Halloween in America: From the Eighties to the Present
Jul 4th, 2009 by Benedict Fisher
Halloween celebrations in America probably took off in the eighties, after a slew of “splatter films” and the general acknowledgement that there’s nothing intrinsically or ideologically wrong with the celebration.
A Time For Getting A Good Scare
Halloween was once thought to be a time for rituals and divination, but it is now a time for adults and kids to get creative and simply have some spooky fun. Kids are now the focus of the event, as they without a doubt are the primary consumers of the Halloween season.
Some of the most common attractions that adults come up with during the Halloween season are haunted houses. Some charitable establishments put up and promote haunted houses during the season, where kids can go in and get spooked — and enjoy themselves, too.
Child Psychology
But the timeless questions remain — is it really okay for kids to get scared, especially during such a time as Halloween? Child psychology would agree. It’s been found that when children reach a certain age, they’ll be able to tell which things are real and which aren’t.
This is where the enjoyment of Halloween comes in. If a child can already tell that the things around him or her are merely makeup, masks and cobwebs made of cotton and strings, then he can already enjoy being scared. Understanding plays a key role in safeguarding the mind of a child.
It’s important to remember that what a 5-year old child sees as scary may not exactly match a 12-year old’s. Adults also see things differently from children, so how they put up haunted houses and other spooky attractions should take this fact into account to avoid any untoward situations.
Types of thrills
Halloween is a time to meet up with friends and family. The following are common gathering places during Halloween in North America:
- Temporary haunted houses
- City parks
- Haunted barns
- Ghostly gambols
- Movie theaters
As previously mentioned, many charitable institutions set up temporary haunted houses for the enjoyment of kids and teenagers. But as the 90’s rolled around, bigger companies began cashing in on their own thrill — profit.
By the end of the 90’s, companies have put up over two thousand haunted houses in North America, thrilling the public for a few weeks every Halloween season.
The new boom in the Halloween season also opened the doors for fledgling entrepreneurs to find new ways to entertain people, who are becoming more and more used to the usual scares. For instance, how do you scare teenagers who have gotten used to the usual scary Halloween flicks?
The answer of course, was to bring the scares and thrills closer to home. Kids were no longer scared by conventional goblins and vampires. Nevertheless, they were still scared by the fact that a plain looking man could end up being a crazed psychopath out for blood.
Rats, eyeballs, blood and the prospect of decapitation and evisceration were the motifs that were made dynamic and usable for the purpose of scaring the kids. Sometimes, even adults let loose and allowed themselves to be scared, in this special time of the year.
