Casper The Friendly Ghost

Casper the friendly ghost is definitely not your everyday monster. He appears to be a ghost and this scares away most people, since ghosts are frightening, but if they were to stick around long enough they would see that Casper wouldn’t hurt a fly. Casper just isn’t your typical monster as he is only looking to make friends. If you relate him to his three friends Fatso, Stretch and Stinkie he is the complete opposite, they are smelly and useless and don’t care what kind of mess they are making out of things. All three of the other ghosts always attempt to make Casper a “better” ghost by trying to teach him scare tactics and how to be less hygienic, but that just isn’t who Casper is and he feels as though scaring people is mean. In a way Casper seems to have a heart even though that’s impossible since he is indeed a ghost. Compared to the typical monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein and Wolf man Casper also lacks the physical attributes that would make him more frightening. He is depicted as a small boy and also has the same characteristics as one like enjoying games and typical things a child would do.

Early forms of Casper came from comic books.The publisher of the comics in the 1960's and 1970's said that he was a ghost because of his married ghost parents and death had nothing to do with it. Although The movie seems kid-friendly, considering it is about a friendly ghost, it does deal with serious themes about death. In the film Casper is a 12-year-old ghost whom died from an illness is his “previous” life. Casper feels alone as a spirit. He wants to be human again, not a monster. The little girl in the movie is also an outcast in her new school. She has no friends, so she and Casper are able to connect and find companionship in one another. This theme is relatable to many people, and by using an innocent little ghost, it makes monsters not-so-scary. The concept of bringing him back to life becomes an important part of the plot, but maybe this idea is over the heads of children watching this movie. I think this morbid idea was used to show children that the ghosts were once humans like you and I. A scene where Casper finds a sled that he used to ride when he was alive is touching. It reminds the viewers that these scary spirits are no different than us.

Questions:
1. Stinkie, Stretch, and Fatso were wicked characters in the movie. They were portrayed how many people think of ghosts. Why do you think the movie had them as Casper’s antagonists?
2. What constitutes a monster in your opinion? Does just having the physical attributes make these types of character a monster?
3. Do you think such a serious idea of bringing ghosts back to life should be shown to children? Keep in mind that this film was created in the 90s

Hulkamania!

The Incredible Hulk is an interesting contemporary pop-culture figure, in that he serves as a metaphor for our potential for rage/irrational behavior as a result of extreme emotional behavior.

 

(click image to enlarge scan is large enough to read text)

 

In this sequence we see an elderly Bruce Banner in a desert wasteland pursued by a swarm of bloodthirsty insects.  As he falls to the ground, fear fills his heart, and we witness the transformation of his puny old-man hands to big green hulk hands! 

This is a great example of a monster in modern day media because it shows an exaggerated example of what happens to humans when they get angry. Think about when you were young and your mom was bitching at you all day long. You know, that nagging that makes you want to strangle a small child. You find yourself in a situation where your anger is preventing you from thinking straight or making rash decisions. You probably ended up yelling back or saying something very hurtful before storming out of the house. Then, while reflecting what just happened, you think to yourself what the hell did I just do?

This is very similar to Bruce because he loses all control of his body when he becomes angry. So much that he destroys everything around him in a brutal frenzy. The movie is taking human nature and magnifying it so we can see what we actually look like to the person we are yelling at. While I’m sure no one destroys entire cities or tears the gun off a tank when they’re angry, it is very much alike.

The Hulk is a notable version of the classic monster. He is a huge, strong, angry green beast. However, he is the result of the gamma radiation exposure that Bruce Banner sustained. When Banner gets angry, or his heart rate jumps, the transformation happens and a wave of destruction follows. The massive destruction causes the military and general populace to hate and fear the Hulk; just like Frankenstein in the classic movies. The military also would like to use the Hulk as a weapon, or duplicate the process to make super-soldiers, bringing into question of who is really the monster: the reluctant victim or the military.

