M/C JOURNAL - 'monster'
Since the earliest legends and mythological tales, the figure of the monster has functioned as an oppositional force against which humans define themselves. As Margaret Atwood points out, “heroes need monsters to establish their heroic credentials. You need something scary to overcome”. More recently, however, our understanding of the monster has become more complex. They are no longer ‘out there’ but ‘in here’; “they live inside us” (Stephen King). In this issue we approach the concept and figure of the monster with fresh curiosity. What makes something ‘monstrous’? Who are our monsters? What anxieties do they reflect back upon us? As a point of intimate identification, why are so many people (including Kanye) now embracing the monster as an aspect of their identity?
Topics and areas of discussion might include, but are not limited to:
- Representations of monsters in popular culture (film, TV, video games, music, comics, etc.)
- Monsters in literature and poetry
- Monstrosity as a critical concept
- Monster ontologies and representations (from the body to the self…)
- The monster and identity
- Monsters, history, and folklore
- Evolving monster metaphors
- Monsters and genre (from fantasy to science fiction and beyond)
- ‘Monstrous’ political figures
- Monstrosity and the body
- The monstrous nature of the media
- Notions of ‘the monster’ within postcolonial discourses
- Monsters and ‘the end of the world’
- Monsters, science, and culture
- Monsters and the Gothic/horror
- Disease ‘as monster’