Superficially, what do Jason Vorhees, Freddy Kruger, and Michael Myers all have in common. Among other things, they all kill a lot of people indiscriminately. Arguably, the films are challenging to watch because, if you are like me, I am not sure for whom I should be cheering. For example, do I root for the ignorant and stumbling teenager who Jason is chasing and is more than likely going to annihilate the face of with his machete? Or do I root for Jason to slice that kid up into a thousand pieces and continue the rampage and impose his wrath onto his next victim? The same questions can be applied to Freddy and/or Michael; who's corner am I in? Let us take this in stride starting from the top.
Jason and Freddy share another crucial factor, namely - they were wronged and are out seeking revenge. Jason was brutally teased as a child, Freddy was lured by the parents of his victims to a building, where he was set on fire and burned to "death." Michael, on the other hand, from the beginning of his life was just a sociopath with a murderous personality. In the case of Freddy or Jason, I can sympathize with their intentional positions in that if I were treated the way they were, I may consider externalizing my rage on the world in a similar fashion. However, in the case of Michael, it is a little bit harder to sympathize with him because I do not know what it's like to see the human as something to be killed for pleasure. Though it is harder to sympathize with Michael and easier with Freddy and/or Jason, I still have found myself siding or cheering for any one of the three as they slice, chop, hack, and claw their ways through victim after victim.
If your like me and have ever cheered for Michael, Freddy, or Jason, then we must admit that we have cheered for a murderer. Regardless of what Jason or Michael's intentions are for why they kill, the fact is that they are murderers. I have actually watched one of the Friday the 13th films and picked out one of the characters I hated and hoped Jason killed them. Then when Jason actually did kill that character, I would be excited and thankful as if the character deserved it. Moreover, if the killing was especially brutal, namely if the character received a machete through the face, this would enhance my excitement.
If you have made it this far, then we probably have similar experiences. Here is where things get a little complicated, though. We cheer for Freddy, Jason, or even Michael to slaughter their targets, but would you cheer for the 9/11 terrorists, James Holmes (guy who shot up the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado) Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma City bombing), Ted Bundy (serial killer), Jeffrey Dahmer (serial killer), Osama Bin Laden (suspected mastermind behind 9/11), I could go on but you get the point. Did we cheer as the people, who were stuck in the Twin Towers, jumped out of the windows to avoid being burned to death or die of asphyxiation? Would we cheer if we were to watch a replay of the Aurora shooting while people were shot in their faces or delight as a pregnant woman has her stomach ripped open by a bullet causing the fetus to ooze out of the wound? Do you think the juries, who watched the multiple bodies Dahmer chopped up to consume carried out of his apartment, were eating popcorn and relishing in the film? My guess is that the answer to all of the above is "No" we would not cheer, delight, or relish in any of this. So why do we do it in the cases of Freddy, Jason, and Michael?
There are going to be some who are chomping at the bit to make this argument, which is as follows: Jason, Freddy, and Michael are fictitious characters in fictitious movies not grounded in reality whatsoever. The movies do not even pretend to depict real life events. In other words, Freddy, Jason, and Michael are just simply not real and neither are the characters they kill or the plots they carry out. However, those people who jumped out of the Twin Towers, the victims in the Oklahoma City bombing, Holmes' gunshot victims were real. Those events actually happened and those victims actually died. Cities, communities, and families were ripped apart, destroyed, and annihilated due to the acts of a few or single actors. There is a difference between real life events and consequences and fictitious events and consequences. One should not conflate the two or argue that the two are similar.
While I am sympathetic to this argument, there is a nagging itch I have to make another argument which is as follows: Jason, Freddy, and Michael are murderers. When I cheer them for their accomplishments, I am cheering murder. Yes, the murder is pretend; however, the object of my delight is murder nonetheless. Murder, I argue, is a concept which transcends the realm of fiction. Murder is supposed to be bad, wrong, evil, immoral etc. regardless of where, when, how, or to whom it happens. A note must be made here that justified homicide i.e. self-defense or defense of others is not murder, it is justifiable homicide; there is an argument that they are different both morally and legally. When I cheer Jason, Freddy, or Michael I am blurring my normal moral evaluations and engaging in behavior that would otherwise illicit condemnation from others and from myself as well. Yet, when my friends and I watch Jason, Michael, and/or Freddy dice someone up with a cleaver, machete, or in Freddy's case that wicked claw he has for a hand, and cheer we feel neither guilt nor shame or condemn each other or ourselves for this behavior. Are we immoralists?
