Thomas Scott (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} thomascott) wrote,@ 2008-05-11 20:20:00 |
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Fear of fear
Last week I blogged on the subject of fear, specifically fear - experienced spuriously through media - as a phenomenon of entertainment, even enjoyment.
I also commented on the efficacy of cinema as a means of inducing this effect in the watching audience, arguing that films which suggested a parallel 'real' fear in tandem with a supernatural 'unreal' fear are considerably more effective than all the gore, viscera and latex prosthetics that Hollywood has cliched into the 'horror' movie genre.
Fear on another level is of course a very effective means of controlling the citizen, their actions and thoughts.
Mention this and immediately people tend to think of totalitarian systems, citing the obvious examples of Nazism and Stalinist communism.
Democratic systems however, contrary to common perception, also thrive on fear -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of
and this wiki article almost adds up the sum of all our Western fears, oddly eschewing a few biggies along the way, namely our irrational fear of Islam and the fear-storm that the enviro-lobby has whipped up through ridiculous extrapolations regarding global warming.
Surprisingly few people have taken on the culture of fear, Frank Furedi's books -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Culture-Fear-Ri
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Politics-Fear-B
-and Adam Curtis documentaries
-come to mind but these don't really receive as much attention as they should from a media that has come to love the unit-shifting potential of fear and a public that has come to need the addictive hit of the next big scare.
The irony in all this is that the world is probably a safer place now than at almost any point in the twentieth century, in the absence of real fears our politicians in collaboration with our media have created a fantasy world of glittering horrors to chime our midnight hours.
Last week I blogged on the subject of fear, specifically fear - experienced spuriously through media - as a phenomenon of entertainment, even enjoyment.
I also commented on the efficacy of cinema as a means of inducing this effect in the watching audience, arguing that films which suggested a parallel 'real' fear in tandem with a supernatural 'unreal' fear are considerably more effective than all the gore, viscera and latex prosthetics that Hollywood has cliched into the 'horror' movie genre.
Fear on another level is of course a very effective means of controlling the citizen, their actions and thoughts.
Mention this and immediately people tend to think of totalitarian systems, citing the obvious examples of Nazism and Stalinist communism.
Democratic systems however, contrary to common perception, also thrive on fear -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of
and this wiki article almost adds up the sum of all our Western fears, oddly eschewing a few biggies along the way, namely our irrational fear of Islam and the fear-storm that the enviro-lobby has whipped up through ridiculous extrapolations regarding global warming.
Surprisingly few people have taken on the culture of fear, Frank Furedi's books -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Culture-Fear-Ri
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Politics-Fear-B
-and Adam Curtis documentaries
-come to mind but these don't really receive as much attention as they should from a media that has come to love the unit-shifting potential of fear and a public that has come to need the addictive hit of the next big scare.
The irony in all this is that the world is probably a safer place now than at almost any point in the twentieth century, in the absence of real fears our politicians in collaboration with our media have created a fantasy world of glittering horrors to chime our midnight hours.
