“He was an angel of death ushering these things on their stalled journey from this sphere” (Whitehead 19). Colson Whitehead introduces his novel Zone One by exploring a post-apocalyptic world, in New York City, through the eyes of Mark Spitz. Using Mark’s experiences, fWhitehead constantly contrasts the world before and after the “plague -era” where creatures, …
Does Killing (Even Those Who Are Already Dead) Destroy Your Humanity? “They knew they were being fundamentally altered, in their very cells, inducted into a different class of trauma than the rest of the survivors” (Whitehead, 95). This quote introduces the focus on the soldier mentality that is present in Colson Whitehead’s book, Zone One. …
Suicide. The act of intentionally taking one’s own life. I know it’s a gruesome topic but it is also important to discuss. A person taking their life, not always but usually, thinks about the tragedies they’ve endured, how the world would be a better place without them, or that no one would miss them if …
Every family seems to have a secret, some part of their history that they hide or are ashamed of. In an attempt to reflect the white picket fence type family to onlookers we dilute our history until there is nothing left of what made us a unique family unit. I personally love my family, and […]
Before you continue to read this article, think about an important ring in your life. Whether you’re thinking of a ring that someone gave to you personally or one that has significance to your family, upbringing, or just to your life in general, the first feeling you think about isn’t one of fear or consequence. …
Like most people who watch horror films, I too appreciate the bloodshed and butchering of humans or beasts because it adds excitement to the film. Contingent upon the setting or whether there is a supernatural, physical, or psychogenic force coming after the characters, it drives the movie in a direction of stimulation and anticipation for …
Continue reading “Postmodern Horror Films Don’t Need Gore to be Horrifying”
Jeffrey Jerome Cohen wrote in his Seven Theses of Monster Culture that “Fear of the Monster is Really a Kind of Desire”. Monsters are made to stray away from normality to draw the line not meant to be crossed by society; however, this display of restriction invokes the desire to cross the line. The phrase, …
Continue reading “Mysterious Monsters: Humanity’s Truest Desires”
In Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s piece, Monster Culture, Cohen introduces the seven qualities that he believes describe the role and creation of monsters in our society. The fifth thesis states that “The Monster Polices the Borders of the Possible” (Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. Monster Theory: Reading Culture. University of Minnesota Press, 1996. Pg. 12), in other words, monsters exist in part …
Continue reading “The Manipulation of People through Monsters”
To some extent, we are all terrified of the future. As a society we have created thousands of stories about the future, and an alarming number of them are terrifying. These futures are scary, not because they are unrecognisable, but rather because they are too recognisable. We are terrified of being monsters: that we might […]
