AD34 - Original writing concerning Halloween themed monsters

The evolution of classic Halloween monsters

Frankenstein was an amalgamation of many men and was born into the world a monstrous figure, misunderstood and tortured, ultimately it was humanity that turned him into such a monstrous character. Zombie like figure made of of many different body parts, appears brain dead and or clueless but could kill anyone in an instant with a simple command. Now in current culture he has twisted and changed so much. Generally green now and has very little scars. Bolts in his neck and walks like a zombie, also has a square head. Made appearances in many kids’ shows such as Sabrina the teenage witch and the big bad beetle borgs.
Now within cartoons and illustration he is perceived to be completely stupid and is often seen making juvenile mistakes such as drinking out of the toilet and walking head first into walls. Further supporting his original purpose.

Mummies were raised from the dead to wreak havoc on the world and bring with them a plague which would torture humanity. Now within children’s illustration and cartoons they are seen as clumsy and old, they often trip over their loose bandages and a lot of jokes are made about them running out of toilet paper ~( because they are essentially a giant bog roll)

Vampires, more specifically Dracula and or nosferatu were the supposed kings of the monster world. Children of the devil himself they were one of the closest human monster analogues. Taking the at the time fairly rational fears of the devil and personifying it they brought about an era of terror. They drank blood and tore there enemies apart should they see it fit, possessing the power of immortal life, shapes shifting and even flight they were originally a fore to be reckoned with. Now within illustration and popular cartoon culture they are again twisted and changed to fit into our current culture. One of the most common cosplays for Halloween children and adults alike will sport a pair of fake fangs, a red cloak and a black suit which further helps to humanize the character. Many famous cartoons parody this character around Halloween time during their themed episodes. Mona the vampire was one of the best animated vampires throughout children’s cartoons. The drinking blood issue is often dealt with by the vampire having an unbelievable amount of blood in his/her fridge which conveniently comes in canes or bottles.

Popular culture has warped stories and myths to fit into our current way of analysing and thinking, the incredible scary stories written by skelly, stoker and Poe alike have managed to stay with us for decades and will continue to push forward. They stay with us because we are curious of the unknown and we as humans need to make areas that we must not go and then tempt our own fate by breaking our own rules.  Over the years we have seen hundreds of re writes and parodies and adaptations of the famous horror monsters. Maybe they have changed so much within children’s illustration because they needed to. Maybe children need to see these characters as weak and vulnerable so that they are easier to battle and overcome. Maybe accepting and depicting these monsters as a part of our lives will help overcome our irrational fears. Illustrating them with human like qualities shows us that we do not have to banish creatures because they are simply different. On another note the closer something is to humankind the more potential scare factor it has as it can emulate events and feelings that we as humans can feel and perceive. Illustrating monsters with human qualities can make them more relatable, maybe the newly illustrated Dracula looks like your uncle john? Thus bringing the story close to home. When shelly created the monster she could visualize it, she was the metaphorical Frankenstein as she created it. She can paint a picture for us but all of our renditions will not be the same. Brining the story back to home brings the story back alive and fills an old tale with new hope and fear.  

How are monster going to continue to develop, new ones appear everywhere because the mind is an ever expanding universe of creation and inspiration and there is always something new to be afraid of.

This was one of the first bits of writing that I did for my dissertation, it was during the summer when I started drawing characters like the mummy and Dracula. I was initially interested in the Halloween monster paradigm and how we ultimately become monsters ourselves as we dress up on this holiday occasion. 

The idea soon got scrapped because it was not enough to base an essay around although the concept of human monsters was an interesting one, I would later explore this and implement it as a small section in the final essay. 

I also briefly talked about how monsters develop and continue to do so because of our ever expanding imagination. another point which was worth bringing up later in my essay.