Horror Joy
Two Penn State Altoona faculty take a deep dive into horror in hopes of finding joy lurking in the shadows.
Puppies. Babies. Family. 一本好书——凡是能给人带来欢乐的东西.
Horror? Not usually on the list.
Here’s the thing, though. 即使你不喜欢被吓着, 或者即使你不喜欢血腥或怪诞, there is still enjoyment to be found in the genre: maybe it’s just a matter of looking at it differently.
That’s what two Penn State Altoona professors are doing with their new podcast, Horror Joy在美国，你可以为快乐而去，也可以为恐惧而留下. 或者，为恐惧而来，为快乐而留.
Brian Onishi and Jeff Stoyanoff are professors and colleagues at Penn State Altoona. Both men trace their love and curiosity for the horror genre all the way back to elementary school.
Stoyanoff first found the genre in old movies that he watched around Halloween like The Blob, Frankenstein, 和希区柯克的经典作品. The Scholastic Book Fair selections helped him discover Goosebumps along with the Bunnicula series. 随着年龄的增长，斯蒂芬·金被列入了他的阅读清单.
Onishi recalls the Goosebumps book series giving him the creeps but also offering elements of mystery and friendship that intrigued him. 十几岁的时候，他还开始读斯蒂芬·金的小说, and eventually, 他对恐怖文学的热爱使他对银幕上的恐怖也产生了热爱.
Now, as an adult, Onishi can put a name, or rather an emotion, 当他陷入恐惧时，他所经历的是快乐. 作为哲学副教授, 他想知道这种反应, wondered if it were strange. But as he looked at how other horror fans and creators talk about and react to it, 他的结论是，快乐实际上是一种很常见的结果. 他想进一步探索这个问题.
做播客的想法是奥西和斯托亚诺夫自然而然地产生的. 他们都是新员工，办公室在同一栋楼里. Quick hallway hellos turned into office chats that turned into conversations that turned into bonding over horror.
Brian Onishi在录音中提供评论 Horror Joy. His fascination with horror was found through reading books in the genre as a child.
Credit: Penn State
The pair wanted to share their own enthusiasm with others through an episodic series, 但是，是什么让他们在众多人中脱颖而出呢?
Horror Joy 不是影评播客还是表演播客. 它也不美化血腥或折磨. Rather, it asks questions about horror: how can we understand the connections and contrasts between horror and joy; what does horror do productively; and what does it mean to find joy in something horrific? 它不仅将恐怖视为一种类型，还将其视为一种艺术形式.
“作为学者，我们可以用一种独特的方式来解开这个问题，”大西说. “我们不再只是害怕，而是享受乐趣. We ask and answer questions and offer new ways to look at the world around us through horror. That's the space that we want to carve out for ourselves and anyone who wants to come along.”
Horror Joy 今年6月推出了一集关于经典电影《十大网投平台信誉排行榜》的剧集. It was perfect timing, coinciding with the movie’s fiftieth anniversary and Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week. 奥西和斯托亚诺夫研究了孤立性的概念，并研究了种族, gender, and even sexuality, 这一切都发生在一条威胁着整个岛屿的杀人鲨鱼中间.
So far, the pair have tackled the topics of religious horror, apocalyptic horror, and meta-horror. 其他几集还采访了作者Paul Trembley, Kelly J. Baker, and Eric LaRocca.
“Everything about this, 从准备到录制和剪辑, has been a ton of fun,” says Onishi. “Another big payoff for me is that horror creators have said yes to being on the podcast. 能和他们谈论这一类型和他们的作品真是太棒了.”
杰夫·斯托亚诺夫在播客节目中说道. 他对恐怖片的热爱来自于小时候看的老电影.
Credit: Penn State
Stoyanoff, an assistant professor of English, says academics are often accused of ruining things. “人们会说，你能不能看一部电影，让它成为一部电影? 你能读一本书，让它成为一本书吗? 你一定要想这么多吗? But I find joy when something makes me consider my perspective or question my beliefs and then reaffirm or change them based on what I discover in the process.”
There is plenty to unpack and examine with the creative and compelling ideas horror can offer. Further, it often mimics society and articulates our anxieties over things like the economy, leadership, climate change, immigration, religion, and natural disasters.
“I think that can really influence our understanding of ourselves,” says Onishi. “It forces us to examine how we experience the world around us and to think about horror as transgressive. 它是如何推动我们的社会和思想的? 它是如何推翻我们之前的想法的? 在某种程度上，恐怖把我们从我们的世界中拽出来，又把我们推回去.”
奥尼西和斯托亚诺夫认为，这个过程充满乐趣. They believe there is joy in the destruction of our world in the hopes that something new will emerge, 想象一个超越我们当前恐惧的世界是一种快乐.
The other biggest, and perhaps most important, 来自播客的快乐是通过它和围绕它建立的社区.
“There's something really important about community, particularly post COVID,” says Onishi. “讨论恐怖真的很有趣, finding common ground, 分享不同的解释和观点.”
That conversation and exchanging of ideas has been exciting for both Onishi and Stoyanoff, guests of Horror Joy, and its listeners.
Since the pilot episode, 下载量一直在稳步增长, 而来自听众的有益的评论和批评, former and current students, 其他学者也在聚集.
肯定有那么一个人, 但我还是不喜欢恐怖片, 至少已经开始欣赏它了吗.
Stoyanoff’s father-in-law, Jim, finds zero joy in horror but, wanting to be supportive, began listening to episodes. He found himself analyzing his aversion and came to realize that it’s because he likes to be in control and horror often makes us feel out of control.
“和他进行这样的对话很有趣, to see him looking at horror from a new perspective and get something productive out of thinking about it,” says Stoyanoff. “看到这一切因为播客而发生是很有趣的.
Jim, by the way, is now an enthusiastic, if not joyful, follower of the podcast.
当Onishi和Stoyanoff展望未来时 Horror Joy，他们有很多选择可以考虑. 他们正在想办法把它融入到他们的教学中, 包括他们正在为2025年春季学期共同开发的一个. Weird Tales is a gen-ed course available to students across the Commonwealth and focuses on horror and supernatural fiction. Onishi and Stoyanoff are hopeful faculty at Penn State Altoona and other institutions will find ways to use the podcast in classes such as film, literature, and religion.
Onishi and Stoyanoff hope Horror Joy might also provide opportunities for them to engage students in undergraduate research at Penn State Altoona. Working on a project with a newer medium like a podcast would provide students with real-world experience to take into their chosen career field.
As far as podcast content, Onishi and Stoyanoff have several ideas for episodes that include themes and roundtables. They’re looking at using a brand and media production company to help grow the podcast which could lead to collaborations with other podcasters and academics in the field.
大西说:“我们可以把这个播客带向很多方向. “And with more and more coming from the genre so often, we have almost endless aspects to explore.”
当然，这是一件值得高兴的事情.
