Boutwell, Brian B., Mathias Clasen & Jens Kjeldgaard-Christiansen. 2020. “We are legion”: Possession myth as a lens for understanding cultural and psychological evolution. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences.
doi:10.1037/ebs0000197.
In most religious traditions, there exists the conception that human beings can lose their freedom of will to an invading consciousness. We argue that possession myths emerge from evolved mental architecture and reflect a constellation of deep-seated beliefs about cognition, consciousness, and mind−body dualism. We also consider why possession is almost always considered frightening and aversive, thus explaining why the horror genre, and audiovisual horror in particular, has embraced the trope of possession. We analyze how possession works in 2 examples: The Exorcist and Supernatural. Finally, we conclude by briefly discussing the possibility that possession mythology represents an interesting test case for examining the origins of culture in general. Culture, as others have also suggested, exists first as an outgrowth of human psychological faculties but can then come to exert top-down causal influence on those same
faculties.
On the Impossibility and Inevitability of Monsters in Biblical Thought
Kim Paffenroth
After general considerations of what constitutes a “monster,” this essay examines the examples of “monsters” in the Bible, showing that the Bible does not as frequently depict such beings as do other mythologies. The implications of this for understanding the biblical outlook on creation in general are considered, leading to the conclusion that in fact, in the Bible, it is God who is a monster, or at least, on the side of monsters, and is not to be relied on to eradicate them.
The Good, the God, and the Ugly: The Role of the Beloved Monster in the Ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible
Ryan S. Higgins Ancient
Near Eastern texts teem with horrifying and grotesque beings that pose some significant threat to the cosmos, humanity, and its institutions. Adopting Noël Carroll’s definition, such beings are monsters: interstitial not only physiologically and ontologically, but also cosmically and morally. This essay takes a comparative and literary approach to beloved monsters in Ugaritic, Mesopotamian, and Hebrew Bible texts. It suggests that in Ugarit and Mesopotamia, such monsters play a crucial role in advancing the goals of antipathic heroes while maintaining the integrity of sympathetic deities. It then considers the beloved monster in the Hebrew Bible and its interpretations. Finally, the essay makes note of the phenomenon’s transformation in contemporary speculative fiction. The essay argues that the beloved monster in Ugarit and Mesopotamia keeps together a fragmented cosmos, while in the Hebrew Bible it refracts through the cracks in a fragmented God.
Leviathan to Lucifer: What Biblical Monsters (Still) Reveal
Kelly J. Murphy
Monsters and the monstrous show up in Scripture and outside the pages of Scripture. Two of the most famous biblical monsters—Leviathan and Satan—appear and reappear in different forms, and, at times, their stories are merged into one. A focus on Leviathan and Satan in Scripture helps readers to see the different ways the biblical texts depict monsters and, especially, the relationship between humans, monsters, and the divine. As these creatures (re)appear in popular culture, often drawing on their scriptural representations, they continue to provide a space for audiences to ask: what makes a monster and what do these monsters reveal?
Constructing Imperial and National Identities: Monstrous and Human Bodies in Book of Watchers, Daniel, and 2 Maccabees
Anathea Portier-Young
Monster theory illuminates the construction of imperial and national identities in the portrayals of monstrous and human bodies in three early Jewish texts: Book of Watchers, Daniel, and 2 Maccabees. Book of Watchers expresses anxiety about Judean/Jewish identity in the shadow of empire through its portrayal of a vulnerable humanity terrorized by voracious giants and their demonic spirits. Daniel dehumanizes empire and its agents, imaging empire as a colossal statue, an animalistic were-king, and a series of monstrous beasts, while one like a human being poses an alternative to imperial rule. Second Maccabees, by contrast, demythologizes, decapitates, dismembers, and disintegrates the imperial body in order to portray the integral Judean political body (and soul) as mature, pure, capable, and ordered.
Holy Terror: Confronting Our Fears and Loving Our Movie Monsters
Craig Detweiler While the natural world may scare us, more frightening beasts arise when we neglect our calling to care for creation and “play god” via technology. From King Kong, Frankenstein, and Godzilla to recent films like The Babadook, The Shape of Water and Us, the most enduring monsters provoke humility, evoke empathy, and prompt us to love rather than fear. These holy terrors can offer an encounter with what Rudolf Otto famously called the mysterium tremendum.
Mapping the End: On Monsters and Maps in the Book of Revelation
Tina Pippin The Book of Revelation is a map of the end time. Its apocalyptic story is full of monsters, from the throne room to the abyss. Using new studies in literary cartography and spatiality studies, I argue that the text of Revelation can be read as a map, and is itself a monster.
