The idea of the return of the repressed came from Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. He suggests that a repressed memory or feeling that we have hidden away or repressed can re-surface and is expressed in a different way. An example could be of an only child who is about to have a sibling, when they realize they will no longer be the center of attention from the parents they begin to dislike the baby. After showing there dislike they are told off by the parents for this and the feeling is repressed. As this feeling is repressed they feel love for their sibling but unconsciously is angry at the baby and attempts to "love it to death" The child eventually controls the anger and realizes the love for the sibling out ways the anger.
Freud believed that when we enter a society we repress some primitive desires which can "slip out" later (known as Freudian slip) Freud believes there were 2 main ways people can take this fact they either believe its not real and keep it repressed or they embrace it into their life.
This fits well with lots of horrors antagonists such as Jason (Halloween) the child has an urge that instead of repressing he expresses. Horrors love to use things like this to show a horror in all of us.
when an individual represses a "pleasurable" urge it causes and external urge with clashes with the desire causing suffering. it is worth noting that repression plays a large role in metal illness and it is an involuntary process.
Along with repressed memories comes the idea of Freud defense mechanism in which you make excuses to excuse your actions. This works in horror's as most antagonists believe they aren't doing anything wrong. e.g the shining, bar scene where he gives reasons why he hurt his son.
Defense Mechanisms
I feel we like to watch horror films because we enjoy the rush from being scared, we get an adrenaline rush and our heart rate increases. I also think that you put yourself into a horrible situation for an hour and a half and after it your back to normal and you feel like life always amazing because you've been through hell for the last 90 minutes.
This is a well-written and succinct explanation - well done. Do you think that perhaps we like horror because it allows us to explore our own repressed primitive desires and angers?
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