What Makes Things Scary? By Julia Flake

As we have recently been discussing in class about the element of fear in pieces of literary work or in films, I started to wonder about what specifically makes us feel scared. In other words, what is fear?

A common fear for a normal human could range from watching a scary movie, going on a roller coaster, or seeing a snake. All, however, have the same results. That feeling in your gut, the racing of your heart, your palms sweating...it is all an element of fear. Why do certain movies or music cause us to be afraid when there is actually no real threat toward us?
Depending on whether the fear is in real life or fictional, different parts of our brain are triggered. For example, if you were in a real life situation where your life was in danger, you would experience a sudden rush of adrenaline and your brain would initiate the fight-or-flight response. However, if you were watching a horror movie, your adrenaline may spike up a little, causing you to "jump out of your seat" as a reflexive action to a jump scare. You don't process the threat as you would in real life.
In films specifically, a good way to put the viewer on the edge of their seat is to use certain soundtracks that send chills down their spine. Daniel Blumstein, a biologist at UCLA, conducted a study with baby animals. He noticed that these animals screamed when the researchers caught them and music from horror movies resembled different versions of these screams. Since the screams are basically an infant's cry for help, humans have been evolutionary preconditioned to experience anxiety once hearing it. Believe it or not, in the movie The Shining, actual recordings of animal screams were used in the production.
Music isn't the only thing that scares us...the key factor is sight. The main element of what makes things scary is ambiguity, which is when we're not completely able to interpret or understand something. For example, monsters, zombies, and ghosts are all things that are not human so we are unaware of how they function, making them appear scary. When people wear masks, we are unable to see their real facial expression and the same goes for clowns, a common fear among people. There are many other interesting elements of fear but these are the main two in films.
All in all, the scariest movies and life situations are the result of our own brain's messed up way of processing information.

WATCH YOUR BACK!