92-431: A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror , fantasy , science fiction , folklore , mythology and religion . They are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive , with a strange or grotesque appearance that causes terror and fear , often in humans. Monsters usually resemble bizarre , deformed, otherworldly and/or mutated animals or entirely unique creatures of varying sizes , but may also take
184-401: A human form, such as mutants , ghosts , spirits , zombies , or cannibals , among other things. They may or may not have supernatural powers, but are usually capable of killing or causing some form of destruction, threatening the social or moral order of the human world in the process. Animal monsters are outside the moral order, but sometimes have their origin in some human violation of
276-575: A murderer , Damon, who himself was murdered in a bathhouse in Chaeronea . Pliny the Younger (61 to c. 113) tells the tale of Athenodorus Cananites , who bought a haunted house in Athens . Athenodorus was cautious since the house seemed inexpensive. While writing a book on philosophy, he was visited by a ghostly figure bound in chains. The figure disappeared in the courtyard; the following day,
368-423: A beauty, the name in common usage "came to mean monster." The book Female Rage: Unlocking Its Secrets, Claiming Its Power by Mary Valentis and Anne Devane notes that "When we asked women what female rage looks like to them, it was always Medusa, the snaky-haired monster of myth, who came to mind ... In one interview after another we were told that Medusa is 'the most horrific woman in the world' ... [though] none of
460-626: A carnival side-show worker who is turned into an electrically charged killer, able to dispatch victims merely by touching them, causing death by electrocution. There was also a variant of Dr. Frankenstein, the mad surgeon Dr. Gogol (played by Peter Lorre ), who transplanted hands that were reanimated with malevolent temperaments, in the film Mad Love . Werewolves were introduced in films during this period, and similar creatures were presented in Cat People . Mummies were cinematically depicted as fearsome monsters as well. As for giant creatures,
552-693: A comedic turn in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). In the post–World War II era, however, giant monsters returned to the screen with a vigor that has been causally linked to the development of nuclear weapons . One early example occurred in the American film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms , which was about a dinosaur that attacked a lighthouse. Subsequently, there were Japanese film depictions, ( Godzilla , Gamera ), British depictions ( Gorgo ), and even Danish depictions ( Reptilicus ), of giant monsters attacking cities. A recent depiction of
644-510: A common theme in art in the nineteenth century, when her myth was retold in Thomas Bulfinch 's Mythology . Edward Burne-Jones ' Perseus Cycle of paintings and a drawing by Aubrey Beardsley gave way to the twentieth-century works of Paul Klee , John Singer Sargent , Pablo Picasso , Pierre et Gilles , and Auguste Rodin 's bronze sculpture The Gates of Hell . The head of Medusa is featured on some regional symbols. One example
736-404: A cultural void; they have a literary and cultural heritage". In the religious context of ancient Greeks and Romans, monsters were seen as signs of "divine displeasure", and it was thought that birth defects were especially ominous, being "an unnatural event" or "a malfunctioning of nature". Monsters are not necessarily abominations however. The Roman historian Suetonius , for instance, describes
828-408: A giant monster is depicted in J. J. Abrams 's Cloverfield , which was released in theaters 18 January 2008. The intriguing proximity of other planets brought the notion of extraterrestrial monsters to the big screen, some of which were huge in size (such as King Ghidorah and Gigan ), while others were of a more human scale. During this period, the fish -human monster Gill-man was developed in
920-451: A high degree of life," whereas horror is described as that which "freezes and nearly annihilates them." Modern scholarship on horror fiction draws upon a range of sources. In their historical studies of the gothic novel, both Devendra Varma and S. L. Varnado make reference to the theologian Rudolf Otto , whose concept of the " numinous " was originally used to describe religious experience. A recent survey reports how often horror media
1012-455: A holdover from Proto-Indo-European religion and other belief systems, in which the divisions between "spirit," "monster," and "god" were less evident. The history of monsters in fiction is long. For instance, Grendel in the epic poem Beowulf is an archetypal monster: deformed, brutal, and with enormous strength, he raids a human settlement nightly to slay and feed on his victims. The modern literary monster has its roots in examples such as
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#17327663107891104-415: A horrid monster predate Ovid. In classical Greek art, the depiction of Medusa shifted from hideous beast to an attractive young woman, both aggressor and victim, a tragic figure in her death. The earliest of those depictions comes courtesy of Polygnotus , who drew Medusa as a comely woman sleeping peacefully as Perseus beheads her. As the act of killing a beautiful maiden in her sleep is rather unheroic, it
