82-420: Midnight Voices is a thriller horror novel by John Saul , published by Ballantine Books on May 28, 2002. The novel follows the story of Caroline Evans, who moves with her new husband and children into a new building, which they begin to believe is haunted. Caroline Evans was left traumatized by the death of her husband. Now alone with her two children, she worries how they will make ends meet. However, she
164-496: A moral and a surprise ending . Pleasure Pleasure is experience that feels good, that involves the enjoyment of something. It contrasts with pain or suffering , which are forms of feeling bad. It is closely related to value, desire and action: humans and other conscious animals find pleasure enjoyable, positive or worthy of seeking. A great variety of activities may be experienced as pleasurable, like eating, having sex, listening to music or playing games. Pleasure
246-421: A beautifully tragic story. We take pleasure from many things that are not beautiful, which is why beauty is usually defined in terms of a special type of pleasure: aesthetic or disinterested pleasure. A pleasure is disinterested if it is indifferent to the existence of the beautiful object. For example, the joy of looking at a beautiful landscape would still be valuable if it turned out that this experience
328-404: A case of mistaken identity or wrongful accusation. Thrillers take place mostly in ordinary suburbs and cities, although sometimes they may take place wholly or partly in exotic settings such as foreign cities, deserts , polar regions, or the high seas . These usually tough, resourceful, but essentially ordinary heroes are pitted against villains determined to destroy them, their country, or
410-452: A central role in theories from various areas of philosophy . Such theories are usually grouped together under the label "hedonism". Pleasure is related not just to how we actually act, but also to how we ought to act, which belongs to the field of ethics . Ethical hedonism takes the strongest position on this relation in stating that considerations of increasing pleasure and decreasing pain fully determine what we should do or which action
492-496: A certain type of experience while well-being is about what is good for a person. Many philosophers agree that pleasure is good for a person and therefore is a form of well-being . But there may be other things besides or instead of pleasure that constitute well-being , like health, virtue, knowledge or the fulfillment of desires. On some conceptions, happiness is identified with "the individual's balance of pleasant over unpleasant experience". Life satisfaction theories , on
574-597: A dimension going from positive degrees through a neutral point to negative degrees. This assumption is important for the possibility of comparing and aggregating the degrees of pleasure of different experiences, for example, in order to perform the Utilitarian calculus . The concept of pleasure is similar but not identical to the concepts of well-being and of happiness . These terms are used in overlapping ways, but their meanings tend to come apart in technical contexts like philosophy or psychology. Pleasure refers to
656-516: A distinct style in the 1800s and early 1900s with novels like The Count of Monte Cristo (1848) and The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915). The films of Alfred Hitchcock are critical in the development of the thriller film during the mid-20th century. Some popular 21st-century mainstream examples include: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , Gone Girl , The Girl on the Train , The Woman in
738-555: A good name, power, piety, benevolence, malevolence, memory, imagination, expectation, pleasures dependent on association, and the pleasures of relief. Some commentators see 'complex pleasures' including wit and sudden realisation, and some see a wide range of pleasurable feelings. Pleasure comes in various forms, for example, in the enjoyment of food, sex, sports, seeing a beautiful sunset or engaging in an intellectually satisfying activity. Theories of pleasure try to determine what all these pleasurable experiences have in common, what
820-603: A hedonic coldspot. In rats, microinjections of opioids , endocannabinoids , and orexin are capable of enhancing liking reactions in these hotspots. The hedonic hotspots located in the anterior OFC and posterior insula have been demonstrated to respond to orexin and opioids in rats, as has the overlapping hedonic coldspot in the anterior insula and posterior OFC. On the other hand, the parabrachial nucleus hotspot has only been demonstrated to respond to benzodiazepine receptor agonists. While all pleasurable stimuli can be seen as rewards, some rewards do not evoke pleasure. Based upon
902-412: A learned capacity to delay immediate gratification in order to take the real consequences of our actions into account. Freud also described the pleasure principle as a positive feedback mechanism that motivates the organism to recreate the situation it has just found pleasurable, and to avoid past situations that caused pain . A cognitive bias is a systematic tendency of thinking and judging in
SECTION 10
