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Immortal Monster - The Mythological Evolution of the Fantastic Beast in Modern Fiction and Film (Hardcover)
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Immortal Monster - The Mythological Evolution of the Fantastic Beast in Modern Fiction and Film (Hardcover)
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Imaginary beasts have figured prominently in literary works ever
since the ancient world, when these myths were first formulated.
But the nineteenth century witnessed the rise of science, the
discovery of geological findings that challenged the biblical myth
of creation, and the birth of Darwin's theory of evolution. Since
then, monsters have evolved from supernatural creatures to natural
ones endowed with exceptional size, strength, or intelligence. This
book explores both literary and cinematic texts that are especially
explicit in their Darwinian portrayal of monstrous beasts, though
these creatures retain an archaic mythological quality. The myth of
Leviathan and Behemoth, for instance, is as central to Jaws as it
is to Moby-Dick; indeed, Jaws inherits the myth directly from
Moby-Dick, as does King Kong. These and other monster tales, such
as The Creature from the Black Lagoon and Grendel, keep the ancient
myth alive and relevant by recasting it in the context of
biological and cultural evolution. There is a pattern of
alternating bestialization and anthropomorphism in many monster
tales, suggesting that these images are being displayed in repeated
attempts to define who we are in relation to animals. Thus the more
beastly the monster, the more insistently we erect the old paradigm
of the Ladder of Being, placing ourselves on a higher and separate
rung; but the more human-like the creature, the more readily we
shift to the paradigm of the Tree of Life, in which all creatures
are more closely related. Since the matter of distinctions between
species also involves questions of race, the monster myth is often
conscripted to serve racist agendas. But more often than not, the
myth has ananti-racist subtext that undercuts the hierarchy. The
closing chapters of the volume consider the notion of artificial
evolution in works such as The Island of Dr. Moreau, and
human-machine interaction in Gravity's Rainbow. As fables of
identity, monster tales dramatize our anxieties and fears about our
own animal nature and provide a means of coming to terms with our
evolution.
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