The Understanding of a Monster When analyzed online many of the definitions you will find for the word monster include: a strange or horrible imaginary creature, one who deviates from normal or acceptable behavior, or an animal of strange and/or terrifying shape. (Merriam Webster) When observing the “Monster Theory” by Jeffrey Cohen and the 7 theses that he provides in this text, one can begin to somewhat disagree with these formal definitions and attempt to say that it has an even greater meaning. Monsters might scare us and frighten us because of their physical appearances but also can provide us with possible solutions to gaps and uncertainties in our mind that Sigmund Freud would label as “The Uncanny”. I can only but agree with
As Poole states in Monsters in America, “…imagine a threat created by a mad scientist whose moral presumption and lack of respect for human life creates monsters.”(105) He describes to us that what we should really fear is the scientists who tend to experiment against common physics. We could be one bad catastrophe away from our doom. Lastly, Cohen provides us with the thesis the monster stands at the threshold of becoming. Everyone has their own basic understanding of knowledge about what is accepted and known. How about the unknown or the “The Uncanny”? The fear of the unknown is one of the greatest that strikes humanity. People don’t like to leave things unquestioned or unanswered. This is where the role of a monster is suggested to take part. In different cultures different monsters are created in order to fill these gaps and attempt to give an answer to some questions. An example where this is proven true is Big Foot and the Loch Ness Monster. Many people have claimed to have seen or encountered these heralded monsters, but there has been nearly no validation of this therefore this strikes fear into our minds since it is a situation we don’t know. Nowadays in our society technology forms a huge role in attempting to answer our unanswerable questions. It is slowly beginning to take over our society and bringing forth the opportunity for people to do things that were unimaginable. In the story of Frankenstein, this is where we are