Genre question:

[wednes]

May I ask you all as specifically as possible to define the difference between Drama and Horror. And would it be possible to do it through description rather than by giving examples (although you should feel free to include specific examples within an explanation)?

It seems to me that Horror has to have some elements of Drama, and to get good drama, there has to be some enormity of emotion...though not nessesarily horrific.
But I'd like to get the viewpoint of some discerning film and literature about what makes something part of the "Horror" genre as opposed to just intense or scary "Drama."
In case you hadn't guessed, I'm also having trouble fitting my novella into a clean cut genre, which you need to do to market it.

Thanks so much!


Asami Yamasaki (Audition) You are a very lonely
person who has been hurt in the past. All you
want is to be loved by someone who will only
love you and no-one else. If they are unable to
fulfil this wish, they had better watch out,
you know how to torture someone properly.


Which evil character are you? (Japanese horror baddies only!)
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In other news, did you guys know that Poppy Z Brite has a livejournal? behold: docbrite. How many other famous writers have LJ's that I don't know about???

Comments

[sudrin.livejournal.com]

I would consider the "Horror" Genre any genre of film (Or other media) that intentially attempts to elicit a feeling of danger, dread, or threat to characters in the story, and by extention to those of the viewer. While DRAMA is obviously required, MOST horror uses "Boo!" tactics that involves unexpected moments designed to SHOCK the viewer. The most famous of these in my opinion was the one trick pony "The Blair Witch Project" which used fear to build to a "dramatic" climax with its only moment of actual Horror being a "Boo!" moment. I think the problem is that we are too often preoccupied with classification. After Die Hard came out, everyone ran and jumped on that bandwagon. "Think Die Hard on a bus", "Think Die Hard on a boat", etc. If you asked the Sci-Fi channel what horror was, they would say its "Science Fiction with mutated\supernatural baddies", but that's more marketing than anything no doubt. It allows them an excuse to program something other that ALL Sci-fi (which they only seem to play on FRIDAYS now, the rest of the time, they program just dreck.). Drama can be anything in the human condition, and anything good contains some elements of drama, because its thru drama that we become connected to the character we are reading/watching. Movies that exist inside a specific genre as Horror usually elicit less personal involvement with the characters because they usually just become targets for some horrible death. Same with comedy. Its funny to watch the Keystone cops flop about, but less to care about what happens to them when they go home to their wives.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

I certainly agree about the preoccupation with labeling and classification. When i realized I would have to describe the genre of my novella to potential agents and publishers...I had a bit of a panic. I find it horrifying, but that doesn't mean that all or even most horror fans will agree--not that I'm holding out for universal appeal.

I do find that as a rule, horror made for horrorfans lacks the nessesary drama to give it universal appeal. That's why horror still doesn't recieve the critical attention it deserves; although this is less and less true as time goes on. Silence of the Lambs was great for the genre as a whole, even though many video stores put it in the drama section rather than where it belongs.

[grammargirl.livejournal.com]

Warren Ellis is superflow, but he's in the midst of an indefinite break from LJ. And Neil Gaiman and a bunch of other authors have RSS feeds to their blogs, which isn't quite the same thing.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks!

[madush69.livejournal.com]

Horror is scary. Drama can be just sad. There's more to it than that, but basically that's it. There's also suspense which can fall between and cross over both of them.

hmmmmm

[urbanlawn.livejournal.com]

Ichi (Ichi The Killer) You are extremely powerful
in the physical sense, you can cut someone in
half with a flick of your ankle. On the flip
side, you are a mentally unstable schizophrenic
under memory hypnosis on the verge of a total
breakdown. Watch out!


Which evil character are you? (Japanese horror baddies only!)
brought to you by Quizilla

Re: hmmmmm

[wednes.livejournal.com]

Yikes!

[nate101000.livejournal.com]

All horrors are dramatic. Not all dramas is horrific.