"Why we crave horror movies" by Stephen King is a lengthy article addressing Kings position as to why people in the world enjoy horror films. In this article, Stephen King presents an argument stating the reason so many enjoy these dark and ominous stories is because almost everyone has a "potential lyncher" inside of us and have a dark frame of mind. However, one can see that this article is unstable because King is a talented writer, not a professional psychiatrist, the article is bias towards his fans and there is relatively a small number of people who share this dark mindset.
First, one could acknowledge that Stephen King is a talented writer. In the introduction to the article, the writer tells us that King has written dozens of novels, screen plays and other works (460). However, in the same introduction, we read that King worked as a high school English teacher before becoming a famous writer. While being a high school English teacher and well known writer makes you famous, it does not make one an expert on the human mind, a professional psychiatrist or any other title that would qualify one to present such a bold argument in saying "there is a potential lyncher inside all of us" (King 462).
Secondly, we see that Kings view points are bias towards his fans and those who do potentially share the same dark frame of mind. The author writes "When we pay four or five bucks and seat ourselves at tenth-row center in a theater showing a horror movie, we are daring the nightmare" (King 461). In the next paragraph of this article, the author states that "we" do it because "we" can and "we" are not afraid. However, the phrase "we" is not an all inclusive term. Consider Christians, even King admits in his article that saints are excluded from this dark or crazy frame of mind (462). King will even say in the next sentence that saints are crazy in their own way (462). However, there is nothing crazy about believing in and following the creator and sustainer of the universe, Jesus said in Matthew 5:11, "Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they prosecuted the prophets who were before you."
Thirdly, In the introduction paragraph, the writer stated, "Many consider King to be the most successful writer of modern horror fiction today" (460). The writer also stated, "His books have sold over 250 million copies worldwide" (460). One could argue saying that is concrete enough to support Kings position. However, the term "many" is used in the previous quotation. The term "many" is used as a relative term because two hundred and fifty million people is a large number, but considering that there are over six billion humans living on the earth currently, two hundred and fifty million is but a small fraction of the earths population, making Kings statement saying that almost all people have a potential lyncher inside of them is flawed.
In conclusion, we can see that not almost everyone have a dark and ominous "lyncher" living inside of them. One can see that the argument presented in the article "Why we crave horror movies" by Stephen King may be true concerning his fans and followers, but is flawed and unstable in application to all.
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