Are We All Insane? “Why We Crave Horror Movies” is an essay by Stephen King that was in Playboy magazine in 1981. King is trying to convince the audience that everyone is insane to a degree. King’s ethos in horror makes the subject of “Why We Crave Horror Movies” the perfect argument for him to write about. The pathos makes the audience question their own sanity for a moment and helps them understand “like the sick joke, has a dirty job to do” so does the horror movie, “it deliberately appeals to all the worst in us.” The logos show that everyone needs an outlet to keep “the nastiest fantasies realized” under control by feeding the desire that “keeps them from getting out”. King’s “Why We Crave Horror Movies” explains that humans are
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King uses words in this essay with connotations of humor, probably reading material while in the restroom. King makes his point in the first thing he says, “I think we are all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it better”. A reader would see this as something to laugh about and tell his buddies in idle conversation and is probably something that they have thought about before reading his article. King uses many metaphors, first he compares watching a horror movie to riding a roller coaster. He describes both the horror movie and roller coaster as something fun we engage in to prove “we are not afraid”, may make us scream at some point, and “have always been the special province of the young”. He also makes the comparison that “the horror film has become the modern version of the public lynching”, which he describes as a “peculiar sort of fun” the kind of fun that “comes from seeing others menaced- sometimes killed.” King makes the reader think for a moment about their own sanity by saying “if we are all insane, then sanity becomes a matter of degree”, making the reader question how crazy I am to enjoy such horrible things that horror movies are made of. King does a great job using another metaphor explaining that “our emotions and fears form their own body, and we recognize that it demands its own exercise to maintain proper muscle
King uses words in this essay with connotations of humor, probably reading material while in the restroom. King makes his point in the first thing he says, “I think we are all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it better”. A reader would see this as something to laugh about and tell his buddies in idle conversation and is probably something that they have thought about before reading his article. King uses many metaphors, first he compares watching a horror movie to riding a roller coaster. He describes both the horror movie and roller coaster as something fun we engage in to prove “we are not afraid”, may make us scream at some point, and “have always been the special province of the young”. He also makes the comparison that “the horror film has become the modern version of the public lynching”, which he describes as a “peculiar sort of fun” the kind of fun that “comes from seeing others menaced- sometimes killed.” King makes the reader think for a moment about their own sanity by saying “if we are all insane, then sanity becomes a matter of degree”, making the reader question how crazy I am to enjoy such horrible things that horror movies are made of. King does a great job using another metaphor explaining that “our emotions and fears form their own body, and we recognize that it demands its own exercise to maintain proper muscle