History+&+Horror

=History & Horror - a backgrounder to society 1920-2007=

Pre 1900:
[|Victorian society] was[| publicly] prudish and guilt ridden over relationships between men & women. The guilt complex was often reflected in the symbolism and representations of the literature and art. The [|Dracula / Vampire] stories are prime examples of this confusion of emotion and behaviour.

1920 - 30
Europe had come through [|World War I] with its huge loss of life and ruin of national economies. The 1920s was a period of euphoria - the flapper era / the [|jazz age] as people relieved the tensions of the war. In the USA [|prohibition] was enforced with its associated criminal element. Post war economics were fragile with rampant inflation and eventually the collapse of the stock market and the advent of the [|depression.] People were concerned with the possibilities of another war, the break down of societies as systems collapsed in the aftermath of the 1929 stock market collapse. Germany was in the midst of a dramatic political revolution as Hitler and the [|National Socialists] took over the post war government. Nazism bought with it a fear of the "exotic outsider" reflected in the persecution of Jews, Homosexuals, gypsies and the physically and intellectually disabled. Horror films reflected the tensions of the period - especially in the moody elements of [|expressionism] of European art movements and the fear of the outsiders and those who could be seen as "bringing ruin to a country". Horror film tended to be focussed on the cruel, distorted exotic outsider.

1930-40
[| The War years.](1936-45 ) Europe plunged into the horrors of World War II. The film industry focussed on propaganda and "feel good" musicals to relieve the audiences' every day experiences of war. The world had seen: the first use of the atomic bomb, the [|holocaust] Death camps, a death toll of 40 million+, soldiers returning from the battle fronts physically and emotionally maimed.

1940-50:
Post war optimism tempered by a fear of another war. Conflicts in [|Korea,] [|Malaysia,] [|Vietnam.] Fear of the power of the [|Atomic bomb] with the possible destruction of all of humanity triggered a fear of technology in the hands of out of control scientists. This tension was heightened with the Cold War. The fear of technology was added to with a fear of the alien outsider - hence the UFO sightings and associated alien invasion which paralleled the Cold War tensions. Horror films of this period tended to be Science Fiction / technology centred.

1960-70:
This period was reasonably stable with a high degree of social optimism. The post war [|baby boomers] dominated the social structures. The Vietnam war was the focus of demonstrations. The sexual revolution with liberal sexual behaviours condoned as birth control (the pill) allowed women greater control of their bodies. Horror films reflected concerns about such behaviour - [|Hammer House of Horror] vampire movies emphasised the sexuality of the characters. Film tended to be teenage audience focussed - psychotic killers often appear.. such representation linked to characterisation of Dracula. Horror emphasise "blood and gore" - Question "What happens to our families, our societies if our nearest and dearest turn against us?" e.g. **Halloween / The Shining**.:

1970-80
The optimism of the 60s faded as the drug culture took its toll on the performers and heroes of the period. Political disillusionment grew with [|Watergate] and the [|Oil crisis]. Horror films became "Big Budget" and gave voice to underlying social concerns - the fear of children and child birth, the fear of crumbling family units - with the enemy being one of your own eg: **Dad - The Shining. Mum - Shivers. Brother - Halloween. Daughter - Exorcist**.

1980-90:
A period of [|consumerism], [|economic conservatism], exploitation and selfishness. The special effects industry caught up with film with consequent distortion of humanity. The audience demographic for horror was 15-24 year olds with emphasis on violence, sex, action, shock and excess in everything which Peter Jackson parodied in [|Braindead.]

1990-2000:
This was a period of concern as a series of pandemics [|(ebola] ) and epidemics ([|aids / HIV]), Avian flu ... dominated world news. These diseases made society more aware of the dangers of human contact, of social break down and drew parallels to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases experienced post both World Wars. Francis Ford Copola draws attention to these concerns in his discussions on his 1993 production of Dracula. Horror films are dominated by fears of diseases and corruption in society... consider the zombie movies **28 Days Later** and **28 weeks Later, Shaun of the Dead** and others.

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