Cohen's essay, "Monster Culture (Seven Theses)," offers various ways--well, seven--for us to think about the role of the monster, or monster stories in culture. For this blog post, I'd like you to return to the monster that you wrote about for Friday. I asked you to think about what makes your particular monster "monstrous," so you already have a good start here. Now, I'd like you to consider how at least one of Cohen's theses might help you add to, or develop your own ideas.
Of course, Cohen's essay gives specific examples, but for the most part, his theses are pitched at a pretty general level, so how does your monster provide a good case study for one of these theses? How might this case study help us understand better what Cohen is saying about monsters? If, for example, your monster ties into the fears and anxieties of a culture, how does it do so exactly. If Cohen already mentions your monster, can you add to what he says? I'm looking for you to further elaborate and expand upon Cohen's ideas--give them flesh, make them clearer in light of your examples. They are, after all, theses.
The first post will be due this Tuesday at midnight.
Weeping Angels are a monster from the Doctor Who television series, and they are essentially statues of angels that only move when no one is looking. The Doctor describes Weeping Angels as aliens that have an evolutionary trait where they are teleported to another dimension if a living creature is looking at them. This particular characteristic most closely aligns with Cohen’s second thesis, ‘The Monster Always Escapes.’ Cohen describes a monster’s threat as ‘its propensity to shift,” and Weeping Angels literally shift dimensions to escape. Their ability implies they can never be caught and never be defeated. You can make them disappear simply by looking at them, but as soon as you look away, they’ll be back. Cohen sees monsters as ideas that can never truly be beaten. Weeping Angels represent the idea that you’re being watched, the feeling that there’s something behind you. In Doctor Who, the characters have no way of attempting to kill or defeat the Weeping Angels, escape is the only option.
ReplyDeleteWeeping Angels also demonstrate Cohen’s sixth thesis, Fear of the Monster is Really a Kind of Desire. He claims ‘Gargoyles and ornately sculpted grotesques, lurking at the crossbeams or upon the roof of the cathedral, likewise record the liberating fantasies of a bored or repressed hand suddenly freed to populate the margins.’ Weeping Angels are beautiful humanoid creatures with wings, and they kill people. I wouldn’t mind being able to disappear sometimes when someone sees me either. In these ways the Weeping Angels produce a feeling of desire that mingles with and compounds fear.
I am SO glad someone wrote about a Doctor Who creature! I have always found myself more fascinated than afraid of the Weeping Angels, but I think the most frightening aspect of them to me is that they CAN shift dimensions, and- more importantly- they can make YOU shift dimensions. The idea of being sent to another time- another place or universe even- and losing everything you know and love is more terrifying to me than any physical damage the Weeping Angels could do to me.
DeleteI also think Cohen's fourth thesis, "the monster dwells at the Gates of Difference," can apply to the Weeping Angels. One of the fears when we are faced with a monster is that it is not human, but with the Weeping Angels, they can hardly be classified as more than an object! How can a statue create chaos and fear if it is not living, breathing flesh of some kind? We are not only forced to fear what they can do, but we are forced to fear how they do it, for it is unlike anything any living being is capable of. The Weeping Angels are not human, but not quite monster, and are therefore almost in their own category of "possessed object." This, to me, is the ultimate difference, and it is this difference that both fascinates and alarms me with the Weeping Angels.