The (Queer) Comfort Horror Genre10/18/2022 I have previously talked about the comfort horror genre in my review of Dead End: Paranormal Park however, a few paragraphs are not nearly enough to cover this emerging way in which to tell stories. The comfort horror genre is a subsection of horror in which the story does not look for the reader to be scared, but rather to see the terrifying happenings of life in a new light and to recognize the beauty in them. It is a way of looking at horror through a unique queer lense; there are a lot of essays and articles detailing the relationship between ostracized communities (in this case LGBT+) and the monstrous. Vampires are gay not only because the fear of sexuality society projected into themselves but also because as gay people we saw ourselves in the same position as them. The comfort horror genre therefore is an extension of queer theory that instead of staying with the “This werewolf can be seen as a trans metaphor” goes to “This werewolf is trans and here is their story about trying to find love in a coffeeshop.” Though that doesn’t mean that the story can’t get scary at times, it is not its primary purpose. I would like to refer to Hello From the Hallowoods podcast description about how scary it is: “A nonbinary frankenstein piecing together their identity, a trans ghost dealing with his occultist father, and an invisible man finding love at first sight are par for the course in the Hallowoods. In its darker moments, the show can explore themes like religious trauma, isolation and grief, and is often bittersweet rather than shocking. It's been described as a show that helps you sleep easier, rather than one that keeps you up at night.” The horror then, rather than coming from a zombie or a ghost, has its origin in humans but unlike other genres that explore this same theme, the way that comfort horror goes about is through an empathetic and sometimes slow reflection of them. As I have alluded to, in this genre the protagonist also tends to be a monster themself or human but cast aside by their peers as a monster would. Though they can overlap, comfort horror and comedy horror differ most strongly in tone. Comfort horror tends to have a medium pace, taking into account the pains that being a ghoul could entail -while having an air of causal optimism- whereas comedy tends to be more fast paced and searches for the fun in being a ghoul. Some media that I will put in a Comfort Horror list are:
Ari Ochoa Petzo is a Mexican-Venezuelan bi genderfluid writer. They like dancing to old music and history. In their free time you can find xem trying to coerce their friends to participate in another of their crazy projects.
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