1196-565: A map to guide us through our terrors, through the depths of our anger into the sources of our power as women." In issue three, Fall 1986 for the magazine Woman of Power an article called Gorgons: A Face for Contemporary Women's Rage, appeared, written by Emily Erwin Culpepper, who wrote that "The Amazon Gorgon face is female fury personified. The Gorgon/Medusa image has been rapidly adopted by large numbers of feminists who recognize her as one face of our own rage." Griselda Pollock analyses
1288-430: A sense similar to the reason a person seeks out the controlled thrill of a roller coaster , readers in the modern era seek out feelings of horror and terror to feel a sense of excitement. However, Barrette adds that horror fiction is one of the few mediums where readers seek out a form of art that forces themselves to confront ideas and images they "might rather ignore to challenge preconceptions of all kinds." One can see
1380-525: A snake's absence of legs or a bird's ability to fly as monstrous, as both are "against nature". Nonetheless, the negative connotations of the word quickly established themselves, and by the playwright and philosopher Seneca 's time, the word had extended into its philosophical meaning, "a visual and horrific revelation of the truth". In spite of this, mythological monsters such as the Hydra and Medusa are not natural beings, but divine entities. This seems to be
1472-408: A story intends to shock and disgust, but the best horror intends to rattle our cages and shake us out of our complacency. It makes us think, forces us to confront ideas we might rather ignore, and challenges preconceptions of all kinds. Horror reminds us that the world is not always as safe as it seems, which exercises our mental muscles and reminds us to keep a little healthy caution close at hand. In
1564-511: A story that seeks to place the male, Perseus, at its center, blameless and heroic. Author Sibylle Baumbach described Medusa as a "multimodal image of intoxication, petrifaction, and luring attractiveness", citing her seductive contemporary representation, as well as her dimensionality, as the reason for her longevity. Elizabeth Johnston's November 2016 Atlantic essay called Medusa the original 'Nasty Woman.' Johnston goes on to say that as Medusa has been repeatedly compared to Hillary Clinton during
1656-506: A sword from Hephaestus and Hades 's helm of invisibility . Since Medusa was the only one of the three Gorgons who was mortal, Perseus was able to slay her; he did so while looking at the reflection from the mirrored shield he received from Athena. During that time, Medusa was pregnant by Poseidon . When Perseus beheaded her, Pegasus , a winged horse, and Chrysaor , a giant wielding a golden sword, sprang from her body. Jane Ellen Harrison argues that "her potency only begins when her head
1748-633: A trio of sisters was a secondary feature in the myth: The triple form is not primitive, it is merely an instance of a general tendency... which makes of each woman goddess a trinity, which has given us the Horae , the Charites , the Semnai , and a host of other triple groups. It is immediately obvious that the Gorgons are not really three but one + two. The two unslain sisters are mere appendages due to custom;
1840-520: A weapon until he gave it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield . In classical antiquity , the image of the head of Medusa appeared in the evil-averting device known as the Gorgoneion . According to Hesiod and Aeschylus , she lived and died on Sarpedon, somewhere near Cisthene . The 2nd-century BC novelist Dionysios Skytobrachion puts her somewhere in Libya , where Herodotus had said
1932-608: A werewolf story titled " Guillaume de Palerme ". Anonymous writers penned two werewolf stories, "Biclarel" and " Melion ". Much horror fiction derives from the cruellest personages of the 15th century. Dracula can be traced to the Prince of Wallachia Vlad III , whose alleged war crimes were published in German pamphlets. A 1499 pamphlet was published by Markus Ayrer, which is most notable for its woodcut imagery. The alleged serial-killer sprees of Gilles de Rais have been seen as
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#17327663107892024-563: A year or more often. Unsurprisingly, there is a strong correlation between liking and frequency of use (r=.79, p<.0001). Achievements in horror fiction are recognized by numerous awards. The Horror Writers Association presents the Bram Stoker Awards for Superior Achievement, named in honor of Bram Stoker , author of the seminal horror novel Dracula . The Australian Horror Writers Association presents annual Australian Shadows Awards . The International Horror Guild Award
2116-420: Is Dungeons & Dragons . In some other games, such as Undertale and Deltarune , "Monsters" (which are usually NPCs) refer to strange beings that are either undead , robots , humanoids or mythical creatures that share similarities with human beings. Horror fiction Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare. Horror is often divided into
