Crossing the Magnification Line

Tonight is a full moon, the perfect night to discuss the magnification line. Wait, what? You mean werewolves ri*chomp*. What is the magnification line? It is a peculiar recurring theme, or trope, that I have noticed in several horror and fantasy works. The idea runs thus: in general, magnifying a creature makes it more terrifying; however, once you cross the magnification line, the creature is actually scarier in a smaller larger-than-normal form than in a bigger one. This is due, I think, to several erroneous ideas we have: 1)big things are slow; 2)big things are stupid; 3)really big things are too big to think about any one thing personally, they could think about destroying mankind, but not destroying a man. Good illustrations of this idea can be found by looking at the monsters in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Jurassic Park, and Godzilla.

In Chamber of Secret for example, who is more terrifying: Aragog, the big lumbering spider patriarch the size of a car, or his wolf-sized children that move with unnerving speed?

Aragog seems to slow to chase use effectively (though a large spider would be very fast) whereas his wolf-sized spawn seem as though they could even act as a wolf pack and chase us down swiftly before swarming over us (the fact that they do do this in the movie enhances the terror of it all). Thus the less magnified of the two seems scarier.

The next comparison involves multiple factors. Why are the raptors in Jurassic Park scarier than Godzilla, when Godzilla is the more magnified of the two reptiles? First, I think it is because they are agile and fast, whereas Godzilla lumbers about. Second, they are shown to be far more intelligent. Godzilla doesn't plan, he burninates stuff and stomps around. The raptors are far more clever, and can't be simply outrun as Godzilla hypothetically could be. This lack of great intelligence in the larger monster is not unique to Godzilla; the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms shares it, as well. The large monster gives off the impression that it can be outsmarted, whereas the smaller ones give a sense of cunning. I am once again tempted to compare the smaller monsters to a wolf pack, and perhaps it is magnification to wolf size and massification to pack size that is the most terrifying combination. The smaller monsters are also more terrifying because they seem to be specifically targeting the protagonists (and by extension, the audience). Aragog does not take place in the pursuit of Harry and Ron by his children, he merely allows it because they are "food". Godzilla doesn't have it out for innocent bystander #22 or hapless building #5, they just happen to be between him and King Ghidora. In contrast, the smaller spiders and velociraptors are specifically targeting the protagonists for a grisly meal, and have the speed and intelligence to possibly outwit our heroes. Thus, when attempting to design a scary monster, bigger is not always better. Make it too big, and we may assume that, like Godzilla, it is an impersonal force of nature, and rather slow. However, make it in the size range of a wolf to a tiger, and we may attribute to it the intelligence, speed, and predatory nature of those beasts.

So, am I just rambling about the way I see things, or can others corroborate my hypothesis? The floor is yours.