Speaking of Monsters: A Teratological Anthology

317 Pages·2012·5.49 MB·English

by  Caroline Joan S. Picart

Speaking of Monsters
Speaking of Monsters
A Teratological Anthology
Editedby
CarolineJoanS.PicartandJohnEdgarBrowning
speakingofmonsters
Copyright©CarolineJoanS.PicartandJohnEdgarBrowning,2012
Foreword©DavidJ.Skal
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-0-230-11450-0
Allrightsreserved.
Firstpublishedin2012by
PALGRAVEMACMILLAN®
intheUnitedStates—adivisionofSt.Martin’sPressLLC,
175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010.
WherethisbookisdistributedintheUK,EuropeandtherestoftheWorld,
thisisbyPalgraveMacmillan,adivisionofMacmillanPublishersLimited,
registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,
Basingstoke,HampshireRG216XS.
PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabove
companiesandhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld.
Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnited
States,theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries.
ISBN 978-1-349-29597-5 ISBN 978-1-137-10149-5
DOI 10.1057/9781137101495
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Speakingofmonsters:ateratologicalanthology/editedby
CarolineJoanS.PicartandJohnEdgarBrowning.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
1. Monstersinmotionpictures. 2. Horrorfilms—History
andcriticism. 3. Teratology. I. Picart,CarolineJoan,1966–
II. Browning,JohnEdgar.
PN1995.9.M6S642012
791.43(cid:2)6164—dc23 2011052891
AcataloguerecordofthebookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
DesignbyIntegraSoftwareServices
Firstedition:July2012
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
ListofFiguresandTables ix
Foreword:WhatWeTalkAboutWhenWeTalkAboutMonsters xi
DavidJ.Skal
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction:MonstrosityandMulticulturalism 1
CarolineJoan(Kay)S.PicartandJohnEdgarBrowning
I GeneralTheoriesofMonstrosity
1 MonsterCulture(SevenTheses)(extract) 15
JeffreyJeromeCohen
2 Dread,Taboo,andTheThing (1982):TowardaSocialTheoryoftheHorror
Film(extract) 19
StephenPrince
3 NightmareandtheHorrorFilm:TheSymbolicBiologyofFantasticBeings
(extract) 23
NoëlCarroll
4 OurVampires,OurNeighbors 29
KenGelder
5 “PsychologicalThriller”:DeadofNight (1945),BritishFilmCulture,andthe
1940sHorrorCycle 39
MarkJancovich
II TeratologiesofNationalityandRace
6 MonstersintheLiteraryTraditionsofAsia:ACriticalAppraisal 53
AndrewHock-SoonNg
7 SlayerasMonsterinBlood +(2005–2006)andBuffytheVampire
Slayer(1997–2003) 73
MargaretL.Carter
8 “ShapelessDeformity”:Monstrosity,Visibility,andRacialMasqueradein
ThomasGrattan’sCagot’sHut (1823) 83
DanielA.Novak
vi CONTENTS
III InBetweenFearandDesire
9 AptPupil (1998):TheHollywoodNazi-as-MonsterFlick(extract) 99
CarolineJoan(Kay)S.PicartandDavidA.Frank
10 ByDemonsDriven:ReligiousTeratologies 105
JasonC.Bivins
11 AnAgeofMechanicalDestruction:PowerToolsandtheMonstrousinThe
TexasChainSawMassacreFilms 117
IanConrich
IV QueerTheoryandBoundaryCrossings
12 “WayTooGaytoBeIgnored”:TheProductionandReceptionofQueer
