The show "American Horror Story" which premiers on FX, is a series that focuses on the idea of monstrosity and takes different looks at its ideas and definitions and uses them in various scenarios. In the clip that we watched in class, which was taken from the first episode of the shows second season, "Asylum" we are taken inside of a 20th century asylum where we follow the tale of a man accused of being the legendary "Blood Face" Given the three quotes that we were supposed to analyze, the one that I chose was the third one which stated "The monster is continually linked to forbidden practices, in order to normalize and to enforce. The monster also attracts. The same creatures who terrify and interdict can evoke potent escapist fantasies; the linking of monstrosity with the forbidden makes the monster all the more appealing as a temporary egress from constraint... We distrust and loathe the monster at the same time we envy its freedom, and perhaps its sublime despair" which was taken from Cohen's piece.
There are multiple scenes from the clip that we watched that both support and disagree with this quote. The quote says that "The same creatures who terrify, and interdict can evoke potent escapist fantasies, the linking of monstrosity with the forbidden makes the monster all more appealing". The main male character in this clip is a great example of tis quote. He is labeled as "Bloody Face" who allegedly killed his wife, however, he doesn't look like much of a monster, but rather a normal looking and perhaps good looking, which makes him more appealing to the audience. This also apples to the character Grace, who was accused of chopping up her family. A part of this quote that I disagree with is "...at the same time, we envy its freedom and perhaps its sublime despair" the reason that I disagree with this quote is because in these scenes, the monsters have little to no freedom and are locked up in a mental institution. This is something that no viewers would be envious of, unless that for some reason someone would want to be kept in a 1960's asylum.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Twilight Comparison
When the series Twilight came out, it changed our views of vampires forever. The vampires that we saw in the series were nothing like the vampires that we were used to from stories such as "Dracula". Because of this new view on monstrosity, the movies sparked many new questions and views. Aside from raising questions of monstrosity, the movie also raised issues about sex, the power of women, and much much more. If we take a look at the articles "Bite Me! (Or Don't)" by Christine Seifert, "After 'Twilight': Where Do Vampires in Pop Culture Go From Here?" by Scott Meslow, and "Twilight Is Not Good For Maidens" by Anna Silver, we can see 3 different views on the series and the questions and theories that they raise.
Focusing first on the article from Seifert, she takes a big look at the issue of sexuality in the novels. She uses the term "Abstinence Porn" to describe her view of the first book in the series. She starts off the article by saying "Abstinence has never been sexier than it is in Stephenie Meyer's young adult four-book Twilight series." Her main idea is that the idea of abstinence goes so far in the first book to the point to where its almost just as good as actual sex. However, starting with the second novel, the sexual relationship between Edward and Bella becomes a rather big part of the story, having sex in the first few chapters of the book. Even though they are married at this point, they are still very young and given the audience of the series, It leaves a bad impression on the young teens of our generation, putting importance on sexual activities. Here, the first book references the importance of abstinence, only to throw that all away in the beginning of the second novel .
In Meslows article, He talks about the actual evolution of the vampire. He talks about how Meyer changed the entire genre of vampires with her books. She did so by targeting the most neglected vampire audience, teenage girls, and she did a good job at it. Creating such a romance story and exciting sexual relationships drew in the attention almost every teenage girl in existence. He claims that the genre will never be the same.
Silver focuses more on the negatives of the novel. The issues of feminism. She claims that the novel gives young women a bad image. Bella rely's too much on Edward and is basically powerless without him. It makes it seem like girls need men in order to be safe and sufficient, which gives a very bad impression on a big audience of the novel, teenage girls.
One thing that all three of these articles had in common, was the ideas of how the series has impacted the teenage girls who are the main audience of the books. Mostly, they all agree that there were some pretty bad ideas from the books that were very impressionable on the audience. Ideas of abstinence which were basically ripped away after the first book, and how the ideas of sexual relationships are made to be exciting and something that girls would want. And of course, ideas about how women need men and how they are powerless without them, which is the exact opposite of what women have been saying in recent years about how they can be independent and sucessful without the help of men.
Focusing first on the article from Seifert, she takes a big look at the issue of sexuality in the novels. She uses the term "Abstinence Porn" to describe her view of the first book in the series. She starts off the article by saying "Abstinence has never been sexier than it is in Stephenie Meyer's young adult four-book Twilight series." Her main idea is that the idea of abstinence goes so far in the first book to the point to where its almost just as good as actual sex. However, starting with the second novel, the sexual relationship between Edward and Bella becomes a rather big part of the story, having sex in the first few chapters of the book. Even though they are married at this point, they are still very young and given the audience of the series, It leaves a bad impression on the young teens of our generation, putting importance on sexual activities. Here, the first book references the importance of abstinence, only to throw that all away in the beginning of the second novel .
