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Jane Doe

Professor Justin Grant

ENC 1101 U59

26 October 2015

The Thrills and Chills of Halloween

Trick or treat? Trick or treat? Give me something good to eat. From horror and thrills to

costumes and candy, Halloween has become a widely celebrated holiday for both children and

adults. Theme parks host events during the season to capture the frightening or friendly side of

Halloween. Marketing in family magazines, Walt Disney World advertises Mickey's Not-So-

Scary Halloween Party as an event for children and emphasizes the fun aspect of Halloween.

Universal Studios offers a video advertisement aired on adult television and radio stations for

Halloween Horror Nights that, on the other hand, appeals to young adults and more adventurous

individuals through the influence of fear. Although Disney's wide color spectrum is very

distracting for a clear focus, the advertisement effectively contrasts light and color to create a

cheerful nature for children; similarly, Universal's video embodies the absence of light, repetition

of color, and successful angle of vision to fearfully persuade the audience.

Disney’s photograph advertisement for Mickey’s-Not-So-Scary Halloween Party displays

four subjects dressed in costumes in the foreground and three buildings in the background. The

boy dressed as a scarecrow on the left is about ten years old and has a wide smile on his face as

he looks in the direction ahead of him. Next to the boy is a girl about seven-years old dressed in

a Minnie Mouse costume. Her bright yellow Crocs compliment the enlightened smile on her

face as she looks back at her companion, Dopey. Dopey, the youngest of Snow White’s seven

dwarfs, is holding a colorful mask in his hand along with his traditional green dress and purple

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hat. Behind Dopey, a little girl about five years old wearing a Tinker Bell costume is happily

running after Dopey. While the two children on the left are wearing bright red, Dopey and the

little girl on the right are dressed in green. In celebration of Halloween, each individual carries

an orange jack-o-lantern shaped basket for candy as they all skip merrily toward the same

direction. In contrast with the night sky, Cinderella’s white castle in the background stands

centered in the photograph. The lights pouring out from inside the castle brighten up the

surrounding environment, as well as the lights coming from the two brown buildings on either

side of the castle. The ground looks fairly wet and the area is not crowded with people, but

several individuals are scattered sparingly in the far background with orange baskets as well.

Disney’s fun and enjoyable advertisement uses the scary holiday of Halloween as a magical

experience for children to enjoy, whereas Universal’s approach advertises an extremely

frightening event.

In the video advertisement of Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, the different scenes

add more intensity to the story as it progresses. Beginning with the sound and visual of water

trickling into a puddle, the scene then changes to a blurry dark female figure walking toward the

camera. The eerie audio of the dripping water and rushing winds continue in the background as

the female approaches a helpless couple strapped in chairs centered in a dark and murky

warehouse. Decorated with burning candles, baby dolls, and animals floating inside glass jars,

the warehouse contains jail-like cages with moving figures inside. As the camera zooms in to

the details of the female’s white face, the black diamonds around her yellow eyes and the wide

red smile resemble the Joker. The man and woman in the chairs are unaware of their

surroundings at first, but they are quickly terrified once they see the female joker. As the Joker

begins to play a slower and chilling version of “Pop Goes the Weasel,” the innocent couple

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struggles for freedom as the female Joker spins them around. Short clips of Jason Voorhees with

his classic mask full of holes, bloody zombies, and Freddy Krueger are shown from the

perspective of the spinning victims. As the music comes to an end, the Joker’s laugh echoes

within the warehouse. The Joker pulls a lever that opens the bars containing the monster-like

creatures. Crying and screaming, the couple sits helplessly watching as these terrifying creatures

walk toward them. Ending in suspense, the video alerts viewers with a warning sign that young

children are not recommended due to the severity of horror. Even though this advertisement

suggests a sinister mood while Disney’s advertisement suggests youthful innocence, the context

of both attracts each audience to join in the experience.

While Halloween takes place at night, the use of light throughout Disney's advertisement

adds brightness to create a positive tone. Suggesting a fun and enjoyable experience for children

of all ages, the photograph is filled with luminosity amidst the dark night sky to promote a safe

environment. The light emitting from the two surrounding buildings and the white Cinderella’s

castle in the background are juxtaposed with the dark blue night sky for contrasting effect.

Disney uses the elements of light and darkness to symbolize the contrast between the

lightheartedness of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party with the spookiness of the

Halloween holiday. Using Cinderella’s castle as the prominent source of light, Disney uses the

color white to advocate innocence and security. Through the icon of the radiant castle, the

advertisement offers children a sense of hope that Halloween is not scary but fun and enchanting.

Disney effectively attracts children through the use of strong white lights that shine from the

background toward the direction of the audience because young kids associate light to a happy

experience through their visual senses.

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On the contrary, the absence of light in Universal's advertisement successfully appeals to

an older audience through fright and terror. Universal’s frightening advertisement offers viewers

a different aspect of Halloween from Disney’s joyful advertisement. Taking place in a dark and

suspicious warehouse, the video presents an eerie atmosphere through limited lighting. This

enclosed environment creates a feeling of confinement and entrapment to relate the audience to

the two victims strapped to their chairs. The dark atmosphere of the advertisement created

through the unnatural light and burning candles add suspense while exhilarating terrified

viewers. Due to the dim lighting, the audience encounters difficulty in respect to the use of

props and details throughout the video. The disturbing items of creepy baby dolls and animals

floating inside glass jars excite horror movie fanatics, yet the inability to clearly visualize them

because of the lack of light sets an ominous mood. Although Disney's advertisement embodies

happiness through the contrast of light and Universal's video promotes terror through the lack of

light, both advertisements use color effectively to create balance or variety.

