by Eda Gokcen.
Ti West’s new horror titled X released earlier this year in March follows a group of adult film stars who are making a pornographic film in 1979, in the middle of nowhere as they rent a guesthouse from an old couple without telling them what they will be shooting. I wanted to write a piece exploring all the controversial themes depicted in the film which includes a money shot of the elderly couple taking the risk of having sex again for one last time. But aside from this bold and unusual choice of exploring themes around ageism, West also takes the re-popularised 70s decade using muscular men with the classic “pornstar moustache” and curious young girls with glorious blowout hair into the context of gore and slasher horror. I felt like the perfect target audience for this film, but why and how was it so effectively appealing? Well, the nostalgia for different decades’ aesthetics and lifestyles has definitely been hailing the internet recently. With people sharing this love for previously celebrated styles all over platforms like Instagram and TikTok which are generally associated with a younger audience. This ties in with another one of the film’s main themes regarding how humans always want what they don’t have, in this case Gen Z teens are longing for the lifestyle of a time before their own. Additionally, the film within the film almost naturally attracts us film students as an opportunity to see inside the process and creative thinking behind filmmaking. On top of this stylistic and inspirational appeal, the gore truly does draw in a certain audience, consisting of those who enjoy disturbing imagery.
So I ask the question; why is there such great joy and pleasure in watching the disturbing spectacle? To simply put it, as humans we are constantly seeking feelings and emotions which can be triggered by the effects a film or any other form of art has on us. According to a 2004 paper in the Journal of Media Psychology, the three primary factors which make horror films alluring to spectators are tension, relevance and unrealism. X ticks off the tension factor through its amazing score which fits the recent conventions of the horror genre so well in its cold eeriness, along with the suspenseful build up through use of repetition to the night-time violence outlining the second and much darker half of the film. The relevance factor is briefly highlighted in my earlier points about the style of the film and West’s decision to set it in the late 70s, as the iconic imagery of the decade is back on trend and relevant to the current day and the younger demographic. However, this also makes it relevant to the slasher genre as it shows direct influences from classics such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Hooper, 1974) . In terms of unrealism, this refers to the narrative aspect of film as a distinctive art form which places a psychological distance between the spectator and the film. This allows them to enjoy the disturbing spectacle without being traumatised or harmed by it, and still getting the rush or thrill of witnessing such horrible acts.
Other psychoanalytic explanations of this include Carl Jung’s belief that horror films tap into primordial archetypes buried deep in our collective subconscious and therefore images like the shadow or the mother play a huge role in the genre from Nosferatu's (Murnau, 1922) clawed shadow to Norman Bates’ obsession with his mother in Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960) . This relates to Jung’s idea that our subconscious speaks to us through our dreams and nightmares, therefore as a society we are naturally attracted to nightmarish imagery. Feelings of horror or shock may be relevant when triggered by films, and make the film more appealing to us if our subconscious creates such emotions naturally to guide or warn us. Another psychoanalytic approach to understanding our pleasure in watching horror films is Aristotle’s notion of catharsis, which suggests we watch them to purge negative emotions and to relieve built-up aggression since we often identify with the characters of films we watch, whether this is with the killer or the victim in the context of horror.
Now of course you might argue that Aristotle is a little outdated considering horror films unfortunately did not exist in his lifetime but other psychologists have built onto this idea of catharsis and suggest that the negative feelings created by horror films intensify the positive feelings achieved in the end with the hero’s triumph. This would make sense with West’s film as the protagonist Maxine played by Mia Goth (who also took the role of the antagonist Pearl) comes out of the night of terror not only traumatised but also satisfied with her successful escape. The McGuffin of the video tape adds another layer of satisfaction and joy for the spectator as the mystery behind it is also revealed in the film’s resolution. Additionally, there is an element of punishment and morality in the violent half of the film which is an example of the Dispositional Alignment Theory, with the punishment of those who deserve it by the film’s villain, monster or killer. This theory was especially relevant to my viewing experience of X as the first victim was the entitled misogynistic filmmaker RJ played by Owen Campbell whose gruesome death gave me great pleasure and satisfaction as it marked the transition into the climactic violent half of the film.
Overall, we can say that the various psychological explanations and production contexts of the film itself give us a pretty good understanding of why many including myself agree with the director who calls his new slasher “charming and fun”. Although I may be biassed in my favourable opinion as a film student since the film has been referred to as a crash course in filmmaking by critics, it undeniably portrays a brilliant blend of traditional and contemporary conventions of its genre. Therefore, West’s strange porn and horror mix manages to psychologically affect the spectator and trigger or evoke subconsciously familiar and instinctive feelings.
by Eda Gokcen, June 2022.