Do horror and pornography are the only two genres specifically devoted to the arousal of bodily sensation?

Question

"They exist solely to horrify and stimulate, not always respectively, and their ability to do so is the sole measure of their success".

How much pornography is in horror films and how much horror is in pornography?

The victims (when applied) are generally women in both genres

From the book:

"Misogyny, Misandry, and Misanthropy" by several authors

"Her Body, Himself:

Gender in the Slasher Film"

Carol J. Clover

http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft809nb586&chunk.id=d0e4713&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e4713&brand=eschol

Answer 1

Although I agree with the above posters that (almost) all movies appeal to emotion, the fight or flight urge, and the urge for s*x are strongest, and mixing the two is guaranteed to pull in an audience.  It is extremely disturbing to mix the two, and the camera angle taken by the slasher flicks - that of the perpetrator stalking the usually nude woman, is greatly dangerous to women.  It essentially trains men to be sexual predators.  These movies should be controlled like pornography, or eliminated as illegal, like actual p**n that takes this line of vision.  

If owning drug paraphernalia can somehow be construed to be illegal, surely films that teach the viewer what it feels like to sexually pursue and kill a woman should be illegal.

Answer 2

What does comedy do?

What about a rousing and passionate love story that leaves the whole theater weeping

What about Brokeback Mountain that stunned half the movie-going population?

What about nail-biting adventure?

Answer 3

No, I don't think so.  Most genres, not limited to horror and p**n, are to arouse emotions of some kind, and some emotions also arouse bodily sensations.  Some genres provoke more intense intellectual thought and emotions, while others, such as the ones you mention, are rather cheaply and instantly gratifying, and often only to a certain crowd with a low level of refined artistic tastes.

I don't find it useful to intellectually critique films or literature that were never created to appeal to intellect in the first place.  As long as there is a market for the vile, there will be production of the vile.  Capitalism and free speech guarantee it.

Answer 4

There a'int nothing s**y about pornography and sadistic horror that involve degradation of women sexually because they are 1 star poor rating movies that shouldn't have been made, never gets seen again in the movie theatre, gets released for movie rental and then gets sold off for a penny bought by ne'er do well losers who live in squalor slum buildings who work full time or better yet not even for a penny.

It gets thrown in the freebie bin, taken by others only to be returned back to the freebie bin, after being returned so many times it gets thrown in the garbage.

Answer 5

are you forgetting romance, stirring the sympathetic nervous system with suggestive +/or implied sound and video stimulus,increased endorphins, hormones, increased heart rate and blood pressure comedies, stimulate our senses with increased endorphins, muscular responses, occasional spasms,etc, action/adventure, raise the pulse rates blood pressure, adrenaline in our systems, sharpening our physical responses,and energy levels

Answer 6

I agree with the above poster. How horror & sexual violence can be combined and sold for profit is nothing short of inhumane.

There have been 3 films recently particularly disturbing - Contemptible Mother (US), Sick Nurses (Thailand) and one in Japan (cant recall the name).  These are sick films that allow the male producer to make sexually violent misogynist flicks.....and make money off of it.

Oh, another was Captivity (US). The trailer was shown repeatedly on a male cable show one night as I was going thru the channels.

Also....not to be nit-picky, but your question said "arousal" ---comedy and action does not cause 'arousal' .. so i would agree with your book citation.