This week we will be learning about monster theory. For the journal, look for something related to monsters, or the theory we are talking about. It can be a Halloween post, or it could be related to a movie, book, show, etc. Get creative. Whatever text you choose, try to connect it to our monster theory. How is it connected? What reminded you of the theory?
Requirements are still the same. About 250 words, summary and response to the article/tweet/post/news/etc; aka text.
Comment below with a link to the text and your summary and response.
Professor Ramos' Blog 
Click to access cohen_monster_culture__seven_theses__3-20.pdf
This is the text we are reading in class by Jeffrey Cohen, in the second thesis, The Monster Always Escapes, it gives anecdotes of certain novels and stories of how the villain always escapes even if they are slain they return in “another bigger than ever sequel”. The text explains how we feels anxiety due to the unpleasant feeling the monster gives us. “The undead return in slightly different clothing…” We see that over time our ideals change and our stories adapt to our interpretations of these monsters and over time we even add on. The monster theory is concern of cultural and cultural moments connected by logic that is always changing. It is fair to say that monsters are always changing, therefore, that is why the monster always seems to “escape” from us.
I chose this topic because it helps me understand what a monster theory is and allows me to add on and determine my own definition. I was also able to get more ideas on “monsters” and further my thinking more on the text and more of the thesis that are going to be listed in the future.
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https://goo.gl/images/D7PZTN
This week we covered “Monster theory”. One of the theories was about being different and how this could cause one to be painted up to being a monster. When I think of this theory it reminds me of many movies and books where the monster isn’t actually a monster but simply misunderstood. One in particular that conveys this is Disney’s spin off of “Sleeping Beauty” “Maleficent” that came out in 2014. In the Original story, Maleficent is made out to be a villain and the antagonist of the movie. In the 2014 spinoff her side of the story is retold through her view and it ends up being that the kingdom was the real monster. In the original, the princess sleeping beauty is cursed and we don’t really know why other than there’s this antagonist maleficent and she is evil and has hatred in her heart for the kingdom. What they go on to explain in the spinoff is that the kingdom wronged her. The kingdom was trying to conquer the magical forest Maleficent lived in and failed because her powers were too great. This caused the kingdom to fear her because she was different and they couldn’t understand or relate to her. She also went against them to protect the forest and they couldn’t accept that either. She sought out revenge but doesn’t go through with it because the princess grows on her in the process so maleficent actually undoes the curse thus causing the “happily ever after”. To me this is a classic example of what often happens with monsters. There not all bad, not all the time.
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Lord Voldemort is the primary villain in the renowned series, Harry Potter. This character is a great representation of Monster Theory because he demonstrates characteristics both socio-political and ethically misguided that are prevalent in current society. The character Voldemort begins as just a name at the beginning of the series. Almost just an idea, a thing of the past; Voldemort’s reputation has become a legend, or a ghost story told to young witches and wizards. Some remember the effects of Voldemort’s radical terrorism of non-magic folk and half-bred magic beings, however, after being seemingly defeated years prior, the dread of such conflicts has become a thing of the past. This is very reflective of World War II: one person was able to gain a following of elitist, political, and radical members of an organization aimed at extinguishing a particular group of people. Years following the conflict, though difficult to fully forget, slowly is disregarded over time and seen as a simple cautionary tale of history. However, treating war conflicts with such little respect or contemplation can lead to an uprising of similar radicals and ideologies.
