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Over the course of history, cinema has proven its functionality and adequacy to be a very successful commodity and vehicle to showcase different advancing ideologies, narratives, and real-world experiences as the ‘window’ into contemporary society. Strikingly with horror and thriller pictures, both genres possess a certain allure that is fancied by a substantial population, often with the peculiar cravings of tension, mystery, suspense, or ‘cheesy’ supernatural plots. Though notably, the eccentricity of such cinematic pursuits are what its successes are often credited to, now often films have advanced to reference and are often inspired by current societal fears, threats, and issues.

 

Considering the basic human behavior, enhanced visual and audio experiences are considered as a progressive and effective transmission instrument to seek inspiration, information, or relativity. So I open this forum and raise the question

 

Does it make sense for cinema to portray real-world past, present, or potential future events, particularly through the genre of horror or thriller, with the risk of societal paranoia?

 

Stereotypically, cinematic escapades of horror and thriller pictures are defined by the level of the fear factor the piece triggers its audiences, yet the reconstruction of social and cultural latitude has allowed for the plausibility for film watchers to conduct challenging and cultivated dialogues.

 

Perspective of filmmakers

Filmmakers retain an artistic responsibility to continue experimenting with their craft in order to revolutionize the cinematic industry and strive for ground-breaking illustrations.  

The box-office hit and cultural phenomenon, ‘Get Out’, directed and written by Jordan Peele, shook the world with a fresh endeavor of a horror-mystery thriller and became a pioneering picture with its unaccustomed reorientation of the genre and challenged the intellectual capacity of contemporary society. By cleverly addressing the current climate with respect to race, ‘Get Out’ was written through the ‘reflection of the real fears and real issues’ dealt by Peele himself. The film is essentially an eloquent sample of the manifestation of sensitive subjects and references: post-Obama and post-racial era. Peele was able to preserve his personal integrity and nonetheless still accomplished his expression through an effective artistic medium by appropriately confronting the audience with the ‘potential reality’ of a supposedly post-racial era.

 

Audience perspective

Despite the odds of societal paranoia, audiences are entitled to behold their ‘freedom of speech’ with their critiques and praises, especially with cinematic evaluations. The reception of real-world inspired cinematic narratives can be resolved with one statement: ‘food for thought’. Customarily, films are not written or performed with the intention to justify paranoia or chaos. Like most creative endeavors, cinema can be observed as a practice to generate ideas, discourses, which may sometimes lead to social or cultural changes. ‘Get Out’ is a reflection and portrayal of a delusional yet feasible future of the supposed post-racial era. Though the film is essentially fictional, it is understandable for an audience to misunderstand the practicability of Peele’s vision. Nevertheless, by stimulating heated dialogues regarding the dramatization and hyperbole of films, instead of societal paranoia, such films can help to advance the priorities and perceptions of the audience in their views of contemporary or personal fears. Although, the ongoing discussions of post-racial era can stir up societal paranoia, with special consideration to the ‘overthinking’ of the hypersensitive political and social climate, the resolution of compelling civilized – lightly describing – conversations via opinions and critiques of cinema can become an effective mechanic for society to contemplate or categorize its fears, threats, and issues.

 

Whether it makes sense or not, cinema will always be a stimulus of both negative or positive responses and this can never be controlled. The risk of societal paranoia will not only stem from the cinematic industry so instead of attempting to control or predict responses, beliefs, and perceptions, as an audience, enjoy the craft, entertain your capability for artistic interpretation without burning your mind, and relish the opportunity to conduct honest, enthusiastic, and productive dialogues with others for a greater experience beyond the big-screen.