Most classic monster stories focus on the point of view of the heroic monster slayer and the creature at the center of the tale is relegated to a secondary role. Mary Shelley broke with this pattern. Her extraordinary story reflects both the monster and his creator’s views. Much of what movie fans know of the Frankenstein story is a Hollywood invention. But the monster’s failed attempts at participating in human society — his encounter with the old, blind man that is a feature in nearly every Frankenstein film — is a critical part of Mary’s Shelley’s original. The monster did
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Yesterday it was vampires so today it’s got to be werewolves. And, despite the fact that he seems to have been the only actor to play Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula, the Mummy AND the Wolf Man, Lon Chaney Jr. is forever connected in my heart to werewolves. That 1941 movie played so often on TV when I was growing up I could turn the sound off and recite the dialog. Werewolves and other shape shifting creatures find homes in various mythologies and tap into the essential idea of a ‘beast within’ all humans. The Navajo Skinwalkers are said to transform themselves
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They are sexy, fun, cruel, hungry, fashionable, deadly, soulless and everywhere. The big question about vampires is how they went from being the one-note figures of nightmares to being the complex characters of desire and dreams. If you read Bram Stoker’s classic, you’ll be surprised. The subtext is fear of female sexuality and the nightmare is that the young women will be lured from their safe, and chaste, lives by this other worldly creature of the night. When the hero is sent on a business trip to visit the monstrous villain (yes, a true business trip from hell) he’s subjected
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Everybody loves dinosaurs now, but there was a time when they caused a lot of heartache among the scientists who examined the fossil remains of the ‘monsters’ who lived long ago. In particular, the men of the Royal Academy of Science and the Geological Society of London were perplexed by the spectacular findings of a young girl named Mary Anning. In 1811, she found a fossil of a ‘crocodile’ like no other in the cliffs of Lyme on the coast of England. It was later named ‘Ichthyosaurus’ (the ‘fish-lizard), by the scientists who examined it. Many of these men of
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I’m not a big football fan, but I am from New York so this meditation is concerned with GIANTS in honor of the New York Giants in the Super Bowl. Giants are a specific category of monster and any creature that is ‘supersized’ can also be called ‘gigantic.’ Giants are also powerful — not bad for a football team. But how did the New York Football Giants get their name? It started with the baseball Giants of New York. In 1883, John Day and Jim Mutrie founded the National League team The New York Gothams. Two years later on June
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Building decoration — wreathes, vines, angels, eagles, saints — are one thing, but nothing beats a good old fashioned gargoyle when it comes to jazzing up the exterior of a building. Usually associated with Gothic Cathedrals in Europe, many cities all over the world have gargoyles perched on buildings of more recent origins. Traditionally, these monsters ward off evil. They can also be part of sculptural story telling and promote the legends that hold a culture together when literacy is uncommon. The most famous gargoyles are winged creatures and the stories of them coming to life at night, flying over
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As if there weren’t enough reasons for me to daydream about going to Scotland… castles, salmon, single malt Scotch, the settings for the Ian Rankin, Val McDermid and Denise Mina mystery books, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh and that gorgeous burr in the accent, there’s the Loch Ness Monster. Nessie is the quintessential MONSTER of myth and legend. Even a cursory check on the Internet and you’ll find tons of sites devoted to the hunt for the Loch Ness Monster. I got myself seriously dizzy with Nessie sites featuring everything from inconclusive sonar recordings and ‘un-doctored’
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The very first moving pictures may have scared people with stampeding horses and moving trains, but monsters soon became the subject of some of the best — and worst — movies ever made. The 1922 classic Nosferatu, by F.W Murnau with Max Schreck as the vamprie is a truly monstrous interpretation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula story. The completely creepy vampire doesn’t fit into the contemporary landscape of sexy vampires, but it’s from a different time and place. I’ve never seen the 1920 German film The Golem, but now that I’m in a monster mode, I’m going to seek it out.
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What is a Monster? The dictionary definition is broad, with four different meanings for monster. One, legendary creatures that combine aspects of animals and humans — like centaurs, griffins and werewolves Two, anything that is huge, gigantic or oversized Three, any animal or human that deviates from the norm in size, shape, character or behavior Four, a person who inspires fear and horror with evil, cruelty or wicked behavior There are a whole lot of monsters out there! This month, I’ll endeavor to share my thoughts on a variety of monsters and monstrous creatures. Every culture has monsters and monster
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