The Harry Potter series is riddled with Nazi symbolism, particularly in the film adaptations. Voldemort brands members of his organization with skull and snake tattoos, the members wear pointed hoods and masks to hide their identities, and the most blatant parallel is the hatred they hold for marginalized groups that do not meet the standards of Voldemort’s ideal bloodline, which is eerily similar to white supremacy. Nazis and Nazi sympathizers are actually quite common in society today. A Nazi rally was just held in August of 2017 in Charlottesville, VA. In Harry Potter, the remaining members of Voldemort’s cause gathered in the shadows to revive the movement of destroying the current government. However obvious, this plan remains unseen by many instructors and political members of the magic world, despite Harry’s attempts to show them the truth. These characters remained in denial of Voldemort’s return, much like the denial of many U.S. citizens of the return, or resurgence, of Neo-Nazis in America. In the Harry Potter series, many political members and elite wizards are a part of the organization to overthrow the magic government and restore purity to the wizard bloodline. These individuals live their everyday lives as politicians and benefactors, never revealing their secretive meetings or agendas to the general public. This is a very important aspect of the series, especially when considering the many U.S. politicians who have been revealed to be Neo-Nazis, Nazi sympathizers, KKK members, and other groups which hold hatred and prejudice for people of color, homosexuals, and other minorities. As much as it is important to see the goodness of society, it is also important to consider the insidiousness of the world. It is crucial to look at our history so as to avoid future catastrophes of a similar nature.
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I found this article about the possibility of Disney making a sequel to Hocus Pocus. This movie is one my all-time favorite childhood Halloween movies and it brings back a lot of memories. My brother and I loved watching this movie all the time. This movie is about 3 witches, the Sanderson sisters, who were killed by the towns people for practicing/using dark magic, but before dying the eldest of the sister placed a curse. The curse allowed them to come back to life when a virgin light the black candle. Hundreds of years later, a boy named Max, lights the candle to scare his little sister Danny and show off in front of Alison (Max’s love interest). Jinx the cat, a boy that was turned to a black cat by the witches before they were killed, helps Max, Alison, and Danny to try and stop the witches from devouring the children of Salem. If the witches gather enough children souls to eat they would become immortal. In this article by slashfilm.com, the website posted an interview with the original screenwriter of the movie were confirms that the Disney is moving forward with the sequel. The monster theory that can relate to witches is the monster Thesis IV. The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference. The reason this theory comes to mind is because during mass hysteria during the Salem Witch Trials many women, children, and men were accused of practicing witchcraft and were killed over false accusations. Puritans had very strict religious and behavioral rules, therefore if anyone didn’t follow these rules they could potentially be accused of witchcraft. This would keep the other people in line and from questioning these strict rules imposed on them.
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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116583/plotsummary?ref_=tt_stry_pl The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a cartoon made in 1996, based on the novel written in 1831, with some differences. Quasimodo is the main character. He was deformed at birth and raised by the man who killed his mother and declared Quasimodo a monster as a baby. He was put up in the bell towers to be hidden from the public. He longed to leave the towers and go out in the world. When he finally did, the people of the town ridiculed him and treated him horribly. He made friends with two people along the way, the only two that treated him with kindness. When one of his friends’ lives were in danger, he went to great lengths to save her. He had a chance to kill the man who had been cruel to him and his friends but chose not to. I used this for the monster discussions. It is related to monster theory four, the monster dwells at the gates of difference. Quasimodo looked different than everyone else, so they called him a monster and treated him badly. It turned out that yes on the outside he may have looked different, but his inner self was a kind person. The people of the town accepted him because they realized he was not the monster he was made out to be.
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https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/22/us/sacramento-police-shooting-protests/index.html
Monsters are everywhere. Everyone has the ability to be a monster. When I think of monsters, they will cause pain/fear in some sort of way. For example, I believe that some police men and ICE agents are monsters. Here is the latest unfortunate story of a man that got killed. MURDERED. Stephan Clark, was murdered outside his grandmother’s home on March 18,2018, because the police men THOUGHT that he had a gun up to his ear, which in fact was a cellphone. Earlier that evening, police officers were getting reports of someone breaking into peoples’ car, and breaking windows with an object. Soon, the police officers decided to catch the suspect by foot, and stubbled upon Sequita Thompson’s backyard. That is where they confronted Stephen Clark. The police officers assumed he had a gun, and that is when shots were fired. But wait, it wasn’t one gun shot, it was 20 times. Soon after, investigators confirmed that it was indeed a cellphone. I am not an expert, but I am pretty sure that with 1 or two gunshots the suspect is down. 20 is not necessary at all. Now, in order to be a monster there is some sort of humanlike with killing features. Cops are totally humans, but they have features (because of their profession) that have ability to kill.
