How Horror Shows and Films of the 1990s Taught Kids About Empowerment in a Way They Understood

In a surprisingly touching video essay, artist Zane Whitener nostalgically recalled how the rise of horror for children affected and shaped his childhood while growing up in the 1990s. Using a montage of various scary films, shows and animations, Whitener explains the most important lesson that he learned from watching horror as a kid.

…Most horror I think, especially children’s horror, as all good stories are, is about overcoming your adversaries and surviving it’s about saying in the end that there is something wrong but you can overcome it. It’s about empowerment which is a lesson I think all children learn that even though something stands in your way be that a person a monster or even yourself you can always get past that and live to see better days.