More about Horror! I love my horror!

Before I begin my next topic, I would like to say thanks for people for their comments on my previous post, made some good points and to carry on further extension of my previous topic/discussion I would to show you a quote which I always to use in my blog regarding our modern fears reflected within horror films such as “Saw” “Hostel” “The Hill have eyes 2”, etc. The quote is from: “Jennifer Ashlock”, a professor of sociology at the College of Notre Dame, here’s the link if you want to have a read: http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/804/804194p1.html

"You have a potential to make more money with torture (horror films) now because that's what actually scares a mainstream audience today," she says. "I don't think that they were very popular before because it just seemed so far off base. Like, 'That could never happen,' and it seemed very fringe back in the '70s and '80s. Not that you didn't have gore back then, but now that is something that we know is going on in the world. We know about certain atrocities in Guantanamo, for example. Even in Iraq, under Saddam Hussein supposedly, and even in our own American prison system, we know that torture goes on. Because of the Internet and the global media, we know that torture is a way of life really. That information is just more accessible to us. I also think it's more fundamentally frightening to us, because it's sort of a given now that torture is happening around the world."

I thought the quote has an interesting insight because I’ve never thought about how this current fear of “torture” has originated from being expressed within pop culture as I thought it’s something that we are all afraid of despite our current social awareness from the media. These films are produced very well as you can tell they really think about how they can subconsciously place the theme/fear of “torture” within an context/cover. The producers and writers of these films must have huge crazy brain storming sessions especially when they may be planning to release up Saw VIII (8). What’s the most creative and smart element of these films is that they are never directly about “torture” as a theme but as anticipation/fear mechanic but creators have thought up world/characters/set pieces for such things to happen in entertaining and coherence way.

I think perhaps game developers should have this same approach and think about as this is area where games as medium excels at exploring themes without player’s awareness, making players learn/train things about such themes. I think this is one way where developers can examine our fears without it being a direct part of gameplay as such thing as “torture” as I think would be perhaps too much as interactive part of gameplay. This is one area where horror games could excel at, what you people think?

Jonesy