Monster Culture - Book Summary

Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, "Monster Culture (Seven Theses)" I would like to suggest that through researching the monsters that different cultures create, I have created a way to read and comprehend those cultures. I present seven theses to help us understand cultures through the monsters they bear, even though this theory is not foolproof and is most definitely not true in EVERY situation. First Thesis: The Body of the Monster Is a Cultural Body Monsters are the physical manifestation of a specific cultural moment, a place, a feeling, and a time that arise at a symbolic crossroads. Studying the monster teaches you about the culture that produced it. Fear, desire, anxiety, and fantasy are all incorporated into the monster's body, giving them life and a certain degree of independence. "That which reveals" and "that which warns" are the definitions of the word "MONSTER." A monster is an embodiment of the fears found in any particular society or culture. They almost act as a window into a culture, akin to a time capsule. The Monster Always Gets Away, Second Thesis Monsters are never truly destroyed in stories, even if they manage to escape at the conclusion. How many stories have heroes faced off against vampires? The monster appears to always disappear, even though we can see the damage it causes and the materials that are left behind, like bones and footprints. He or she is never fully apprehended and comprehended. Every film has a follow-up. How many times will Ripley from the Alien films battle different alien incarnations? How many times will Laurie Schrode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, square off against Michael Meyers? How many opponents will Freddy Kreuger face? Monsters evolve with the times. Consider vampires, for example. Bram Stoker was influenced by Victorian ideals that viewed normal sexual feelings as monstrous and immoral when he was writing the first Dracula novel. He was also influenced by fears of foreigners coming to England and altering the status quo. Numerous novels by various authors feature vampires again, and these authors' influences are not the same as Stoker's. As a result, their vampires adopt additional traits that are indicative of their culture. The undead reappears in each of these tales, dressed in somewhat different attire, to be interpreted in relation to either current social movements or a particular, pivotal incident. Thesis III: Category Crisis Is Heralded by the Monster A herald is someone who forewarns others about impending events by moving ahead of them. You would be the forerunner if someone alerted the lunch staff that your class was about to leave for lunch. The "boxes" we use to organize information are called categories. Things are defined by their categories. We categorize music into genres like pop, country, and hip-hop. Monsters find it difficult to simply fit into any one category in the world. They don't belong there. They are not like anything that is already in existence. The alien from ALIEN is absolutely terrifying and breaks every natural law of evolution. It resembles a human, a dinosaur, a crustacean, and an insect. It defies classification. A werewolf is not a man, nor is he a wolf. A vampire doesn't exist in the real world. The reason monsters are terrifying is that they defy classification. Monsters are frightening because they appear to enjoy defying natural and scientific laws. The ordered rationality of science crumbles in the face of the monster. Monsters are real, and when they show up in places they shouldn't, they make us uneasy. They live on the periphery of civilization. The Monster Resides at the Gates of Difference (Thesis IV) The monster has become flesh from difference and has come to live among us. It is expected to differ greatly from us. It's the other one. It originates from beyond and from the outside. The monster is not like the culture that gave rise to it in terms of politics, race, economy, culture, or sexuality. There are instances when cultures make false claims about the monstrous nature of nonmembers of their group and fabricate tales to support these claims. It is easier for humans to do evil deeds like invading and fighting a war against another group by portraying them as monsters, such as individuals practicing a different religion or coming from a different nation. The invaders then appear to be heroes, vanquishing the monsters. There are numerous instances. Poets writing about the crusades in medieval France portrayed Muslims as demonic creatures with no humanity and beastly features, against whom they, as Christians, were fighting for control of the Holy Land. During the Middle Ages, terrible stories about Jews would circulate throughout other parts of Europe, claiming that they poisoned wells and brought plagues to the cities. The image of Native Americans was one of savagery and animality. In this manner, the pioneers would not have to feel bad about moving westward and stealing their land. The problem is, even in this day and age, incidents of this nature continue to occur! Political leaders who infuriate the populace, like kings or presidents, are occasionally branded as monsters, especially by history itself. Monsters frequently stand for gender politics. Women in particular are expected to behave according to very specific rules in many cultures. Stories about female monsters frequently involve former human women as the monsters. But that human woman has the potential to turn into a monster if she does something that is "unladylike" or that a woman is "not supposed to do." This could be anything from wanting to express her love, marry the husband of her dreams, or simply to have her own opinion. Thesis V: The Monster Surveils the Possible's Directives Monsters are typically used to caution against pursuing uncharted territory. Together, the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park, the giants of Patagonia, and the dragons of Asian customs proclaim that curiosity is more often rewarded than punished. Monsters created by cultures serve as a warning to people to continue living safe and predictable lives. They caution against defying cultural norms and advise staying close to home to avoid being attacked by monsters or turning into one. "Don't cross the line, or bad things will happen," monsters warn. The monster is an outlaw who represents everything that needs to be destroyed or banished. However much we try to suppress them, they always come back. Thesis VI: In Reality, Fear of the Monster Is a Form of Desire The monster terrifies people and is consistently associated with illicit activities. But the monster is also alluring. People can find fascination in terrifying monsters because they stand for actions that society and culture discourage. The monster can stand for both the potential for adventure and release from constraints. Monsters have the ability to both repel and attract. We occasionally envy the strength and freedom of a monster. In certain situations, such as in a controlled setting like a movie theater, it can also be enjoyable to be afraid of monsters. Monsters will always be popular because they arouse both curiosity and fear in us when we think about them. Maybe it's time to find out if monsters actually exist. How could we, if they do not? Without the other, one side of the coin cannot exist. The Monster Is Standing at the Edge of Becoming (Thesis VIII) Our children are monsters. They can be driven to the furthest limits, concealed in the forbidden corners of our minds and at the world's boundaries, but they always make a comeback. And when they return, they carry not only a deeper understanding of our place in history and the history of understanding our place, but also a knowledge of themselves as human beings. These monsters question our perceptions of reality and the ways in which we have misrepresented the things we have tried to locate. They challenge us to reexamine the racial and gender stereotypes that have shaped our culture, as well as how we view diversity and how tolerant we are of it. They inquire as to why we made them.