Aesthetics of Horror

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This dissertation explores the various elements that §produce the horror effects in film, and the pleasure §that is associated with them. The aesthetics of §horror is also a critical area discussed while the §sources of horror, such as the sublime, the §grotesque, and montage, are examineed. In Chapter 1, §based on Edmund Burke s work on the sublime and the §beautiful, several sources of the sublime, such as §astonishment, obscurity, power, privation, vastness, §infinity, light and darkness, suddenness of sound §and ugliness, are examined for their effectiveness §in evoking horror. Chapter 2 deals with horror §generated by grotesque imagery, using Mikhail §Bakhtin s writings on the Rabelaisian imagery. The §grotesque bodies discussed in this chapter are §giants, fantastical human beings, oaths, curses and §abusive expressions, carnivalesque and epic §grotesque anatomy. The paradoxical nature of the §grotesque will also be examined to explain how it §appeals and repels at the same time. The last §chapter proposes that, since horror has a rigid §narrative structure, montage is thus an effective §technique in evoking filmic horror.