'American Scary' documents a cultural obsession with horror in the United States

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4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2024

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

Horror and scary stories are part of a long American tradition that dates back to the Salem witch trials. Columbia professor and cultural historian Jeremy Dauber traces this legacy in a new book, American Scary, from the fears of early English settlers to contemporary horror media like the films of Jordan Peele. The book draws surprising connections between the way collective fears are represented in seemingly disparate literature, like in the works of authors like Frederick Douglass and Edgar Allen Poe. In today's episode, Dauber speaks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about how some of our most monstrous figures have changed shape over the generations while staying rooted in core fears. Dauber also argues that what scares us–whether zombies, vampires, witches or our neighbors–is representative of the deepest anxieties of our time.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong and a happy Halloween to you from us at the pod.
0:08.1	You know, there's this idea that horror reflects us as a society, right? That what is popular in horror is related to the anxiety of the day.
0:16.7	An uptick in vampires means we're anxious about sex, killer robots mean we're anxious about
0:22.1	technology. Slashers mean we're anxious about sex again. Writer Jeremy Dobber has mapped these
0:28.8	horror trends to fears of the day throughout American history in his book American Scary,
0:33.8	a history of horror from Salem to Stephen King and beyond.
0:41.7	And in this interview with NPR's Aisha Roscoe, he talks about how these trends and fears change over time, how our fears of witches in the Puritan era are slightly different from
0:47.8	our fears of witches in the 90s, and how horror is a way to confront these fears without
0:53.2	talking about them directly.
0:55.5	Found out more after the break.
0:58.0	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
1:02.7	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, sources and methods.
1:09.3	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,
1:13.0	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:16.6	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:22.7	What truly scares you?
1:25.7	Is it the dark symphony of the night?
1:28.3	Oh
1:31.3	or maybe that ancient famed vampire who conducts their song.
1:37.3	Listen to them.
1:39.3	Children of the night.
1:41.3	Perhaps your fear is closer to home, like a psycho.
	...

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