What makes a monster? In media, monsters are often portrayed as terrifying beings that wreak havoc wherever they go. In fact, the definition of monster is “a strange or horrible and often frightening creature” (“Monster”). However, monsters are not always so easy to identify – they exist in virtually every community in society. If to be strange or horrible is to be a monster, then, in a slightly more abstract line of thinking, humans can also be monsters.
Monsters will NEVER ever die: all cultures around the world have them and have had them since people first thought of them. Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Columbia College Chicago, Stephen T. Asma, in his essay, Monsters and the Moral Imagination, describes how we look at and are drawn to monsters. But not just monsters, murderers and psychopaths also. Monsters never age, ranging from the first civilization to now. In Asma's essay he asks, "Why do monsters exist?
In a good story, there are always monsters involved. However, there is more to a good story than just simply monsters. A lot of time and effort goes into creating these monsters and there are many questions the writers must answer in order to make a good story. First, one has to decide who determines who the monsters in the story are. It may very well be, the aliens are normal and the humans are the ones that are the monsters, depending on the story plot itself.
In Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s Monster Culture (Seven Thesis), Cohen analyzes the psychology behind monsters and how, rather than being a monstrous beast for the protagonist of the story to play against, “the monster signifies something other than itself”. Cohen makes the claim that by analyzing monsters in mythology and stories, you can learn much about the culture that gave rise to them. In Thesis 1 of Monster Culture, Cohen proposes that “the monster’s body literally incorporates fear, desire, anxiety, and fantasy”, specifically the fear, desire and anxiety of the cultures that gave rise to it;; fFor example, vVampires, undead, represent a fear of death. Monsters are born of an intense fear, desire, or internal conflict, “at this metaphorical
The fear felt for monsters and ultimately connected to desire. Jeffery Cohen has a clear opinion of this. “We distrust and loathe the monster at the same time we envy its freedom, and perhaps its sublime despair.” They are both terrifying and the heart of fantasies. This accounts for the monster’s popularity.
Monstrosity reveals a lot about how humans think and feel. What one finds monstrous exposes their innermost fears. Monstrosity is that which is unusual, unnatural, and frightening. Monsters show that human nature projects its fears onto visible things, is aghast of the unknown and abnormal, and that a little monstrosity is present in everyone. Humans cast their fears onto monsters to be defeated on screen, in stories, and in between the coovers of books so they can gain a temporary sense of closure.
What scares children and grown people alike? What has remained part of our society as an archetype since the beginning of written literature? Monsters! Most monsters fit a general archetype; almost all monsters are universally hated, viewed as scary, and seen as hideous. Monsters, seen through a lens of fear, are often often are pitted against heroes in adventure stories.
What does it mean to be a monster? Monsters can manifest themselves in a number of ways. Modern day monsters Humans are often described as monsters by the media and Supernatural traits Fear Actions scare us Breaks moral conventions – existence, actions Three different types of monsters in the Greek world. Composites are monsters composed of more than one being whether it be animals mixed with humans or humans mixed with animals Medusa, Centaurs and the Minotaur are all examples of this type. Scale can also characterise something as a monster
Through many decades and years, folklore has been shaping up culture and pretty much said differently over time. Vampires and zombies were the main source of how folklore changed over time, whether it was by stories, the media or how you saw yourself in them everyone had there own aspects of each monster. “ John William Polidori stitched together folklore personal resentment and erotic anxieties into the vampyre, a story that is the basis for vampires as they are understood today” (292). That is how the famous story of vampires started. For zombies in the other hand “ His origins, we learn – we who dabble in the recklessly expanding field of zombie studies – are in Caribbean folk nightmare” (299).
Vampires are a classic and incredibly versatile kind of monster across all kinds of media, certainly not just limited to videogames. A big part of that undoubtedly stems from how many cultures around the world have variations on the vampire present in their folklore – usually in the form of some sort of otherworldly something that swoops in and saps the life force of humans and/or animals before slipping off into the night when they've finished. Sometimes these beings are little more than monstrous animals, sometimes they're overdramatic goth fashion plates, and sometimes they're just regular people who like to chill out with a bloody mary every now and then. You can find a pretty diverse range of vampires in games of course. Maybe too diverse,
In Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s Monster Culture (Seven Thesis), Cohen analyzes the psychology behind monsters and how, rather than being a monstrous beast for the protagonist of the story to play against, “the monster signifies something other than itself”. Cohen makes the claim that by analyzing monsters in mythology and stories, you can learn much about the culture that gave rise to them. In Thesis 1 of Monster Culture, Cohen proposes that “the monster’s body literally incorporates fear, desire, anxiety, and fantasy”, specifically the fear, desire and anxiety of the cultures that gave rise to it; for example, vampires, undead, represent a fear of death. Monsters are born of an intense fear, desire, or internal conflict, “at this metaphorical
They represent the fears, anxiety, desires, and fantasies that a culture has. Buy studying the monsters of a particular time, place, or culture, we can understand more about that culture, and
"Human vulnerability." "Irrational fears." "Hypothetical reasoning. " In Stephen T. Asma's article "Monsters and the Moral Imagination", Asma uses these words to describe the reasons behind the creation of and belief in monsters.
Monsters have been a driving force in human literature for as long as storytelling has existed, and has been the focal point of many tales passed down in time. Some of these monsters have even embedded themselves into our culture and changed with it. With that being stated not all monsters are concrete, many spawn from the hatred and fear created in the mind and put on paper to be dealt with in a way more possible than before. Most people know that a radical pure and evil do exist, and are very prominent in many religions this being another vessel for monsters to manifest themselves. Due to them existing so deep into history a radical change in the view of the monster in things like Frankenstein, Beowulf, and The Death of Arthur are very obvious
As children grow older they are taught to be wary of new threats and they begin to view monsters in a different light. It is no longer a monster in a closest that keeps people on edge at night, but rather stories of serial killers, malicious rapists, and savage terrorists. At some point in their lives, people come to the reality that monsters do not