The current edition of RUE MORGUE magazine, Issue 193 (March/April 2020), currently available on newsstands in the print edition, and free in digital format, caught my eye given the lead story titled “The Horror Art of Graham Humphreys.” I’m a big fan of horror, monstrous and fantasy art, and have a few books in my library on this topic. The article includes an interview with Humphreys, and he makes some interesting comments that draw upon religion in terms of the history and influences on horror art.
“I consider film posters to be an extension of the Old European theatre posters. I’d go even further and say that the stained glass windows in European churches were the origin of the modern film poster – brightly coloured advertisements for fantasy and horror. It’s no coincidence that my first true genre poster for the UK’s release of The Evil Dead looks like a stained glass window.”
A little later he refers to “the temple of poster art”.
Humphrey’s comments provide an interesting and perhaps unexpected insight into this art form.
I learned about this volume from the blog of Steve Wiggins, a fellow monster scholar. The overall topic is very appealing to me, and the discussion of Harryhausen’s monsters (or creatures as he preferred to call them), make this a volume I must add to my library.
What is it about ancient monsters that popular culture still finds so enthralling? Why do the monsters of antiquity continue to stride across the modern world? In this book, the first in-depth study of how post-classical societies use the creatures from ancient myth, Liz Gloyn reveals the trends behind how we have used monsters since the 1950s to the present day, and considers why they have remained such a powerful presence in our shared cultural imagination. She presents a new model for interpreting the extraordinary vitality that classical monsters have shown, and their enormous adaptability in finding places to dwell in popular culture without sacrificing their connection to the ancient world.
Her argument takes her readers through a comprehensive tour of monsters on film and television, from the much-loved creations of Ray Harryhausen in Clash of the Titans to the monster of the week in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, before looking in detail at the afterlives of the Medusa and the Minotaur. She develops a broad theory of the ancient monster and its life after antiquity, investigating its relation to gender, genre and space to offer a bold and novel exploration of what keeps drawing us back to these mythical beasts. From the siren to the centaur, all monster lovers will find something to enjoy in this stimulating and accessible book.
Mathias Clasen, who has been interviewed here previously on his biocultural approach to the study of horror, is the coauthor of a journal article of interest. It appears in the journal Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences and is titled “’We are legion’: Possession myth as a lens for understanding cultural and psychological evolution’. Here’s the abstract:
In most religious traditions, there exists the conception that human beings can lose their freedom of will to an invading consciousness. We argue that possession myths emerge from evolved mental architecture and reflect a constellation of deep-seated beliefs about cognition, consciousness, and mind−body dualism. We also consider why possession is almost always considered frightening and aversive, thus explaining why the horror genre, and audiovisual horror in particular, has embraced the trope of possession. We analyze how possession works in 2 examples: The Exorcist (Blatty & Friedkin, 1973) and Supernatural (Kripke et al., 2005–2020). Finally, we conclude by briefly discussing the possibility that possession mythology represents an interesting test case for examining the origins of culture in general. Culture, as others have also suggested, exists first as an outgrowth of human psychological faculties but can then come to exert top-down causal influence on those same faculties.
I’m pleased to share a video podcast conversation I had with Brandon Grafius on his book Reading the Bible with Horror. We have been working together for a while co-editing the volume Theology and Horror, and we talk a little about this too, as well as our new project the Oxford Handbook of Biblical Monsters. Here’s the description of Reading the Bible with Horror.
In Reading the Bible with Horror, Brandon R. Grafius takes the reader on a whirlwind tour through the dark corners of the Hebrew Bible. Along the way, he stops to place the monstrous Leviathan in conversation with contemporary monster theory, uses Derrida to help explore the ghosts that haunt the biblical landscape, and reads the House of David as a haunted house. Conversations arise between unexpected sources, such as the Pentateuch legal texts dealing with female sexuality and Carrie. Throughout the book, Grafius asks how the Hebrew Bible can be both sacred text and tome of fright, and he explores the numerous ways in which the worlds of religion and horror share uncomfortable spaces.
I’ve never been a big fan of David Cronenberg’s The Fly, preferring the 1950s version, but when this video came across my YouTube feed I was intrigued. I enjoy the analysis of Rob Ager and Collative Learning, and his suggestion that The Fly should be understood as have an atheistic subtext is intriguing. Although Cronenberg is an atheist, I would question, however, whether the idea that human beings are monistic (solely material) rather than dualistic (body and soul) in their anthropology neccesitates atheism. There are Christians, for example, who are monistic, holding a view called non-reductive physicalism. It could be that this is just another example of Cronenberg’s exposition of mortality through body horror, but given his atheistic starting point this interpretation would flow naturally from that philosophy. At any rate, enjoy the video.
