Research suggests there are three types of horror fan, each finding different values from engagement with horror media. Understanding these different personality types can help tailor your story.
Sure. They’re social constructs, based on survey responses from other horror fans. Not everyone will agree with the identifiers. I think that’s fine. My interest as a horror fan and writer is to understand what engages other horror fans, so from that perspective I think having such constructs is helpful.
I should probably look at the study to see how the questions were framed and the data analyzed. Maybe I'm missing something here...
I guess I would say that the so-called "white-knuckles" are probably the spouses/friends/partners of horror fans who go along with, say, watching a horror movie because they know their spouse likes them (my wife falls into this category). Sure, sometimes they find they like it (my wife is now a fan of Supernatural because it was my favorite show). I'm baffled by the "Dark Coper" category...to me this seems more a matter of degree of adrenaline junkie. One of my brothers is a classic AJ; loves slasher films, jump scares, gore. I hate slasher films and stories. I like my horror supernatural and slow-burn. I like Gothic, and creepy, and macabre. But we like horror for the same reasons; it scares us. I would seem to be a "Dark Coper" but I think it's a distinction without a difference. So I wonder if a more fruitful line of investigation would be differences in the genres people enjoy (as your previous essay pointed out, most horror fans are like me and the smallest proportion are like my brother).
I dunno...something just seemed off about the categories...
I'm none of the above.
These categories seem artificial.
And I'm a huge horror fan...
Sure. They’re social constructs, based on survey responses from other horror fans. Not everyone will agree with the identifiers. I think that’s fine. My interest as a horror fan and writer is to understand what engages other horror fans, so from that perspective I think having such constructs is helpful.
I should probably look at the study to see how the questions were framed and the data analyzed. Maybe I'm missing something here...
I guess I would say that the so-called "white-knuckles" are probably the spouses/friends/partners of horror fans who go along with, say, watching a horror movie because they know their spouse likes them (my wife falls into this category). Sure, sometimes they find they like it (my wife is now a fan of Supernatural because it was my favorite show). I'm baffled by the "Dark Coper" category...to me this seems more a matter of degree of adrenaline junkie. One of my brothers is a classic AJ; loves slasher films, jump scares, gore. I hate slasher films and stories. I like my horror supernatural and slow-burn. I like Gothic, and creepy, and macabre. But we like horror for the same reasons; it scares us. I would seem to be a "Dark Coper" but I think it's a distinction without a difference. So I wonder if a more fruitful line of investigation would be differences in the genres people enjoy (as your previous essay pointed out, most horror fans are like me and the smallest proportion are like my brother).
I dunno...something just seemed off about the categories...