Frights and Delights
Scary films are often unsuitable for children. Children’s films are meant to be light, happy with only temporary dangers. However, many children seek out films designed to scare them, indulging in the horror genre, as an act of childhood rebellion or a rite of passage. Dark fantasy films such as Labyrinth, Return to Oz, and Coraline offer threatening villains and a creepy atmosphere while speaking directly to children and tapping into their fears and anxieties. Scary films, and the act of being scared, are as pleasurable to children as to adult horror movie fans. Why do these films appeal to young audiences?
Dark fantasy films create alternate worlds, distinct from our own, that explore the inner fears and anxieties of their protagonists. These worlds are threatening, with creepy aesthetics and a sinister atmosphere. By placing the adventures within an alternative world the fear is less direct.
Compare, for instance, the difference between the 'real world’ of Depression-era Kansas and the fantasy world of Oz in Return to Oz. The real-world horror of Dorothy being institutionalized is particularly scary as it is based in reality – children did undergo electro-shock therapy in an attempt to cure them.
By contrast, the horrors in Oz – the sinister Wheelers or the head-switching witch – may be genuinely frightful but are distanced from the child audience’s experiences. These scares are not based in reality, but abstracted, so a child viewer can process these emotional responses in a safe environment, where the horror is removed from their everyday world.
While these fantasy worlds are hostile and dangerous, they also are escapist in nature. The heroines want, at least initially, to be there. Coraline journeys to another world where she is adored as an escape from her real-life where she is ignored by her parents. In Labyrinth, Sarah travels to the land of the goblin king after she tries to escape her responsibilities. Dorothy wishes to return to Oz because it’s the only place where she is believed.
The other worlds may be dangerous and scary, but they offer a space where these heroines, who often feel small and powerless, are important. Everyone, even (and especially) villains care about and want them. These narratives offer a power fantasy where the child is the most significant person in the world; they are special, they are integral, and they matter.
These films take aspects relatable and familiar to children and warp them, making what was comforting unfamiliar and sinister. Take, for example, the use of games in Return to Oz and Coraline. The climax of both these films has the villain challenge the young protagonist to a game to save their friends.
In Coraline, she must play hide and seek to find the souls of the ghost children and her parents, traversing the twisted and decomposing utopia the Other Mother had created for her. Return to Oz similarly put Dorothy in a situation where she must sort through clutter and knick-knacks to find her transformed friends.
While these games may be familiar to child audiences, the stakes are much higher, and the rules difficult and arbitrary. The villains are in control, able to create new obstacles or change the parameters of play at a whim, and it is up to the heroine to adapt to these challenges and outwit them.
It is inherently unfair, with the child powerless compared to the villainous adult, but they have no choice but to play. The way these villains act reflects and validates children’s fears and anxieties. As adult figures of responsibility and authority, they contrast the powerless child protagonist.
However, what is significant about these films is that in the end, the children win. While these films are at times scary with elements of danger, the villains can be defeated. Dark and difficult emotions such as fear, powerlessness, and anxiety are a part of children’s existence as much as adults. These films provide a safe space for children to experience and work through these emotions.
Despite an attempt to assume children are innocent and must be shielded from darker media, in fact, many children seek it out and are drawn to such films. While they may scare or upset them, they also show that these emotions are not inherently negative. Dark fantasy films in particular don’t ignore the so-called bad emotions that children may feel but instead acknowledge them and help children work through them. No matter how scary the film is, the evil is defeated, and they are safe.