‘No-one Approves of What You’re Doing’: Fans and Filmmakers

Abstract

Critics may have been pivotal in establishing the cultural meanings of ‘torture porn’, but filmmakers and audiences — particularly horror fans — are also rebuked via that discourse. Regularly, such derogation is indirect, conflating characters’ actions with audiences’ responses and/or with filmmakers’ intentions. For instance, Ben McEachen’s (2010) grievance over ‘violent films that appear to get off on their disturbing deeds’ is loaded against either filmmakers, fans or both. McEachen’s pernicious rhetorical strategy obscures its target by blaming the film (an object). Since films cannot ‘get off’, McEachen implicates some unnamed party who responds to the diegetic action, or who neglects their responsibility to create ‘appropriate’ representations. More directly, reporters such as Killian Fox (2007) complain that since the dawn of cinema, ‘critics have abhorred the depravity of … film-makers, and audiences have ignored the critics by trampling one another in a rush to see the films’. Fox’s exasperation exaggerates both critical wisdom and audiences’ defiance of pundits’ acumen, implying that the reviewer’s task is futile. Such statements disclose that although critics speak from an authoritative position, their ability to fix meaning is not final.

Sylvie in 7 Days.