Graduation Year
2009
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.A.
Degree Granting Department
Mass Communications
Major Professor
Scott Liu, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Robert Dardenne, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Kim Golombisky, Ph.D.
Keywords
slasher, film, movies, villain, cross-over
Abstract
This qualitative thesis examines levels of pessimism as they relate to modern and postmodern horror cinema. Beyond assumed differences in levels of pessimism between the two genres, the study also examines implicit and explicit moralization of these categories. Specifically, the study questions if postmodern horror cinema's characteristic increase in pessimism is simply a change in the genre's convention, yet a change that is irrespective of either genre's capabilities to moralize. First, the study singularly examines the conventions of each genre as it relates to levels of pessimism. Second, the study discusses works that bridge the two genres. And third, the study speculates on the future of pessimism in postmodern horror cinema, specifically examining the genre's increased reliance on a combination of narrative and documentary techniques. In addition, this study uses content analysis as its methodological framework, whereby representative works of horror cinema (the data) are subjected to in-depth personal reading and textual analysis given the levels of pessimism between the two genres (the coding) via text immersion. Nonetheless, this study should be viewed more as a guided and informed exploration of certain characteristics regarding the genres and less of a defense since the data will not be quantified.
Scholar Commons Citation
Jeknavorian, Michael, "The Pessimism of Horror Cinema: A Comparative Study Between Modernist and Postmodernist Horror Cinema" (2009). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/2029
