The Unknown can be a scary place. You fear the dangers that could be lurking ahead. Fed only with fragments of information you can find, your mind's eye imagining a world of terror awaiting you. Something as small and insignificant as a sound out of sight can send your mind into overdrive. The unknown is scary because it dwarfs us with its intimidating infinite size. It could surprise us at any turn of the corner, at any time in our lives. The known is more comforting, however for the very reason that it is known. No surprises, no risks, no danger. It is the safety of being able to have a comfort in our surroundings. Almost everything is unknown to us, that it can greatly outweigh the known. For instance our universe is a vast place of seemingly …show more content…
So the slightest abnormality has the potential to trigger an overwhelming imaginary picture of actual events. My mind, when given enough fuel and a spark, is able to run wild. This one late night in particular, enough fuel was supplied. The fuel being a horror movie. It wasn't a jumpy zombie behind the door movie. The movie left people terrified with ideas. The story was key in setting my mind into an alert state. It imprinted my mind with frightening thoughts. It was enough to keep me awake and provide the fuel for my thirsty imagination. After the movie had finished, it was late, everyone was asleep. Bar me. I couldn't let one eye wander, not even for a blink. My eyes were fixed on the door, a slither of space parting the doorframe from the open door. Only blackness could be seen beyond the confides of my …show more content…
I had to face up to the situation at hand, frozen stiff in thought I tried to see into the darkness from a different angle. From every angle that I tried the slither of space wasn't enough to find a clear sight of what was out there. More noises from the unknown creaked and clacked, the intruder was most likely looming in the house waiting to pounce. To confront the unknown, I needed to feel safe. I gracefully glided over the junk scattered on my floor without making a sound. I reached for my cricket bat, gripped the shaft in my hands as it poke out of the closet. I drew the cricket bat from the closet, as Arthur drew Excalibur from the
This fear of the unknown is similar to the one shown in Gordon Grice’s essay, “The Black Widow.” In his essay, Grice explains how his fear of black widow made him curious about them. He once feared black widows because most people associated black widows as deadly animals that kill people. However, once Grice said, “I fell, hands first, into a mass of young widows … In about ten minutes my arms carried nothing but old web and the husks of spiderlings eaten by their sibs. I have never been bitten” (47). This revelation for Grice shows that black widows aren’t what he had thought them to be, but in fact mostly harmless to humans. “We want the world to be an ordered room, but in a corner of that room there hangs an untidy web. Here the analytical
Human's fears should not be taken lightly. Fear could do anything to one's minds, though without fear, man can be as savage as animals. In the book Lord of the Flies, William Golding presented fear of the unknown to be a powerful force in a man's mind. Fear of the unknown is a powerful force, which can turn to either insight or hysteria. The kids feared of not being rescued off of the island, so they made signal fires on top of the mountain. Then, there and gone, Roger's fear of the old rules he abided to. Also, there were the fears of the beast which confused and isolated the kids from the top of the mountain.
“When you say 'fear of the unknown', that is the definition of fear; fear is the unknown, fear is what you do not know, and it's genetically within us so that we feel safe. We feel scared of the woods because we're not familiar with it, and that keeps you safe.” – M. Night Shyamalan
As the speaker remarks on the Leviathan, he also remarks on fear’s many forms as well as the often overlooked tie between fear and respect in society. By understanding that our tendency to explore the world is bound to our fear of the unknown, we are better able to describe the mysterious world around us and perceive the feelings of those who have had similar emotions in the
After watching that movie fear took over and I could not go to sleep thinking that what if that evil was following me which at that time was very scary for me to imagine but now when I think of it I laugh at myself and think how dopey I was to believe my
It causes the audience to sort of sit on the edge of their sit or it grates on your nerves. Your imagination takes you to wild places. This is why Hitchcock did not show any actual violence in the scene. He let the audience own minds scare them.
natural that, as humans, we fear what we do not entirely understand simply because we know what will
Fear is something very foreign to countless people, not the idea, but the response to it, the way people react to fear. Everyone has their own fears; their own definitions and triggers to these unique varieties of fear. We imagine our worst fears and what would happen if they became a reality. This is where imagination plays a key role in the response to fear. Imagination can overcome one’s ability to reason out an abnormal situation, in which fear kicks in; frequently resulting in the situation becoming worse than the previous extent. Fear is in everyone’s lives, although it doesn’t affect some as much as others due to their response to this fear. Meaning they don’t let their imagination overcome their reason, creating a mindless fear as exhibited throughout our lifetime.
