Why Size Matters: Fear, Terror, and Their Real World Counterparts in Monster Movies

Woodrow B. Hood

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Why Size Matters: Fear, Terror, and Their Real World Counterparts in Monster Movies

In: Cultural Experiences of Fear, Horror and Terror

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Woodrow B. Hood

Woodrow B. Hood
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 105–114

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848883314_012

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In the representation of fear, horror, and terror in contemporary monster movies, what role does the physical size of the monster play in our experience? What is the relationship between scales of fright and the bulk of an onscreen monster? From the 80 meter Godzilla and the taller-than-the-Statue-of-Liberty Cloverfield monster to the giant trolls of The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter films, giant monsters populate our global cinemas. What do we get out of these experiences? When we are children, our monsters are enormous. All of the people who control our world are much larger than we are: teachers, parents, older siblings. But even after we become adults, we still seek out experiences of facing the Big Bad; we still crave this experience even as adults. The body of the presentation consists of two parts. In the first, we’ll look at examples from contemporary cinema from three different cultures (the UK, the US, and South Korea), studying the use of monsters as manifestations of real world counterparts: Cloverfield (terrorism), The Host (imperialism), Monsters (xenophobia). In the second part, we’ll examine how filmmakers use the techniques of scale and forced perspective to manipulate the image to ratchet up the experience, exploring the degrees and varieties of fear, horror, and terror elicited in the audience. What I propose is a model for understanding how size translates into degrees of audience experience and how that experience sits at a crucial intersection of pop culture consumerism and valuable emotional release.

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Cultural Experiences of Fear, Horror and Terror

E-Book ISBN:: 9781848883314

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 01 Jan 2016

Subjects
- Philosophy
  - General
- Social Sciences
  - Cultural Studies

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Why Size Matters: Fear, Terror, and Their Real World Counterparts in Monster Movies

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Cultural Experiences of Fear, Horror and Terror

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