#1732791014013984-436: A negative sensation, one that negates the usual existential condition of suffering. Pleasure is often regarded as a bipolar construct, meaning that the two ends of the spectrum from pleasure to suffering are mutually exclusive. That is part of the circumplex model of affect. Yet, some lines of research suggest that people do experience pleasure and suffering at the same time, giving rise to so-called mixed feelings. Pleasure
1066-468: A result of a learned association with an intrinsic reward. In other words, extrinsic rewards function as motivational magnets that elicit "wanting", but not "liking" reactions once they have been acquired. The reward system contains pleasure centers or hedonic hotspots – i.e., brain structures that mediate pleasure or "liking" reactions from intrinsic rewards. As of October 2017, hedonic hotspots have been identified in subcompartments within
1148-400: A sensation but as an aspect qualifying sensations or other mental phenomena. As an aspect, pleasure is dependent on the mental phenomenon it qualifies, it cannot be present on its own. Since the link to the enjoyed phenomenon is already built into the pleasure, it solves the problem faced by sensation theories to explain how this link comes about. It also captures the intuition that pleasure
1230-444: A story keeps the person hooked to reading or watching more until the climax is reached. In terms of narrative expectations, it may be contrasted with curiosity and surprise . The objective is to deliver a story with sustained tension, surprise, and a constant sense of impending doom. As described by film director Alfred Hitchcock, an audience experiences suspense when they expect something bad to happen and have (or believe they have)
1312-437: A superior perspective on events in the drama's hierarchy of knowledge, yet they are powerless to intervene to prevent it from happening. Suspense in thrillers is often intertwined with hope and anxiety, which are treated as two emotions aroused in anticipation of the conclusion - the hope that things will turn out all right for the appropriate characters in the story, and the fear that they may not. The second type of suspense
1394-405: A way that deviates from a normative criterion, especially from the demands of rationality . Cognitive biases in regard to pleasure include the peak–end rule , the focusing illusion , the nearness bias and the future bias . The peak–end rule affects how we remember the pleasantness or unpleasantness of experiences. It states that our overall impression of past events is determined for
1476-482: Is good in itself . This position entails that things other than pleasure, like knowledge, virtue or money, only have instrumental value : they are valuable because or to the extent that they produce pleasure but lack value otherwise. Within the scope of axiological hedonism, there are two competing theories about the exact relation between pleasure and value: quantitative hedonism and qualitative hedonism . Quantitative hedonists, following Jeremy Bentham , hold that
1558-404: Is a genre of fiction with numerous, often overlapping, subgenres, including crime , horror , and detective fiction . Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving their audiences heightened feelings of suspense , excitement , surprise , anticipation and anxiety . This genre is well suited to film and television . A thriller generally keeps its audience on
1640-406: Is activated by quite diverse pleasures, suggesting a common neural currency. Some commentators opine that our current understanding of how pleasure happens within us remains poor, but that scientific advance gives optimism for future progress. In the past, there has been debate as to whether pleasure is experienced by other animals rather than being an exclusive property of humankind; however, it
1722-402: Is by pointing out that the hedonic tone of pleasure-experiences is not a regular quality but a higher-order quality. As an analogy, a vividly green thing and a vividly red thing do not share a regular color property but they share "vividness" as a higher-order property. Attitude theories propose to analyze pleasure in terms of attitudes to experiences. So to enjoy the taste of chocolate it
SECTION 20
#17327910140131804-406: Is called anhedonia . An active aversion to obtaining pleasure is called hedonophobia . The degree to which something or someone is experienced as pleasurable not only depends on its objective attributes (appearance, sound, taste, texture, etc.), but on beliefs about its history, about the circumstances of its creation, about its rarity, fame, or price, and on other non-intrinsic attributes, such as
1886-399: Is considered one of the core dimensions of emotion. It can be described as the positive evaluation that forms the basis for several more elaborate evaluations such as "agreeable" or "nice". As such, pleasure is an affect and not an emotion , as it forms one component of several different emotions. The clinical condition of being unable to experience pleasure from usually enjoyable activities
1968-414: Is essential to them. They are traditionally divided into quality theories and attitude theories. An alternative terminology refers to these theories as phenomenalism and intentionalism . Quality theories hold that pleasure is a quality of pleasurable experiences themselves while attitude theories state that pleasure is in some sense external to the experience since it depends on the subject's attitude to
