Paul Wells

In class, we looked at theorist, Paul Wells and reviewed his research. As you can see from below, I made some notes on his research in which he conducted.

41-55 years (1945-1974)

• Conducted a small focus group study. (12 people)
• Interest in horror whilst younger, rather than enduring with age.
• Night and dark - reminded them of walking home in the dark as youths. 
• Real horror of World War 2 meant they didn't like imaginary horror. 
• Contemporary films showed good SFX.

26-40 years (1960-1974)

• Slow disengagement with the genre, disliked silly predictability of films in 1980s that relied on certain conventions.

16-25 years (1975-1984)

• Enjoyed the spectacle - blood-letting and gore. Engaged with extra-textual world of horror e.g. websites. 
• Horror watched socially.
• The relationship to being frightened changes with age,
• Audience between 1970s and 1990s are more anaesthetised to explicit special effects.
• Young audiences are aware of artificiality and are becoming harder to shock.