Colors play an important role in the representation of the visual advertisements for

Disney and Universal, yet Disney's use of contrasting colors catches the attention of the youthful

audience. In the foreground, Disney distinctly places the colors red and green adjacent to each

other in the clothing of the individuals to create the maximum level of contrast. The effective

display of red and green in their costumes, as well as the yellow and purple accessories in the

center, call attention to the foreground of the photograph because these complementary colors

bring sharp contrast to each other. Through the selection of these bold and alluring colors that

reflect the energy of children, Disney encourages the audience to participate in the lively

celebration. By centering the attention in the foreground of the photograph, Disney enriches the

advertisement through the vibrancy of colors. In addition to contrast, the advertisement also

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offers balance through the color orange. Orange is appealing to the eye because its bright nature

stimulates emotions of enthusiasm and energy, so Disney places this color in the foreground to

attract children. Embodying joy and excitement, orange is observed in each of the four jack-o-

lantern baskets that the main subjects are carrying. Disney intentionally uses the same basket for

each individual to create unity and harmony between them as they focus on laughter and

enjoyment rather than on fear.

While Disney’s advertisement is filled with bright colors to attract children, Universal's

advertisement aims at establishing mystery and danger through dull and repetitive colors. As the

video begins, the use of dark and murky colors creates the scene for the advertisement. The

monotonous black and grey of the setting is displayed on the victims' shirts to create a gloomy

and suspicious mood for the audience. While most of the video remains dark and mysterious, the

color red seems to constantly stand out as a representation of malice and warning. The female

Joker's wholly red outfit and lipstick, the Joker's Crimson-colored nose and reddish-orange hair,

the flashing red siren, and the red target platform foreshadow evil through the unpleasant

connotation of these details. Through the repetition of colors, Universal's advertisement

successfully persuades the young adult audience to become invested in the video not only as

viewers but also as victims themselves. Universal deliberately creates feelings of anxiety and

helplessness within the viewers because they are motivated by the thrill of suspense.

Furthermore, Disney's use of varied colors and Universal's repetition of a single color welcome

their audiences to become emotionally engaged in their advertisement.

Disney distracts the attention from the foreground through the busy colors, yet the

effective use of horizontal orientation opens the framing to a wider view. Due to the variety of

bright lights and colors, the focus on the four individuals in the foreground is lacking and

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distracts viewers from their smiling expressions. Lost in a sea of colors, these individuals do not

stand out as much as they could to children because of Disney's ineffective ability to focus on

specific objects rather than the advertisement entirely. Though the focus on the foreground is

inadequate, the advertisement's horizontal orientation presents the audience with a spacious

environment. Though the variety of colors may be distracting, Disney’s advertisement attracts

children by promoting the animation of Halloween. The liveliness and abundance of space in the

photograph provide a lighthearted form of the holiday. Disney provides the notion of freedom

and the possibility of new adventures through the vast area of surroundings.

Universal's video, on the other hand, effectively demonstrates the aspect of fear through

the use of close-ups and tracking view perspectives. The advertisement focuses of the horror of

the incapable victims through close-ups so that the audience can easily identify with them as the

monstrous creatures approach. The close angle of vision intensifies the fear shown on their

faces, allowing the adventurous audience to feel uneasy yet captivated. Moreover, the tracking

view used to follow the individuals as they are spun around keeps the focus on them to

emphasize their facial expressions. Displayed through the perspective of the victims, the

tracking view allows the audience to experience the approaching and disturbing monsters first-

hand. The blurred images from the perspective of the couple effectively create a mysterious

mood. By introducing the female Joker as a dark blur, the advertisement offers a dimension of

fear to the next level for the viewers because the suspense builds as the image becomes more

focused. Universal enhances the creepiness of Halloween through camera techniques to

constantly keep the audience engaged. While Disney fails to maintain a concise focus because of

the colorful variety and Universal accurately uses angles and orientation that convey their

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message, both advertisements use have the similar purpose of promoting the event in celebration

of the Halloween spirit.

Disney’s Mickey’s-Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Universal’s Halloween Horror

Nights both concern the general theme of Halloween, yet they target different audiences through

the different rhetorical context representation. While Disney covers the positive and friendly

side of Halloween, Universal Studios covers the adventurous and spooky aspect of the holiday.

Through the contrast of light and color, Disney is able to grab the attention of a youthful

audience. Conversely, the lack of bright lighting and the repetition of only one color attract

young adults through eerie methods. Whereas Disney loses the audience in a mix of bright

colors in regard to focus, Universal's advertisement creates the perfect angles and perspectives

that stimulate mystery. Through these theme park events, Halloween has become a holiday

where a diverse population comes together in happiness or fear to celebrate the mysteries of the

past. Both engaging to the audience, the advertisements celebrate the different characteristics of

the holiday. As individuals stray away from the mystery of the past, Halloween becomes more

central to the suspense of the future.

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Works Cited

Disney's Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. Digital image. Disney World. N.p., n.d. Web.

<https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/magic-kingdom/mickeys-not-so-scary-

halloween-party/>.

Universal's Halloween Horror Nights. N.p., n.d. Web.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xUmZuqtJBE>.