'Most stories of this type': genre, horror and mystery in the silent cinema. Issue 2 (19th April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jancovich, Mark; Brown, Shane
• Is Part Of: Historical journal of film, radio and television. Volume 42:Issue 2(2022)
• Page Start: 168
• Page End: 190
• Publication Date: 2022-04-19
• Subjects: Motion pictures -- History -- Periodicals; Broadcasting -- History -- Periodicals; 302.23409005
• DOI: 10.1080/01439685.2021.1922036
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0143-9685

Abstract

Abstract : An examination of 'horror' in the silent period, one of many genres that is only supposed to have emerged in the 1930s. Through an analysis of press coverage, the article examines a clear vocabulary that was used to describe a specific 'type' of film at the time. It also illustrates that 'horror' was explicitly used as a generic noun to name this 'type' but that, given that 'horror' was also a negative term used in censorship campaigns, this term was often avoided, except when 'horror' was clearly understood as a 'hot' genre. Consequently, this genre was more commonly described as 'mystery, ' a term that included both 'horror' and 'detective stories, ' terms that were largely seen to be indistinguishable in the period, when both were understood as featuring investigations into the 'mysterious, ' 'strange' and 'eerie.' In other words, 'mystery' staged a confrontation between rationality and irrationality and in a way that negotiated the perceived transitions from Victorianism to Modernity at the time .