Much like some outspoken political documentaries, the Incredible Hulk series of comics brings into question how far the military/government will go to secure their power and place in the world. Now, the origin stories of the Hulk have gotten a little convoluted, but most of them say that Banner was working on the gamma enhancement project for the military to use as a weapon or for repurposing super-soldiers. Thus, because of his accidental survival from lethal amounts of gamma radiation and subsequent ability to transform into the incredibly powerful being known as the Hulk; the military views his entire body as their property. Now what they would actually do with the Hulk has been explicitly said a few times, but they would most likely use him to make more to use as weapons of intimidation (like nuclear warheads) or as a one man strike force to take out targets (super-soldier). The intentions of the

military can paint them as the real monster instead of the Hulk.

The Hulk’s alter-ego Bruce Banner on the other hand, only wants to be either left alone or to find a cure for the Hulk. His intentions are very sincere that he only wants the Hulk to go away and return to a normal life. Throughout the movies and comics, the situations that usually lead to Banner’s transformation into the Hulk result from the appearance of the military arriving to apprehend Banner.

Some possible questions to consider

1.) When The Incredible Hulk gets angry, he turns from a normal human into

an enormous green monster. How does this change in his color add to the

effectiveness of The Hulk’s character? If he were to just become big and

ripped, and not turn green when he gets angry, would The Hulk have the

same effect on viewers?

2.) Deep down the Incredible Hulk is just a normal person (Bruce Banner)

who is unable to control his actions and emotions when he gets angry. Is

there any character in today’s media or culture that we could relate to The

Incredible Hulk?

3.) In both the movie and the cartoon version of the Hulk, the authors use

multiple tactics to signify that the Hulk is a monster. Aside from his

change in appearance, what other methods do the authors use to show The

Incredible Hulk as a monster?

Gaga, are you a monster?

Stefani Germanotta or better known as Lady Gaga, is an American pop artist who has risen to fame through her music and the way she carries herself in and out of the spotlight. Her music seems like your typical pop music you hear on the radio but her show performances are something else. A pretty typical and famous performance of hers is of her song “Teeth,” performed in Paris during her Monster Ball Tour this past year. Watching the video of the performance almost makes you feel uncomfortably frightened, yet glued to screen watching and wondering what she will do next. She carries herself almost monster like with how she starts off crawling around almost helplessly but then gets up and starts dancing full of vigor and energy. Just the fact of how weird and almost scary her performances are can really make you question why Lady Gaga goes about representing her music in this way and what her audiences see and can interpret from her performances.

A large part of Lady Gaga's success is due to her actions and appearance of a contemporary monster hence why she continues to perform in such a manner. The performance stage in the video is very dark and evil feeling with mood lighting, warm/dark colors, and thorn-like trees. It is a very similar appearance to the "Thriller" video by Michael Jackson. If one were to be in the audience of this performance, right of the bat you would feel anxious and uptight with what was about to come on stage. Ms. Gaga herself is covered with blood down her chest and arms with bright, unnaturally yellow hair. She is terrifying and mysterious to the crowd. The background dancers are dressed in very similar "monster" attire include black clothing, costume make-up, and fangs. The importance of all these monster qualities is that this is what has made Lady Gage famous, made her stand out from other pop-artists today. If one were to classify music artist they would be categories like rock, hip-hop, R&B, ect; but Lady Gaga is a category all in her own. Her unique take on performances and image has allowed her to create a massive, die-hard fan group because monsters are appealing to most due to their eeriness and suspense.