2208-610: Is Stephen King , known for Carrie , The Shining , It , Misery , and several dozen other novels and about 200 short stories . Beginning in the 1970s, King's stories have attracted a large audience, for which he was awarded by the U.S. National Book Foundation in 2003. Other popular horror authors of the period included Anne Rice , Shaun Hutson , Brian Lumley , Graham Masterton , James Herbert , Dean Koontz , Richard Laymon , Clive Barker , Ramsey Campbell , and Peter Straub . Best-selling book series of contemporary times exist in genres related to horror fiction, such as
2300-548: Is a catch-all term for hostile characters that are fought by the player. Sentient fictional races are usually not referred to as monsters. At other times, the term can carry a neutral connotation, such as in the Pokémon franchise, where it is used to refer to cute fictional creatures that resemble real-world animals. Characters in games may refer to all of such creatures as "monsters". Another role playing game that has many different fantasy creatures (monsters and dragons alike),
2392-415: Is almost as old as horror fiction itself. In 1826, the gothic novelist Ann Radcliffe published an essay distinguishing two elements of horror fiction, "terror" and "horror." Whereas terror is a feeling of dread that takes place before an event happens, horror is a feeling of revulsion or disgust after an event has happened. Radcliffe describes terror as that which "expands the soul and awakens the faculties to
2484-486: Is consumed: To assess frequency of horror consumption, we asked respondents the following question: "In the past year, about how often have you used horror media (for example, horror literature, film, and video games) for entertainment?" 11.3% said "Never," 7.5% "Once," 28.9% "Several times," 14.1% "Once a month," 20.8% "Several times a month," 7.3% "Once a week," and 10.2% "Several times a week." Evidently, then, most respondents (81.3%) claimed to use horror media several times
2576-543: Is fear of the unknown." the first sentence from his seminal essay, " Supernatural Horror in Literature ". Science fiction historian Darrell Schweitzer has stated, "In the simplest sense, a horror story is one that scares us" and "the true horror story requires a sense of evil, not in necessarily in a theological sense; but the menaces must be truly menacing, life-destroying, and antithetical to happiness." In her essay "Elements of Aversion", Elizabeth Barrette articulates
2668-399: Is merely one of many interpretations of the metaphor of Dracula. Jack Halberstam postulates many of these in his essay Technologies of Monstrosity: Bram Stoker's Dracula . He writes: [The] image of dusty and unused gold, coins from many nations and old unworn jewels, immediately connects Dracula to the old money of a corrupt class, to a kind of piracy of nations and to the worst excesses of
2760-453: Is not clear whether those vases are meant to elicit sympathy for Medusa's fate, or to mock the traditional hero. In most versions of the story, she was beheaded by the hero Perseus , who was sent to fetch her head by King Polydectes of Seriphus because Polydectes wanted to marry Perseus's mother. The gods were well aware of this, and Perseus received help. He received a mirrored shield from Athena , sandals with gold wings from Hermes ,
2852-655: Is severed, and that potency resides in the head; she is in a word a mask with a body later appended... the basis of the Gorgoneion is a cultus object , a ritual mask misunderstood." In the Odyssey xi, Homer does not specifically mention the Gorgon Medusa: Lest for my daring Persephone the dread, From Hades should send up an awful monster's grisly head. Harrison's translation states that "the Gorgon
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2944-401: Is tends to be inconclusive on the impact that viewing such media has. One defining trait of the horror genre is that it provokes an emotional, psychological , or physical response within readers that causes them to react with fear. One of H. P. Lovecraft's most famous quotes about the genre is that: "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear
3036-563: Is the Lie that makes him free. Animals alone are given the privilege of lifting the veil of Isis ; men dare not. The animal, awake, has no fictional escape from the Real because he has no imagination. Man, awake, is compelled to seek a perpetual escape into Hope, Belief, Fable, Art, God, Socialism, Immortality, Alcohol, Love. From Medusa-Truth he makes an appeal to Maya-Lie ." Medusa has been depicted in several works of art, including: Medusa remained
3128-485: Is unknown for sure why children enjoy these movies (as it seems counter-intuitive), it is theorized that it is, in part, grotesque monsters that fascinate kids. Tangential to this, the internalized impact of horror television programs and films on children is rather under-researched, especially when compared to the research done on the similar subject of violence in TV and film's impact on the young mind. What little research there
3220-440: Is widely known as a monstrous creature with snakes in her hair whose gaze turns men to stone. Through the lens of theology, film, art, and feminist literature, my students and I map how her meaning has shifted over time and across cultures. In so doing, we unravel a familiar narrative thread: In Western culture, strong women have historically been imagined as threats requiring male conquest and control, and Medusa herself has long been