In Meslows article, He talks about the actual evolution of the vampire. He talks about how Meyer changed the entire genre of vampires with her books. She did so by targeting the most neglected vampire audience, teenage girls, and she did a good job at it. Creating such a romance story and exciting sexual relationships drew in the attention almost every teenage girl in existence. He claims that the genre will never be the same.
Silver focuses more on the negatives of the novel. The issues of feminism. She claims that the novel gives young women a bad image. Bella rely's too much on Edward and is basically powerless without him. It makes it seem like girls need men in order to be safe and sufficient, which gives a very bad impression on a big audience of the novel, teenage girls.
One thing that all three of these articles had in common, was the ideas of how the series has impacted the teenage girls who are the main audience of the books. Mostly, they all agree that there were some pretty bad ideas from the books that were very impressionable on the audience. Ideas of abstinence which were basically ripped away after the first book, and how the ideas of sexual relationships are made to be exciting and something that girls would want. And of course, ideas about how women need men and how they are powerless without them, which is the exact opposite of what women have been saying in recent years about how they can be independent and sucessful without the help of men.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Monster Theory
After reading through Jeffery Cohen's "Monster Thoery (Seven Theses)" The specific thesis that I found most interesting was thesis Number 7. This thesis states that "The Monster Stands at the Threshold...of Becoming" I think what Cohen is trying to say with this thesis is that Monsters have no limitations. They can be pushed to the edge and basically have no boundaries. At the same time, when we take a look at monsters, we can get a better look at the knowledge of human beings of the time period that a monster is created and we can get a look at how things were viewed during that time period. Monsters are created by human beings and the term monster is a man made term, meaning that we created its definition and we created the idea of a monster to begin with. Over time, we have seen this definition change several times. For example, we have much different views about monsters then the views that existed during the creation of Dracula. If we compare the first ever vampire, and compare that to our modern day vampires, such as the ones from Twilight, we see significant differences. This relates back to Cohens Thesis because he is saying that the characteristics of monsters are based on the knowledge that we have as humans, and as our knowledge expands, the concept of monsters will also be more complex.
Overall, I would agree with this specific thesis. I personally think that our idea of monsters will forever be continued to be expanded. The possibilities are basically endless for what can define a monster. I think throughout our life times, and in future generations, the monster will evolve even more and more questions will be answered, and raised. Monstrosity is a very complex idea that is yet to be fully understood. I think it will be interesting to see where our ideas of monstrosity will go in the future.
Overall, I would agree with this specific thesis. I personally think that our idea of monsters will forever be continued to be expanded. The possibilities are basically endless for what can define a monster. I think throughout our life times, and in future generations, the monster will evolve even more and more questions will be answered, and raised. Monstrosity is a very complex idea that is yet to be fully understood. I think it will be interesting to see where our ideas of monstrosity will go in the future.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Textual Analysis
For my Textual analysis, I decided to use the first thing that came to mind when I thought of the word monster, and that is the television show Dexter, that is shown on Primetime. I am a huge fan of the show and the word and definition of "monster" are brought up and questioned several times throughout the series. For those who are unfamiliar with the show, it features a Blood Spatter Analyst who is also a serial killer. Due to the teachings of his father and knowledge in the criminal justice system and in forensics as well as his access to police resources, he is able to cover up all of his crimes. Despite being a murder, the audience tends to side with Dexter and root for him because of the fact that he only kills people who deserve it, other murders who murder innocent people.
I find the topic of monstorisity interesting in this show because Dexter often questions his own monstrosity and we question weather or not Dexter truly is a monster. If indeed he is a monster, the show gives us an inside look on the life of a monster and the emotions and feelings that he goes through. For my paper, I decided to take a look at one particular episode of the show from the second season titled "theres something about Harry" where Dexter learns interesting things about his fathers death and questions his part in his discovery. This in turn makes Dexter question his own monstrosity. can he live with knowing the things that he's done? can he protect the people he cares about even if he's a monster? these are all great questions that are raised that I look forward to further discussing.
I find the topic of monstorisity interesting in this show because Dexter often questions his own monstrosity and we question weather or not Dexter truly is a monster. If indeed he is a monster, the show gives us an inside look on the life of a monster and the emotions and feelings that he goes through. For my paper, I decided to take a look at one particular episode of the show from the second season titled "theres something about Harry" where Dexter learns interesting things about his fathers death and questions his part in his discovery. This in turn makes Dexter question his own monstrosity. can he live with knowing the things that he's done? can he protect the people he cares about even if he's a monster? these are all great questions that are raised that I look forward to further discussing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)