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Q&A When does something become "torture porn"?

I've heard this term thrown around sometimes in a derisive way (obviously), and usually not just to refer to Saw movies. I don't remember who it was, but I remember someone saying how the movie "Lo...

3 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by noClue‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Question genre narrative
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:50:40Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/36200
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar noClue‭ · 2019-12-08T08:50:40Z (almost 5 years ago)
I've heard this term thrown around sometimes in a derisive way (obviously), and usually not just to refer to Saw movies. I don't remember who it was, but I remember someone saying how the movie "Logan" is "dark and depressing, but never truly descends into torture porn", and it made me think about my own stories. I put my characters through a lot of misery, and I kinda fear now that I'm headed into that "territory".

So... how much misery can you put your characters through before it becomes "just" torture porn? Is there a kind of misery you should avoid in story telling to avoid being labelled as such?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-05-17T10:28:19Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 6