3312-527: The Amphisbaena (a horned dragon-like creature with a snake-headed tail). Perseus then flew to Seriphos, where his mother was being forced into marriage with the king, Polydectes, who was turned into stone by the head. Then Perseus gave the Gorgon's head to Athena, who placed it on her shield, the Aegis . Some classical references refer to three Gorgons; Harrison considered that the tripling of Medusa into
3404-535: The Ancient Greeks and Ancient Romans . Mary Shelley 's well-known 1818 novel about Frankenstein was greatly influenced by the story of Hippolytus , whom Asclepius revives from death. Euripides wrote plays based on the story, Hippolytos Kalyptomenos and Hippolytus . In Plutarch 's The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans in the account of Cimon , the author describes the spirit of
3496-679: The Berbers originated her myth as part of their religion . The three Gorgons —Medusa, Stheno , and Euryale —were described by Hesiod and Apollodorus as offspring of the sea-god Phorcys and his sister Ceto ; according to Hyginus , however, their parents were "Gorgon" and Ceto. Their genealogy is shared with other sisters, the Graeae , as in Aeschylus 's Prometheus Bound , which places both trios of sisters far off "on Kisthene's dreadful plain": Near them their sisters three,
3588-569: The Golem , werewolves and vampires . The film Siegfried featured a dragon that consisted of stop-motion animated models, as in RKO 's King Kong , the first giant monster film of the sound era. Universal Studios specialized in monsters, with Bela Lugosi 's reprisal of his stage role, Dracula , and Boris Karloff playing Frankenstein's monster . The studio also made several lesser films, such as Man-Made Monster , starring Lon Chaney Jr. as
3680-596: The Gorgon , was one of the three Gorgons . Medusa is generally described as a woman with living snakes in place of hair; her appearance was so hideous that anyone who looked upon her was turned to stone . Medusa and her Gorgon sisters Euryale and Stheno were usually described as daughters of Phorcys and Ceto ; of the three, only Medusa was mortal. Medusa was beheaded by the Greek hero Perseus , who then used her head, which retained its ability to turn onlookers to stone, as
3772-575: The werewolf fiction urban fantasy Kitty Norville books by Carrie Vaughn (2005 onward). Horror elements continue to expand outside the genre. The alternate history of more traditional historical horror in Dan Simmons 's 2007 novel The Terror sits on bookstore shelves next to genre mash ups such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009), and historical fantasy and horror comics such as Hellblazer (1993 onward) and Mike Mignola 's Hellboy (1993 onward). Horror also serves as one of
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3864-562: The "Friendly Monster" is pervasive in pop-culture. Chewbacca , Elmo , and Shrek are notable examples of friendly "monsters". In the Monsters, Inc. franchise by Pixar , the monster characters scare (and later entertain) children in order to create energy for running machinery in their home world, while the furry monsters of The Muppets and Sesame Street live in harmony with animals and humans alike. Japanese culture also commonly features monsters which are benevolent or likable, with
3956-572: The 1950s satisfied readers' quests for horror imagery that the silver screen could not provide. This imagery made these comics controversial, and as a consequence, they were frequently censored. The modern zombie tale dealing with the motif of the living dead harks back to works including H. P. Lovecraft's stories " Cool Air " (1925), "In The Vault" (1926), and " The Outsider " (1926), and Dennis Wheatley 's "Strange Conflict" (1941). Richard Matheson 's novel I Am Legend (1954) influenced an entire genre of apocalyptic zombie fiction emblematized by
4048-424: The 2016 presidential election, she proves her merit as an icon, finding relevance even in modern politics. "Medusa has since haunted Western imagination, materializing whenever male authority feels threatened by female agency," writes Johnston. Beyond that, Medusa's story is, Johnston argues, a rape narrative. A story of victim blaming , one that she says sounds all too familiar in a current American context. Medusa
4140-468: The Gorgons, winged With snakes for hair—hatred of mortal man While ancient Greek vase-painters and relief carvers imagined Medusa and her sisters as having monstrous form, sculptors and vase-painters of the fifth century BC began to envisage her as being beautiful as well as terrifying. In an ode written in 490 BC, Pindar already speaks of "fair-cheeked Medusa". In a late version of the Medusa myth, by
4232-742: The Late Middle Ages, finding its form with Horace Walpole 's seminal and controversial 1764 novel, The Castle of Otranto . In fact, the first edition was published disguised as an actual medieval romance from Italy, discovered and republished by a fictitious translator. Once revealed as modern, many found it anachronistic , reactionary , or simply in poor taste, but it proved immediately popular. Otranto inspired Vathek (1786) by William Beckford , A Sicilian Romance (1790), The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), The Italian (1796) by Ann Radcliffe , and The Monk (1797) by Matthew Lewis . A significant amount of horror fiction of this era
