Every year, thousands of people gather in resort cities or convention centers to celebrate horror movies, comics, books, and web events. Their experiences are unlike any other for one reason alone: they seek to create a personal and conscious meta-narrative centered on actors and other artists who sustain the narrative enacted through various media by “tickling” the subconscious and inducing fear and dread of the unknown. In other words, a person who has experienced the pleasurable feeling of controlled fear through a horror movie, for example, goes to a convention for the conscious reasons of meeting actors who scared them, hearing scary writers read from their works, and purchasing additional movies, t-shirts, action figures, or books which will begin the cycle over again. Why do horror (and sci-fi) fans deliberately engage in deconstructive acts, and what are the reasons for and effects of the horror fan’s creation of the meta-narrative which will complete itself over the course of the convention?
About the presenterJ A White
Jules White teaches English literature, humanities, and psychology and literature at Morgan State University in Baltimore MD. He is currently working on a proposal on the use of archetypes in adult gaming, specifically video games and slot machines.