Getting Acquainted with the Horror Genre
Disclaimer: BEWARE OF SPOILERS.
So I read Stephen Kingâs Night Shift in March and was left with questions.
Stephen King is the horror author I was hearing about most growing up and walking past in the library because horror was a no-no back then, said to be demonic. So I never thought to read it until I was an adult and gave myself permission to read whatever I want. (There were no African authors I knew of who wrote horror and Black-American authors were not on my radar yet. Libraries, bookstores and street corners where some vendors sell used books were still full of white Western writers even in my African city -this is still the case. And I wasnât on the Internet.) Even then, only this year did I read a Stephen King.
Night Shift seemed like a good idea because itâs a collection of short stories. It would provide me with a range of angles and styles with which he writes his stories, I reasoned. In terms of his style of writing short stories, I wasnât disappointed at all. Sometimes people write short story collections like theyâre an afterthought. However, I found each story in Night Shift felt full, well thought-out and⌠complete? Like a whole entire project. Whereas people reserve that energy for novels and novellas, usually.
My questions began as I read on and realised ground zero for the violence in almost every story was the woman. One cannot help but notice these things if you belong to that group of people. There was even a story where a man made a deal with somebody but he was told if he reneged, his wife (and child, if I remember correctly) would be harmed to varying degrees depending on how many times he reneged. And another where a man lost his wife and daughter to vampires but was saved from his own demise by other men. A woman in a factory whose machinery had gone rogue died a gory, brutal death. Etcetera. It was an exhibit of mostly female deaths.
Even when the guy also died at the end, her death was graphic and detailed. It was like the men were making all the decisions and the women -mostly- were facing the consequences. Except in stories where there werenât really any women in that particular story. I ended up almost preferring those. (The deaths were gentler, werenât they?)
The women were stereotypical, mostly. But so were the men. Everyone was fitting neatly somewhat into how 1950s white American roles and domestic life have been popularised on screen. And I was not used to reading that kind of literature or those kinds of characters.
As much as I enjoyed his skill in the construction of the stories, I began to struggle as the book went on. Sometimes Iâd put it down and ended up taking longer than I thought to finish it. Until⌠the one story I thoroughly enjoyed: I Know What You Need. That one⌠The construction, the characters, the underlying meanings, the pacing, the suspense even⌠I was thinking about it long after I finished the book. So good.
This story was simply a breath of fresh air. The female characters were finally well fleshed out, in my opinion, and they were critical thinkers. One helped the other out. And the leading lady did not die in the end. She was human enough yet she figured stuff out and walked away victorious. I was so happy to read that story because, not only did I get to experience a writing style I was enjoying, I also got to root for the story.
The questions flooded in at that point. Why had he chosen to write the female characters in all the other stories the way he did, then? They ended up sounding somewhat similar. Is that how horror was traditionally written? One distinct, active group of people. Another distinct, tortured, passive group of people. And then I realised maybe there were machinations of the horror genre that I just wasnât privy to. So I went on YouTube to find an explanation because it really felt like there was inside information I was missing. I was genuinely puzzled. That one story totally transformed how I experienced that book. And I know there are cultural norms that allowed men to think of women a certain way and this shows up in art. But I donât know. I think I wanted an explanation for the flatness/similarity that occurred before and after that one story.
I found a gem of a video by Sinead Hanna. And immediately, the horror genre was brought to life for me. I also began to identify some more differences between the stories; the point of each story. I think I understand the tropes now and what theyâre doing with the women. Which I donât necessarily agree with but I suppose each genre expresses or worked through discriminatory programming in its own way. From Sinead Hannaâs video, I even found out what on earth âthe final girlâ is -a term I first met in a title by Grady Hendrix (still to be read) The Final Girl Support Group. It makes sense now who they are and why theyâd need a support group! I had no idea that was a whole thing.
Definitely, Iâm starting to understand why horror fascinates some people. Theyâre not just titillated by fear for unknown reasons (my somewhat judgmental take before I started really thinking about the genre)⌠Itâs not even always about fear.
Iâve since made (another) list of horror authors to explore -including authors from all kinds of cultures around the world. Usually, I do this to see how different people interpret different ideas and itâs also a good way to continue to shift my own perspective slowly towards decolonisation. I start with whoever introduced the genre or idea to me and then I go to all kinds of roots of storytelling. Itâs working well so far.
It would be good to decide this year horror is the previously unfamiliar genre Iâm exploring. Fantasy, next year. Sci-fi, 2028. It turns out itâs not enough to read the books. A bit more research makes things doubly fun. Sometimes a well done video from a member of the fandom is a fantastic way to sink teeth into what makes readers love what they love. It feels like going crazy over a book with a friend. Or slowly coming to a realisation or understanding via someone elseâs palpable excitement.
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