Horror Movies for the Mentally Ill
There has always been a fine line between mental illness and the criminal behavior portrayed in horror movies. Horror movies have a hold on people that influences their outlook on present day situations. Growing up in modern day America, the scenes played out in horror films are crimes too real to laugh at. However, people watch the gory, bloody scenes to face or overcome their fears, to become more comfortable with the unnerving occurrences of sexual attacks, murder and carnage, or to feel the fear. These movies were designed to appeal to the emotional side of people that controls fear, not mental stability. Just as comedies are created to create laughter and light moods. Horror films these days offer a bit of a different ‘scare’. The scenes are more geared towards captivity, suffering and torture as opposed to ‘the thrill of the chase’. Scenes depicting someone being tortured cause many people to imagine the same things happening to them, which is what makes horror movies ‘scary’. Those who enjoy horror flicks are not mentally ill; they are just curious and inquisitive. Their desire to understand life’s horrific occurrences is stronger than their will to look away.
The first horror movie that I recall seeing was the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. At the age of 9, the effect the film had on me left me feeling shockingly cavalier. I was too young to really understand the illness ‘Leatherface’ suffered from, and the tomboy that I was, I just thought the blood and gore was ‘cool’. I am not mentally ill. After watching the movie, my mother explained to me that the film was based on a story about a man named Ed Gein. Some scenes now make me cringe; just knowing that things like skinning humans alive, hanging people from meat hooks, pouring salt on open wounds, removing body parts with chainsaws, and torturing them to death, actually occurs in reality, makes me feel ill and a little terrified. Horror movies used to portray crimes that didn’t frequently occur in America’s backyard. These days these crimes are occurring more often and people no longer feel safe; therefore, they are more frightened at the possibility of these crimes happening to them or personally affecting their lives.
The Essay on Horror Movies People Movie Films
"Natural Born Killers," Psycho," Friday the 13 th," and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" are all horror films. In these films there is always some crazy person or monster-like character that goes around and slaughters innocent people. And usually, but not all the time the killer is killed at the end of the movie. The media publishes or broadcasts stories that say that horror films influence people to ...
Enjoying horror movies does not make one mentally ill. This statement is stereotypical. Making this statement would be equivalent to saying if one watches a children’s film makes one childish. If a person were mentally ill, a scene in a horror movie might influence them to commit a crime. If a person watches a horror film and is frightened, that person is reacting naturally. One cannot argue that a person who feels frightened is mentally ill for being scared. Watching people perform horrific actions opens one’s eyes to the terrifying reality that some individuals are criminally insane. These movies may be created for entertainment purposes, but their attraction and impact has a strong influence on today’s society. Seeing the crimes committed in a scary movie is enough to set off certain mental disorders.
Mental illnesses are disorders of the brain that disrupt a person’s thinking, feeling, moods and the ability to relate to others. Mental illnesses are brain disorders resulting in a diminished capacity for coping with the demands of life. One in six U.S. prisoners is mentally ill; many suffer from serious illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. There are three times as many people with mental illness in U.S. prisons as there are mental health hospitals. The rate of mental illness in the prison population is three times higher than in the general population. More often than not those who commit the actual crimes suffer from mental illnesses. People with schizophrenia are three to five times more likely to commit crimes than those without the mental illness. Self-mutilation and criminal behavior in people with personality disorder is not uncommon.
The Essay on Mental Illness A Society Of Stigma
I would like to start this essay by saying that mental illness is an issue that hits extremely close to home. Both of my uncles on my fathers side developed schizophrenia in their 20's. One of them, upon being diagnosed, committed suicide. This happened before I was born, but the fall-out is still visible in my family. The other now lives in a home for those with mental illness. He is on ...
Though individuals choose to view movies of this genre, the effects of the crimes portrayed are everlasting. Once a person sees something occur, the memory is there forever. Some individuals suffer from nightmares, loss of sleep, or paranoia after watching a horror film. The memories may eventually be repressed, but they will always be there haunting the back of your mind. Maybe that is their essential purpose, but no one will ever truly know.
References
King, Stephen (2011), why we crave horror movies. In J. Nadell, J. Langan, & E. A. Comodromos (Eds.), The Longman writer: Rhetoric, reader, research guide, and handbook (8th ed.) [VitalSource Digital Version] (pp. 20).
Boston, MA: Pearson.
http://www.schizophrenia.com/sznews/archives/000518.html
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