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This week in class we were discussing different monsters theories. How monsters come in all shapes and sizes. They can even just be in us. While watching the scary movie trailer about It made me realize we actually like getting scared, just for our own pure amusement. The trailer starts off with two brothers creating a paper boat. During that day it was pouring rain, so they decided to test it out outside on the streets. The boat is going further than expected, and the littlest brother tries and catches it. It goes down the sidewalk drain.He then sticks his head into see if he can see it. All of a sudden a demonic terrifying looking clown pops up. The clown asks if he wants his boat, and all the little boy has to do is reach in and get it. Then the scene for the movie trailer stops.The whole trailer is suspenseful and gives us that anxious feeling. For some odd reason we enjoy getting this feeling. Well, only enjoy it if we know it won’t last. Because when the movie is done it is done. We no longer have to keep thinking of it. We are only okay watching it, because we know it will have a ending. One of the thesis was stating this saying we are okay with being scared but just for a certain amount time. As well as another thesis saying we enjoy being scared. After watching the movie many people will dress up on Halloween as the clown to get the same feeling of being scared.
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https://goo.gl/images/F3iWvR
This image is of a movie called Edward scissorhands. In this movie the character Edward is portrayed as an atrocious enigma that nobody tries to interact with. By keeping their distance and by bullying him, he suffers through all overwhelming pressure. As Edward was trying to live like everyone else, he accidentally hurts a neighbors child causing a conundrum that made the townspeople want to hurt him and kill him. His hands as scissors make the townspeople fear of his capabilities and what harms he could do to them. This causes the people to call him a monster which leads to the monster theory we are talking about in class. I think others calling Edward a monster because of the differences and the parts they don’t understand from him to cause fear within themselves. As the movies progresses, Edward starts to wonder about himself and the acts that he has done. This has the neighbors on the edge about that he might hurt people again. In reality Edward just wanted to fit in with the rest of the town and not cause any problems for anyone. The neighbors calling him a monster puts the label on him by classifying him as evil and hostile. I think the concept of monster is something we as people avoid or have disgust over which causes that idea to stay away or be hostile towards those things.
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https://youtu.be/Ht3gFCqpFkE This is a scene from the movie Halloween and it fits the second thesis were the monster always comes back. In this scene Michael gets shot multiple times and is taken down but a cop who hears the gun shots comes and sees if Michael Is still alive and this is were the second thesis comes into play where the monster always come back he grabs the cop by the neck and cuts his neck and kills him and gets up and starts to chase the girl again. So the second thesis of the monster always comes back has a huge rule in these types of movies because what ever you do to the monster it seems like he wont go down as easily as we want him to go down. He ends up coming back more determined to kill and finish what he started. We as humans have the “monster always comes back” inside of us we always want to come back and finish what we started because then we wont feel good or we wont stop thinking about it. So all of us have that monster that wants to come back to what we started but didn’t finish. Also with all the monster movies the monsters always come back they tend to be stronger and more determined to finish the job that they couldn’t finish because they were killed. So the second thesis fits this scene because Michael just wont die and keeps getting up to finish the job.
