User:LinguistAtLarge/Carnography

Carnography (also carno ) refers to excessive or extended scenes of carnage, violence, and gore in media such as film, literature, and images. It is an obsession with the human body that "suggests a connection between horror and pornography", often referring to to hard-core horror films. Carnography is taboo, exposes the secrets of the flesh, and is relegated to the status of a disreputable genre. It has been described as "nastily impure work", "splatter-obsessed hard core horror", "violent equivalent of pornography", and "watching flesh fly". Carnography refers to gore-filled horror films, that like pornography, have a "superfluous plot" in which characters are "initiated, only to be discarded", and the gore seems to be the only reason the film exists. Pornography and carnography share the feature of close, intimate physical contact, whether it be to caress or to attack.

The term "carnography" — a portmanteau of the words "carnage" and "pornography" — was used as early as 1972 in Time magazine's review of David Morrell's book First Blood, upon which the Rambo film series is based. Rambo was later described as "carnography" as well.

Carnography can also refer to sexuality or pornography where "appearance, motions, stimulation, and gratification of the genitalia are dealt with". The term "carnography" has been used as a substitute for "pornography" to avoid the negative connotations associated with the latter.