Understanding the draw of horror movies (horror blog post)

Ever since I was a kid, I've hated anything to do with horror. I'd purposefully fall asleep whenever my friends were watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Jaws or whatever at a sleepover and until I was about 15 I refused to read anything more frightening than Harry Potter. Last year when we read "In Cold Blood" in AP Lang I had to space out the horror so that I'd have a week or so to recover between chapters. So I've been stuck with the question why it is that I detest horror and so many other people like it. I did some internet research and found a few answers from Dr. Glenn Sparks from Purdue University.
Sparks argues that people enjoy or dislike horror movies because they are wired differently. Some people enjoy adrenaline rushes (also the people who like roller coasters) and some people do not. For example I was driving in white-out conditions this morning and sliding all over the place and I was scared to death. I did not enjoy driving. However, my sister and a few of my friends would have gotten a kick out of living on the edge and seeing just how much my poor little Prius could take.
Me this morning:





People who like horror movies:


Sparks argued that the other group of people who enjoy horror movies are the people who crave danger and adventure in their lives. These people are able to live out escapes and machete-fights without ever having to leave their homes and also without ever facing real danger.

So basically there the world is classified into types of people and finding out whether someone likes horror movies can tell a lot about the person. Besides telling whether or not they secretly crave danger or are an adrenaline junkie, willingness to watch horror movies and to put oneself in scary situations can show whether or not someone is able to meet their fears. Or that their fears may not be found in horror movies. Horror movies often play off the universal fear of death and those who go out of their way to watch horror movies may be more okay with death than the rest of us, have twisted suppressed minds or perhaps they just like to be scared. I've researched a lot and I still can't fully understand why people choose to spend time being scared and watching people get chopped up into bits. I guess everyone's different and that makes life interesting. Until it gets a little too interesting...
 
Yeah, a raccoon is about as scary as I can take.                                                                                                                                                     

Incest in Hamlet! What fun!

For this weeks assignment we were told to write about something to do with Hamlet that we have not fully covered in class. I thought talking about incest would be fun! Most of these ideas I claim wholly as my own so they might not actually be correct. Actually, who am I kidding? Shakespeare was a twisted guy...I'm totally right.

1.) Claudius and Gertrude:

The relationship between Hamlet's uncle and mother is the most obvious example of incest in the play. Only two months after Hamlet's father died, they got married. This made Hamlet quite angry and uncomfortable. He can be quoted in his angsty soliloquy as saying that "She married. (Gertrude) O, most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!" (Act 1) Marriage between in-laws was looked down on at that time by the Christian church because it was considered incest. The fact that it was so speedy after the late King Hamlet's death did not help.

2.) Polonius and Ophelia:

Before you go all crazy on me for this one, hear me out. I am not claiming that Polonius and Ophelia had a sexual relationship but I am claiming that their relationship went a bit further than the average father and daughter relationship. Hamlet refers to Polonius as a "fishmonger" throughout the play, implying that Polonius acts as his daughter's pimp to gain power. It is true that Polonius does consistently push the theory that Hamlet was driven mad by his love for Ophelia. His control over his daughter and her love life can also be seen when he warns her to stay away from Hamlet because he will not be a committed beau. Ophelia always listens to him. She is completely dependent and seems to make no real decisions of her own.  When Polonius is killed, Ophelia is driven mad with grief. She sings songs about dead lovers and flowers. It is true that some think the lover in the songs is Hamlet, yet one of the songs describes the dead lover as having a white beard. They were not sexually involved but I do think that Ophelia had very complex feelings for her father and the line between father and love-interest is shown as being very blurred when she descends into madness.

3.) Hamlet and Gertrude

So I'm absolutely positive that there is nothing physical going on between these two but I do think that Hamlet talks WAY too much about his mother's sex life. I think he has a bit of an Oedipus Rex complex. Of course he couldn't really do the killing the father part of the complex since his Uncle did that for him...Perhaps there's a bit of jealousy in Hamlet's despise for Claudius. Perhaps his need to avenge his father comes from his guilt that he has some serious mommy issues.