Monster Culture (Seven Theses)
Our purpose for today is to understand the seven theses on Monsters and Monstrosity and to develop a good resources that will help us to remember and use the theses in our writing.
Jeffrey Jerome Cohen – Monster Culture (Seven Theses) (p. 3-20)
Monster Theory
- Thesis I. The Monster’s Body Is a Cultural Body (4)
- Thesis II. The Monster Always Escapes (4)
- Thesis III. The Monster Is the Harbinger of Category Crisis (6)
- Thesis IV. The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference (7)
- Thesis V. The Monster Polices the Borders of the Possible (12)
- Thesis VI. Fear of the Monster Is Really a Kind of Desire (16)
- Thesis VII. The Monster Stands at the Threshold . . . of Becoming (20)
In groups, develop a list of the important points, lessons, takeaways, and examples that we need to understand in order to understand the thesis. Write a short summary explaining the points of the thesis. Make sure you label which thesis you are writing about. This is very important because we will be using monster theory to write the last two essays in the course. The better we understand the theory, the better we will be able to apply it.
Professor Ramos' Blog 
THESIS 1
Monsters are a reflection of our uncertainty and culture.
The people from each time and place govern what the monster is
Monsters are a literal embodiment of certain moments in culture
we can analyze monsters to find out more about those times and places
THESIS 2
monsters never die
vanish but always reappear to haunt
“invigorated by change and escape”
ex dracula transforms every time it reoccurs
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Thesis IV: The monster dwells at the gates of difference
* The monstrous body, for the most part monstrous difference tends to be cultural, political, racial, economic, sexual. Pg 7
* people who are different are viewed as monsters. Different tends to be political,economic,cultural,racial monster is “others” or “outside” pg 7
* The most famous distortion occurs in the Bible, where the aboriginal inhabitants of Canaan are envisioned as menacing giants to justify the Hebrew colonization of the promised land representing an anterior culture as monstrous justifies its displacement pg7
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Thesis 5:
-Xenophobia embodies practices that should not be committed.
Pg 15. “As a vehicle of prohibition, the monster most often arises to enforce the law of exogamy”
Thesis 6:
-Forbidden practices
-It attracts or is desired or a perfectly manufactured to haunt
Pg 19. “The monster is an objected fragment that enables formation of all kinds of identities- personal, national, cultural, economic, sexual, psychological”
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Thesis III. The Monster Is the Harbinger of Category Crisis (6)
1.)“Always escapes because it refuse categorization.” Pg 6
•outkast/seen of being ahead of everyone
2.) “Demand radical rethinking of boundaries of normality.” Pg6
“Gleefully violated”
•ahead of what we know as a society
•offers a new way to look/interpret life
Thesis IV. The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference (7)
“The monster is difference made flesh, come to dwell among us…the monster is an incorporation of the outside.” pg. 7
“History itself becomes a monster…” pg 9
• monstrous differences tend to challenge differences in history
•Justification of actions
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Thesis V: The monster policies the borders of the possible
* keep people in a bubble so they don’t explore the world
* To step outside you risk attack by some monstrous border patrol or become one (control)
*the monster embodies those sexual practices that must not be committed, or that may be committed only through the body of the monster
* movies radioactive virago from outer space who kills every man she touches, the other a social parable in which giant ants (really communists) burrow beneath Los Angeles and threaten world peace
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Quick write:
The last two weeks for me have been pretty slow but good as I have been able to stay home and spend time with my family. I’ve stayed home and only left to go to work, because I work at a hotel so we are still open since we provide shelter.
I’ve been spending most of my time playing video games online with my friends, doing lots of yard work, watching movies, and going to work.
Quote Sandwiches:
The height and physical stature of Frankensteins creation immediately evokes fears in him as it is nothing like he has ever seen before. This is a great example of a point made in Monster Thesis I “The Monster’s Body is a Cultural Body” as it says “Like a letter on a page, the monster signifies something other than itself: it is always a displacement, always inhabits the gap between the time of upheaval that created it and the moment into which it is received, to be born again” (Cohen 4). Even though Frankenstein wanted to create life the shock of what became was to difficult for him to fully comprehend.
Frankenstein creates this creature to bring life out of death, his intentions are in the right place until he finally accomplishes his goal. This os why his story can relate the to Thesis V of the Monster theory “The Monster Polices the Borders of the Possible” as it states “Curiosity is more often punished than rewarded, that one is better off safely contained within one’s domestic sphere than abroad, away from the watchful eyes of the state” (Cohen 12). This coincides directly to Frankenstein and his creation as his final product didn’t meet his expectations so to him the failure turned it into a monster. Frankenstein attempting to create life was punished with how it turned out.
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