Who Is Noah Sandborn's Monster Culture: Seven Theses?

Actor Ryan Guzman who plays 19 year old Noah Sandborn in The Boy Next Door clearly represents Jeffrey Cohen’s first thesis from “Monster Culture: Seven Theses”. Cohen’s first thesis states that monsters are always symbols and representations of a culture. They are brought into being because of certain places or feelings of a time period. Monsters are “an embodiment of a certain cultural moment.” (Cohen 4)

Noah Sandborn represents gender roles in today’s society. A cultural problem that Noah Sandborn reveals is sexism, especially through authority and violence. Sexism is defined as prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex. In many ways producers Jason Blum and John Jacobs divulge into the matter

Noah stalks Claire Peterson (Kevin Peterson’s Mother, his neighbor). Noah then goes to state “if I can’t be with you no one can”. Not only does this uncover the mental state of Noah Sandborn, but it also is a clear depiction of how Noah feels like Claire is a worldly object to him. Noah feels that he has power over Claire, mainly due to his good looks and the fact that he was romantically involved for one night. Noah demonstrates the lack of respect men have for women by hacking into her computer to earn a spot in her class, violating Claire’s privacy all together. In an act to feel power over Claire, Noah exposes her personal life by spreading numerous copies of photos of their sexual encounter. In this situation, Noah has come to realize that Claire does not have feelings for him and handles the situation how he sees best. Noah treats Claire as a sex object, constantly trying to get her alone even after he knows it was unwanted. Claire is at one point in the movie locked in a bathroom by Noah Sandborn as he tries to convey the message to her that she is only good for one thing. Noah goes on to say that she should do as he commands or there will be dire consequences to

Examples of this are demonstrated through male sports such as boxing, football, and wrestling. Noah is an emotionally driven teen that finds joy in inflicting pain upon others. The first example of this behavior is seen when he tampers with Kevin’s dad’s car and causes Kevin to wreck and almost get severely injured. Noah killed his parents by tamper with the brakes causing them to wreck and both die. Noah violently murders the vice principal. Noah’s last attempt to show his masculinity was in trying to kill the whole Peterson family. These show masculinity because Noah Sandborn takes these actions to prove that he can handle his own problems. Noah does not feel like women have a place in this world unless it is for his favor. Therefore when the vice principal tricks Noah into thinking she is Claire, and Claire tells him it was an unwanted sexual encounter and gets back together with her ex husband, he decides to control the situations by means of