Monsters and The Moral Imagination by Stephen Asma

In the 2014 article The Devil in Disguise: Modern Monsters and their Metaphors, published by The Geek Anthropologist website, author Emma Louis Backe talks about the “monsters” surrounding pop culture and their hidden significance and meaning. Author Emma Backe an Anthropology and English major explains that explains that with each “monster” we see an underlying threat to human life as we know it. She states that pop culture has taken these images and made them a reincarnation of our fears. That these creatures are symbolic of incurable disease, indestructible beings, the undead, loss of humanity and extinction. Emma claims that we have moved from dismissing and ignoring these fears to confronting them in a more literal and real way. In the

Monsters are part of an imagination so they “ –exist only to be read.” (Monsters page 12) Second Thesis says “The monster always escapes.” In this case the monster gets away with it too but this monster damaged a lot of things that can’t be undone. So the monster escapes meaning it is never truly destroyed or defeated because there’s always something it left behind. They can never be caught but they can also return in a different form way to get back at those who tried to destroy them. Third Thesis basically explains that monsters cannot be categorized in the animals or people. As Cohen says “—they are disturbing hybrids whose externally incoherent bodies resist attempts to include them in any systematic structuration.” (Monsters page 14) Their physical and psychological characteristics just don’t fit in classification because they can be half human, half animal and may have some other deforms. Fourth Thesis explains the monster is an “outsider”, they are different so it depends on “cultural, political racial economic, sexual.” (Monsters page 16) Monsters have aspects. The monster will always

Like all words, “monster” has multiple definitions, and more than just these two. But what monsters really are are tools that society uses. Monsters are a storytelling tool used so we can reflect on ourselves, others, and society, without directly comparing specific living people or cultures. By using monsters to reflect on ourselves, we can analyze our own actions, decisions, and morality. How would someone act when getting attacked by a monster?

Monster exists long time ago and they are everywhere. However, there are different types of monster, some that are good and some that are bad. Many people that watched monster films get the desire of being one of the monsters that appears in the film. This essay will argue the different aspects and effects that monsters have in a person. I will use two article that will help explain the differences aspects and actions of the monster. One of the articles is “Here Be Monsters” by Ted Genoways, second article is “Fear of the Monster is Really a Kind of Desired” by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen. “Monster can function as an alter ego, as an alluring projection of (an Other) self” (Cohen, 190). Furthermore, this essay will show some fallacies that the author

When people hear the word monster, they usually picture in their minds images of vampires, zombies, demons, ghouls, or other physical supernatural beings. However, today's society contains its own modern monsters contained in minds of people or in systems in society, as opposed to some type of physical entity. Examples for modern monsters of today can be pressure and apathy, but caring too much has more effect and negative results rather than apathy’s effect of caring too little.

Asma states, "Monsters can stand as symbols of human vulnerability and crisis, and as such they play imaginative foils for thinking about our own responses to menace.” This means that human weaknesses and fears are represented through monstrous figures, and these fictional situations provide perspective into how we react in fearful environments. In our current society we fear many things, including but not limited to failed or corrupt governmental systems, the afterlife, the unknown, and captivity, which makes this claim valid. Although we may not realize it, these fears are embodied by the horror monsters we see in popular culture. Society shares common fears, and often times the most prevailing fear is reflected in the most popular characters at any given time. Monsters are the fictional representations of society’s dark subconscious, exploring not only why the author’s statement is accurate but what we actually fear.

“Fear and euphoria are dominant forces, and fear is many multiples the size of euphoria” - Alan Greenspan. New York author, Alan Greenspan, here is explaining that the threat fear presents is really no different than the state of intensity caused by euphoria. In Andrew J. Hoffman’s anthology, Monsters, there is substantial evidence that both fear and euphoria are inflicted upon men, by female monsters. The two threats men typically face against women are temptation and emasculation. Thus, in mythology and folklore, female monsters exemplify the impulse of desire (sexually) for men, and male weakness. These are creature that are lusted after and yet, still feared because of their power. Men find female monsters both fearsome and euphoric and will always threaten their dominance and control.