Horror movies are one of the most fascinating genres of film that exists. They are unrealistic but at the same time, they are also realistic. This realism that they contain is what draws people’s interest towards them because viewers are able to associate aspects of their own lives with the film. Every horror movie, no matter how farfetched the theme or plot may be, contains an element that people can relate to. This element may not be observable to a conscious mind, but to an unconscious mind, it brings back memories of something that has been repressed earlier in our lives (Wood, 197). This recollection of suppressed memories is how horror films create a sense of fear and it is literally what Robin Wood means when he talks about “the return
You’ve just finished a scary movie at your house and it’s now 10:47pm, and you remember you are the only one home. Its pitch black and you hear a creaking noise from upstairs so you begin to panic and become completely frozen, this is the feeling of fear. Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, and some people go out of their way to seek that feeling. This now creates the question why? Why do some people enjoy the feeling of fear? Author’s Allegra Ringo and Steph Yin articles about fear help discover the answer to that very question. While some people may think that this topic is pointless or not interesting, both Allegra Ringo and Steph Yin’s article will quickly change your mind.
Fear is the emotional state that someone goes into when they feel threatened or endangered. The fact that we do not know everything makes us think that everything we do not know is feared. There are many stories that include the fear of the unknown. Each poem, story, and drama include some type of fear. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, “Hills Like White Elephants”, and “Poof” there is an extensive amount of fear for the unknown. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ernest Hemingway, and Lynn Nottage all used the fear to their advantage while writing and making an entertainment for the readers.
The night was tempestuous and my emotions were subtle, like the flame upon a torch. They blew out at the same time that my sense of tranquility dispersed, as if the winds had simply come and gone. The shrill scream of a young girl ricocheted off the walls and for a few brief seconds, it was the only sound that I could hear. It was then that the waves of turmoil commenced to crash upon me. It seemed as though every last one of my senses were succumbed to disperse from my reach completely. As everything blurred, I could just barely make out the slam of a door from somewhere alongside me and soon, the only thing that was left in its place was an ominous silence.
Suspense can also be caused by the feeling of uncertainty, which is very closely related to fear because fear is the result of not knowing the unknown, curiosity, or a feeling such as anxiety and excitement. According to Dr. Kerr, an expert on fear who is a psychologist and occasionally works in scary houses, stated that some brains enjoy fear because “This speaks to the fact that things that violate the laws of nature are terrifying. And anything that doesn’t make sense or causes us some sort of dissonance whether it is cognitive or aesthetic will be scary”(Ringo 93). The plot twist in The Fall of House of Usher was surreal to the readers and it may not be associated with monsters but it still caused fear and suspense because of how bizarre the story was. Fear and suspense are closely related.
The theme fear of the unknown can be similar to being afraid of the dark. Darkness is a symbol of fear, mystery or evil. The darkness creates fear because one is visually impaired. The dark itself it not terrifying, it’s the fear of whatever might be lurking around. Hearing a little creak makes one afraid and anxious that will eventually lead them to come up with their own theories and solutions. The mind 's imagination takes over and makes one think of their worse fears. Many people can say that they are not afraid, but what if something comes up from behind you? What if something is underneath your bed, just waiting for the right time to hurt you? The truth is that everyone is afraid of the dark, and because the vision is impaired, it is essentially the fear of the unknown. Fears creates itself and prevents an individual from making the correct decisions for their survival. Fear is not only unknown, there are many kinds of fears many individuals have for example some fear their body weight, relationships, jobs and public appearance. Fear comes in many different types of forms; and every form has a different effect on someone. One can overcome fear by understand their fear and having hope that good will come. In every bad situation, the only way you can bring light in the darkness is by having
Being afraid of something is a part of human nature. Yet, can being afraid of something that is unknown also be included in that realm? The theme, the fear of the unknown is shown throughout the novel The Lord of the Flies written by William Golding, the film adaptation, Arrival and an article titled “The Things People Choose to Fear; Usually They are Unknown and Uncontrolled, Not Near and Dangerous” written by Kirk Johnson. These works of literature exemplify the fact that humans can be scared of things they don’t even know of.