Could (Reading About) Being Bad be Good for Us?

Above is a video from author T. Michael Martin about whether or not Horror is good for us as readers and as people. He raises a lot of very good points, with one of the most important, in my opinion, being “can stories affect us?” I for one tend to agree with him in that, if they don’t affect us, then what’s the point?

But why stop at Horror? Can dark stories, be they Horror, Crime, or Noir, provide a service beyond just occupying our vacation hours and providing entertainment? Or are they merely violence for violence’s sake, contributing little much beyond escapism? Do we need them to do more?