The Rise of Domestic Horror in Film
In his book The Moment of Psycho, David Thompson describes the extensive analysis and viewing of John F. Kennedy’s assassination as the birth of the noir society. Movie turnouts were significantly lower than ever and, “dropped from 30 million in 1960 to 18 million in 1969. In the same years the percentage of American households with television increased from 87 to 95” (Thompson 147). Many filmmakers decided to take this as an opportunity to experiment with a tone that better suited their artistic visions. They believed that, “cinema remained available for dark, tough, difficult pictures, films that portray the real America and not just the fantasy idea, films that are there for new young people, for directors with more ambition than budget, for people who perhaps deserve to be treated as auteurs or artists.” (Thompson 147). The argument for the choice of the noir tone was that it was a means of reflecting the mood and tone many people had felt, but had no way of truly expressing. Essentially, “noir was drawn up to conceal the human pain” (Thompson 141). The horror genre had also made its changes from its humble silent German Expressionist beginnings. It evolved from its campy, fantasy settings, to a more gruesome, realistic and terrifying direction. It made its changes alongside these other movies and fell under the same category as the noir society. I, however, do not believe that the horror genre is a critique of the noir society described by Thompson, but rather a complement to it. It represents on our fears and worries as a society in a hyperbolic way as a conduit to expressing our anxieties of the world. It is portrayed in a realistic setting but yet it goes above and beyond what would be considered rational. By doing so, it helps elevate repressed social fears by showing that things can never really reach this point of despair. Two great examples of this are from the films Carrie, and Scream.
In Carrie, we have the story of a teenage girl coming to age in a society that resents her and represses her feelings. The catch is she has telekinetic powers that will ultimately lead to the demise of her high school class who made fun of her, and her mother who shunned her. This movie is one of the better examples in horror of overt social commentary. The film takes its time showing the viewer the high school and it’s (all but one) nasty and shallow students. On top of that, Carrie’s mother is a religious fanatic who constantly makes her daughter repent for “sins” that sometimes she doesn’t have control over. The grotesque chastisement of Carrie’s period in the beginning of the film shows how brutal her class really is. Her mother calling her period a sin is an absolutely absurd accusation. This really shows an exaggerated portrayal of society as a whole. Back in the seventies, sex and drugs were becoming more and more accepted. The innocence of Carrie can be represented by how the viewer could potentially feel about the world, yearning for the old days where nothing was as outlandish. The way people behave in this world, along with Carrie’s abilities, is almost like a caricature of society at the time of the film. I don’t think this movie is at all criticizing the concept of the noir society, but rather criticizing society itself. It is a farfetched glimpse of how behavior of the many can be perceived by some people. And in that way, this movie compliments the noir society by showing a dark portrait of a community gone wrong.
Scream is the most meta horror film ever created (at least before Cabin in the Woods). It analyzes the tropes of a conventional slasher flick, all while being a slasher flick itself. It’s self awareness uncovers a formula that had been tried and true for many horror flicks since one of the first slasher flicks, Psycho. It also uses it’s trite attitude to uncover the new youth mindset of the day. It implies that kids today no longer have any empathy, and that gratuitous violence is pure entertainment for them, not matter what the cost is. By having many students unaffected, and excited by the thought of a gorey death, and even having the two main killers be kids, it to, like Carrie, has a sort of nostalgic wish of “the way things were before.” Kids today have gone from totally innocent, to disrespectful and unwavered by the thought of death. That is the commentary this film is making. Again this is elevating the idea of a noir society, since it is trying to exaggerate the idea that senseless violence has become a form of entertainment for kids and teenagers. It pokes fun at the idea that there would be a bunch of elaborate slasher killings in a small town, but by doing so reveals deep seated feelings many adults probably had at the time or even today.
In conclusion the noir society is a fully fledged idea that has not, in my opinion ,been challenged by the genre of horror. Horror is the only means of feeling truly terrified at the convenience of ones safety. The commentary that it makes is brought out by the suppressed fears many have deep down. Though much of the genre can be low budget and not fully fleshed out, when the movies are good, they’re good and scary. And their themes transcend with society at the time of their release. Some of the movies even hold up with their social commentary, as a sign that nothing has changed. But the noir society can thank the horror genre for bolstering its ideals in a form that does not compromise its original vision.
Thomson, David (2009–10–20). The Moment of Psycho: How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder (p. 141). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.
Truffaut, F., Scott, H. and Truffaut, F. (1985) Hitchcock (Revised Edition). Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group.
Aisenberg, J. (2012) Mind over mother: Ecstasy and cruelty in Brian De Palma’s Carrie — bright lights film journal.