Monsters
Posted by Joseph Duemer on February 27, 2008
What is a monster? Frankenstein’s creature & Caliban are traditionally thought of as monsters. Is there a monster in Galatea 2.2? Just for fun, here are some Japanese monsters that predate Godzilla, King Kong, Mothra, and the rest. In the western tradition, we can trace the figure of the monster back at least to the Sphinx. In any case, monsters seem to have fascinated people across time and across cultures — why is that, do you think? See also: This brief account of robot weapons — recall what Collins & Pinch said about science as a golum?
February 27th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I think that monsters fascinate humans for the same reason that angels, gods and devils do. It was something that we couldn’t understand but could use to blame misfortunes and sin on. It clearly is a universal belief with nearly every culture having some type of monster or creature that has never been seen, even today with a full knowledge of science there are those who believe in big foot and the lochness monster.
February 27th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
I particularly liked Mikoshi-nyuudou the monster monk. It seems as his story is more to teach others that it is not polite to “stare” at people who look different. They might grow tall and kill you! There is a fine line between completely made up monsters and possible monsters, for example a gigantic gorilla is possible, and there have been gigantic squid, however when people start adding laser eyes and the ability to made out lava, thats where it starts to become a little far fetched for me to believe.
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Most of these monsters seem to be classified monstrous mainly due to their physical appearances. How about the fact that we call Hitler a monster due to his actions and beliefs rather than his physicality?
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:59 pm
I would say that the reason why they fascinate people is because I feel that you would feel that certain way if you never seen something like that. If you see something out this world is going to amaze you and then eventually is going to scare you off. For example Frankenstein created this monster but i feel that people would be amazed of the fact that someone created life… But then again be would be terrified because of his appearance so in a way is win lose situation and thats why i feel people are fascinated by it…It makes them think like wow this can be created as well as like wow why did anything body think of that…
March 4th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
A monster can be based both on physical appearance as well as the way in which it acts. According to the dictionary a monster is something that 1. is so ugly or monstrous as to frighten people 2. a person who excites horror by wickedness, cruelty, etc. (Webster’s dictionary)…
April 28th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Based on my understanding of human nature there are many words that demonstrate the characteristics of monster. For instance, some of the characteristics which identify this word are mammoth, ugly, horrific, and or creatures that demonstrate evil. In addition, these characteristics embody the imagination (or provide us with a mental note that everything which displays these characteristics should be destroyed and or not accepted). in addition, upon further research into the matter of monster I have come to recognized that characteristics don’t always provide a strong background. For example, these characteristics are ones that identify the thing (monster), but don’t represent the underlying theme of why it was created. For instance, lets say god created a human begin different from everything we have known (appearance) it would be considered to be horrific because of the characteristics.