2050-461: Is happening. This variant, originally held by Henry Sidgwick , has recently been defended by Chris Heathwood, who holds that an experience is pleasurable if the subject of the experience wants the experience to occur for its own sake while it is occurring. But this version faces a related problem akin to the Euthyphro dilemma : it seems that we usually desire things because they are enjoyable, not
2132-437: Is how to explain the relation between beauty and pleasure. This problem is akin to the Euthyphro dilemma : is something beautiful because we enjoy it or do we enjoy it because it is beautiful? Identity theorists solve this problem by denying that there is a difference between beauty and pleasure: they identify beauty, or the appearance of it, with the experience of aesthetic pleasure. The ancient Cyrenaics posited pleasure as
2214-421: Is not sufficient to have the corresponding experience of the taste. Instead, the subject has to have the right attitude to this taste for pleasure to arise. This approach captures the intuition that a second person may have exactly the same taste-experience but not enjoy it since the relevant attitude is lacking. Various attitudes have been proposed for the type of attitude responsible for pleasure, but historically
2296-399: Is one of the genre's most enduring characteristics. But what gives the variety of thrillers a common ground is the intensity of emotions they create, particularly those of apprehension and exhilaration, of excitement and breathlessness, all designed to generate that all-important thrill. By definition, if a thriller doesn't thrill, it's not doing its job. Suspense is a crucial characteristic of
2378-484: Is part of various other mental states such as ecstasy , euphoria and flow . Happiness and well-being are closely related to pleasure but not identical with it. There is no general agreement as to whether pleasure should be understood as a sensation, a quality of experiences, an attitude to experiences or otherwise. Pleasure plays a central role in the family of philosophical theories known as hedonism . "Pleasure" refers to experience that feels good, that involves
2460-490: Is regarded as a groundbreaking psychological thriller , introducing innovative suspense-enhancing audiovisual techniques that have become standard and ubiquitous ever since. Gilles (1936) is an early example of a political thriller , and in one of the book's subplots the protagonist Gilles Gambier finds himself embroiled in an left-wing assassination plot against the Prime Minister. The plot falls apart due to
2542-458: Is remembered less negatively due to the reduced pain at the end. This even increases the likelihood for the patient to return for subsequent procedures. Daniel Kahneman explains this distortion in terms of the difference between two selves : the experiencing self , which is aware of pleasure and pain as they are happening, and the remembering self , which shows the aggregate pleasure and pain over an extended period of time. The distortions due to
Midnight Voices - Misplaced Pages Continue
2624-439: Is right. Ethical hedonist theories can be classified in relation to whose pleasure should be increased. According to the egoist version, each agent should only aim at maximizing her own pleasure. This position is usually not held in very high esteem. Utilitarianism , on the other hand, is a family of altruist theories that are more respectable in the philosophical community. Within this family, classical utilitarianism draws
2706-433: Is self-defeating in the sense that it leads to less actual pleasure than following other motives. Sigmund Freud formulated his pleasure principle in order to account for the effect pleasure has on our behavior. It states that there is a strong, inborn tendency of our mental life to seek immediate gratification whenever an opportunity presents itself. This tendency is opposed by the reality principle , which constitutes
2788-485: Is set against a problem . No matter what subgenre a thriller film falls into, it will emphasize the danger that the protagonist faces. The protagonists are frequently ordinary citizens unaccustomed to danger, although commonly in crime and action thrillers, they may also be "hard men" accustomed to danger such as police officers and detectives. While protagonists of thrillers have traditionally been men, women lead characters are increasingly common. In psychological thrillers,
2870-417: Is soon swept off her feet by Anthony Fleming, who embraces her and her children. Soon they all move into a building named The Rockwell , which becomes more bizarre by the minute. First, Caroline's daughter begins to have recurring nightmares that strangers enter her room at night. Then her son tries to inform everyone that a neighbor's recently deceased son is not dead at all, and being held captive somewhere in
2952-437: Is the "...anticipation wherein we either know or else are fairly certain about what is going to happen but are still aroused in anticipation of its actual occurrence." According to Greek philosopher Aristotle in his book Poetics , suspense is an important building block of literature, and this is an important convention in the thriller genre. Thriller music has been shown to create distrust and ominous uncertainty between