If you accept the premise that the concept of murder is a transcendental one and is bad, wrong, evil, immoral at anytime in anyplace, as I have been taught through my experience living in the world, then I need to justify my tendency to side with Jason, Freddy, or Michael when they murder their victims. Perhaps, I side with them because I do not wholeheartedly believe that murder bad, wrong, immoral evil etc.? Do these kinds of movies speak to a deeper level of consciousness, or perhaps the unconscious, within us? They may allow us to indulge in our more animalistic tendencies for violence, destruction, and carnage. Siding with Jason, Freddy, and/or Michael could be a way of appreciating the suppressed inner killer that is shadowed by prohibitive moral judgments. How many times have you been cut off in traffic and wanted to unleash a furry of anger toward the person guilty of the infraction, but didn't? Watching Jason, Freddy, and/or Michael murder at will may allow us to vicariously appreciate real unadulterated violence without real consequences.
If your like me and have ever cheered for Michael, Freddy, or Jason, then we must admit that we have cheered for a murderer. Regardless of what Jason or Michael's intentions are for why they kill, the fact is that they are murderers. I have actually watched one of the Friday the 13th films and picked out one of the characters I hated and hoped Jason killed them. Then when Jason actually did kill that character, I would be excited and thankful as if the character deserved it. Moreover, if the killing was especially brutal, namely if the character received a machete through the face, this would enhance my excitement.
If you have made it this far, then we probably have similar experiences. Here is where things get a little complicated, though. We cheer for Freddy, Jason, or even Michael to slaughter their targets, but would you cheer for the 9/11 terrorists, James Holmes (guy who shot up the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado) Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma City bombing), Ted Bundy (serial killer), Jeffrey Dahmer (serial killer), Osama Bin Laden (suspected mastermind behind 9/11), I could go on but you get the point. Did we cheer as the people, who were stuck in the Twin Towers, jumped out of the windows to avoid being burned to death or die of asphyxiation? Would we cheer if we were to watch a replay of the Aurora shooting while people were shot in their faces or delight as a pregnant woman has her stomach ripped open by a bullet causing the fetus to ooze out of the wound? Do you think the juries, who watched the multiple bodies Dahmer chopped up to consume carried out of his apartment, were eating popcorn and relishing in the film? My guess is that the answer to all of the above is "No" we would not cheer, delight, or relish in any of this. So why do we do it in the cases of Freddy, Jason, and Michael?
There are going to be some who are chomping at the bit to make this argument, which is as follows: Jason, Freddy, and Michael are fictitious characters in fictitious movies not grounded in reality whatsoever. The movies do not even pretend to depict real life events. In other words, Freddy, Jason, and Michael are just simply not real and neither are the characters they kill or the plots they carry out. However, those people who jumped out of the Twin Towers, the victims in the Oklahoma City bombing, Holmes' gunshot victims were real. Those events actually happened and those victims actually died. Cities, communities, and families were ripped apart, destroyed, and annihilated due to the acts of a few or single actors. There is a difference between real life events and consequences and fictitious events and consequences. One should not conflate the two or argue that the two are similar.
While I am sympathetic to this argument, there is a nagging itch I have to make another argument which is as follows: Jason, Freddy, and Michael are murderers. When I cheer them for their accomplishments, I am cheering murder. Yes, the murder is pretend; however, the object of my delight is murder nonetheless. Murder, I argue, is a concept which transcends the realm of fiction. Murder is supposed to be bad, wrong, evil, immoral etc. regardless of where, when, how, or to whom it happens. A note must be made here that justified homicide i.e. self-defense or defense of others is not murder, it is justifiable homicide; there is an argument that they are different both morally and legally. When I cheer Jason, Freddy, or Michael I am blurring my normal moral evaluations and engaging in behavior that would otherwise illicit condemnation from others and from myself as well. Yet, when my friends and I watch Jason, Michael, and/or Freddy dice someone up with a cleaver, machete, or in Freddy's case that wicked claw he has for a hand, and cheer we feel neither guilt nor shame or condemn each other or ourselves for this behavior. Are we immoralists?
If you accept the premise that the concept of murder is a transcendental one and is bad, wrong, evil, immoral at anytime in anyplace, as I have been taught through my experience living in the world, then I need to justify my tendency to side with Jason, Freddy, or Michael when they murder their victims. Perhaps, I side with them because I do not wholeheartedly believe that murder bad, wrong, immoral evil etc.? Do these kinds of movies speak to a deeper level of consciousness, or perhaps the unconscious, within us? They may allow us to indulge in our more animalistic tendencies for violence, destruction, and carnage. Siding with Jason, Freddy, and/or Michael could be a way of appreciating the suppressed inner killer that is shadowed by prohibitive moral judgments. How many times have you been cut off in traffic and wanted to unleash a furry of anger toward the person guilty of the infraction, but didn't? Watching Jason, Freddy, and/or Michael murder at will may allow us to vicariously appreciate real unadulterated violence without real consequences.
Do you think cheering for Jason, Freddy, or Michael is wrong or immoral. Is it okay to do this?
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