What is ‘Torture Porn’? A panel at the
World Horror Convention in New Orleans recently tackled this topic in
particular. The actual panel topic was about extreme horror and begged the
question of how far is too far.
In my opinion, torture porn is one of
those stories/books/films that’s filled with pain, violence and torture simply
for the sake of. There is no true purpose for the existence of that violence
and the work has possibly no plot at all. And, I’d hate to say it, but most of
the Nightmare on Elm Street movies
fall into that category. I’ll give the first movie a pass because it was a cool
concept. However, the sequels featured cardboard characters that were destined
to be cruelly murdered. I don’t always believe that you have to ‘care’ about
any character in fiction, but you should care that they died for their death to
be meaningful. Somehow, some way, it should matter to you that they died.
Otherwise the audience is simply lauding their death and probably laughing at
the acts of violence.
Jack Ketchum has been tormented by the
torture porn tag for a hefty chunk of his career—if not his entire career. Off Season, his 1981 debut novel, wasn’t
even published in its entirety until much later due to its extremely violent,
but it was his 1989 novel, The Girl Next
Door that sent shockwaves through the horror community. And just about
everywhere else.
The jury is out—and may be out for a long
time—about the purpose of the novel’s violence. Some readers will tell you that
it is about a man who recalls the time he and a group of young men tortured a
disabled girl in her basement. Other readers will tell you that the story deals
with the cruelty and evil that exists in this world and that we regular people have
to share the world with some truly sick individuals. And therein is the real
horror.
I once used the term ‘torture porn’ to Jack
Ketchum and he seemed visibly annoyed by it, even though I’m sure he understood
why I was using the term. From our discussion (this was in Austin, Texas in
2011), I could tell that he is trying to horrify the readers and not titillate
them with violence.
And that’s another part of the discussion:
should the violence be titillating? Should authors be attempting to titillate
their readers with detailed descriptions of violence? In my opinion, only the
violence that’s needed to advance the plot should be included. If that happens
to be in copious amounts then . . . so be it. But certainly it shouldn’t be
there if it doesn’t belong there.
And I would say the same about sex and
taboo subjects. You really can’t just manufacture that stuff just to catch a
reader’s interest. If it belongs there then that’s cool. If it has no rightful
or legitimate place in your story then it really should be left out.
This is a discussion that bears
continuation.
What are your thoughts?
