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Amonimus (Sergeant)
14th Jan, 2024 09:20:08 PM

This edit reason makes no sense to me.

~Lightysnake

e: Apparently they can't post.

Edited by Amonimus TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
AudioSpeaks2 (Greenhorn)
14th Jan, 2024 09:27:38 PM

^ Yeah, in that case

Here was their response/reasoning as to why they don't think the film counts as Splatter Horror

I'm not saying religious horror can't qualify, but I don't see how a pretty straight religious drama passion play can be classified as splatterpunk

MOD EDIT: Do not post the contents of PMs without permission.

Edited by GastonRabbit Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation project
Ravok Since: Jun, 2015
14th Jan, 2024 11:30:39 PM

Can't personally say I've ever considered nor seen many folks consider this film a legitimate "horror" movie let alone splatter. Horrified by what it showcases, sure, but not horror. It's a historical epic about someone's suffering, yeah, but that doesn't really qualify it for splatter, at least IMO. Braveheart has a drawn-out torture scene; Schindler's List is all about the horrors of the holocaust; so on and so forth, but they aren't really considered "horror" as much as "historical epics with incredibly dark content/sequences", and I don't think Passion should be listed under such, nor "Splatter Horror" put right at the start of its article like that's something's it's widely accepted as. Not IMDB, or Letterboxd, or Google, or Rotten Tomatoes list the film as horror—let alone splatter horror—so I don't really think there's much precedent for it. If we want to list it in the tropes as something some interpret it as, that's one thing, but I personally would advocate against introducing the article with "it's a Biblical epic, oh also btw splatter horror."

Edited by Ravok Tonight I dine on monkey soup.
AudioSpeaks2 (Greenhorn)
14th Jan, 2024 11:38:50 PM

^ If we're going by horror by this very wiki's definition it's (from Horror)

A genre of fiction that exploits the Primal Fears of viewers with things ranging from the Uncanny Valley, Body Horror, and Dramatic Irony AKA Suspense to cause the viewer anxiety, fear, and ultimately thrills.

Now, Passion isn't really about "thrills" or "anxiety", but it absolutely is about fear and ultimately pity.

In the case of Splatter Horror's definition, it is

...a type of horror that depends on violence and gore to accentuate the vulnerability of the human body and the art of its graphic dismemberment.

Passion very much uses the vulnerability of the human body to show that even someone as powerful and wise as Jesus Christ was ultimately also just a man and therefore this graphic violence is meant to shock the audience into realizing just how brutal his final days were; to show that this truly was a sacrifice of the highest order. It's not sanitizing it like many other depictions of the passion that show less gore, Gibson's focus on gore and brutality of a man getting tortured is clearly part of the film's appeal and its point.

It is, by the genre's definition, Splatter Horror, it just so happens that this one centers on the Christ.

Edited by AudioSpeaks2 Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation project
UFOYeah Since: Mar, 2022
15th Jan, 2024 01:24:56 AM

People seem a bit iffy on whether or not the film truly qualifies as Splatter Horror, but there's no way your edit was vandalism. Perhaps a notifier is in order for Lightysnake, since there's a big difference between "this example doesn't fit the trope's criteria" and "this is vandalism".

DoktorvonEurotrash Since: Jan, 2001
15th Jan, 2024 03:33:46 AM

A film about the passion of Jesus is not Splatter Horror. And I'm not even religious.

Your edit wasn't vandalism, though, even if I disagree with it.

It does not matter who I am. What matters is, who will you become? - motto of Omsk Bird
43110 (Striking Back)
15th Jan, 2024 07:35:36 AM

Not necessarily vandalism but I have to concur on the film not being an example.

Willbyr MOD (Y2K)
15th Jan, 2024 07:39:56 AM

^^ Agreed on all counts.

