Three paradigms of horror

Starting with the definition of horror as a literary genre the core story of which is based on a meeting with threatening Otherness whose influx into consensual reality and it’s tacit normality creates unrest and awakens fear in the protagonists and the audience, this paper defines the three key pa...

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Autor principal: Dejan Ognjanović
Formato: article
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Publicado: University of Belgrade 2016
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:350c0268be7c432291963aaa2b9dd8982021-12-02T01:21:44ZThree paradigms of horror10.21301/eap.v11i2.20353-15892334-8801https://doaj.org/article/350c0268be7c432291963aaa2b9dd8982016-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://eap-iea.org/novi-ojs/index.php/eap/article/view/654https://doaj.org/toc/0353-1589https://doaj.org/toc/2334-8801 Starting with the definition of horror as a literary genre the core story of which is based on a meeting with threatening Otherness whose influx into consensual reality and it’s tacit normality creates unrest and awakens fear in the protagonists and the audience, this paper defines the three key paradigms of the horror genre, based on the causes of fear, or rather the “monstrous” Otherness in them. Paradigm 1 concerns the “fear of one’s own self”: the root of the fear is inside, in the individual psyche, in the split, deceived, or in some other way unreliable self which is, consciously or unconsciously, harmful to others, and ultimately to itself. Paradigm 2 deals with the “Fear of others”: the root of fear is outside and is concerned with other people and other creatures which have an urge to occupy a certain human microcosm. Paradigm 3 is concerned with the “Fear of the numinous”: the root of the fear is mostly situated on the outside; however its shape is amorphous, ambivalent and unknowable. The “monster” is faceless; it touches on primary forces of the divine/demonic, and as such is situated on the very border between inside/outside. All three paradigms, with their main approaches and constitutive elements, are modulated through two basic possible treatments: the conservative and the progressive (liberal), which affords a total of six basic variations of horror. Starting from definitions given by John Carpenter, Robin Wood and his own, the author analyzes representative examples from horror literature and film for each paradigm and its variation, with a special accent on the image of Otherness and its connection to the norm, its intrusion into the status quo, anthropocentrism and the presence or absence of a happy ending. The paper demonstrates the richness of connotative potential within the horror genre and provides a basis for its taxonomy. Dejan OgnjanovićUniversity of BelgradearticlegenrehorrorOthernessfearnuminousconservativeAnthropologyGN1-890ENFRSREtnoantropološki Problemi, Vol 11, Iss 2 (2016)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
FR
SR
topic genre
horror
Otherness
fear
numinous
conservative
Anthropology
GN1-890
spellingShingle genre
horror
Otherness
fear
numinous
conservative
Anthropology
GN1-890
Dejan Ognjanović
Three paradigms of horror
description Starting with the definition of horror as a literary genre the core story of which is based on a meeting with threatening Otherness whose influx into consensual reality and it’s tacit normality creates unrest and awakens fear in the protagonists and the audience, this paper defines the three key paradigms of the horror genre, based on the causes of fear, or rather the “monstrous” Otherness in them. Paradigm 1 concerns the “fear of one’s own self”: the root of the fear is inside, in the individual psyche, in the split, deceived, or in some other way unreliable self which is, consciously or unconsciously, harmful to others, and ultimately to itself. Paradigm 2 deals with the “Fear of others”: the root of fear is outside and is concerned with other people and other creatures which have an urge to occupy a certain human microcosm. Paradigm 3 is concerned with the “Fear of the numinous”: the root of the fear is mostly situated on the outside; however its shape is amorphous, ambivalent and unknowable. The “monster” is faceless; it touches on primary forces of the divine/demonic, and as such is situated on the very border between inside/outside. All three paradigms, with their main approaches and constitutive elements, are modulated through two basic possible treatments: the conservative and the progressive (liberal), which affords a total of six basic variations of horror. Starting from definitions given by John Carpenter, Robin Wood and his own, the author analyzes representative examples from horror literature and film for each paradigm and its variation, with a special accent on the image of Otherness and its connection to the norm, its intrusion into the status quo, anthropocentrism and the presence or absence of a happy ending. The paper demonstrates the richness of connotative potential within the horror genre and provides a basis for its taxonomy.
format article
author Dejan Ognjanović
author_facet Dejan Ognjanović
author_sort Dejan Ognjanović
title Three paradigms of horror
title_short Three paradigms of horror
title_full Three paradigms of horror
title_fullStr Three paradigms of horror
title_full_unstemmed Three paradigms of horror
title_sort three paradigms of horror
publisher University of Belgrade
publishDate 2016
url https://doaj.org/article/350c0268be7c432291963aaa2b9dd898
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