Overview

Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2023 The Myth of Harm engages and analyses controversies generated by horror that examines some of the most high-profile media debates around the issue of whether or not horror texts corrupt children. The horror genre has endured a long and controversial success within popular culture. Fraught with accusations pertaining to its alleged ability to harm and corrupt young people and indeed society as a whole, the genre is constantly under pressure to suppress that which has made it so popular to begin with - its ability to frighten and generate discussion about society’s darker side. Recognising the circularity of patterns in each generational manifestation of horror censorship, The Myth of Harm draws upon cases such as the Slenderman stabbing and the James Bulger murder amongst many others in order to explore the manner in which horror has been repeatedly cast as a harmful influence upon children at the expense of scrutinising other more complex social issues. Focusing on five major controversies beginning in the 1930’s Golden Age of Horror Cinema and ending on a more contemporary note with Cyber-Gothic horror – this book identifies and considers the various myths and false hoods surrounding the genre of horror and question the very motivation behind the proliferation and dissemination of these myths as scapegoats for political and social issues, platforms for “moral entrepreneurs” and tools of hyperbolae for the news industry.

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9781501378287

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Reviews

A necessary and thorough look at how fears about horror and violent media rise and fall through history. The real horror is how often bad science and politics creates real scares for the general public. * Christopher J. Ferguson, Professor of Psychology, Stetson University, USA * Arguments for the censorship of certain kinds of films, videogames, comics and websites are frequently based on the claim that they are harmful - particularly to children. The great value of Sarah Cleary's book is that it not only explodes many of these claims, but demonstrates how the myth of harm has always operated as part of much wider strategies of social control and cultural policing. * Julian Petley, Honorary and Emeritus Professor of Journalism, Brunel University London, UK * This is an important book. In a period of renewed moral panics, and of very muddy thinking about issues of censorship, freedom of speech, the dangers of the wrong kind of popular culture in the wrong hands, and anxieties about what all this might do to our children, The Myth of Harm helps us to see more clearly. Sarah Cleary is a scholarly and nuanced critic, and yet utterly uncompromising in her historical and cultural analysis of the intellectual failings and hidden agendas of moralistic critiques of horror. * Darryl Jones, Professor of Modern British Literature and Culture, Trinity College, Ireland *

A necessary and thorough look at how fears about horror and violent media rise and fall through history. The real horror is how often bad science and politics creates real scares for the general public. * Christopher J. Ferguson, Professor of Psychology, Stetson University, USA *

A necessary and thorough look at how fears about horror and violent media rise and fall through history. The real horror is how often bad science and politics creates real scares for the general public. * Christopher J. Ferguson, Professor of Psychology, Stetson University, USA * Arguments for the censorship of certain kinds of films, videogames, comics and websites are frequently based on the claim that they are harmful – particularly to children. The great value of Sarah Cleary’s book is that it not only explodes many of these claims, but demonstrates how the myth of harm has always operated as part of much wider strategies of social control and cultural policing. * Julian Petley, Honorary and Emeritus Professor of Journalism, Brunel University London, UK * This is an important book. In a period of renewed moral panics, and of very muddy thinking about issues of censorship, freedom of speech, the dangers of the wrong kind of popular culture in the wrong hands, and anxieties about what all this might do to our children, The Myth of Harm helps us to see more clearly. Sarah Cleary is a scholarly and nuanced critic, and yet utterly uncompromising in her historical and cultural analysis of the intellectual failings and hidden agendas of moralistic critiques of horror. * Darryl Jones, Professor of Modern British Literature and Culture, Trinity College, Ireland *

Author Information

Sarah Cleary is a media consultant, lecturer and development executive, specialising in the field of horror, based in Ireland.

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