The night is young, the sky is black, and the rain is beginning to pour. Lighting and thunder consume the atmosphere. A tree begins to rattle against a window. Inside a house, there lays a child tucked under his covers terrified of the dark. Any minute he suspects a creepy and abnormal monster might pop out of his closet. The thunder continues to get louder and the tree starts to bang against the window even harder, and the child's begins to scream in response to fear. But what if that monster appeared in a "art-horror" film and as the audience you felt some empathy for that monster, and felt the opposite towards the other characters within the movie? In Mary Shelley's movies, Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, as apart of the audience I felt some sort of empathy for the monster of Frankenstein for the way he was treated by the town.
According to Carroll in his book, Philosophy of Horror, a monster has to have certain characteristics in order to be "art-horrified." One is a state of abnormal , physically felt agitation (for example, suspense, fear, screaming, tingling). Two, is just the thought that the monster actually exists as a possible being, has the possibility of being physically threatening, and the monster has a impure presence. By the definition given by Carroll, the monster in Frankenstein meets these prerequisites. His actual being is impossible by the modern day science, he instills some sort of fear, and there is disgust over the monster. But when viewing the movie, there are certain scenes where I developed empathy for the monster. Yes, he did kill some of the townspeople but it seemed that it was done out of frustration because the people were scared of him and didn't know what to do with such a unusual creature. In Bride of Frankenstein, the scene with the monster and the blind man shows that the monster can be good and tamed. The blind man took him in without knowing who it really was and they became friends. The monster showed real emotions and all he wanted was a real friend. This was also shown in the ending scences of the movie, when the second monster was created and was shown to Frankenstein. At the first glimpse, he was filled with excitement because he could have a friend that was just like him. But when the second monster viewed Frankenstein, she was terrified and started screaming, and he didn't understand why she was acting the way she did. He was disappointed, and sad that she didn't like him and didn't even give him a chance as a possible friend. Out of disappointment, frustration, and saddness that is when he starts to attack and gets violent.
Another example that is similiar can be viewed by the monster of Irena in Cat People. In the beginning of the movie, you can see that she fell in love but is cursed by a old Serbian myth. She is horrified of her own existence and what she can become. She tries to get help, but she knows that nothing is going to be able to relieve her of this curse but death. But with her husband not being able to understand her sanity and weird personality, which drives her to become frustrated and jealous. With these emotions, she is prone to attack.
In conclusion, not all monsters have to be bloody and gory. Even though the monsters in Frankenstein and Cat People produce some sort of fear and disgust, as apart of the audience I felt a bit of empathy for them. They really just wanted to be good but in the end it is many emotions building up for them to produce the violent ways in which is instilled in them. With this, maybe next time you get scared of the dark, think twice before thinking it could be a violent monster, all they want could be just a friend to understand them for who they are.
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