Monsters

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bacon, Simon, 1965- editor author.

Title: Monsters : a companion / [editor] Simon Bacon.

Description: Oxford ; New York : Peter Lang, 2020. | Series: Genre fiction
and film companions, 26318725 ; 5 | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020012239 (print) | LCCN 2020012240 (ebook) | ISBN
9781788746649 (paperback) | ISBN 9781788746656 (ebook) | ISBN
9781788746663 (epub) | ISBN 9781788746670 (mobi)

Classification: LCC P96.M6 M64 2020 (print) | LCC P96.M6 (ebook) | DDC
809/.9337--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020012239

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020012240

Cover design by Peter Lang Ltd.

ISSN 2631-8725

ISBN 978-1-78874-664-9 (print) • ISBN 978-1-78874-665-6 (ePDF)

ISBN 978-1-78874-666-3 (ePUB) • ISBN 978-1-78874-667-0 (mobi)

© Peter Lang AG 2020

Published by Peter Lang Ltd, International Academic Publishers,

52 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LU, United Kingdom

oxford@peterlang.com, www.peterlang.com

Simon Bacon has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Editor of this Work.

All rights reserved.

All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.
Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without
the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution.
This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming,
and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems.

This publication has been peer reviewed.

About the author

Simon Bacon has edited books on various subjects including Undead Memory: Vampires and Human Memory in Popular Culture (2014) and Growing Up with Vampires: Essays on the Undead in Children’s Media (2018), both with Katarzyna Bronk, and Gothic: A Reader (2018), Horror: A Companion (2019), and Transmedia: A Companion (forthcoming). He has published the monographs Becoming Vampire: Difference and the Vampire in Popular Culture (2016), Dracula as Absolute Other: The Troubling and Distracting Specter of Stoker’s Vampire on Screen (2019), and Eco-Vampires: The Vampire as Environmentalist and Undead Eco-activist (2020) and is currently working on Invasion of Vampires From Another World: The Cinematic Alien Progeny of War of the Worlds and Dracula.

About the book

What are Monsters?

Monsters are everywhere, from cyberbullies online to vampires onscreen: the twenty-first century is a monstrous age. The root of the word ‘monster’ means ‘omen’ or ‘warning’, and if monsters frighten us, it’s because they are here to warn us about something amiss in ourselves and in our society. Humanity has given birth to these monsters, and they grow and change with us, carrying the scars of their birth with them.

This collection of original and accessible essays looks at a variety of contemporary monsters from literature, film, television, music and the internet within their respective historical and cultural contexts. Beginning with a critical introduction that explores the concept of the monster in the work of Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Jack Halberstam, Elaine Showalter and more, the book takes a broad approach to the monster, including not only classic slasher films, serial killers (Bates Motel), the living dead (Game of Thrones) and aliens (District 9), but also hyper-contemporary examples like clones (Orphan Black), cyberbullies (Cyberbully), viral outbreaks (The Strain) and celebrities (Lady Gaga). Gender and culture are especially emphasized in the volume, with essays on the role of gender and sexuality in defining the monster (AHS Apocalypse) and global monsters (Cleverman, La Llorona).

This compact guide to the monster in contemporary culture will be useful to teachers, students and fans looking to expand their understanding of this important cultural figure.

This eBook can be cited

This edition of the eBook can be cited. To enable this we have marked the start and end of a page. In cases where a word straddles a page break, the marker is placed inside the word at exactly the same position as in the physical book. This means that occasionally a word might be bifurcated by this marker.

Acknowledgements

Sherry C. M. Lindquist

Foreword: Culture’s Monsters: Monster Marks (Lindquist 2018)

Simon Bacon

Introduction

part i    Home

Angela M. Smith

Madness: The Babadook (Kent, 2014) – Monsters of Mental Illness

Simon Bacon

Domestic Abuse: The Invisible Man (Whannell, 2020) – Domestic Monsters

Phil Fitzsimmons

Paedophilia: The Nightingale (Kent, 2018) – Monsters of Abuse

Agnieszka Kotwasińska

Immigrants: The Lure (Smoczyńska, 2015) – Monstrous Outsiders

part ii    Society

John Edgar Browning

The Mask: Slasher Cinema (1978–1998) – Teaching the Monster

Lauren Rosewarne

The Cyberbully: Cyberbully (Binamé, 2011) – Monsters of Cyberspace

Anthony Curtis Adler

Lady Gaga: Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (1986–present) – Monsters of Celebrity

Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

The Slit-Mouthed Woman: Carved (Shiraishi, 2007) – Monsters of Urban Legend

W. Scott Poole

Melmoth: Melmoth (Perry, 2018) – Monsters of War

part iii    Cultural Intersections

Benjamin Baumann

Phi Krasue: Inhuman Kiss (Mongkolsiri, 2019) – Thai Monsters

Inés Ordiz

La habitación del desahogo (2012) – Mexican Monsters

Gail de Vos

Baba Yaga: Hellboy (Mignola, 1997–2004) – Russian Monsters

Deumo: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Spielberg, 1984) – Monsters of Colonialism

Yasmine Musharbash

The Hairies: Cleverman (Griffen, 2016–2017) – Aboriginal Monsters

part iv    Gender

Eddie Falvey

Satan: The Witch (Eggers, 2015) – Patriarchal Monsters

Emily Brick

Warlocks: AHS Apocalypse (Murphy and Falchuk, 2011–present) – Monsters of Masculinity

Craig Ian Mann

She-Wolves: When Animals Dream (Arnby, 2014) – Monsters of Femininity

Daniel Sheppard

Serial Killers: Bates Motel (Ehrin, 2013–2017) – The Queer Monster

Murray Leeder

The Skeleton: Game of Thrones (Benioff, 2011–2019) – Monsters of Death

part v    Futures

Leah Richards

Clones: Orphan Black (Manson and Fawcett, 2013–2017) – Monsters of Reproduction

Dahlia Schweitzer

The Master: The Strain (del Toro and Hogan, 2014–2017) – Monsters of Contagion

Carl H. Sederholm