POLITICAL INFLUENCES ON HORRORIn the first half on the 20th Century the EXTERNAL MONSTER dominated the genre – they are outsiders who threaten communities.It is observed that these monsters can be seen to represent specific cultural fears of the time, for example:

The threat of invasion generated by global political uncertainty between the two wars (1918 – 1939) is reflected in the external monster

The fear of the way science could be used in a destructive way in the post-war ‘atomic age’ after the dropping of nuclear weapons on Japan is reflected in the man-made monster

The idea of the INTERNAL MONSTER dominates modern horror.The shift from the external to internal may indicate some of the fears and preoccupations that dominate contemporary society:

World War II showed that mankind was capable of horrific acts; the genocide of the holocaust for example. Rather than fearing outsiders this has caused the culture to fear other humans – even those within their own community

Public understanding of psychology has increased since the 1950s, particularly ‘abnormal psychology’. This has added to the cultures fear of other people who could look ‘normal’ but think and behave in dangerous ways

Modern society has become less actively religious. Therefore ‘evil’ is often perceived as a possible or even inherent human trait rather than something that comes from elsewhere