Monsters have always existed since the beginning of
Human history. Even today, monsters can play a critical role in the way a story
is shaped and develop. Yet one thing has changed of the course of history in
our depictions of monsters, where before they were nothing more then mindless
beasts that did evil for evils sake, or simply being demons, monster in our
modern context have become more sympathetic figures in recent literature,
films, and other media.
In Beowulf, Grendel is depicted as nothing
more then a hellish beast that seeks to eat men for no reason given other than
that he is a monster. Grendel in Beowulf simply
kills men and then dies, without the reader every knowing what made him kill
these men. In John Gardner’s Grendel, released
in 1971, we are given a better understanding of where Grendel came from. His
lack of communication with anyone and how it has made him feel lonely, how he
speaks with the dragon and Grendel develops this world view of everything being
nothing but chaos. With the context from the novel, Grendel becomes a more understandable,
and in a way, sympathetic character.
In
the film Aliens, the monsters only
have one collective goal, to breed and spread their species. What makes the
aliens scary is how they have no sympathy or empathy for any other being, they
are all a hive-mind that have one singular goal. Aliens in the early eras of
sci-fi novels, and films often had no ulterior motive other than to invade or
control us humans, however recent films and books have began to portray aliens
like us. E.T, portrays the alien as a
simple child like being that just want to learn via his experiences and
surroundings and return home, he has no ulterior motives to conquer and enslave
humanity, he just wants to go home. E.T’s simple goal helps to build a
relatable and sympathetic character, as everyone can relate to the goal of
going home, to be with your family again. Another example is Avatar, with the Navi. IN the beginning of
the film we focus on the human perspective, with the goal of being to cut down
a tree to gather valuable resources, with the Navi being portrayed as savages
and murderers for the first portion of the film. However, later the focus
shifts to the Navi perspective and we see why they protect the tree, they have
reasons other than being simple Hollywood alien monsters. They are shown as a
simple people that just want there home to be left alone and to live on in
peace. The message of environmental protectors also plays a role in our modern
society as more and more people became concerned with the future of the
environment on earth, like how the Navi wish to protect their natural
environment from massive de-logging and mineral extraction.
Monsters
in modern film and literature have changed to be sympathetic, but the main
question is why. I believe it is because of the growth of humanity and its
world view. Grendel served as a perfect monster for the time, where humanity lived
in small areas and as small tribes, but as we have become more and more
connected we release that all problems could be solved of we work to aid our
fellow human. Another reason is that our literature skills have grown, and
monsters that are evil for evils sake don’t really elicit a reaction anymore.
Now monsters and villains need to be rounded and have proper motivation
otherwise the story is simply boring.
