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10 28 24 CU Professor Stephen Graham Jones talks about why people like scary things
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English Professor, Steven Graham-Jones. Professor, thank you so much for your time this morning. Oh, I'm glad to be talking to you. It may be something very simple, it may be a very, very long explanation, but let's try to boil it down of why are people a fan of horror? You know, I think horror gives us a spike of terror that we need and our kind of contemporary lives where we think we're safe. So when we're scared, that's when we're our most human. And probably I would imagine when you feel an adrenaline rush, the emotions, whether they're good, bad, scared or indifferent. Correct. And to tell you truth with horror, that spike of terror, that's not actually why people come to horror, I think. I think what they come for is that watch relief that follows that spike of terror, that watch relief of being alive, and especially when you're in the theater, watching something scary, and the whole audience feels that watch of relief of being alive, that's an experience like none other, I think. So is it more about processing our fears in real life or more about just suspending our disbelief and being like, "Well, this can't happen to me?" You know, horror, it's like a fun house mirror for our anxieties and fears. So I think it is about processing our daily lives and all of our issues and anxieties that we carry with us and they can weigh us down. Horror gives us away not to expel those, but to kind of confront them and process them, like you say. And when we break out the horror genre, because I'll say this, I am fascinated by the genre that deals with the religious piece, whether it's The Omen, like the Amityville Horror, those movies that have, and maybe that's my Catholic upbringing, but do you find that it even breaks down along those lines, where it's the gory horror of like Chainsaw Massacre, something like that, Halloween, or the ones that have the religious overtones? No, I think that can all be scary, it depends on different users, different readers, different audience members, thresholds and tastes and pro-elections, but yes, you're right, religious horror in the West, specifically Judeo-Christian horror, seems to really insult people. You're right. Professor, there's a really entertaining CNN article that kind of talks about a six-year-old and eight-year-old and a three-year-old who are all very obsessed with horror, they dress up as Pennywise, they run around with Jason masks on, one even sleeps with a little chucky doll next to them. Why are kids so entertained with something that should be so spooky and so scary to them? Well, I mean, kids are basically putting on the monster masks of the world around them. When you're a kid, you're physically a little earlier than everyone else and you also have no power. You can't control your daily life. You can't say, "We're going here, we're going there," you just pull it along to place at your place and everyone in your room and your life are these lumbering giants, these monsters, and so when they get a chance to put that monster mask on, it's like they're stepping around to the other side and I think there's a power in that. Is horror healthy? You point, it makes us feel alive, but is there a healthy aspect of having that feeling, that whatever angst you may have? Yeah, I think it is, but again, people have different thresholds for some people. They don't need the gore, they don't need the loudness, the jump scares, but other people do. Yes, I think horror is healthy. I mean, at the most simple level, they raise their stress levels temporarily and those having those stress levels just kind of pushed a little bit, I think that it's healthy. Professor, in wrapping up with you, you've written horror novels as well. What made you a fan of this and what is some of the genres or some of the ideas that you like to highlight in some of your books? I love monsters, I love empires, I love werewolves, I love zombies, and I've written a lot of slasher novels, so those are kind of where I live and breathe. I'm also very fond of haunted houses, as for why I'm drawing the horror, I think it is almost arbitrary. I feel like I was introduced to horror in junior high and it gave me something I didn't have and so I became addicted and now I want to give back to the genre, which has given me so much. Professor, I want to ask a follow up to that, you know, besides your books, what have you read or what do you see on TV or movies that scares you that you're like, that is really good? I see a lot of stuff that scares me, I'll tell you the truth, the true crime stuff probably scares me more than horror, because that could happen down the block, it could happen wherever I'm going, but, um, briefly, the novel American Rapture by CJ Leed about a virus of plague sweeping across America is pretty unsettling. Oh, that one sounds a little familiar, too. See you, English Professor Steven Graham-Jones, thank you so much for your time this morning and your insight. We appreciate it. Thank you very much. Well, there's only one feeling like knowing your banker personally, like growing up with a bank you can count on, like being sure what you've earned is safe, secure, and local. There's only one feeling like knowing you're supporting your community. You deserve more from a bank, you deserve an institution that stood strong for generations. Bank of Colorado, there's only one. Member FDIC. (upbeat music)