3034-399: Is the thesis that all our actions aim at increasing pleasure and avoiding pain. Freud 's pleasure principle ties pleasure to motivation and action by holding that there is a strong psychological tendency to seek pleasure and to avoid pain. Classical utilitarianism connects pleasure to ethics in stating that whether an action is right depends on the pleasure it produces: it should maximize
3116-405: Is usually pleasure of something: enjoyment of drinking a milkshake or of playing chess but not just pure or object-less enjoyment. According to this approach, pleasurable experiences differ in content (drinking a milkshake, playing chess) but agree in feeling or hedonic tone. Pleasure can be localized, but only to the extent that the impression it qualifies is localized. One objection to both
3198-499: Is usually understood in combination with egoism , i.e. that each person only aims at her own happiness. Our actions rely on beliefs about what causes pleasure. False beliefs may mislead us and thus our actions may fail to result in pleasure, but even failed actions are motivated by considerations of pleasure, according to psychological hedonism . The paradox of hedonism states that pleasure-seeking behavior commonly fails also in another way. It asserts that being motivated by pleasure
3280-687: The Mahābhārata may have used similar narrative techniques to modern thrillers. The Three Apples , a tale in the One Thousand and One Nights ( Arabian Nights ), is a murder mystery with multiple plot twists and detective fiction elements. In this tale, a fisherman discovers a heavy, locked chest on the banks of the Tigris river and sells it to the Abbasid Caliph , Harun al-Rashid , who has it broken open - only to discover inside it
3362-414: The dismembered body of a young woman. Harun then orders his vizier , Ja'far ibn Yahya , to solve the crime and find the murderer within three days. This whodunit mystery has also been considered a detective story, though it lacks a sleuth . The Count of Monte Cristo (1844) is a swashbuckling revenge thriller about a man named Edmond Dantès who is betrayed by his friends and sent to languish in
Midnight Voices - Misplaced Pages Continue
3444-424: The incentive salience model of reward – the attractive and motivational property of a stimulus that induces approach behavior and consummatory behavior – an intrinsic reward has two components: a "wanting" or desire component that is reflected in approach behavior, and a "liking" or pleasure component that is reflected in consummatory behavior. Some research indicates that similar mesocorticolimbic circuitry
3526-412: The nucleus accumbens shell , ventral pallidum , parabrachial nucleus , orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and insular cortex . The hotspot within the nucleus accumbens shell is located in the rostrodorsal quadrant of the medial shell, while the hedonic coldspot is located in a more posterior region. The posterior ventral pallidum also contains a hedonic hotspot, while the anterior ventral pallidum contains
3608-440: The peak–end rule happen on the level of the remembering self . Our tendency to rely on the remembering self can often lead us to pursue courses of action that are not in our best self-interest. A closely related bias is the focusing illusion . The "illusion" occurs when people consider the impact of one specific factor on their overall happiness. They tend to greatly exaggerate the importance of that factor, while overlooking
3690-450: The "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax . The cover-up of important information is a common element. Literary devices such as red herrings , plot twists , unreliable narrators , and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is often a villain -driven plot, whereby they present obstacles that the protagonist or hero must overcome. Roots of the genre date back hundreds of years, but it began to develop as
3772-505: The 12th century, Razi 's Treatise of the Self and the Spirit ( Kitab al Nafs Wa’l Ruh ) analyzed different types of pleasure- sensuous and intellectual , and explained their relations with one another. He concludes that human needs and desires are endless, and "their satisfaction is by definition impossible." The 19th-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer understood pleasure as
3854-596: The U.S. in the 1960s and one made in the UK in the 1970s. Although in no way linked, both series consisted of one-off dramas, each utilising the familiar motifs of the genre. The Twilight Zone consists of suspenseful unrelated dramas depicting characters dealing with paranormal , futuristic , supernatural , or otherwise disturbing or unusual events. Characters who find themselves dealing with these strange, sometimes inexplicable happenings are said to have crossed over into "The Twilight Zone". Each story typically features
3936-570: The Window , and the British television series Utopia . Writer Vladimir Nabokov , in his lectures at Cornell University , said: In an Anglo-Saxon thriller, the villain is generally punished, and the strong silent man generally wins the weak babbling girl, but there is no governmental law in Western countries to ban a story that does not comply with a fond tradition, so that we always hope that
