The nationwide coronavirus pandemic has been arduous for many people with regard to their social and mental behaviour. It has led everyone to stick at their beds and binge-watch various shows and movies.
Movies teach a lot about general issues and improve the sense of imagination thereby enhancing the ability to have an opinion and look forward to a particular issue with a creative mind.
Moreover, a study says that horror movie fans are doing better during the pandemic as their minds are ready to adapt towards the hard conditions they are living in, due to the movies they watch. The horror movies increase their sense of alertness and most importantly, decrease the fear that people have in mind. They invoke a brave behaviour.
According to ‘The Independent’, a report by the Research Program for Media, Communication, and Society and the School of Communication and Culture at Arhus University, Denmark, said “Although most people watch horror movies for the sake of entertainment but they actually provide an entire learning experience and improves the ability to imagine a magical world. People can get the skills to tackle dangerous predators, practice mind-reading and deal with novel social and emotional situations”.
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This research was conducted on a survey basis. People were asked about how they were living throughout the pandemic, the kind of shows and movies they watched and their emotional state during the time period. It was found that those who claimed to be horror movie fans came up with more optimistic answers about their state of mind.
Interestingly, with a sample size of 310 participants, the research claimed that those who watch scary movies become immune to any psychological impact they might have, in real-life situations. People watch horror movies at their homes which is a safe set up. Thus it helps them to deal with negative emotions and most of the fear, calmly on their own.
The safe setting idea was expressed by the Study’s lead author and a PhD candidate in the Department of Comparative Human Development at The University of Chicago- Coltan Scrivner in an interview. The idea explained that watching a horror movie acts as a vaccine against fear. Watching horror shows makes them anxious and they start taking the critical part as something normal so that if they deal with something harsh like the pandemic in real life, they already have the necessary adjustment room in their mind to get through it on their own.
Those who claimed to have watched global community spread films like the zombie Apocalypse film – Resident Evil and other alien films have more patience and a tendency to cope better. This is because there is an analogy between the fiction zombie movie and the real world disasters and thus they gain knowledge about resolving things at their own level through the movies they watch.
Scrivner also defined this tendency in terms of Morbid Curiosity Scale that determines how much a person is interested in morbid topics (like having an interest in watching an autopsy being performed is a morbid topic). According to the result, people who have a high Morbid Curiosity Scale are watching more films related to a pandemic level plot and thus show an optimistic resilience by looking for positivity within the pandemic thereby buckling up their minds.
The study encouraged people to watch horror movies, but only to an extent. Encouraging doesn’t mean that those who do not watch horror movies, in general, should start watching the scariest of them in order to upgrade their skills. That might have a reverse negative impact, as anything in excess is bad.
If the area of emotions is concerned, then watching any movie that is scary to you will do the job, not necessarily the movie which is the scariest of all.
Try out some movies and get the thrill!
Also Read: 5 Scary Movies That Should Not Be Missed Out By Horror Lovers