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/glanton/ct-met-dahleen-glanton-conditt-monster-20180323-story.html
In the article, the writer Dahleen Glanton discusses how Mark Anthony Conditt, who was responsible for the bomb package explosions in Austin Texas is a monster and why we should not feel sorry for his him and his death. She describes him as a monster because of his actions and the consequences that his actions have had on many innocent people in Austin Texas. She uses the death of one of his victims to persuade the audience to agree with her and not show sympathy to the man when she states “Draylen Mason, an accomplished musician even at the young age of 17, an honor roll student and double bassist with the youth orchestra, Austin Soundwaves. He was looking forward to enrolling in the University of Texas’ prestigious Butler School of Music in the fall. Mason was killed, and his mother was injured when the monster stopped by their home.” (Glanton), she uses the death of this innocent and accomplished teenager to persuade the audience. She also states how he is not an imaginary monster like the ones we were afraid of when we were children. She connects his actions to the actions of a monster when she states “he often crept in the night, targeting unsuspecting victims as they slept peacefully in their homes.”(Glanton), she shows how his actions mimic the actions that many children know monsters due when they are out hunting trying to get them. She also shows and makes it aware to the audience that monster loam around us, they blend in and can strike/reveal themselves in an instant.
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https://goo.gl/images/LU49aP
On our topic of what is a example of a monster I can think of a couple of famous serial killers or maniac not only in the movies but also in real life but I chose to talk about the famous Jadon Voorhees from Friday the 13th. Although he looked like a monster at the beginning it wasn’t until after his death and being resurrected and watching his mother being decapitaed that lead him to become a true monster. I classify him as a monster due to his heartless actions and the nature of how he thinks. He can also be classified as a monster sue to the fact that he is not “NORMAL”. Not only has he come back from the grave but also has super human strength to which he uses to go on a murderous rampage. Although he doesn’t talk his actions speak loud and clear on his humanity. He causes fear and his victims are helpless to stop him. His features even as an innocent child was considered to be of a monster due to his hideous disfigured face. Leading to his adult hood where he stand’s 6’5 has super human strength, as well as immortality. As I described Jason, you don’t have to be a serial killer to be considered a monster. Even as a child with no cruel intentions or evil actions he was made demonized for being “different”. There are many forms to what we can consider a monster and some even walk amoung us in our day to day life that look just like regular people.
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https://www.theodysseyonline.com/the-different-eras-of-lady-gaga
Stefani Germanotta, most commonly known as Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. She got her first big hit after the 2008 release of her debut single ‘Just Dance’. Since then, Lady Gaga or Mother Monster (as she often calls herself), has become a household name; whether you listen to her music or not, you know who she is. Besides her catchy tunes, a huge part of her persona is her fashion sense. Her craziest era is known as ‘The Haus’, which began right after the release of her first album ‘The Fame’. During this time, Lady Gaga had already made a name for herself; ‘The Fame’ had peaked on number 2 on the billboard chart, along with several songs off of the album that charted. During this era, Lady Gaga wore outrageous outfits. The most infamous one would have to be the one she wore at the 2010 MTV Music Video awards. At this award show, she wore a dress made completely of raw meat. Her outfit choice drew criticism from many, including animal right’s activists. Lady Gaga fits right into thesis number four. Due to her daringness to stand out she can be viewed as a monster, because she is different than your typical pop star. I think she also fits into thesis number six, because the majority of her large fan base find her confidence with being different fascinating and brave, especially in a world where being different is often seen as a negative.
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In the film series, “Pirates of the Caribbean,” the movies (specifically the 2nd and 3rd) tell the story of Davy Jones, one of Captain Jack Sparrows foes. Davy Jones fell in love with a woman named Calypso, a sea goddess who lured Davy Jones to become the Captain of the Flying Dutchman. As the Captain of the Flying Dutchman, Davy Jones finds those that died at sea and lead them to the afterlife. Furthermore, Davy Jones must serve on the ship for ten years. Once he completes the ten years, he can step onto land for only one day. The first day he was on land after serving his ten years, he planned on reuniting with the love of his life (Calypso). Unfortunately, Calypso never came, and Davy Jones had to continue his service. As a result, Davy Jones was devastated Calypso stood him up and desired revenge on Calypso, so he assembled the Pirate Brethren to trap Calypso as a human. Davy Jones becomes a mythological creature, who has a claw of a crab as a hand, a crab leg, and a beard of tentacles because he stops doing his duty as Captain of the Flying Dutchman. Instead, Davy Jones finds humans who are dying at sea, and he ask if they want to join his crew or die. Additionally, Davy Jones ripped out his own heart, locked it up inside a chest, and guarded the key to the chest.