The real question is why does Gaga do the things that she does? And why do people like her so much for this behavior? One obvious answer is that she likes the attention, which clearly she does. But, that cannot be the only answer, because she had to begin this strange way of acting before anyone paid any attention to her. In this specific example of her performance of "Teeth" in Paris, Lady Gaga is dressed scantily, has blood all over her, and hyperbolic features (yellow hair, bright makeup). These characteristics show an almost inhuman figure, some might say monstrous. Lady Gaga may not believe that she should be seen as human, though as something different, or even above, humanity. She shows herself as larger than life. Usually monsters are only viewed in movies or books or tv shows, but Gaga brings these ideas to real flesh in her shows. The performance, and performers, aim to bring the viewer into an unreal world, and then make him or her (most likely him according to the audience in the video) almost entranced by the oddness and near eroticism of the concert. People are drawn to difference, and what Lady Gaga does certainly draws many viewers, keeping her huge freak-show fan-base close at hand to influence however she pleases.

In a word, Gaga never refused to behave or act as a monster in her shows, especially in “Teeth” which gets the peak of bloody effects. Maybe she did it for attract concentrations. Maybe actually, she has an evil or dark side in her personality and she hopes to express her inner desire by macabre shows. All her newly creative attractions work well on her faithful fans to indicate that she is really the unique one. To those people who dislike or do not care Lady gaga, the scary style is just strong evidence that she is really a ridiculous, crazy, psychopathic bitch. The battle against Gaga’s show styles will never stop until she continues her horrible road to extremeness.

Questions:
1. Megastars like Michael Jackson, Madonna and Elvis, now here is Lady gaga, they all create unique shows which may be crazy, horrible and bloody. How do you think of their ideas? Are they on purpose to attract people or naturally to show their imagination as an artist?

2. Do you like Gaga’s monstrous style at present? Give some predictions on her career assuming that she continues to be even more horrible.

3. Why so many people admire Lady Gaga so much that they seem to drop their own conservative value and follow her lifestyle? Is there any social factor?

The monster: perhaps the most dynamic character throughout the history of film. No other character has the ability to instill so much fear into the heart of an audience. Whether in the form of a villain, or an actual monster, such characters receive just as much attention, if not more, from the director as the hero. As said by Alfred Hitchcock, “The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture.” While some villains take their disguise behind masks or costumes, the most effective, truly horrifying and monstrous villains are those who are just as human as you and me, and of those villains, Hannibal Lecter stands out as being one of the most terrifying villains of all time.

Dr. Hannibal Lecter, as played by Sir Anthony Hopkins, has been one of the most unnerving and recognizable villain or monster in the last two decades of film. Why do Lecter’s mannerisms effectively frighten so many people? While Lecter is speaking to agent Starling in this scene, he speaks softly the entire time, changing only the speed at which he talks. At the same time, Lecter’s facial expressions change very little: his mouth may move, and he may smile slightly, but nothing changes in his eyes. They remain cold, rarely blinking, and focused. Lecter’s eyes may also make the viewer uncomfortable because, as Dr. Hirsch suggests in this article, paranoia and psychosis have been linked to the white part of the eye showing around all edges of the iris. Check out the photo at the top for an example. It is possible that just seeing Lecter’s face can make someone uneasy and, as their subconscious mind warns them to fear him, his actions reinforce that feeling.

In Silence of the Lambs, the monstrous qualities of Hannibal Lecter are reinforced by various stylistic edits, including shot angles, filming techniques, and manipulation of symbolic images to enhance the horror of Lecter’s crimes. When the protagonist, Clarice Starling, meets Lecter in his cell and interviews him, the director makes use of point-of-view shots to get the audience into the Starling’s mindset, and during the emotional high points of the interview, the director uses close-ups of each of their faces to highlight the difference in their expressions. Starling’s face is still calm, but shows hints of normal emotional responses such as anger, shock, and fear. Because of the POV shots, the audience is emotionally in tune with Starling. This is immediately juxtaposed with the close-ups of Lecter’s face, which shows emotions more reminiscent of excitement and hunger, giving the impression that he is less like a human and more like a feral predator closing for a kill. The POV shot is also used during the scene where Lecter escapes from his cage (another monster motif), this time using the point of view of the guard as Lecter kills him. The director also uses shots that combine the aftermath of the grisly murder with religious symbols by posing the disemboweled body in the air in an angelic pose. By twisting and corrupting a holy symbol of purity, the murder is made that much more horrifying and disturbing.