4018-465: The building. And when Caroline discovers a shocking secret about Anthony's past, it seems that she too is falling victim to the creeping paranoia affecting her family. Critical reception to Midnight Voices was positive, with Booklist calling it "deeply creepy". Kirkus Reviews called Midnight Voices a "Rosemary’s Remake, with a richly entertaining demonic payoff". AudioFile praised the audiobook's narration by Lee Meriwether, saying that he "creates
4100-406: The case that we desire something first and then enjoy it, this cannot always be the case. In fact, often the opposite seems to be true: we have to learn first that something is enjoyable before we start to desire it. This objection can be partially avoided by holding that it does not matter whether the desire was there before the experience but that it only matters what we desire while the experience
4182-400: The character(s) is placed in a dangerous situation, or a trap from which escaping seems impossible. Life is threatened, usually because the principal character is unsuspectingly or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation. Hitchcock's films often placed an innocent victim (an average, responsible person) into a strange, life-threatening or terrorizing situation, in
SECTION 50
#17327910140134264-468: The chocolate. But this account cannot explain why the enjoyment is linked to the taste of the chocolate and not to the itch. Another problem is due to the fact that sensations are usually thought of as localized somewhere in the body. But considering the pleasure of seeing a beautiful sunset, there seems to be no specific region in the body at which we experience this pleasure. These problems can be avoided by felt-quality-theories, which see pleasure not as
4346-414: The closest connection between pleasure and right action by holding that the agent should maximize the sum-total of everyone's happiness. This sum-total includes the agent's pleasure as well, but only as one factor among many. Pleasure is intimately connected to value as something that is desirable and worth seeking. According to axiological hedonism , it is the only thing that has intrinsic value or
4428-408: The definition of beauty by holding that there is a necessary connection between pleasure and beauty, e.g. that for an object to be beautiful is for it to cause pleasure or that the experience of beauty is always accompanied by pleasure. The pleasure due to beauty does not need to be pure , i.e. exclude all unpleasant elements. Instead, beauty can involve mixed pleasure, for example, in the case of
4510-658: The direction of time. On the positive side, we prefer pleasurable experiences to be in the future rather than in the past. On the negative side, we prefer painful experiences to be in the past rather than in the future. Pleasure is a component of reward, but not all rewards are pleasurable (e.g., money does not elicit pleasure unless this response is conditioned). Stimuli that are naturally pleasurable, and therefore attractive, are known as intrinsic rewards , whereas stimuli that are attractive and motivate approach behavior, but are not inherently pleasurable, are termed extrinsic rewards . Extrinsic rewards (e.g., money) are rewarding as
4592-481: The enjoyment of something. The term is primarily used in association with sensory pleasures like the enjoyment of sex or food. But in its most general sense, it includes all types of positive or pleasant experiences including the enjoyment of sports, seeing a beautiful sunset or engaging in an intellectually satisfying activity. Pleasure contrasts with pain or suffering, which are forms of feeling bad. Both pleasure and pain come in degrees and have been thought of as
4674-409: The experience. More recently, dispositional theories have been proposed that incorporate elements of both traditional approaches. In everyday language, the term "pleasure" is primarily associated with sensory pleasures like the enjoyment of food or sex. One traditionally important quality-theory closely follows this association by holding that pleasure is a sensation. On the simplest version of
4756-440: The grounds that it threatens to turn axiological hedonism into a "philosophy of swine". Instead, they argue that the quality is another factor relevant to the value of a pleasure-experience, for example, that the lower pleasures of the body are less valuable than the higher pleasures of the mind. A very common element in many conceptions of beauty is its relation to pleasure. Aesthetic hedonism makes this relation part of
4838-552: The ineptness of the conspirators, and Gilles ends with the protaganist leaving to fight in the Spanish civil war . The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) by John le Carré is set in the world of Cold War espionage and helped to usher in an era of thriller fiction based around professional spies and the battle of wits between rival spymasters. There have been at least two television series called simply Thriller , one made in
4920-425: The labels " present bias " or " temporal discounting ", refers to our tendency to violate temporal neutrality in regards to temporal distance from the present. On the positive side, we prefer pleasurable experiences to be near rather than distant. On the negative side, we prefer painful experiences to be distant rather than near. The future bias refers to our tendency to violate temporal neutrality in regards to
