Make Your Way 7, Schulbuch mit Audio-CD und CD-ROM

A One thing that fascinates me is how extreme everything is. In ordinary movies you see nice costumes or hear clever dialog. But you will never see somebody eat an eyeball for fun. Horror offers aggressive entertainment. B And it offers something more potent as well – a sense of rebellion. One of the things I have always loved most about these movies is that just the simple act of going to see them feels like breaking a taboo. For all of us who feel that our freedom is very limited in ordinary life, the violence in these movies can be strangely liberating. C Horror makers like to set their chaos in the most normal surroundings. Robert Englund, who plays the razor-fingered maniac Freddy Krueger, of the Elm Street movies, says, “Elm Street is symbolic of traditional America. And a lot of kids like the fact that Freddy is out there attack- ing the middle class.” D So excited by this, in fact, are horror fans that they yell “Fred-dee, Fred-dee” in movie theaters, as if cheering on a sports hero. Psychologists say that this shows that the audience identifies with the aggressor. “Somebody who kills is powerful,” Dr. Senior says. “There is an identification with power, especially since there is so much admiration of that sort of person in our culture.” E The question remains: Is it bad for you to see all this? For my part, I don’t think that seeing lots of cut off legs or arms or heads with bullet holes in them have hurt me any. And the experts agree. Some people worry that the films could cause the viewers to imitate the cruel acts they show, but psycholo- gists say no. “I guess that among millions there can always be a few crazy people who are influenced by these films,” says Dr. Dolf Zillmann. But Dr. Kenneth Diamond points out, “Those people could find bad influences in anything.” For the rest of us, horror films offer a pretty harmless attraction: they’re good fun. For all their violence, in the end they can be seen as essentially innocent pleasure. Like taking a roller coaster ride through hell. razorfingered: mit Rasiermesserfingern bullet hole: Einschussloch 31 2 Extensive unit 2: Violence Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv