I had to get a jump on this so I don't fall behind in school so early on in the semester :)
The Clute article is pretty weird. First of all, his writing style is directed at a highly educated audience. Clearly he has studied English because he used words nobody ever says (i.e. what does desiccating torpor even mean?) So that was off-putting and distracted me from the point of the essay.
Even so, his outline of the four-part model of horror seems pretty accurate. Most horror books and movies give you a glimpse of what is so horrible about the story, then give more background information and detail, come to some kind of revelation, then finish with a clear view of what happened after the fact. I do not, however, agree that It's a Wonderful Life should be compared to a horror story. Indeed the four part model often holds true for many other stories but that doesn't make It's a Wonderful Life comparable to Texas Chainsaw Massacre, for example.
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