Davy Jones connects to the Monster Theory because the character Davy Jones demonstrates that “The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference,” (Thesis 4), “The Monster Police the Borders of the Possible,” (Thesis 5), and “Fear of the Monster Is Really a Kind of Desire,” (Thesis 6). First, Davy Jones is portrayed as a monstrous creature of the sea and similarly looks like a human too. Davy Jones illustrates “The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference,” (Thesis 4) because he visually looks like half human and half sea creature. Additionally, Davy Jones used to be just a regular human, but eventually he became the Captain of the Flying Dutchman and a monster who finds the dead men lost at sea. Ultimately, he is a threat to anyone traveling in the sea. In the movies, sailors are afraid of Davy Jones because of the legend where he either enslaves those lost at sea or lets them die. This demonstrates, “The Monster Police the Borders of the Possible,” (Thesis 5) because his story scares people from exploring the sea or people risk being captured by Davy Jones. Lastly, I believe Davy Jones and Calypso’s relationship appear to viewers as a forbidden love because Davy Jones accepts Calypso’s duty for him to become Captain of the Flying Dutchman, which prevents him from seeing the love of his life (Calypso). The video shows that they have a love-hate relationship with each other. This demonstrates the, “Fear of the Monster Is Really a Kind of Desire,” (Thesis 6) because viewers could be interested in this difference and unusual type of relationship or relate to experiencing a love-hate relationship with someone.
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Monsters Inc. is the Disney movie we all know and love. Kids watch this movie when they are young and get the best entertainment out of it. Mike Wasowski and Sully are two monsters that strive towards getting the most screams out of children in the movie. They try to make it to the top of the board with the loudest and most screams they can get while scaring children in their rooms while they are sleeping. Basically all of this changes once they meet the little girl Boo who changes these two monsters for the better. Monsters have evolved from being beyond terrifying to being a friend. Once they were something no one wanted to mess with and now this little girl has a friend. Every monster is different. They come back different and develop differently. Its the matter of how we are going to view them. This fits into a thesis of the monster developing over time and changing every time. A monster is not something that is going to disappear it is just something that evolves into what we make it.
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The text I have chosen to expand upon is a YouTube video which covers the story of La Llorona or “the weeping woman”. Ever since I heard my friend’s band play a song about the story, I’ve noticed its reoccurrence amongst day to day conversation and so I decided to use it as the topic for my journal. The way the story goes is that there was a beautiful woman named Maria who came from a background of poverty. She met a wealthy man who claimed to have never encountered a woman as beautiful as her and so they married immediately. The couple had two children and soon after that, the man started to grow distant from his wife and he would only pay attention to their two kids. One day, the man rode into town with a new beautiful, young, wealthy woman which caused Maria to grow very jealous and to drown the two children in a river out of spite. She felt guilty after seeing the helpless little bodies float downstream and so she committed suicide by leaping into the river after her children. She met the gates of heaven but was told that she must find her two kids in order to enter. Maria is now stuck between the current world and the spirit world forever, luring children into her arms so that she can drown them in the river in attempt to bring back her two children through sacrifice.
This relates to monstrous theory because as we read from page 4 of Monster Culture (Seven Theses), “the monster exists only to be read: the monstrum in etymologically “that which reveals,” “that which warns,” a glyph that seeks a hierophant.” This story is a folklore that is often told by Mexican families to scare young children from sneaking out at night. Although this is the most obvious impact that the story entails, there are other warnings embedded within the story. These include the consequences of committing a sin as well as the importance behind waiting to get married. This story reminded me of the monster theory because as the text reads, “The monster’s body quite literally incorporates fear, desire, anxiety and fantasy”. The story of La Llorona carries these four qualities with her sending a generational ripple of chills down the spines of young children who might consider sneaking out at night.
