As I searched for potential interviewees, it took me more than a month before finding one willing to speak up about their peculiar interest. But one user agreed to share the ins and outs of what being a real-life gore content enthusiast entails; TangerineTragedies on Reddit , who I will name TT for the purpose of this article. On the contrary, most parents tend to put age restrictions on those platforms, along with porn websites and specific TV channels.
Now, I know what you must be thinking. As Psychology Today writer and chartered psychologist focusing in the field of behavioural addictions Mark D. But what about real-life gore content specifically? Instead, it was other parts of the brain that were firing: the visual cortex, the part of the brain responsible for processing visual information, the insular cortex—self-awareness, the thalamus, the relay switch between brain hemispheres and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain associated with planning, attention and problem-solving.
As TT proved to me, gore enthusiasts watch shocking images and videos for many different reasons and purposes. Or suicides. Just like we may easily get glued to the endless scrolling through videos of puppies doing cute things, others are pulled towards images depicting stabbings, empaling and horrifying accidents. Our heart beats faster, our blood pressure increases, our pupils dilate—both acts are thrilling in opposite ways.
Open-minded as I liked to think of myself, I also expected gore enthusiasts to all be psychopathic killers. Why do you think that is? The show follows the story of Luka Magnotta, a former adult entertainer turned sadistic cat-torturer, turned—eventually—killer. Why are audiences attracted to bloodshed, gore and violence? A recent study from researchers at the University of Augsburg, Germany and the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that people are more likely to watch movies with gory scenes of violence if they felt there was meaning in confronting violent aspects of real life.
Their study examined whether these serious, contemplative, and truth-seeking motivations for exposure to violent portrayals are more than just an intellectual pleasure. They invited a large binational sample from Germany and the US total of participants , ranging in age from , and with varying levels of education. Participants viewed film trailers featuring different levels of gore and meaningfulness, and rated their likelihood of watching the full movie.
They also indicated their perceptions of the film how gory, meaningful, thought-provoking, suspenseful, etc. Earlier studies have suggested that audiences are not necessarily attracted to violence per se, but seem to be drawn to violent content because they anticipate other benefits, such as thrill and suspense.
These findings suggest that such hedonistic pleasures are only part of the story about why we willingly expose ourselves to scenes of bloodshed and aggression.
In many ways, seeing a disturbing horror movie can be a team building exercise or a therapeutic experience. This isn't to say that gory horror is completely harmless. Its dangers, though, are pretty much the same as any form of media that can become habit-forming. Due to sleep importance in our overall health, continued disruption can compound negatively.
These are basic physical and mental health questions which, again, apply to any stimulating form of media. In terms of whether gory entertainment is immoral, it is important to note that even if you aren't watching it in a group, to appreciate artistic quality or to garner some personal reward from it, that's also okay.
I want to visit the dark side, and I don't need to be morally improved while I'm there. Am I worried that a love for gory movies will make me morally worse? No, I am not. He added, "I am not a computer that takes in movies as input and spits out a moral outlook as output.
I am capable of separating my aesthetic joys from my moral convictions. Greutert knows a lot about those aesthetic joys. He mused to Salon that "even the crassest slasher film is speaking in a profound way to our existence as fragile bags of protoplasm protected from the infinite nightmare of deep space by only the thin atmosphere of the earth.
Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer for Salon. Sticky Header Night Mode. Related Articles. Trending Articles from Salon.
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