HorrorCinemaintheTwenty-FirstCentury 131
HarryM.Benshoff
13 SeedofChucky:TransbiologyandtheHorrorFlick 145
Judith(Jack)Halberstam
V Criminology,Law,andTeratologies:BetweentheRealandtheReel
14 StageFour:Virulency(extract) 153
LonnieH.Athens
15 ProfilingtheTerroristasaMassMurderer(extract) 157
CarolineJoan(Kay)S.PicartandCecilE.Greek
16 WhatMakesStalkingMonstersSoMonstrous,andHowtoSurviveThem? 161
ÔrîtKa¯mîr
17 RaceandSerialKillingintheMedia:TheCaseofWayneWilliams 173
CarolineJoan(Kay)S.Picart
VI TheBiologicalMonstrousandGender:TheHuman-Animal-MachineDivides
18 “NatureAbhorsNormality”:TheoriesoftheMonstrousfromAristotletoThe
X-Files(1993–2002) 195
KathleenLong
19 MonsterSpawnofAnimalExperimentationintheEarlyWorkofH.G.Wells:
OntheContainmentofPsychopathicViolenceasPreliminarytotheOnsetof
theCapacityforMourning 209
LaurenceA.Rickels
20 WhyIstheTensionSoHigh?TheMonstrousFemininein(Post)Modern
SlasherFilms 227
DejanOgnjanovi´c
21 BloodandBitches:SexualPoliticsandtheTeenFemaleLycanthropeinYoung
AdultFiction 239
JunePulliam
VII TeratologiesandEthics
22 TheQueerEthicsofMonstrosity 255
PatriciaMacCormack
CONTENTS vii
23 ReopeningtheQuestionoftheHumanandtheAnimal(extract) 267
DominickLaCapra
24 WhereRealityandFantasyMeetandBifurcate:HolocaustThemesinPan’s
Labyrinth(2006),X-Men(2000),andV (1983) 271
CarolineJoan(Kay)S.Picart,JohnEdgarBrowning,andCarlaMaríaThomas
Bibliography 291
NotesonContributors 305
Index 313
List of Figures and Tables
Figures
0.1 OlgaBaclanovaasCleopatrainTodBrowning’sFreaks(1932) xii
3.1 JohnBarrymoreasDr.HenryJekyll/Mr.EdwardHydeinDr.Jekylland
Mr.Hyde(1920) 26
6.1 Pencilsketchofamythologicaldragon 55
6.2 Pencilsketchofthemythologicaldemon-lordRavana 59
6.3 PencilsketchofamythologicalArabicghoul 60
6.4 Pencilsketchofamythologicalfoxspirit 63
11.1 Powerfromthepreeminenthorrorweaponinthechainsaw“dance”inThe
TexasChainSawMassacre(1974) 121
17.1 JasonRobards(AlvinBinder)playsoppositeMartinSheen(ChetDettlinger)
andRipTorn(LewisSlaton)inthetelevisionminiseriesTheAtlantaChild
Murders(1985),starringCalvinLevelsasWayneWilliams 177
19.1 Dr.Moreau(CharlesLaughton)confrontsOuran(HansSteinke)inIslandof
LostSouls(1932) 215
24.1 Martin(FrankAshmore)showsDonovan(MarkSinger)thehumanfood
stores(àladeathcamp)aboardthemothershipinV (1983) 285
Table
17.1 TheFBITheoreticalProfileComparedwithWayneWilliams’ActualProfile 180
Foreword
What We Talk About When We Talk
About Monsters
David J. Skal
Monstershavelongbeenstereotypedbyapropensityforinarticulategrunts,when,infact,they
areoftencapableofexpressingthemselvesquiteeloquently.MostincarnationsofFrankenstein’s
monster would scarcely be recognized by his literary progenitor, Mary Shelley, who originally
gavehimanexcellentknowledgeofFrench(renderedinEnglishforherreadersof1818)andan
impressivefamiliaritywithtranslationsofParadiseLost,Plutarch’sLives,andTheSorrowsofYoung
Werther.Yet,themonster’sliteracyandvolubilityhavebeenofscantinteresttostageandscreen
adaptors,whogenerallyjettisonmostofShelley’snarrativeandauthorialintentions,alongwith
allofMilton,Plutarch,andGoethe.