MurlocAggroB Since: May, 2015
15th Jan, 2024 07:55:31 AM

Also agreed. Clearly not vandalism, but I also wouldn't include Splatter Horror in the opening paragraph. I think that trope implies a sort of shlockiness that doesn't match what Passion is trying to be.

I kinda get why Lightysnake might have thought it was vandalism, though. A bad-faith reading of the edit could come off like bashing the film.

StarSword Since: Sep, 2011
15th Jan, 2024 11:15:02 AM

I concur, a merely gory movie is not Splatter Horror. The Passion of the Christ is merely a passion play played completely straight with realistic injury effects.

Permission to remove it from the Splatter Horror page?

Edited by StarSword
Ravok Since: Jun, 2015
15th Jan, 2024 01:12:50 PM

I'm in support of removing it. I maintain that it doesn't fit any of the parameters of the genre except "incredibly brutal violence", which is not a qualification for Splatter Horror by its lonesome.

Tonight I dine on monkey soup.
StarSword Since: Sep, 2011
15th Jan, 2024 01:17:42 PM

Looks like we have at least five tropers including a mod agreeing it's not an example of the genre, counting myself, so it's now off the index.

Edited by StarSword
AudioSpeaks2 (Greenhorn)
15th Jan, 2024 01:29:19 PM

^ If not Splatter, could the film at least be considered Religious Horror or at least horror as a secondary genre?

A film being primarily a drama doesn't disqualify it being horror. Hereditary and The Exorcist are as much dramas as they are demonic possession horror.

Edited by AudioSpeaks2 Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation project
StarSword Since: Sep, 2011
15th Jan, 2024 01:36:50 PM

^I don't think it is a horror movie, though: as I said before, it's a passion play with realistic wound effects. It's intended to show the anguish and torture that Jesus went through at His execution for the (literal) benefit of Christians, not to terrify them or gross them out.

Octoya Since: Jul, 2014
15th Jan, 2024 01:37:40 PM

I think the fact that you had to caveat that this film isn't about anxiety or thrills in your argument says something about how much it fits. For splatter and torture porn movies the entire point is to thrill and horrify the audience with the gore. The gore itself is the point. If the gore in Passion is as you say a vehicle to help the audience understand and feel pity for Jesus' sacrifice, then it isn't the point. It is a way of getting the actual point across.

You're looking too much at the literal words in the opening paragraph of Splatter Horror and not at the way the genre functions as a whole.

I can believe you added this to the page in good faith upon reading your explanation, but I'm sorry, if I saw this get added out of the blue I 100% would have also thought it was vandalism from someone jokingly misrepresenting this movie.

Edit: Ninja'd but yeah, it doesn't sound like a horror movie at all. You can have a dramatic horror movie, but having horrific things happen in your dramatic movie does not make it a horror film, just as there are also horror films out there that don't feature death or injury of any kind.

Edited by Octoya
AudioSpeaks2 (Greenhorn)
15th Jan, 2024 01:59:57 PM

Alright, it seems the majority of tropers don't think this is a horror film.

It's fine, I'll remove it from the horror films index and then we can lock this as resolved.

Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation project
43110 (Striking Back)
15th Jan, 2024 05:58:36 PM

I see the dialogue on the vandalism got brought up again... I agree with Octoya. I would have been surprised to see that on the trope's page right at the forefront and would have thought the same if I didn't know the film was being misused on the main Splatter Horror page.

Edit: Also just to make sure everything’s kosher here, Audio did you get permission to share the PM you got from the other user?

Edited by 43110
GastonRabbit MOD (General of TV Troops)
16th Jan, 2024 02:07:53 PM

Commented out the PM text in this post because posting other users' PMs without permission is not allowed (I checked and permission was neither given nor requested).

Edited by GastonRabbit Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
AudioSpeaks2 (Greenhorn)
16th Jan, 2024 02:20:28 PM

^ Oh shoot, I apologize for that. I promise to ask permission next time.

Edited by AudioSpeaks2 Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation project
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