5002-404: The most influential version assigns this role to desires . On this account, pleasure is linked to experiences that fulfill a desire had by the experiencer. So the difference between the first and the second person in the example above is that only the first person has a corresponding desire directed at the taste of chocolate. One important argument against this version is that while it is often
SECTION 60
#17327910140135084-403: The most part not by the total pleasure and suffering it contained but by how it felt at its peaks and at its end . For example, the memory of a painful colonoscopy is improved if the examination is extended by three minutes in which the scope is still inside but not moved anymore, resulting in a moderately uncomfortable sensation. This extended colonoscopy, despite involving more pain overall,
5166-522: The notorious Château d'If . His only companion is an old man who teaches him everything from philosophy to mathematics to swordplay . Just before the old man dies, he reveals to Dantès the secret location of a great treasure . Shortly after, Dantès engineers a daring escape and uses the treasure to reinvent himself as the Count of Monte Cristo. Thirsting for vengeance , he sets out to punish those who destroyed his life. The first recognizable modern thriller
5248-440: The numerous other factors that would in most cases have a greater impact. The nearness bias and the future bias are two different forms of violating the principle of temporal neutrality . This principle states that the temporal location of a benefit or a harm is not important for its normative significance: a rational agent should care to the same extent about all parts of their life. The nearness bias , also discussed under
5330-496: The other hand, hold that happiness involves having the right attitude towards one's life as a whole . Pleasure may have a role to play in this attitude, but it is not identical to happiness . Pleasure is closely related to value, desire, motivation and right action. There is broad agreement that pleasure is valuable in some sense. Axiological hedonists hold that pleasure is the only thing that has intrinsic value . Many desires are concerned with pleasure. Psychological hedonism
5412-409: The other way round. So desire theories would be mistaken about the direction of explanation. Another argument against desire theories is that desire and pleasure can come apart: we can have a desire for things that are not enjoyable and we can enjoy things without desiring to do so. Dispositional theories try to account for pleasure in terms of dispositions , often by including insights from both
5494-492: The protagonists are reliant on their mental resources, whether it be by battling wits with the antagonist or by battling for equilibrium in the character's own mind. The suspense often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state. An atmosphere of menace and sudden violence, such as crime and murder, characterize thrillers. The tension usually arises when
5576-448: The quality theories and the attitude theories. One way to combine these elements is to hold that pleasure consists in being disposed to desire an experience in virtue of the qualities of this experience. Some of the problems of the regular desire theory can be avoided this way since the disposition does not need to be realized for there to be pleasure, thereby taking into account that desire and pleasure can come apart. Pleasure plays
5658-496: The run), menaced women, psychotic individuals, spree killers , sociopaths , agents , terrorists, police , escaped convicts , private eyes , people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more. The themes frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy , pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder. Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with each other or with outside forces. The protagonist of these films
5740-416: The sensation theory and the felt-quality theory is that there is no one quality shared by all pleasure-experiences. The force of this objection comes from the intuition that the variety of pleasure-experiences is just too wide to point out one quality shared by all, for example, the quality shared by enjoying a milkshake and enjoying a chess game . One way for quality theorists to respond to this objection
5822-404: The sensation theory, whenever we experience pleasure there is a distinctive pleasure-sensation present. So a pleasurable experience of eating chocolate involves a sensation of the taste of chocolate together with a pleasure-sensation. An obvious shortcoming of this theory is that many impressions may be present at the same time. For example, there may be an itching sensation as well while eating
5904-465: The social status or identity it conveys. For example, a sweater that has been worn by a celebrity is more desired than an otherwise identical sweater that has not, though considerably less so if it has been washed. Pleasure-seeking behavior is a common phenomenon and may indeed dominate our conduct at times. The thesis of psychological hedonism generalizes this insight by holding that all our actions aim at increasing pleasure and avoiding pain. This
