Dr. Amanda's Horror Movie Lecture
On Oct. 25th, 2023, English Professor Dr. Amanda Warren gave a lecture entitled “Bad Behavior Kills” that discussed the ways horror movies reflect cultural values and fears.
Dr. Amanda’s lecture was an ICE Event hosted by the USC Aiken Writing Center and Broken Ink.
Dr. Amanda analyzed horror films for their literary value, treating them as texts worthy of discussion as traditional literature. By psychologically analyzing the characters in these films, she demonstrated the merit of horror films as a way of understanding concepts of fear and morality.
Additionally, she explored how these themes in horror are culturally influenced, causing them to reflect societal values. She included several clips from slasher films that demonstrated her arguments as supporting evidence.
Dr. Amanda mainly focused on the slasher subgenre of horror, identifying tropes and trends across many classic films such as “Friday the 13th,” “Halloween” and “Scream.” These tropes and trends reflected behaviors deemed sinful or virtuous. Behaviors such as premarital sex or binge drinking leading to a character’s death and fitting into social norms results in a character’s survival. Dr. Amanda explained how this makes slasher films modern day morality plays, which were medieval performances intended to teach audiences how to and how not to conduct themselves.
