Summary: Monster Theory In the first few lines of this article Jeffery Jerome Cohen, declares that he is creating a new “modus legendi”. That is, he is creating a new method of studying cultures from the monsters they engender (Cohen 3). He is ready to go against how cultural studies have been done in the past and form a new way of thinking and studying culture. Cohen goes one to make a few more comments on culture and history. First, “We live in an age that has rightly given up on Unified theory” (Cohen 3). Cohen is making a claim that the world has given up on creating a single theory about how things work. In the eyes of Cohen no theory is the right theory.
Thus, he and others are free to make assumptions about the culture and history …show more content…
Thus, Cohen is trying to understand specific cultures through the monsters, or fragments of history, they create. In the next part of this essay Cohen offers seven theses towards understanding cultures through the monsters that they create. In the first thesis, Cohen declares that, “The monsters body is a cultural body”. Monsters are created at a metaphoric crossroads, and embody a certain cultural moment in time. This cultural moment could be a time, feeling, or a place (Cohen 4).“The monster signifies something other than itself: it is always a displacement, always inhabits the gap between the time of upheaval that created it and the moment that receives it”(Cohen 5). In essence, the monstrous body created is pure culture; it is a projection of a certain moment in time. The Second thesis offered is that “The monster always escapes”. The monster will always come back, it may change form, but it will come back at some point. We often see the things that monsters leave behind; the damage, the material remains, or possibly the footprints. As these …show more content…
This thesis revolves around the idea that monsters always escape because they refuse easy categorization (Cohen 6). For example, in the film Alien, the monster Ridley Scott created is part reptilian, part humanoid, and part crustacean. Monsters may have some sort of deformity or body part that prevents them from being classified. Thus, it is impossible to classify these organisms and they “escape” the margins of our coherent epistemological system of classification (Cohen 6). The fourth thesis is the theory that “The monster dwells at the gates of difference”. The monster is an incorporation of the, “Outside, the beyond”(Cohen 7). Thus, it dwells “outside” or “beyond” the social, political, racial, economic, and sexual norms established by society. The fifth thesis is “the monster policies the borders of the possible”. Monsters are created in order to keep people from being “mobile” intellectually, sexually, and geographically. If one were to step outside their official geography, they risk being attacked by some monstrous border portal or even become a monster themselves (Cohen 16). For example, as the American frontier expanded, tales swirled about Indians who
Thus, he and others are free to make assumptions about the culture and history …show more content…
Thus, Cohen is trying to understand specific cultures through the monsters, or fragments of history, they create. In the next part of this essay Cohen offers seven theses towards understanding cultures through the monsters that they create. In the first thesis, Cohen declares that, “The monsters body is a cultural body”. Monsters are created at a metaphoric crossroads, and embody a certain cultural moment in time. This cultural moment could be a time, feeling, or a place (Cohen 4).“The monster signifies something other than itself: it is always a displacement, always inhabits the gap between the time of upheaval that created it and the moment that receives it”(Cohen 5). In essence, the monstrous body created is pure culture; it is a projection of a certain moment in time. The Second thesis offered is that “The monster always escapes”. The monster will always come back, it may change form, but it will come back at some point. We often see the things that monsters leave behind; the damage, the material remains, or possibly the footprints. As these …show more content…
This thesis revolves around the idea that monsters always escape because they refuse easy categorization (Cohen 6). For example, in the film Alien, the monster Ridley Scott created is part reptilian, part humanoid, and part crustacean. Monsters may have some sort of deformity or body part that prevents them from being classified. Thus, it is impossible to classify these organisms and they “escape” the margins of our coherent epistemological system of classification (Cohen 6). The fourth thesis is the theory that “The monster dwells at the gates of difference”. The monster is an incorporation of the, “Outside, the beyond”(Cohen 7). Thus, it dwells “outside” or “beyond” the social, political, racial, economic, and sexual norms established by society. The fifth thesis is “the monster policies the borders of the possible”. Monsters are created in order to keep people from being “mobile” intellectually, sexually, and geographically. If one were to step outside their official geography, they risk being attacked by some monstrous border portal or even become a monster themselves (Cohen 16). For example, as the American frontier expanded, tales swirled about Indians who