4324-558: The Mystery of the Gorgon , questioned Medusa's enduring status among the feminist movement. He believes that one reason for her longevity may be her role as a protector, fearsome and enraged. "Only the Gorgon has the savage, threatening appearance to serve as an immediately recognized symbol of rage and a protector of women's secrets," wrote Wilk. Even in contemporary pop culture, Medusa has become largely synonymous with feminine rage. Through many of her iterations, Medusa pushes back against
4416-596: The Ripper , and lesser so, Carl Panzram , Fritz Haarman , and Albert Fish , all perpetuated this phenomenon. The trend continued in the postwar era, partly renewed after the murders committed by Ed Gein . In 1959, Robert Bloch , inspired by the murders, wrote Psycho . The crimes committed in 1969 by the Manson Family influenced the slasher theme in horror fiction of the 1970s. In 1981, Thomas Harris wrote Red Dragon , introducing Dr. Hannibal Lecter . In 1988,
4508-645: The Roman poet Ovid , Medusa was originally a beautiful maiden, but when Neptune (the Roman equivalent of the Greek Poseidon ) mated with her in Minerva 's temple (Minerva being the Roman equivalent of the Greek Athena ), Minerva punished Medusa by transforming her beautiful hair into horrible snakes. Although no earlier versions mention this, ancient depictions of Medusa as a beautiful maiden instead of
4600-881: The Wanderer (1820), Washington Irving 's " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow " (1820), Jane C. Loudon 's The Mummy!: Or a Tale of the Twenty-Second Century (1827), Victor Hugo 's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831), Thomas Peckett Prest 's Varney the Vampire (1847), the works of Edgar Allan Poe , the works of Sheridan Le Fanu , Robert Louis Stevenson 's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), Oscar Wilde 's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 's " Lot No. 249 " (1892), H. G. Wells ' The Invisible Man (1897), and Bram Stoker 's Dracula (1897). Each of these works created an enduring icon of horror seen in later re-imaginings on
4692-463: The academic study of the particular cultural notions expressed in a society's ideas of monsters is known as monstrophy . Monsters have appeared in literature and in feature-length films. Well-known monsters in fiction include Count Dracula , Frankenstein's monster , werewolves , vampires , demons , mummies , and zombies . Monster derives from the Latin monstrum , itself derived ultimately from
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#17327663107894784-422: The aristocracy. Halberstram articulates a view of Dracula as manifesting the growing perception of the aristocracy as an evil and outdated notion to be defeated. The depiction of a multinational band of protagonists using the latest technologies (such as a telegraph ) to quickly share, collate, and act upon new information is what leads to the destruction of the vampire. This is one of many interpretations of
4876-410: The author. There are many theories as to why people enjoy being scared. For example, "people who like horror films are more likely to score highly for openness to experience, a personality trait linked to intellect and imagination." It is a now commonly accepted view that the horror elements of Dracula 's portrayal of vampirism are metaphors for sexuality in a repressed Victorian era . But this
4968-408: The big screen as they did in the late 1940s. Occasionally, monsters are depicted as friendly or misunderstood creatures. King Kong and Frankenstein's monster are two examples of misunderstood creatures. Frankenstein's monster is frequently depicted in this manner, in series and films such as Monster Squad and Van Helsing . The Hulk is an example of the "Monster as Hero" archetype. The theme of
5060-589: The central genres in more complex modern works such as Mark Z. Danielewski 's House of Leaves (2000), a finalist for the National Book Award . There are many horror novels for children and teens, such as R. L. Stine 's Goosebumps series or The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey . Additionally, many movies for young audiences, particularly animated ones, use horror aesthetics and conventions (for example, ParaNorman ). These are what can be collectively referred to as "children's horror". Although it
5152-492: The cliffhanger of the first episode of the 1936 Flash Gordon serial did not use a costumed actor, instead using real-life lizards to depict a pair of battling dragons via use of camera perspective. However, the cliffhanger of the ninth episode of the same serial had a man in a rubber suit play the Fire Dragon, which picks up a doll representing Flash in its claws. The cinematic monster cycle eventually wore thin, having
5244-399: The confrontation of ideas that readers and characters would "rather ignore" throughout literature in famous moments such as Hamlet 's musings about the skull of Yorick , its implications of the mortality of humanity, and the gruesome end that bodies inevitably come to. In horror fiction, the confrontation with the gruesome is often a metaphor for the problems facing the current generation of
