That monster under your bed, the creature that terrorized your childhood, is now ironically dating your best friend. Dracula and Edward Cullen, both vampires, have different intentions due to how society has depicted them overtime. Dracula, the depraved transylvanian vampire, was historically feared by society because of his evil and cruel reputation. The idea of a vampire is feared through Dracula, however Edward Cullen does not have the same effect on you, in fact you may feel comforted when hearing that name.
Monsters have played their role throughout history. Society has become more comfortable with monsters, so much so that they have made them the ultimate heroes in stories. In the past, monsters were considered abominable and repugnant; however now society has identified them to be romantic and heroic. Monsters became more romanticized and modernized as time progressed.
When you think of the stereotypical monster, a character from Monsters Inc. may pop up in your head; however to a child from the 1950s, that friendly monster figure would not be the first thing that comes to mind. The boogey monster is a significant, but not a scary figure to modern society. This is because society has romanticized monsters throughout the different eras. The culture of the stereotypical monster changed from repulsing people to attracting them. People suddenly feel comfort from this fictional character, whose primary purpose was to cause terror.
Monsters in society have not only been romanticized over time, but also replaced with actual people instead of an abnormal species. Every film or book has a typical villain; however you might not be able to easily identify them. This ‘monster’ can be an abusive father/husband, or someone that is hostile and trying to diminish the qualities of the protagonist. Reality has its villains as well. Steve Jobs was a successful businessman that earned his power in society, however his road to success consisted of dwindling others to come out on top. Although Steve Jobs was a genius who had great endurance, he also was portrayed as a ‘borderline sociopath with little regard for anyone except himself (Appleinsider).’
As for my works that were chosen for this topic, I chose a mix of historic and modern movies and books. The works that I chosen have historical background significant to the monsters and the historical events that are symbolized by the monsters. Not all my works include monster movies and novels; however it is also important that I use resources that consist of wars and tragic events that had an effect on society. Some of my works include: The Night of the Living Dead, Frankenstein, Freedom from Fear, Life During the Great Depression, Godzilla, Twilight, The Wolfman, and Vampire Diaries. I chose these works to compare past and present interpretations of monsters by society’s point of view.
Monsters can also represent historical events that made an impact on society. Monster-type movies can metaphorically represent wars, politics, and other eventful times throughout history. The Night of the Walking Dead, came out in 1968 as the first zombie movie. In this movie, the zombies represent communism. This film was released at the height of the Cold War when communism was a large threat; however potentially a reality to Americans. Zombies represent communism in this film by ‘self-perpetuating a political party of the apocalypse. They are the communal holders. There is no ownership for individual zombies. Zombies cannot be bribed, your money is no good to them. Zombies have no social class, they are one class. Zombies have no private property laws- they break into your house, steal your stuff, and eat your brains!(Monster).’
Culture has evolved, and so have films and books. Monsters play a huge role in our society and culture by representing life-changing historical events in the past, which made people fear them. Take the monster you have feared the most as a child, and replace it with your highschool crush; this is one way society has modernized monsters. Overall, monsters have changed in society, which leaves us with the question, how has society romanticized and modernized monsters in society?
Fear can be described as ‘an unpleasant emotion caused by belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or threat.’ The physical form of fear is a ‘monster’, and in the denouement of most stories, the monster is supposed to be killed and the civilization restored with peace. In this liberal culture, we emphasize and dramatize the monstrous creature. Our culture likes to be entertained by monstrosity because it expands curiosity throughout people’s imagination. Our fascination with serial killers is from having a natural love and being vulnerable to sadistic violence. Monster films grab the viewer's attention only when they put themselves in the situation of the victim, leading to asking themselves questions such as, ‘would I go down to the basement if I heard a loud noise?’, ‘how would I keep the zombies out?’, or ‘ what weapon would I use to defend myself?’ (The Chronicle of Higher Education).
Monsters allow us to imagine strategies for facing our enemies. Monsters are ironically a way to envision the good and secure life we live in. ‘In order to discover our values, we have to face trials and tribulation, and monsters help us imaginatively rehearse’ (The Chronicle of Higher Education).They prepare us mentally for the problems we have yet to face in the real world. A way society has modernized monsters is by preparing us mentally for similar situations to ones in horror movies. You do not know for sure how you will face a headless zombie, a blood-hungry vampire, or any fictional, murderous monster. However, you might face similar situations in reality, such as rape, burglary, or other harassments. Watching these horror films makes us familiar with the dreadful and life-changing events that could occur. These films create imaginative responses that could be useful in the future.