The aspect of cannibalism often makes people cringe (I doubt there are many people who think that human bacon would be appetizing), thus Hannibal Lecter’s “trademark” tends to strike a nerve with the public audience. In the trailer he is called, “a monster,” “a pure psychopath,” and “the darkest of all minds.” The main reason these acquisitions are made is because of his flesh eating tendencies. Sure his odd mannerisms and cunning wit compliment his main monstrous attribute, but cannibalism is at the heart of the horror. Cannibalism being an atrocious, despicable act is most likely a product of evolution. We are social animals. We depend on one another to survive and carry on the legacy of the human race (thus we can’t just going around eating one another). The definition of a psychopath is someone who lacks human emotion. Because Hannibal is a called a psychopath, there is no reason for him to feel pity for his victims. This makes him quite different from you run-of-the-mill serial killer. By eating his victims, it is cemented that he is not like you or I. He is a monster – just in human skin.

Response Questions:

1.Perhaps the most terrifying aspect of Hannibal Lecter is the fact that he is a cannibal. Had Hannibal not been a cannibal, would he still have been as horrifying of a character? And in what other ways do you think Lecter is monstrous?

2. During the film, and in the trailer, Hannibal Lecter takes on a distinct personality as a villain. His mannerisms, specifically, contribute to his creepy “vibe”. What villains in other films do you think have the same effect as Hannibal Lecter in terms of being truly monstrous?

3. The movie and the trailer use specific filming styles to create a unique feel in each scene. Many of the scenes with Lecter use different angles to capture his demeanor. What styles of filming do you think the director used to help create the sadistic characteristics that Lecter embodies?

Helpful Sites for Research

*Note: This is not the post you should be commenting on for the Blog Project. The post you should respond to is the previous one on The Joker from The Dark Knight--please scroll down to it or click here to read and comment on that post.*

I'm making this post to give you a list of sites that might be helpful for you as you begin to look for secondary sources for the next phase of the Analytical Research Paper: the Secondary Source Integration assignment. This list includes blogs, news sites, and research databases that I like to use, so of course it is a limited selection. If you have more suggestions you'd like to add to the list, please feel free to do so in the comment section.

"Is this all research, or just some kind of stress test for the table?" -Buffy Summers

http://jezebel.com (focuses on feminism, sexuality, women's issues, and pop culture)

http://feministing.com (a more "serious" version of Jezebel; Racialicious's sister site)

http://racialicious.com (focuses on race, politics, and pop culture)

http://aldaily.com (compiles academic articles, book reviews, and essays from a variety of sources on all different issues)

http://slate.com (like Jezebel or Racialicious, but without a focus on particular identity issues--though, of course, carries its own unstated biases)

http://salon.com (Like Slate, but with more of an arts focus)

http://npr.org (Short, smart articles and radio segments on basically everything)

http://huffingtonpost.com (Compiles articles and opinion pieces--including some from OSU professors--on anything newsworthy; left-leaning)

http://nytimes.com (It's the New York Times. Online.)

http://economist.com (The Economist is a respected UK magazine focusing on contemporary global politics)

http://newyorker.com (Arts, culture, and politics; includes archive of articles back to the 1920s)

http://chronicle.com (The Chronicle of Higher Education publishes good articles on a variety of topics, focusing on issues that affect academia)

http://thenation.com (The Nation is a left-leaning politics and culture magazine)

http://library.osu.edu (OSU's library site. In addition to looking up books, try using some of the resources available via the "Research Databases" link. In particular, you might be interested in the OED (Oxford English Dictionary, which includes not only definitions but also timelines and etymology); "Academic Search Complete," which searches through all OSU's archives for articles; or "JSTOR," which compiles peer-reviewed analytic articles.

As I said, please feel free to add more to this list!

