Rhetorical Analysis Of Horror Movies By Stephen King

Stephen King, a renowned author known especially for his horror fiction, revealed his thoughts on possible reasons to explain the human fascination with horror movies. He speaks informally to the audience and is blunt with his perspective on the matter at hand.
Based on the main idea centered around horror movies, the intended audience for this article is comprised of horror movie enthusiasts as well as fans of Stephen King himself. When King states, “When we pay our four or five bucks…in a theater showing a horror movie, we are daring the nightmare,” he is referring to those that watch horror movies. His statement about watching horror movies would not apply to an audience that has not watched any films of that sort. The blurb also states that King, “has more recently begun to attract significant critical attention…,” making it sensible to assume his fans are included in the audience that read the article. The purpose of the article is to encourage the audience to contemplate over the true reason why humans enjoy horror movies. This can be proven with just the title of the article which states, “Why We

Crave Horror Movies.” Throughout the article, King asks several rhetorical questions in order to help readers’ ideas flow and allow them to create their own conclusions on why humans enjoy horror movies. Although he states several of his conclusions in the article, King ultimately leaves it to the reader to determine their own explanations.
Device
• Ethos: King appeals to ethos by broaching the topic of possible ethical issues related to horror movies.

He states, “The fun comes from seeing others menaced—sometimes killed.” Ethics relate to moral principles and King raises questions of the morality of enjoying images of people struggling to survive through various situations. The act of killing is undeniably an immoral act; therefore, King causes the readers to reflect whether or not watching such acts can be considered unethical as well.
• Pathos: An appeal to pathos is created when King compares horror films to sensitive topics. He writes, “the horror film has become the modern version of the public lynching.” Lynching is a topic that evokes intense emotions whenever it is mentioned in conversation. King takes advantage of those emotions and captures readers’ attention by speaking about such a

topic.
• Logos: By using logical reasoning to explain how one’s perception of horror movies could change due because of aging, the author appeals to logos. King states, “And horror movies, like roller coasters, have always been the special province of the young; by the time one turns 40 or 50, one’s appetite for double twists or 360-degree loops may be considerably depleted.” Without using results from a study, King successfully persuades most readers that aging does in fact impact one’s perception of horror movies. The reference to roller coasters aids in explaining his reasoning for that statement by acting as a supporting detail that connects King’s claim to an example of the same phenomenon.

Vocabulary
• Reactionary: relating to, marked by, or favoring reaction
• Voyeur: a person who likes seeing and talking or writing about something that is considered to be private
Reaction
As suggested by Stephen King, the popularity of horror movies is an indicator of humanity’s view of others’ suffering as a guilty pleasure. When watchers of horror movies discuss their favorite segments from those movies, the scenes mentioned most likely involve the injury or death of a character on the screen. Even though those characters are not real, the fact that movie watchers are often enraptured by scenes of gruesome content serves to prove that humans are intrigued by pain. Such an interest should be seen as unconventional and possibly immoral; however, it is instead viewed as commonplace and is capitalized by film makers.

Works Cited
King, Stephen. “Why We Crave Horror Movies.” Playboy 27 Jan. 1981: n. pag. Web. 10 Nov
2016.