Frankenstein, a popular novel and film, created a prominent monster feared by society overtime. The fear that Frankenstein’s monster, leaves with society brings to mind our modern fascination with a zombie apocalypse (Leah). The creator of the destructive monster, Victor, messed up in the process of forming Frankenstein, and resulted in creating a destructive monster. This brought out a psychological fear to society that readers are supposed to become wary of scientific advancement and to fear the destruction that inevitably follows. This being said, this historic novel is another example of a monster story teaching society a moral lesson.
Frankenstein’s actions led him to destruction and causing pain of others. You may not think about this horrifying monster because of how society has depicted him over time. Nowadays, there are friendly cartoons and toys of Frankenstein’s monster that are attractive to society. People no longer fear the calamitous creature, in fact they are recreating his image. Although society has not changed the image of Frankenstein’s monster dramatically, there is still a more friendly modernized version of the creature.
Dracula is the most changed and modernized monster figure in society. I personally have never feared the thought of Dracula because of how much his image has changed overtime. Even Dracula’s physical traits, powers and weaknesses have morphed to fit cultural and political climates from the Victorian era to the Cold War. The real Dracula did not drink blood nor worship the devil; however he did horrible things. Different eras have different interpretations of dracula. For example, during the 1930’s Dracula was characterized as a ‘European Aristocrat’, and during the 1950’s Dracula was recognized as a ‘cold war enemy’. As time passes, Dracula became less of a terrifying blood sucing demon and more of a romanticized creature free of morals (Nuzum).
Edward Cullen completely eradicated the fearful image of a vampire. Edward represents ‘a fangless romantic more interested in true love than true blood’ (CNN). Vampires do kill humans in Twilight; however you do not feel the sympathy for the humans like you might have before. The lead characters are blood sucking and killing vampires and no one feels sorrow for what they have become and their actions. The 2000’s were not when vampires started becoming more romanticized. Through the 80’s and the 90’s, vampires had started to morph into equal parts: rock star and monster. In movies such as ‘Near Dark’ and ‘Forsaken’, vampires are defanged, and in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Vampire Diaries, vampires walk and talk like everybody else. You cannot forget the fact that society has made these creatures handsome and beautiful for even more attention to the viewers and makes them even more comfortable with the monster.
Even the characteristics of monsters have changed. Besides being pleasing to humans in modern society there have been other changes to the rules of the stereotypical vampire. They used to follow specific rules like how they could not come out into the sunlight; however, now films and novels have bended the rules. In Twilight, the monsters can come out into the sunlight and what is supposed to be there skin burning into ashes, it glistens in the sun, like diamonds. In Vampire Diaries, the vampires will burn in the sun…without a special ring that protects them from incernating. Humans seem okay with this killing creature walking around in their town.
The attitude of society has changed so much for vampires that the main characters of the vampire movies want to be turned or changed into one of the barbaric creatures. In the modern vampire films and tv shows, the vampire is not recognized as the villain, in fact there may a bad and good vampire side. In some cases the people that are trying to get rid or kill the vampires, are displaying heroic actions however to the viewers they are the villains. Society has changed the villains and the heroes in the stories. There are no longer rules vampires must follow, it is more whatever society is more interested in. Society is fascinated with the combination of reality and fantasy that the modern vampire executes. Most teenagers treasure fantasies about ‘bad boys’ and wanting to be the ‘good girl’ that is redeemed by them (The Sacred in the Secular).
When you think of the zombie apocalypse movies you may have watched in the past, you may not realize what they have been intended to stand for. In one of the recent zombies movies, World War Z, the word ‘war’ indicates that the zombies represent a uprise of hostility. Overall zombies are a metaphor for the fear of disease, however some zombie movies represent other matters. Zombies also display the downsides of how chaotic in interconnected our world had become. The zombie films and novels may be representing social conflicts that affect our world, and society replaces our enemies with the walking dead.
The Night of the Living Dead, is considered to be the most important horror film in American cinema and known to be ‘widely recognized as the first modern horror movie’. There are arguments that this film can be interpreted dealing with racism, the Vietnam War, a patriarchal society, and distrust of authorities.