Society and culture have a large impact on film. This can be seen most clearly in Science Fiction and Horror Films. Films are often based on real-life events, or in some cases, fears. Two examples of this are Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The Cold War and fear of the spread of Communism led to the creation of films such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Psycho and Texas Chainsaw Massacre were both based on the crimes of Ed Gein. Some common themes in these films are paranoia, apocalyptic thinking, and family values. Films from 1950-1980 can now be seen through a historical lens that shows what 20th century Americans were truly scared of.
The main difference between horror and other genres, such as fantasy …show more content…
They updated the monster movie and the new monsters came from unexplored frontiers (Maddrey, pg. 29). Science fiction replaced gothic horror at this time. World War II provided plenty examples of science gone too far, specifically eugenics, Nazi medical experiments, and the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Images of Japanese fallout victims caused the atomic bomb to go from “celebrated weapon of victory to harbinger of global doom in just a few short years” (Phillips, pg. …show more content…
People from the country are shown as being dirty, slow, and most of all, poor. “In horror, country dwellers are disproportionately represented by adult males with no ascertainable family attachments...when we do see country families, something is always terribly wrong with them” (Clover, pg. 125). These country families are often used to comment on capitalism and poverty. Two films that show these families are The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes. “Hooper presents his slaughterhouse family as material embodiments of capitalist repression” (Williams, pg. 193). The films are both about families living in the country that have resorted to cannibalism due to their poverty and living situations. “One of the obvious things at stake in the city/country split of horror films, in short, is social class--the confrontation between between haves and have-nots, or even more directly, between exploiters and their victims” (Clover, pg.
The main difference between horror and other genres, such as fantasy …show more content…
They updated the monster movie and the new monsters came from unexplored frontiers (Maddrey, pg. 29). Science fiction replaced gothic horror at this time. World War II provided plenty examples of science gone too far, specifically eugenics, Nazi medical experiments, and the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Images of Japanese fallout victims caused the atomic bomb to go from “celebrated weapon of victory to harbinger of global doom in just a few short years” (Phillips, pg. …show more content…
People from the country are shown as being dirty, slow, and most of all, poor. “In horror, country dwellers are disproportionately represented by adult males with no ascertainable family attachments...when we do see country families, something is always terribly wrong with them” (Clover, pg. 125). These country families are often used to comment on capitalism and poverty. Two films that show these families are The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes. “Hooper presents his slaughterhouse family as material embodiments of capitalist repression” (Williams, pg. 193). The films are both about families living in the country that have resorted to cannibalism due to their poverty and living situations. “One of the obvious things at stake in the city/country split of horror films, in short, is social class--the confrontation between between haves and have-nots, or even more directly, between exploiters and their victims” (Clover, pg.