5986-454: The specific content or quality of a pleasure-experience is not relevant to its value, which only depends on its quantitative features: intensity and duration. On this account, an experience of intense pleasure of indulging in food and sex is worth more than an experience of subtle pleasure of looking at fine art or of engaging in a stimulating intellectual conversation. Qualitative hedonists, following John Stuart Mill , object to this version on
6068-609: The stability of the Free World (especially if it is set during the Cold War ). Often in a thriller movie, the protagonist is faced with what seem to be insurmountable problems in his mission, carried out against a ticking clock, the stakes are high and although resourceful, they face personal dilemmas along the way forcing them to make sacrifices for others. Ancient epic poems such as the Epic of Gilgamesh , Homer's Odyssey and
6150-566: The sum-total of pleasure. Many pleasurable experiences are associated with satisfying basic biological drives, such as eating , exercise , hygiene , sleep , and sex . The appreciation of cultural artifacts and activities such as art , music , dancing , and literature is often pleasurable. Pleasure is sometimes subdivided into fundamental pleasures that are closely related to survival (food, sex, and social belonging) and higher-order pleasures (e.g., viewing art and altruism). Bentham listed 14 kinds of pleasure; sense, wealth, skill, amity,
6232-463: The tense atmosphere of the Rockwell and produces believable voices for the building's creepy inhabitants". Publishers Weekly gave a mixed review, saying that "Readers who appreciate Saul's homage to undead fiction will probably see the plot twists coming, but die-hard devotees should enjoy the chilling, sometimes gruesome goings-on at the Rockwell nonetheless." Thriller (genre) Thriller
6314-420: The thriller genre. It gives the viewer a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, anticipation, and tension. These develop from unpredictable, mysterious, and rousing events during the narrative, which makes the viewer or reader think about the outcome of certain actions. Suspense builds in order to make those final moments, no matter how short, the most memorable. The suspense in
6396-494: The universal aim for all people. Later, Epicurus defined the highest pleasure as aponia (the absence of pain), and pleasure as "freedom from pain in the body and freedom from turmoil in the soul". According to Cicero (or rather his character Torquatus) Epicurus also believed that pleasure was the chief good and pain the chief evil. The Pyrrhonist philosopher Aenesidemus claimed that following Pyrrhonism's prescriptions for philosophical skepticism produced pleasure. In
6478-976: The viewer of a film and the character on screen at the time when the music is playing. Common methods and themes in crime and action thrillers are ransoms , captivities , heists , revenge , and kidnappings . Common in mystery thrillers are investigations and the whodunit technique. Common elements in dramatic and psychological thrillers include plot twists , psychology , obsession and mind games . Common elements of science-fiction thrillers are killing robots, machines or aliens, mad scientists and experiments. Common in horror thrillers are serial killers , stalking , deathtraps and horror-of-personality . Elements such as fringe theories , false accusations and paranoia are common in paranoid thrillers . Threats to entire countries, spies, espionage, conspiracies, assassins and electronic surveillance are common in spy thrillers . Characters may include criminals, stalkers , assassins , innocent victims (often on
6560-701: The wicked but romantic fellow will escape scot-free and the good but dull chap will be finally snubbed by the moody heroine. Thrillers may be defined by the primary mood that they elicit: suspenseful excitement. In short, if it "thrills", it is a thriller. As the introduction to a major anthology says: ...Thrillers provide such a rich literary feast. There are all kinds. The legal thriller, spy thriller, action-adventure thriller, medical thriller, police thriller, romantic thriller, historical thriller, political thriller, religious thriller, high-tech thriller, military thriller. The list goes on and on, with new variations constantly being invented. In fact, this openness to expansion
6642-466: Was Erskine Childers ' The Riddle of the Sands (1903), in which two young Englishmen stumble upon a secret German armada preparing to invade their homeland. The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915) is an early detective thriller by John Buchan , in which an innocent man becomes the prime suspect in a murder case and finds himself on the run from both the police and enemy spies. Fritz Lang 's M (1931)
6724-450: Was an illusion, which would not be true if this joy was due to seeing the landscape as a valuable real estate opportunity. Opponents of aesthetic hedonism have pointed out that despite commonly occurring together, there are cases of beauty without pleasure. For example, a cold jaded critic may still be a good judge of beauty due to her years of experience but lack the joy that initially accompanied her work. A further question for hedonists
#12987