5336-440: The conscious mind. In 1940, Sigmund Freud 's "Das Medusenhaupt ( Medusa's Head )" was published posthumously. In Freud's interpretation: "To decapitate = to castrate. The terror of Medusa is thus a terror of castration that is linked to the sight of something. Numerous analyses have made us familiar with the occasion for this: it occurs when a boy, who has hitherto been unwilling to believe the threat of castration, catches sight of
5428-411: The early 20th century made inroads in these mediums. Particularly, the venerated horror author H. P. Lovecraft , and his enduring Cthulhu Mythos transformed and popularized the genre of cosmic horror , and M. R. James is credited with redefining the ghost story in that era. The serial murderer became a recurring theme. Yellow journalism and sensationalism of various murderers, such as Jack
5520-405: The excitement of living on the edge, the tension between hunter and hunted. So we told each other stories through the long, dark nights. when the fires burned low, we did our best to scare the daylights out of each other. The rush of adrenaline feels good. Our hearts pound, our breath quickens, and we can imagine ourselves on the edge. Yet we also appreciate the insightful aspects of horror. Sometimes
5612-586: The false woman who is preventing the live one from breathing. Inscribe the breath of the whole woman." Cixous wants to destroy the phallogocentric system, and to empower women's bodies and language. "You only have to look at the Medusa straight on to see her," writes Cixous. "And she's not deadly. She's beautiful and she's laughing." Medusa has sometimes appeared as representing notions of scientific determinism and nihilism , especially in contrast with romantic idealism . In this interpretation of Medusa, attempts to avoid looking into her eyes represent avoiding
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#17327663107895704-421: The female genitals, probably those of an adult, surrounded by hair, and essentially those of his mother." In this perspective the "ravishingly beautiful" Medusa (see above) is the mother remembered in innocence; before the mythic truth of castration dawns on the subject. Classic Medusa, in contrast, is an Oedipal/libidinous symptom. Looking at the forbidden mother (in her hair-covered genitals, so to speak) stiffens
5796-521: The film series Creature from the Black Lagoon . Britain's Hammer Film Productions brought color to the monster movies in the late 1950s. Around this time, the earlier Universal films were usually shown on American television by independent stations (rather than network stations) by using announcers with strange personas, who gained legions of young fans. Although they have since changed considerably, movie monsters did not entirely disappear from
5888-404: The films of George A. Romero . In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the enormous commercial success of three books - Rosemary's Baby (1967) by Ira Levin , The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty , and The Other by Thomas Tryon - encouraged publishers to begin releasing numerous other horror novels, thus creating a "horror boom". One of the best-known late-20th century horror writers
5980-413: The go-to figure for those seeking to demonize female authority. The Medusa story has also been interpreted in contemporary art as a classic case of rape-victim blaming, by the goddess Athena. Inspired by the #metoo movement , contemporary figurative artist Judy Takács returns Medusa's beauty along with a hashtag stigmata in her portrait, #Me(dusa)too. Feminist theorist Hélène Cixous famously tackled
6072-433: The goddess' unresolved conflicts with her own father Zeus . In the 20th century, feminists reassessed Medusa's appearances in literature and in modern culture, including the use of Medusa as a logo by fashion company Versace . The name "Medusa" itself is often used in ways not directly connected to the mythological figure but to suggest the gorgon's abilities or to connote malevolence; despite her claimed origins as
6164-483: The inspiration for " Bluebeard ". The motif of the vampiress is most notably derived from the real-life noblewoman and murderer, Elizabeth Bathory , and helped usher in the emergence of horror fiction in the 18th century, such as through László Turóczi's 1729 book Tragica Historia . The 18th century saw the gradual development of Romanticism and the Gothic horror genre. It drew on the written and material heritage of
6256-427: The latter being apotropaic faces worn to frighten away the profane. That is to say, there occurred in the early thirteenth century B.C. an actual historic rupture, a sort of sociological trauma, which has been registered in this myth, much as what Freud terms the latent content of a neurosis is registered in the manifest content of a dream: registered yet hidden, registered in the unconscious yet unknown or misconstrued by
6348-554: The magistrates dug in the courtyard and found an unmarked grave. Elements of the horror genre also occur in Biblical texts, notably in the Book of Revelation . The Witch of Berkeley by William of Malmesbury has been viewed as an early horror story. Werewolf stories were popular in medieval French literature . One of Marie de France 's twelve lais is a werewolf story titled " Bisclavret ". The Countess Yolande commissioned