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This week I heard my grandfather talk about how he believes that these monsters shouldn’t have gotten their hands on guns, but that gun control isn’t the answer. It made me think about the part of our book that talked about how humanity makes people or concepts in monsters in order to justify our own actions. Rather than think about how we can keep guns out of the hands of these monsters we make it impossible for them be human, we make it so that it must be impossible even for them to follow the law. There is a quote from the Greek playwright Terrance which states, “I am human, therefore nothing that is human can be alien to me.” It forces the reader to consider that whatever is inside of a criminal is inside of them as well. That in a single day we could commit an atrocity following a psychotic break. But rather than see that, attempt to change that, and create laws to do so effectively, we push people in boxes far away from us.
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https://twitter.com/JimCarrey/status/977263994338656257
This tweet by Jim Carrey depicts a cartoon of what we can assume is Donald Trump and the porn star actress who has been on the record saying that Trump had a relationship with her, having sex. This reminded me of monsters because Jim Carrey is making Trump out to be a monster with this post. He’s trying to highlight the fact that our president is a monster. This reminded me of the monster theory because monsters are what we create. We allowed Donald Trump to be a reality television star. Then we let him become the president of the United States. We created a monster and it shows that monsters are everywhere. Our president has had many sexual harassment cases, he has cheated on all his past wives, he is a monster that we allow to run the “greatest country in the world”. I believe that this twitter post was a funny way to point out how bad of a president, and a person, Donald Trump is. Even the caption for this post was funny. It reads, “Fifty Shades of Decay”. Trump pushes the boundaries so much and we allow it. We want entertainment, and Trump does and says a lot of entertaining or just drama-causing things. It’s hilarious that a “monster” is running our country.
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https://nypost.com/2018/02/18/nurse-who-took-in-shooter-cruz-was-this-monster-living-under-our-roof/
This brief article explains the last few moments leading up to the mass shooting at a Florida high school by Nikolas Cruz who was named a “monster living under her roof” by the woman who took him in after his late mother passed away in November of last year. I felt that this is such a big issue that should be addressed and that Nikolas Cruz can least be described as a monster. When he committed his mass shooting leaving 17 people dead and over a dozen injured many people left calling him a monster for his disgusting action towards these innocent teenagers and staff members.
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I have chosen to do my journal on the new Godzilla: King of the Monsters trailer. Just a few weeks ago at Comic Con the newest trailer for the next installment in the Godzilla franchise was released to the public with great excitement. As I watched in awe as the King of Monsters exploded onto the screen with his iconic roar, I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of childish joy as I remembered watching the self same monster destroy cities and monsters alike in the old school Toho films from the 60’s and 70’s. It was then that something struck me about this new trailer, something was different, something had changed. Obviously updated graphics and American actors were in effect, but I realized the nature of Godzilla and his meaning had changed as well. When he was first created, Godzilla was meant to be a symbol of the dangers of atomic weaponry and the sign of a world stepping into a new level of warfare. A symbol of what mankind could do to himself if he wasn’t careful. Godzilla would rise from the oceans to wreak havoc on poor Japanese cities, stomping through buildings and firing his atomic breath. The newest iteration, however, has become something of an anti-hero. No longer is he a product of human warfare, but a symbol of the wrath and raw power of mother nature incarnate, who has been sent forth to restore balance to the world. This balance seems to be disturbed by the other great beings that inhabit the universe such as the MUTO’s from the first movie and now others such as Rodan and King Ghidora. This new role see’s Godzilla becoming somewhat of an antihero as he fights inadvertently on the side of humanity. I find this new approach interesting and incredibly applicable to our monster theory. Though he is the same monster, each society and era has seen and portrayed him in a different way.
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