I recently signed up for the trial period of Shudder.com because I’ve had my eye on a couple of documentaries the channel has availabler via streaming. One was Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, that addresses the black experience in horror films. This film is based upon the book of the same title by Robin R. Means Coleman, who provides some of the commentary in this production. I had the privilege of interviewing Coleman here previously.
I found this documentary fascinating, as it adds another critical dimension to the study of horror, and it includes discussion of films I’ve never seen before and perspectives never considered (as a result of my social context and biases). I highly recommend Coleman’s book and this documentary for horror fans, as well as those who want to understand how race and racism have been expressed in horror entertainment.
Bringing together the most popular genres of the 21st century, this book argues that Americans have entered a new era of narrative dominated by the fear―and wish fulfillment―of the breakdown of authority and terror itself.
Bringing together disparate and popular genres of the 21st century, American Popular Culture in the Era of Terror: Falling Skies, Dark Knights Rising, and Collapsing Cultures argues that popular culture has been preoccupied by fantasies and narratives dominated by the anxiety ―and, strangely, the wish fulfillment―that comes from the breakdowns of morality, family, law and order, and storytelling itself. From aging superheroes to young adult dystopias, heroic killers to lustrous vampires, the figures of our fiction, film, and television again and again reveal and revel in the imagery of terror. Kavadlo’s single-author, thesis-driven book makes the case that many of the novels and films about September 11, 2001, have been about much more than terrorism alone, while popular stories that may not seem related to September 11 are deeply connected to it.
The book examines New York novels written in response to September 11 along with the anti-heroes of television and the resurgence of zombies and vampires in film and fiction to draw a correlation between Kavadlo’s “Era of Terror” and the events of September 11, 2001. Geared toward college students, graduate students, and academics interested in popular culture, the book connects multiple topics to appeal to a wide audience.
Given my research interest on 9/11 as it relates to religion and popular culture, and after reading the preview material at Amazon, I ‘m now waiting for my copy to come in the mail. The trauma resulting from the attacks of 9/11 continue to have a dramatic impact on Americans, and it is expressed in a variety of ways. My research on its impact on religion noted how it has shaped American evangelicalism. In this area it has contributed to a stronger embrace of the narrative of Christian nationalism, and anti-immigrant stances, particularly the strong anti-Islamic immigrant feelings. On this see the fascinating research by Richard Cimino (abstract and full article), who looked at evangelical stances by evangelicals toward Islam and Muslims pre- and post-9/11. Pre-9/11 Muslims were viewed through a missiological and evangelistic lens, but post-9/11 this changed dramatically so that the lens was one of “us vs. them,” where Islam was construed as demonic, evil, and in terms of spiritual warfare.
I’ve also loooked at how the trauma of 9/11 has shaped science fiction and horror narratives. For those interested in seeing those posts, click on the “Archive for the 9/11 Category” of TheoFantastique. Kavadlo’s book includes consideration of genre in the analysis, but also expands beyond it. I’m looking forward to reading this book in order to deepen my understanding of the significance of the events of 9/11 on the national psyche as expressed in popular culture.
Jewish Zombies Call for Papers
Workshop at the Jewish Studies Program, Penn State University
October 27-28, 2020
The Jewish Studies Program at Penn State University presents an interdisciplinary academic workshop to examine zombies in the context of Jewish history and culture.
Throughout history, Jews have often been depicted as monstrous figures, such as demons and vampires, and Jews themselves have imagined Golems, werewolves, and other fantastic creatures to address predicaments and even answer questions of Jewish thought and experience. Yet zombies, the most persistent monsters of our time, have so far mostly eluded a critical examination from scholars engaging in Jewish Studies. This workshop will explore Jewish characters, images, and perspectives in zombie films, literature, comics, etc. from the early prehistory of the genre to the present; or, conversely, use the zombie or conceptions of the undead or living dead as a category of analysis to address problems of and questions about Jewishness in modern and premodern Jewish writing and thought.
We invite participants to examine the political and cultural linkages between zombie narratives and Jewish histories through various notions of loss and reanimation. Zombie tales present situations in which individuals lose their cognitive abilities and personal memories in the face of a social breakdown, when norms, values, and laws, the very safeguards of human existence, disappear; but they also address possibilities of restoration, revenge, and continuity. We will discuss the zombie in relation to other monstrous representations of Jewish identity, to think on the relationships between dehumanization practices and posthumanism narratives, and explore diverse moments when zombies, both in the past and the present, sink their teeth, metaphorically and not, into Jewish figures, history, and imagination.
Paper proposals should include a title, an abstract (300 words), institutional affiliation, and contact information. Please submit proposals to Kobi Kabalek (kabalek@psu.edu) by February 20, 2020.
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