Laurier student believes fear would exist without films

When a movie such as 2012 or Capitalism: A Love Story is put into public consumption, nothing but fear is administered to those who view it.

Lisa Gurney, a first year student at Wilfrid Laurier University's Brantford campus is voicing her opinions on apocalyptic and fear mongering films.

When asked about films that exploit fears, Gurney states, "I believe that [these films] are exploiting fears and also creating fears of their own. As more people hear about the movie [2012] and where it stems from, they are going to wonder whether the world is actually going to end ... this can cause a fear in society."

Though she admits that without these movies, apocalyptic theories and fears would not be as wide spread, they would still exist. "I think that it is human nature to fear what is unknown. As long as people have the ability to communicate, then they can still gossip amongst themselves. Even if a fear is based on a rumour someone decided to spread, until they dig deeper into an issue, then they aren't going to know the truth."

Gurney goes on to relate a situation such as a fear mongering film to a bomb rumour within a school. She elaborates, explaining that the general public would be the students in the school, who are being guided by their teachers - these films. The "bomb squad" would be the experts, such as NASA scientists, and researchers, who try to defuse the problem (or "bomb") and get the truth out to both the children and their teachers.

When faced with the two common forms of fear inducing movies - fictional versus documentary - Gurney states, "I think that it's always better to be blunt and come out with what you mean. Yet when it comes to fiction, there is also more drastic effects that you can spin into the story to cause the audience to walk away [with a] feeling [of wonder]. So [I believe that] both can be equally effective since they can tie into one another."

While Gurney is not necessarily pro apocalyptic films, she does believe that these movies are also a source of entertainment. "One person's fear may be another man's salvation. In other words, everyone has different views and just because something may be made to invoke fear, others may find comfort in it or find it interesting. It will effect different people in different ways. And fear, like any emotion, is a reaction which sometimes is all a person is looking for; a reaction to the information being presented."