However,aconstantlyshiftingconversationistheessenceofsurvivalwhenitcomestomon-
sters.ThesinglemosticonicmonsterofthelastcenturyisunquestionablyJamesWhale’sand
BorisKarloff’s1931collaborativeinterpretationofShelley’spatchworkreanimatron,animage
burned into the collective imagination throughout the world, even among people who have
neverseentheactualperformance.Itisironicthatoneoftheimmortalrolesoftheearlytalkie
erashouldbeanexerciseinpurepantomime,butitispreciselythelackofspeechthatmakesthe
characterandfilmimpossiblenot totalkabout.ThemuteFrankensteinmonsterisinessencea
theatricalwork-in-progress,incompletewithouttheaddedingredientoftheaudience/beholder’s
reaction,projection,interpretation,andculturalassimilation.Karloffhimselfwaswiseincom-
plainingabouttheevenlimitedpowersofspeechgiventothecreatureinthe1935sequelBride
ofFrankenstein,evenifhisobjectionswerenotbasedoncriticaltheorybuthisownwell-honed
instinctsasanactor.
Karloffwasright:thelessamonsterexplainsitself,themorelikelywearetogetinvolved,
starttalkingtoourselvesandamongourselves,lookingforourownmeaningsandexplanations.
I’ve been personally talking about monsters on a professional stage for more than two
decades, and, while I am not a career academic, I have done enough teaching, lecturing, and
generallurkingoutsidetheschoolyardfencetoknowtheutilityofmonstersinluringstudents
to explore vast areas not directly associated with horror. Speak of monsters and you’re soon
speaking about all kinds of things. Shelley’s Frankenstein can’t be fully appreciated without a
largerunderstandingofthetensionbetweentheself-satisfiedEnlightenmentandRomanticrad-
icalism; Dracula doesn’t start to make sense as a cultural document without at least a basic
understanding of Darwinism’s impact on Victorian thought and society. Movie monsters of
the Great Depression similarly illuminate a complex social, economic, and political era with
xii FOREWORD
a renewed relevance to the present. Breadlines and underwater mortgages, it turns out, both
provideexcellentvantagepointsforournever-endingmonstershow.
The word “monster” in its present English form entered the language around the time of
Shakespeare,whosecharactersfindoccasiontospeakthewordmorethan80times.Theterm
descends from the Latin noun monstrum (divine portent) by way of the French verb monere
(towarn)whileyieldingsomequaint,discardedvariationsalongtheway,suchas—apersonal
favorite—thearchaicadjective“monstriferous.”
Monstersareslippery,ever-adaptivemetaphors,butaboveall,theyarenaturalteachersand
teaching tools. Monsters demonstrate things, usually of a cautionary kind. As the title of this
anthologyindicates,monsterswereoriginallytheprovinceofteratology.Fromantiquityonward,
anomalousbirthswereconsideredominous,portentsofdiseaseanddisaster.Birthdefectswere
displayedforentertainmentandprofitatleastfromElizabethantimes,firstfortherabbleand
laterforthemiddleclassesas“educational”diversion.
ThefirstexamplesofAmericanmonster-speakweretheexcitedspielsofcarnivalbarkersin
theheydayofP.T.Barnum,pitchingtheiradmixtureofterrorandwonderastheycajoledthe
publictobehold“congressesofstrangepeople.”Itshouldnotbesurprisingthataratherdirect
line can be drawn between nineteenth-century sideshows and the rise of twentieth-century
monstertainment. Significantly, the cinematograph itself was introduced as a carnival attrac-
tion. When the sideshow mountebank Dr. Caligari revealed his sleepwalking zombie to the
world in 1919, he was also introducing the technology of motion pictures itself as a kind of
somnambulist/golem—acreepyfacsimileoflivinganimationrenderedfromlight,shadow,and
celluloid, originally displayed in traveling tents and dime museums. The essential connection
between sideshows and movie monsters is nowhere more clearly drawn than in the singular
careerofAmericanfilmdirectorTodBrowning,whosepersonalexperienceasaCaligari-esque
carnie (“The Living Hypnotic Corpse”) engendered a lifelong fascination with teratological
Figure0.1 OlgaBaclanovaasCleopatrainTodBrowning’sFreaks(1932).(CourtesyofMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer.)