6440-449: The metaphor of only one central figure of the canon of horror fiction, as over a dozen possible metaphors are referenced in the analysis, from the religious to the antisemitic . Noël Carroll 's Philosophy of Horror postulates that a modern piece of horror fiction's " monster ", villain , or a more inclusive menace must exhibit the following two traits: In addition to those essays and articles shown above, scholarship on horror fiction
6532-558: The monster in Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein and the vampire in Bram Stoker 's Dracula . Monsters are a staple of fantasy fiction , horror fiction , and science fiction (where the monsters are often extraterrestrial in nature ). There also exists monster erotica , a subgenre of erotic fiction that involves monsters. During the age of silent films , monsters tended to be human-sized, e.g. Frankenstein's monster ,
6624-617: The moral law (e.g. in the Greek myth , Minos does not sacrifice to Poseidon the white bull which the god sent him, so as punishment Poseidon makes Minos' wife, Pasiphaë , fall in love with the bull. She copulates with the beast, and gives birth to the man with a bull's head, the Minotaur ). Human monsters are those who by birth were never fully human ( Medusa and her Gorgon sisters) or who through some supernatural or unnatural act lost their humanity ( werewolves , Frankenstein's monster ), and so who can no longer, or who never could, follow
6716-597: The moral law of human society. Monsters may also be depicted as misunderstood and friendly creatures who frighten individuals away without wanting to, or may be so large, strong and clumsy that they cause unintentional damage or death. Some monsters in fiction are depicted as mischievous and boisterous but not necessarily threatening (such as a sly goblin ), while others may be docile but prone to becoming angry or hungry, thus needing to be tamed and taught to resist savage urges, or killed if they cannot be handled or controlled successfully. Monsters pre-date written history , and
6808-478: The most famous examples being the Pokémon franchise and the pioneering anime My Neighbor Totoro . The book series/webisodes/toy line of Monster High is another example. Monsters are commonly encountered in fantasy or role-playing games, as well as video games, as enemies for players to fight against. They may include aliens , legendary creatures , extra-dimensional entities or mutated versions of regular animals. Especially in role-playing games, "monster"
6900-652: The myth in her essay "The Laugh of the Medusa." She argues that men's retelling of the narrative turned Medusa into a monster because they feared female desire. "The Laugh of the Medusa" is largely a call to arms, urging women to reclaim their identity through writing as she rejects the patriarchal society of Western culture. Cixous calls writing "an act which will not only 'realize' the decensored relation of woman to her sexuality, to her womanly being, giving her access to her native strength; it will give her back her goods, her pleasures, her organs, her immense bodily territories which have been kept under seal." She claims "we must kill
6992-560: The need by some for horror tales in a modern world: The old "fight or flight" reaction of our evolutionary heritage once played a major role in the life of every human. Our ancestors lived and died by it. Then someone invented the fascinating game of civilization, and things began to calm down. Development pushed wilderness back from settled lands. War, crime, and other forms of social violence came with civilization and humans started preying on each other, but by and large daily life calmed down. We began to feel restless, to feel something missing:
7084-596: The ostensibly depressing reality that the universe is meaningless. Jack London uses Medusa in this way in his novel The Mutiny of the Elsinore : I cannot help remembering a remark of De Casseres . It was over the wine in Mouquin's. Said he: "The profoundest instinct in man is to war against the truth; that is, against the Real. He shuns facts from his infancy. His life is a perpetual evasion. Miracle, chimera and to-morrow keep him alive. He lives on fiction and myth. It
7176-424: The page, stage, and screen. A proliferation of cheap periodicals around the turn of the century led to a boom in horror writing. For example, Gaston Leroux serialized his Le Fantôme de l'Opéra before it became a novel in 1910. One writer who specialized in horror fiction for mainstream pulps, such as All-Story Magazine , was Tod Robbins , whose fiction deals with themes of madness and cruelty. In Russia,
7268-448: The passage from horrorism to compassion in the figure of the Medusa through Adriana Cavarero 's philosophy and Bracha Ettinger 's art and Matrixial theory. Elana Dykewomon 's 1976 collection of lesbian stories and poems, They Will Know Me by My Teeth , features a drawing of a Gorgon on its cover. Its purpose was to act as a guardian for female power, keeping the book solely in the hands of women. Stephen Wilk, author of Medusa: Solving
7360-484: The reader. Often the central menace of a work of horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for larger fears of a society. The horror genre has ancient origins, with roots in folklore and religious traditions focusing on death, the afterlife, evil, the demonic, and the principle of the thing embodied in the person. These manifested in stories of beings such as demons, witches, vampires, werewolves, and ghosts. European horror-fiction became established through works of
