“In Francis Coppola’s recent blockbuster, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the homosexual subtext present at least since the appearance of Sheridan Le Fanu’s lesbian lamia (Carmilla, 1872) has, like the red corpuscles that serve as the film’s leitmotif, risen to the surface, primarily as an AIDS awareness that transforms the disease of vampirism into a sadistic (and very medieval) form of redemption through the torments of the body in pain.”
pp. 5, Cohen
This essay puts forward seven hypotheses addressing how ‘the monster’ characteristics functions in society and change over time and place. In the second hypothesis, Cohen says that the monster always escapes, both in a physical and hypothetical sense. The idea that the danger is out there somewhere is important to the story of a monster. I found it interesting that he mention the film adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula as an example of using the established story to highlight a subtext. In this case, Coppola may have been influenced by the AIDS epidemic and inserted/highlighted themes of disease as a punishment or retribution for sexual feelings.
Question: How does (or did) this movie’s motives changed how we view vampires as a concept today? Are there any other examples of some similar theme reformulation in monster storytelling?
What is one contemporary Monster?
The first thing that comes to mind, for me, is the slasher-type monster. This is a pretty flexible label, but the criteria I would include is that it is a masked figure with an unstoppable drive to kill, and is often unkillable themselves. Examples would be Michael Myers from the Halloween franchise, the creature from It Follows, or Jason from Friday the 13th.
I think it’s interesting how the slasher relates to Cohen’s theories 3 and 5. The third theory posits that the monster arrives as a warning to, or in response to, a category crisis. Slasher movies started popping up in the 80s, just as a lot of violent crime streaks were being reported on all the time. The beginning of the 24/7 news cycle combined with a lot of prolific serial killers, rapists, and other high profile crimes being reported on made a lot of people more wary of strangers. Movies like Halloween feel like a cultural response to those fears, crafting a humanoid monster who is faceless, cruel, and uncatchable/unkillable. In this way, it follows the 5th theory, policing the culturally acceptable behavior. Killing mercilessly is not an acceptable behavior, and therefore the monster does it.
