked her how she thought her mom would act if she asked her mom to watch a horror movie with her and she said “Seeing how my mom doesn’t particularly like horror movies or gore, she probably wouldn’t want to unless it wasn’t really scary. If it was just suspenseful she probably wouldn’t mind. She would probably try to come up with other options of movies to watch to avoid watching a horror movie” (S. Duncan, personal communication, March 29, 2008). This clearly shows that not everyone one likes horror movies and that not everything can be considered a bonding time for a mother and daughter. After conversing about why she would not watch horror movies with her mom I asked her what she would watch then, “We usually watch comedies or romance. Usually anything other than horror movies, I guess we are a typical mother or daughter” (S. Duncan, personal communication, March 29, 2008). I then asked for her opinion regarding fear bringing people together and she stated:

I like horror movies and I think that anything can bring people together. It is just a matter of what you like and dislike. I don’t think everyone would become closer through cooking, like how my mom and I are. But, I think people that both like the adrenaline rush, that would bring them together, like you and your mom. It just depends on preference. (S. Duncan, personal communication, March 29, 2008)

Conclusion

            I found exactly what I thought I would regarding the subgenres of horror movies. I never really thought they were doing poorly until all of the evidence I read. My mom also answered how I thought she would in the interview, mostly because she is just like me. I also gained responses I thought I would through my roommate because I know her and her mother well. Surprisingly, there is no solid evidence of the connection between fear and relationships. Based on what I have read, my hypothesis is wrong that fear can bring about a relationship. It must be the fact that we both enjoy watching horror movies that brings us together, and nothing to do with fear. Nearly anything two people have in common can create or better a relationship. When two people enjoy watching movies and they go to movies frequently, then clearly their relationship will be enhanced by going to the movies. There was only information on either bonding or movies when I was researching. There were no good studies done on the affects of fear and the impact on relationships.

            In the future, I hope that a study is done reflecting all the different genres of movies and how different aspects of those movies help foster those relationships. Creating studies with a bunch of different ways a relationship could be created or enhanced would be interesting. I would like to see more information out there on mother-daughter relationships. Mother-daughter relationships are complex, and to learn more about different types of mother-daughter relationships would be informative to read. While researching I definitely had difficulty finding what I needed so I had to find a way to connect what I found.

            Tim Dirks states, “Horror Films are unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience” (pgrph.1).The horror genre is meant to cause fear in the viewers. Oddly enough, the fear invoked may also bring about a relationship or enhance the relationship. It is not like that in all cases though; it all depends on what the two people enjoy doing together. Of course, depending on what the two people have in common makes a difference in what brings them closer. The relationship does not necessarily have to be a boyfriend or girlfriend relationship. It can be a mother-daughter relationship, especially if the two are fans of this genre. Mothers and daughters do not have to do girly things to enjoy each others’ company. Anything two people have in common and enjoy doing together can bring them together, whether it is a horror movie or a day of shopping.