7452-503: The real Gorgon is Medusa. Several early classics scholars interpreted the myth of Medusa as a quasi-historical – "based on or reconstructed from an event, custom, style, etc., in the past", or "sublimated" memory of an actual invasion. According to Joseph Campbell : The legend of Perseus beheading Medusa means, specifically, that "the Hellenes overran the goddess's chief shrines" and "stripped her priestesses of their Gorgon masks",
7544-521: The sequel to that novel, The Silence of the Lambs , was published. Early cinema was inspired by many aspects of horror literature, and started a strong tradition of horror films and subgenres that continues to this day. Up until the graphic depictions of violence and gore on the screen commonly associated with 1960s and 1970s slasher films and splatter films , comic books such as those published by EC Comics (most notably Tales From The Crypt ) in
7636-576: The shore during his short stay in Ethiopia where he saved and wed his future wife, the lovely princess Andromeda , who was the most beautiful woman in the world at that time. Furthermore, the venomous vipers of the Sahara , in the Argonautica 4.1515, Ovid's Metamorphoses 4.770 and Lucan's Pharsalia 9.820, were said to have grown from spilt drops of her blood. The blood of Medusa also spawned
7728-409: The sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror, which are in the realm of speculative fiction. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon , in 1984, defined the horror story as "a piece of fiction in prose of variable length ... which shocks, or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing". Horror intends to create an eerie and frightening atmosphere for
7820-516: The subject in illicit desire and freezes him in terror of the Father's retribution. There are no recorded instances of Medusa turning a woman to stone. Archetypal literary criticism continues to find psychoanalysis useful. Beth Seelig chooses to interpret Medusa's punishment as resulting from rape rather than the common interpretation of having willingly consented in Athena's temple, as an outcome of
7912-443: The term, considering it too lurid. They instead use the terms dark fantasy or Gothic fantasy for supernatural horror, or " psychological thriller " for non-supernatural horror. Medusa In Greek mythology , Medusa ( / m ɪ ˈ dj uː z ə , - s ə / ; Ancient Greek : Μέδουσα , romanized : Médousa , lit. 'guardian, protectress'), also called Gorgo ( Ancient Greek : Γοργώ ) or
8004-452: The verb moneo ("to remind, warn, instruct, or foretell"), and denotes anything "strange or singular, contrary to the usual course of nature, by which the gods give notice of evil," "a strange, unnatural, hideous person, animal, or thing," or any "monstrous or unusual thing, circumstance, or adventure." In the words of Tina Marie Boyer, assistant professor of medieval German literature at Wake Forest University , "monsters do not emerge out of
8096-491: The women we interviewed could remember the details of the myth." Medusa's visage has since been adopted by many women as a symbol of female rage; one of the first publications to express this idea was a feminist journal called Women: A Journal of Liberation in their issue one, volume six for 1978. The cover featured the image of the Gorgon Medusa by Froggi Lupton, which the editors on the inside cover explained "can be
8188-473: The writer Alexander Belyaev popularized these themes in his story Professor Dowell's Head (1925), in which a mad doctor performs experimental head transplants and reanimations on bodies stolen from the morgue and which was first published as a magazine serial before being turned into a novel. Later, specialist publications emerged to give horror writers an outlet, prominent among them was Weird Tales and Unknown Worlds . Influential horror writers of
8280-530: Was made out of the terror, not the terror out of the Gorgon." According to Ovid , in northwest Africa, Perseus flew past the Titan Atlas , who stood holding the sky aloft, and transformed Atlas into a stone when Atlas tried to attack him. In a similar manner, the corals of the Red Sea were said to have been formed of Medusa's blood spilled onto seaweed when Perseus laid down the petrifying head beside
8372-545: Was presented annually to works of horror and dark fantasy from 1995 to 2008. The Shirley Jackson Awards are literary awards for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic works. Other important awards for horror literature are included as subcategories within general awards for fantasy and science fiction in such awards as the Aurealis Award . Some writers of fiction normally classified as "horror" tend to dislike
8464-631: Was written by women and marketed towards a female audience, a typical scenario of the novels being a resourceful female menaced in a gloomy castle. The Gothic tradition blossomed into the genre that modern readers today call horror literature in the 19th century. Influential works and characters that continue resonating in fiction and film today saw their genesis in the Brothers Grimm 's " Hänsel und Gretel " (1812), Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), John Polidori 's " The Vampyre " (1819), Charles Maturin 's Melmoth
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