What defines a monster? Is it their grotesque, unnatural appearance that separates them from the rest of mankind, or is it their lack of remorse and compassion that makes them different? The word monster conjures up figures from gothic horror of exotic peoples with horrifyingly exaggerated features, and the kinds of impossible delusive beasts inhabiting the pages of medieval bestiaries. Well at first I thought exactly that. When I used to hear the word “monster”, my mind immediately pictured the petrifying beast that took residence under my bed for a substantial portion of my childhood. It had demonic beating red eyes, razor sharp teeth that glistened with fresh blood and amphibian like scales covering every inch of its enormous body. However, as I got older, I started to realize that there was no such thing as monsters and that it was all just a figment of my imagination. Accordingly, the fear of the monster under my bed slowly dissipated. Nevertheless, it wasn’t until after reading a quote by my favorite author, Steven King, that I was finally able to fully comprehend what the true definition of the word “monster” really was. “Monsters are real, ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes they win”. It had taken me awhile to truly grasp what King had meant, but then it clicked. Everyone has a monster inside them, dormant or not. That monster is the voice we hear in the back of our heads, urging us to cheat or to steal, and in some instances, worse. That monster

In Blake and Cooper’s “Haunting Boundaries”, they argue that monsters come in many shapes and sizes, yet have an identifiable difference which separates them from humanity, while at the same time showcasing the diversity of humankind. Firstly, they utilize the etymology of the word monsters to demonstrate that there was a time when monsters were used for more than fear in stories. The Latin word monstrum, which means monster and a portent, derives from monere, or to warn. In mythology and religion, monsters functioned as warnings, such as in Greek mythology, monsters warned of the power of the gods. As warnings, Blake and Cooper state that monsters can be beneficial to humanity by teaching moral lessons through their stories. Scholars also connected monsters to miracles by

Inside us all there is a deep dark fear this is what grabs us by the thresh hold of life. It controls the most important aspects of our lives. This is found within the deepest and darkest chasms of our souls. The very creature that wreaks havoc in our minds we cage and never confront we lock this beast away to afraid to overcome it. If the beast is not confronted it begins to contort and change who we are as a person and how we interact with others. Even the very decisions we make as a person to affect those around us and are loved ones to also suffer the consequences of our actions. Such as the crucible and how each person was warped into their own monster by greed.

A little girl screams in fear for her parents as she envisions a green, three-eyed monster lurking under her bed, waiting to get her until she finally closes her eyes. A little boy scares fellow trick-or-treaters as he’s dressed as a vampire for Halloween brandishing his pointy teeth with blood dripping out of his mouth. Both of these examples of monsters focus on the physicality of a creature and undermine the weight which the word ‘monster’ actually carries. In Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, and in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, there are characters that perfectly fit the description of a tangible monster. However, monsters are more than their somatic features. Monsters are created within based on circumstances, decisions that are

Michael Myers is known for his uncontrollable killing of his own bloodline. Known from the Halloween film series, after killing his older sister and being locked up in a mental institute for fifteen years, Myers escapes and goes on the search for his remaining family member, his little sister. He not only goes through challenges to get rid of anyone related to him, but he also kills any innocent soul that might get in his way. He has this immortality that aids him to survive any type of death that is inflicted on him. Why does a normal kid with a troubled childhood who grew up in the suburbs have this immortal life and need to kill his family? It is said that The Curse of Thorn was allocated on Michael by a cult. Compelling him to be an invincible

What is the definition of a “monster”? Is it a person or thing? Is it associated with good or evil? These may be some of the questions that come to mind when see or hear the term “monster”. For me, a “monster” is a powerful person or thing that causes terror and cannot be controlled. The word “monster” has connotations of fear and oppression. In the epic, Beowulf, I recognized Grendel was the epitome of a “monster”. Grendel’s actions illustrated his fervor for blood and hate towards man.

Monsters have proven to be more than just the fiendish appearance or the evil within such creatures – their monstrosity symbolizes, more or less, the characteristics that define mankind and/or our innermost fears. Prior to this Exploration of the Humanities course, I have interpreted monsters for what they are: heartless and destructive creatures that generate fear. However, I never bothered what the true cause of such fear is – only associating the gruesome presence with a psychological reaction of horror. But taking this class allowed me to broaden my perspective on monsters and monstrosity: humans fear the “Other” because we as individuals have an “Other” within us (subconsciously) that we are not willing to show to those in our

Monsters, the creatures of the night who prey on our fear. The ones who have no sense of emotion and lack the ability to show remorse. The big, the bad, and the ugly that lurks within all of us. The term “monster” has been around for centuries, throughout the years the view on monsters has changed, but the one thing that has stayed the same is the fact that we have always viewed them as something negative. We view monsters as evil and scary. Personally, I think of blood and murder when I hear the word monster. A monster brings out our darkest and weakest sides, whether it’s the anger that they cause or the fear they bring upon us. The term monster can be defined in many different ways, depending on how we view them, but I feel like the