What do monsters do

What do monsters do? Are monsters born or made? What is a modern day monster? What are real life monsters? Which characteristic is true of modern day monsters? What are some modern monsters? In what way is Grendel a modern-day monster? What kind of monsters are there? How do modern monsters differ from historical monsters?

What form can we expect from monsters of future generations? Contemporary young adult fiction is rife with examples of monsters that have evolved from or survived a variety of world-wide disasters or national emergencies; monsters in this genre reflect a wide range of anxieties, from the effects of climate crisis to terrorism.

Halberstam concludes her argument by considering this shift in form of contemporary monsters:. Monsters within postmodernism are already inside—the house, the body, the head, the skin, the nation… Monsters of the nineteenth century—like Frankenstein, like Dracula—certainly still scare and chill but they scare us from a distance. We wear modern monsters like skin, they are us, they are on us and in us. Monstrosity… is replaced with a banality… because the enemy becomes harder to locate and looks more like the hero , pp.

Halberstam argues that it is the banality of contemporary monsters that generates anxiety for young readers. If creatures that are physically monstrous no longer terrify, then the natural evolution is towards monsters masquerading as human, or indeed, exposure of the monstrous qualities of humanity.

This setting reflects the anxieties of younger generations as they become more informed on issues such as climate crisis, or economic and political instability. Zombies, artificially altered creatures, and disfigured monsters are often the only creatures that are left behind in this new world. Monsters that terrify, creatures that have survived the apocalypse, are all an embodiment of the unknown.

If humanity is collectively uncertain about the stability of their own future through the instability of the planet or through the increase of mass killings, naturally future monsters would represent a projection of this fear and uncertainty. As children age, they can be exposed to threats in a variety of different forms. To remain relevant, fearful and at times therapeutic, it is vital that the monster evolves with the reader.

It is important that the monster remains capable of generating fear, as it is through this process that the child or young adult is able to explore boundaries and tolerances, and experience repressed anxieties. The novels analysed throughout this article all examine different portrayals of the monster.

What remains consistent is the monstrous representation of a fear either built through imagination or projected onto the child from an adult. Therefore, to share this style of literature with an adult offers an opportunity for honest discussion and participation; offering a shared experience of mutual fears in order to create bonding between adult and child. What becomes interesting is the similarity in the threat of the adult within the fears of both children and parents. This prompts a further examination of the portrayal of monsters within adult horror novels, and the presence of the evil of mankind within contemporary society.

As most children age, for a while they are often confident in their ability to tackle any hurdles or challenges they may face. They remain positive of this as they are frequently equipped with imaginary friends, their toys and bears, and an unlimited abundance of optimism.

Once the child becomes a young adult, and eventually an adult they often lose the power of imagination, the support they received from toys and teddies and eventually, the inbuilt optimism. It is once these qualities begin to fade and the monster remains that the real fear sets in; without a toolbox of equipment with which to challenge the monster, the individual is often left lonely and frightened. It is when the individual finds themselves in this state of existence that the literary monster must be combined with positive qualities in order to help the individual rediscover their lost imagination and lost sense of positivity.

It is through maintaining a consistent balance of imagination, fear, monsters and wonder that the child, young adult and adult is truly able to confront whatever situation they may encounter in real life. It is through belief in the impossible in a fictional environment, that the situation in reality becomes possible. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. Google Scholar. Christie L The monstrous voice: M.

Springer, Singapore, pp 41— Chapter Google Scholar. Cohen J Monster theory: reading culture. University of Minnesota press, Minneapolis. Book Google Scholar. Donaldson J The gruffalo. Evans J Challenging and controversial picture books: creative and critical responses to visual texts. Routledge, London. Random House, New York. Gaiman N The graveyard book. Bloomsbury, London.

Gaiman N Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming. The Guardian. Accessed 12 Nov Greenberg G Pop-up book of phobias. Harper Collins, New York. Halberstam J Skin shows: gothic horror and the technology of monsters. Duke University Press, North Carolina. Harrold A The imaginary. King S The shining. Hodder and Stoughton, London. King S The girl who loved Tom Gordon. Mahnke A The world of lore: monstrous creatures.

Wildfire, London. Malerman J Birdbox. Harper Voyage, London. Quirk Books, Philadelphia. Ruth G Why horror is good for you and even better for your kids. Accessed 4 Nov The market for monstrosity motivated the literal creation of monsters: 'mermaids' were assembled from pieces of fish, monkeys and other objects. The word conjures up figures from gothic horror, such as Frankenstein or Dracula, classical images of exotic peoples with no heads or grotesquely exaggerated features, and the kinds of impossible chimerical beasts inhabiting the pages of medieval bestaries.

How monsters have been created over the centuries is much more indicative of the moral and existential challenges faced by societies than the realities that they have encountered. The etymology of monstrosity suggests the complex roles that monsters play within society. Monsters, in essence, are demonstrative.

They reveal, portend, show and make evident, often uncomfortably so. Though the modern gothic monster and the medieval chimaera may seem unrelated, both have acted as important social tools. Given the moniker 'The Dentist', he has had to resign from his practice, flee his home, and hire armed guards to protect himself and his family as a result of public disgust at his actions.

He has even received death threats and been described as 'barely human'. Trophy hunting, and anyone who takes part in or has involvement with it, has been similarly vilified in the media and by animal rights groups. Such public 'monsters' serve a similar role to gothic monsters, images that embody the cultural or psychological characteristics that we as a society find difficult to acknowledge. By excising them, through fantasies of execution or simply professional exclusion, we rid ourselves of the undesirable attributes they are perceived to carry.

The 'murdered' lion becomes the innocent white-robed victim of the archetypal gothic tale, while murderous 'Dentist' plays the role of social scapegoat.

Until relatively recently in history, monsters close to home, such as deformed babies or two-headed calves, were construed as warnings of divine wrath. Monstrous depictions in newspapers and pamphlets expressed strong political attitudes. The monstrous races or traditional monstrous beasts such as basilisks or unicorns, that were banished to distant regions in maps, represented a frightening unknown: 'here be dragons' effectively filled cartographic voids.

Exotic beasts brought to Europe for the first time in the 16th century, such as armadillos or walruses, were often interpreted as 'monstrous'.

More accurately, they were made into monsters: things that did not fit into the accepted natural categories. An armadillo became a pig-turtle, while a walrus was a fish-ox. It might seem counter-intuitive, but beasts that seemingly mixed the characteristics of different natural groups were not troubling. Rather, they reinforced categories by clarifying the defining criteria for these groups. Stories about the undead are best understood in the context of anxieties about many kinds of race relationships that develop in the wake of colonialism.

The undead are liminal beings who exist between the worlds of life and death. They represent the sorts of identities that erupt into being when different racial groups collide violently with one another and produce horrifying new cultures of deprivation and oppression.

Newitz dives into the representation of the undead in both film and literature, unpacking how they are used, including by famed horror writer H.

Zombies in particular, which remain suspended in a state of not-dead-not-quite-living, tell us that they, and what they represent, could always come back and clash with the modern world. The tanuki and the train collided during the rapid industrialization and modernization of Japan during the Meiji period, where the ideology of progress and Westernization led to a flood of new technologies into Japan, including the steam train.