Stephen King Why We Crave Horror Movies Summary

Stephen King, in “Why We Crave Horror Movies”, sets forth the idea of an inborn, subconscious evil that resides in all humans. He attempts to offer an explanation towards humans’ relentless craving for movies that ultimately expose the worst aspects of society. Through his use of meticulously chosen language and humorous tone, King attempts to relate and connect with readers.
By using figurative language, King effectively relates his points to other aspects in life allowing his readers to feel connected to him. He compares people’s reactions to horror movies with how “ [they] may scream when [a] roller coaster twists through a complete 360 or plows through a lake at the bottom of the drop” (King 471). By utilizing a simile, King ties people’s

reactions to horror movies with synonymous reactions they have to roller coasters. This effectively allows readers to gain a sense of understanding towards King’s point and draws both audience and author together. By enforcing his point through offering a potentially more well-known or relevant example to readers, King captures their attention in a way that seems to blend his own experiences with those of readers. He goes on to once again try and offer readers another way to connect with his story by using football as a way to deliver his point. King proposes the idea “if pro football has become the voyeur’s version of combat, then the horror film has become the modern version of the public lynching” (King 471). The analogy used here not only clarifies the point trying to be made but the use of football in the comparison provides a potential commonality between the author and the audience allowing the two to be drawn closer together. King’s deliberate comparison to football, a fairly popular sport across the United States, seems to be an attempt to connect with readers as he explains his thoughts on fear. By using the sport as a tool, which serves in this case as a type of unifying mechanism, King provides a reason for readers to believe and feel as if he includes himself in his own audience rather than make the impression he excludes himself from his own points and ideas. In other words, King’s use of the analogy helps to provide readers with comfort as he aims to portray himself among them. Although his use of such writing techniques isn’t the only manner in which King reaches out to the audience, they are a critical aspect in his approach to resonate with the audience.
Throughout the article, King uses specific diction in an attempt to associate himself with the audience.

He displays his notion to connect with the audience by stating that “we’re all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it a little better” (King 471). His use of the words “we” and “us” exhibit the impression that King resides among the audience: that he too falls under the very circumstances he is expressing in his writing. The sentence expresses the idea that no one person can claim they don’t fall under the umbrella cast by King in regards to humans and their state of mental sanity. By including everyone in his claim, even himself, he extends a notion of relation with readers. King provides further testament to this idea in his reasoning “if we share a brotherhood of man, then we also share an insanity of man” (King 473). Again the use of the word “we” causes the statement to apply to not only the readers but King as well. He takes his ideas of what he believes to be present within society and applies them to the whole of society rather than a certain group. Therefore, he effectively prevents the possibility of any one person becoming alienated from the audience. Though he uses the word “man” in his claim, it appears as if King aims to portray this idea towards all people. Thus it seems as if he uses the term in a way that applies not only to the male sex but rather all of mankind. This vitally puts into perspective that King, in writing this article, aims to target an audience that he himself exists in rather than alienate himself away from readers. King’s diction, therefore, pursues to convey his mutual feelings with the audience in hopes to build upon their

relationship.
In addition to his use of language, King provides humor throughout the article. He includes bits about Jack the Ripper and the Cleveland Torso Murderer, two very serious cases of insanity, but alleviates the seriousness by pointing out that “neither of those two amateur-night surgeons was ever caught, heh-heh-heh” (King 472). King counter balances the grave feelings set forth with the inclusion of two serial murders through a whimsical statement. His incorporation of such playfulness allows readers to see him as one of them rather than simply just another author attempting to convey a serious message through a stern formally constructed work. His decision to not only attempt to provoke laughter through his statement but to refer to the murderers as night surgeons helps establish an overall tone of humor throughout the article. In his explanation of the degrees of insanity within people, King proposes that for those in society who may find themselves doing things against the social norm “it is doubtful that [they] will ever be invited to the best parties” (King 472). Although King addresses circumstances in which people may become estranged from others within society, he provides something as trivial as invitations to parties as his example. Thus, through this lighthearted statement, King contributes to an overall humorous tone which plays a vital role in establishing a connection between himself and the readers. His ability, in this case, to joke about the doubt of being invited to the best parties in the face of insanity throughout society serves to iterate the fact that King, just like the readers, lives as a fundamentally normal member of society with no specializing characterizations that would exclude himself from the ideas and assumptions he makes. Furthermore, King’s description and repetition of a “a rotten little puke of a sister” (King 472). breaks from formal writing and provides readers with a sense of informality. His attempt at humor can, once again, be seen as a way to relate to readers and present himself as one among the people. Specifically, King’s informal diction choice contributes to a humorous tone set throughout the article in an attempt to make it seem as if King was having a lighthearted conversation with the audience. Therefore, through the establishment of humor King presents his writing as down to earth and displays himself in a way for readers to be able to connect to.
Throughout the article King attempts to establish a connection with readers, one that expresses his relation to them. His proficient use of specific figurative devices coupled with unifying diction is an attempt to include himself within the audience thus creating a relation with them. Furthermore, the use of humor within the article establishes the overall tone which contributes to establishing the connection between King and readers.