Stephen King, master of horror writing, writes an essay entitled "Why We Crave Horror" to help explain pop culture's fascination with filmed nightmares. Read the essay at the following link Why We Crave Horror and then write a short response (3-4 sentences).
Some things to consider as you read:
1. Does Stephen King make a persuasive argument? Why or why not?
2. How does King prove his point?
3. Do you agree that we "crave" horror? Why or why not?
Think of this reading in terms of your first paper. Stephen King takes a pop culture phenomenon (horror films) and explains to us that we "need" them. Consider his argument techniques, and remember, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. (
READING RESPONSE DUE: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11
I think Stephen King makes a persuasive argument because he is talking about good and bad things about fear. King proves his point because he gives examples on fear and how to get rid of it. I think everyone "craves" horror, but when you sit to watch the scary movie you start thinking to yourself if you really want to watch it or not. The same thing with roller coaster, you can be so excited and it but when you get there you chicken out.
ReplyDelete- Krupa Patel
English 112-6
In my opinion King;s argument was persuasive it had both an argument and a counterargument. King has a way of proving his point, he uses peoples weird habits as them craving horror in their everyday lives, and he uses examples of how some movies r over exaggerated. yea personally I do crave horror, I love going to the theater and watch scary movies and getting scared for fun.
ReplyDeleteStephen King does make a persuasive argument. He starts out with trying to convince his reader that he/she is mentally ill by the things they do, giving the examples of talking to oneself and making funny looking faces. He then talks about how people get a kick out of watching horror movies, and (mostly) simply going "to have fun". However, his argument states that people go to allow the "irrational", "inner child" to come out and play because we all need to let it out somehow. I do not agree that we "crave" horror, simply because I have never enjoyed horror. I find horror movies, (most movies, for that matter), and horror books to be a waste of time. Also, I can not relate with his analogy of allowing the irrational self be set free by watching someone being murdered.
ReplyDeleteStephen Kings argument about "horror" is persuasive. He does state both his argument and the opposing one which makes his paper a good one. He starts his paper talking about how we are all crazy even though we are not in an asylum; we just know how to hide it well. Not everyone will see a horror movie and enjoy it and crave more and more of it. I can't say him and I are on the same page because I personally am not a "horror" fan. I don't like watching those kind of films. I can take the thrill of any roller coaster but I have yet to be able to watch "horror" films without leaving the lights on or simply turning off the tv. So no, I can't say I crave horror but that's just me.
ReplyDeleteMaritza Mesa Z.
Eng 112-6
Maybe we're crazy or mentally ill in one way or another, some more or less than others, and in many different types of ways. Whether there's something wrong with our head's is subjective, but understanding the thrill and entertainment that accompanies horror, are we really ok? Especially when we go out of our way to shock ourselves viewing terrible things happening to others. Molded through social convention, we learn to "be good", but maybe these twisted ideas and images satisfy a inner desire we often overlook, one that brings us to crave horror. I wasn't necessarily convinced by the writing of King, but I thought the points he made were good.
ReplyDeleteBRIANNA LAZCANO
ReplyDeleteI think that's King does have a persuasive argument because he gives both pros and cons that people can relate to about why we sometimes like to have that feeling of fear. King proves his point by giving examples of things we do but we just don't notice. I think that as a human we like having that feeling of adrenalin and feeling fear and horror. Only because we know that in movies the fear isn't real we enjoy it because we know that whenever we want that fear to end or go away all we have to do is turn off the movie and forget about it.
I think Stephen King has a persuasive arguement because society can relate to the topics mentioned about scary movies. He proves his point by setting examples we can relate to and giving examples from reviews. I think we cravee horror because it is an escape for our minds. It lets see froma different perspective what may happen if movies were true.
ReplyDelete-Jessica Duran
Stephen Kings argument of the thrill that every human being seeks from horror films is in nature what makes us indifferent to one another. He compares a lot of ideas that are very logical and we can agree on so there is a good use of logos. Also he talks about the many emotions that we ALL feel to unify his argument that we all seek that adrenaline or rollercoaster feeling of excitement and emotion. King also mentions a few films that critics responded to as well as his own opinions being a successful writer. I do agree to the idea that we "crave" horror films because they have become so popular over the years as a good source of enjoyment, speaking from an adolescents perspective as he mentions being primary consumer of these films.
ReplyDeleteMaria Cida
English 112
Stephen King did a great job of telling us why we crave horror and by that he provides a lot examples regarding our mind and behavior. He mostly provide pathos and ethos, with his credibility and emotion, but there are not much logical evidence. He quoted a lot to help his persuasion i.e. the bad joke compare to mythic horror movies. I personally agreed that we are always stressed and we all want to let it all out by going to cinema to watch horror movies at the same time being scared.
ReplyDeleteBrian Lo
Stephan King does make a persuasive argument because he appeals a lot to our logic(logos) and as well as our emotions(pathos). Stephan proves his point because he appeals to our logic by using examples of movies that a majority of us has watched already. He also appeals to our emotions by mentioning the part of the baby and some common fears people have like snakes, the dark, ect. I agree with him to the extent that us human always try to get a (high) off an adrenaline rush which can expose us to go beyond our limits to feel that rush.
ReplyDeleteStephan King use all three logos, pathos, and ethos in his writings. In this passage he uses that of in my oppintion logos and pathos. This is done in how in how he continually refers to other films that most of americans have seen before. As an author he tend to use our emotions to get his point across
ReplyDelete