Roller coaster designer Brendan Walker talks about designing thrills.
So is there an overriding definition of thrill?
Yes. I think that we experience thrill as a reward for the perseverance of human life. So, obviously, there’s an evolutionary driver - we evolved a sense of thrill because it helps us escape danger. But in modern life, things have become confused - we’re rarely in real danger, so we have to invent artificial situations in order to experience that reward. Extreme sports are quite obviously a replacement for running away from a lion, but it also becomes very psychologically complex with experiences such as bondage or other fetishes. It sounds a bit of a cliché, but actually I believe that we go looking for thrills because that’s when we have the greatest sense of being alive.
The interview ranges from the genetics of thrill-seeking to the genius of Alfred Hitchcock, and Walker’s comments are pertinent for writers as well as BASE jumpers.
Hitchcock is known as the ‘Master of Suspense.’ What would be the difference between something that’s thrilling and something that’s frightening?
In dictionary terms, the differences are very subtle. But by my definition, thrill has high levels of both arousal and pleasure, whereas fright has high levels of arousal but low levels of pleasure. In terms of pleasure, ‘fright’ is exactly opposite to ‘thrill’. What’s interesting is that, in a horror film, tension and fright are unpleasurable. But from that low point, the pleasure has to increase to get back to “normal.” It’s the release from fright which people find thrilling.
(Via Andrew Sullivan.)
3 responses so far ↓
Brendan Walker // March 31, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Hi Meg,
I’m really pleased this article found it’s way onto a site dealing with media other than ride design. My work with Thrill is really concerned with constructing engaging narratives, which can be applied to any media using a narrative structure.
I am particularly inspired by David Mamet’s work (he wrote a great book called On Directing Film where he details how he structures a film from a series of well crafted cuts), and also the criminologist Jack Katz at UCLA (who also wrote a great book titled The Seductions of Crime, where he dissects crimes of thrill into moment by moment emotional dynamics as experienced by the perpetrator / protagonist). I’m sure you’d find both of these very interesting alongside the Hitchcock reference.
Anyway, nice to have touched a different creative community.
Brendan
Meg // March 31, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Thanks, Brendan. I’m really pleased that I ran across the article. I think you’ve had a spectacular insight — that a thrilling ride will have a suspenseful narrative structure. I’ll definitely check out Mamet’s and Katz’s books. I’ve been influenced by Sol Stein (Solutions for Novelists, Stein on Writing) who emphasizes that writers of fiction can’t succeed by giving readers pretty words, but only by providing an emotional experience. His techniques for heightening tension and suspense have strengthened my own writing. And I go back again and again to Robert McKee’s book, Story, to remind myself about good dramatic structure.
Book reviews often describe thrillers as a “rollercoaster ride.” It was great to hear you explain what makes a good one.
Joel Gunz // March 31, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Hey, love this post! In fact, I just finished blogging about Walker’s ideas about Hitchcock, thrill rides and such here: http://joelgunz-hitchcock.blogspot.com/
Drop on by.
Cheers.
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