Why Modern Monsters Have Become Alien to Us :: Papers

Why Modern Monsters Have Become Alien to Us Late autumn has arrived and with it comes the dark magic of Halloween--and, of course, the murky thrill of monsters. Yet our appetite for a good monster knows no season. Ever since ancient times we have been fascinated with all sorts of tales about monsters and intrigued by myths and legends about those wild half-human beasts who haunt the edges of our forests and lurk in the recesses of our oceans. The sphinxes, minotaurs, and sirens of early mythology gave way to Beowulf's Grendel and Saint George's dragon, then to the mermaids, trolls, and one-eyed giants of our fairy and folk tales, and finally to those 19th-century Gothic classics. Nor are these stories on the wane, for the monster tales that made Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff, and Bela Lugosi stars of the silver screen continue to draw megacrowds six and seven decades later. In 1994 Kenneth Branagh and Robert DeNiro brought us the latest reincarnation of Shelley's story of Frankenstein's tortured creature, and Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt starred in "Interview with a Vampire," the first installment of Ann Rice's homage to Stoker'sDracula. Meanwhile, Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical production of Gaston Leroux's "Phantom of the Opera" continues to pack in audiences from London to L.A. Much of the initial appeal of monster stories comes from the fact that they, like their twisted siblings, "creature features" and "slashers," both terrify and fascinate us with their ghoulish brand of horror. It's the rattling-the-tiger's-cage kind of thrill that Scout and Jim Finch got from sneaking onto Boo Radley's porch under a pale moon. Reading or watching great monster stories, we get to accompany the frightened heroes or heroines as they descend into the dragon's lair; crane our necks over the tops of books or movie seats and peek into the dank recesses of the giant cyclops' cave; stretch out our trembling hands and actually touch the monster's reptilian scales, hairy paws, or cloven hoofs; and then run screaming like a banshee the instant it wakes from its slumber. What a rush! As frightening as these creatures are, in monster stories it is always the beast that ends up taking the fall, which means that this is a place where we not only get to tangle with evil's most daunting and dangerous minions but to vanquish them with regularity. Pretty heady stuff.