The Joker from The Dark Knight

LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8PxG5zvgOM


The character of the joker is a unique one. Despite what happen to him from being hit by Batman in the scene, he stays calm and even he laughs. This kind of indifference strengthens the monstrous character of the Joker; it makes him kills his helpers and incites them to kill each other after he gets what he wants and never care about them (e.g. the robbery scene). This indifference and dishonesty makes many people unfavorable for other people, and they are usually lonely. Although an indifferent person might make some friends, but as soon as those friends know the truth of this unfeeling person, they would end this fake and unsafe relationship before the other person takes what he wants from them and leave them or even destroy them. Along the movie, some of the scenes the Joker acted are showing him by himself doing his crimes, and even when he does crimes with assistants (e.g. the party scene), he uses them just as tools that help him do his crime perfectly. Furthermore, the Joker's goal from doing these crimes and spreading fear in Gotham City is teasing Batman. He would do everything from killing his helpers to blowing up the city just to have fun teasing Batman with no intent to kill Batman as he said to Batman," what will I do without you? The Joker in this movie sees Batman like a toy he wants to play with, but in a dangerous way.
At first glance, the murderous villain known as the Joker (see Dark Knight) is a ruthless criminal, driven to wreak havoc upon Batman and the rest of the helpless Gotham City residents. In each of the Batman movies, he is the superhero’s archenemy and the clear-cut most wanted man (who really knows what he is?) by the Gotham Police. But what exactly is under that shiny red smile? Beyond all the makeup and glitz, there lies a man that must have suffered unimaginably in his past and continues to do so today. He shows a scary level of mistrust towards his fellow gang members, often shooting them dead after they have completed “their job.” His clear lack of care for his own well-being, well, carries on to others. When things don’t go as planned, you can be sure one of his men will pay the price before he would ever dare to take the hit. When it comes to his enemies, he takes his time to make sure they FEEL the pain!! The joker often taunts his victims and plays with them mentally and physically before he “finishes them off.” It’s clear that his volatile mistreatment of others stems from the bad treatment he received as a child. The Joker might seem smooth when he talks but his genuine side paints a very different picture of an uneasy man, longing for affection. For this reason, it seems fair to say that the Joker’s painted ‘happy” face is a cover for his deeply sad emotional side he tries so desperately to hide.

In this scene, it is evident that the Joker is trying to bring Batman over to his side as they together could be an unstoppable force. The Joker attempts to do this by manipulating Batman’s view on the citizens of Gotham and the world in general. He claims that the people see the Batman as a freak and are only using him because Gotham is falling apart. The Joker comes to the conclusion that the people don’t truly appreciate Batman and when they don’t need him anymore, they’ll “cast [him] out, like a leper.” The Joker then tries to play it off as though he is not a monster, rather he’s “ahead of the curve.” This intense scene displays how the Joker is trying to come across as though society is the true enemy when in fact he is the ruthless force that is causing the problems in Gotham. While the Batman is demanding the location of the District Attorney and his girlfriend, the Joker continues to play mind games. As Batman is interrogating and physically harming the Joker, the cruel and heartless villain could care less as he just continues to laugh psychotically. The Joker not only looks like a horrific monster but also behaves like a cold and heartless creature with no compassion towards anybody or anything.


Discussion Questions:

1.) The Joker is clearly a sick and twisted man with ambition. He tries to convince Batman to join him so they will be an unstoppable duo. How does the Joker try and persuade Batman to join him? What tactics does the Joker use?

2.) In this scene, the Joker uses many mind tricks on Batman. He is successful in the sense that he infuriates Batman and really gets to him. Have you ever seen an antagonistic character who used similar mind tricks? Explain.

3.) In this scene, the Joker is in his typical attire. The villain has a very unique look. How is the Joker's unique choice of clothing and makeup add to his eccentric personality?

Last Quarter's Blog

Here's a link to the ENGL 110.01: Monsters in Contemporary Culture class blog from the autumn 2010 quarter. You can look over the posts here to get ideas of how you might go about writing your blog entries.