How do horror

movies change
society's view on
certain aspects of
violence, sex, and
drugs contained in
them?

By Ryan Villasmil
 Horror has been around since the 1890s, it is a prominent genre that
people have flocked to whether it be thrill and rush you gain when
reading or watching the genre. Or even the violence and less desirable
aspects that many people still seek from the genre. Many people love
the gore, sex, and drugs that are included in the movies so much that

Background
directors have made whole moves around the aspects like SAW or
Halloween which are worldwide hits being considered to be some of the
greatest horror movies.
on For many years members of society have been questioning whether
these movies cause harm to society, whether this exposure to violence,
my question: sex, and drugs affects us. There are instances where society and the
government have tried to limit the amount of these certain aspects-
contained within them with the MPAA film rating which puts a specific
rating on films based on their content. This rating can affect
whether these movies are released to the public, and for companies
that want to make money, this is the deal breaker causing them to
cut content to fit a rating suitable for the public.
Research Objective:
The study of this question is relevant as with horror is a prominent genre
in today's society with a multitude of horror movies being created every
year many people including children are exposed to their contents heavily.
This exposure can cause many developmental effects, and changes in how
people view this content. I want to research how this exposure to
violence, sex, and drugs from horror films changes our viewpoints on this
content.
• Have we become numb?
• Is violence a norm in our society?
• What are some of effects that horror movies have on the mind?
These are questions I aim to answer with my study. My objective will be
doing a genre analysis of horror as a genre, and conducting a survey to
gain knowledge of how people view violence, sex, and drugs before and
after mentioning horror movies.
 Textual Analysis:

Genre Analysis

I will conduct a genre analysis on horror by using different examples of horror films and watching
them to analyze what specific rhetorical moves are made to be considered a horror movie, and
what are different as aspects that are a part of the genre.

Methodology: Primary Research Method:

Surveying

Conducting surveys on the general public with questions that entail around violence, sex, and
drugs before mentioning horror movies to gain their thoughts and knowledge on that topic, and
the asking a series of questions about violence, sex, and drugs in horror movies.
Why Genre Analysis?
I will conduct a genre analysis on the horror genre, this will allow me to
gain data on what makes up the genre as a whole such as the rhetorical
moves that are needed to accomplish the goals of the genre, what the
goals of the genre, and how these moves or goals different across the
genre as well.
I will look across many different horror movies that I can gain access
through varying in content to build an accurate set of information of
the genre.
 Why Surveys?
Surveying the public will be the main backing for
my research, this will allow me to gain insight into
what society feels about violence, sex, and drugs
before the mention of horror movies to gauge
how people feel about these topics. This will be
done by short questions asking for their opinion
on these topics which they can choose to answer
and provide further details on. Allowing me to
build a control to base my research on.
As they progress through the survey the
questions will change to asking about how they
feel about these same elements in horror movies.
This will allow me to gain data to compare against
the control group, to see whether their opinion
stays the same or changes. This will allow me to
build my claims for my research. I may put the
horror question first in the survey to not create
preconceived notions about these elements in
the minds of the participants which can hinder
my data.
Research Deliverable:
I will be doing an oral presentation for this assignment. I have had experience in the past
doing oral presentations for AP Seminar, so I have an idea of how to format my slides along
with my information. I am a very open and comfortable person when it comes to talking
about a topic that I enjoy with this being one of them. I also feel that the tone of the
questions in a presentation will be best to avoid any confusion within my research.
Timeline of the Process:

March 5th: Set up my March 10th: Gather March 15th: Gather my March 20th: reinforce March 25th: Start March 30th: Final
Survey results from the Survey references for my my data for my working on the touch-ups on the
presentation presentation presentation Presentation

April 8th: Use feedback

from peers to revise
the presentation
References:
• Clearly-Lemon, John, et al. What are Research Methods. University of Central Florida.

https://webcourses.ucf.edu/courses/1451467/files/104326812?module_item_id=17963788

• Gunter, B., & Gunter, B. (2018). Do sex, horror and violence sell movies?. Predicting Movie Success at the Box Office,

109-126.

• Sargent, J. D., Heatherton, T. F., Ahrens, M. B., Dalton, M. A., Tickle, J. J., & Beach, M. L. (2002). Adolescent exposure

to extremely violent movies. Journal of Adolescent Health, 31(6), 449-454.

• The Grand Theatre (2024). MPAA Ratings. The Grand Theatre. https://www.thegrandtheatre.com/mpaa-ratings