How Monsters are Made? - Paper Example

Introduction

Monsters are strange creatures, which establish the virtue of fear or a sense of physical harm once its presence is mentioned. In most cases, they are associated with evil or wrong things and usually, have a freaky appearance. In most cases, monsters are morally objectionable or even psychologically hideous and are taken as composites of other creatures. Monsters can be real or unreal. The real monsters are present in the environment, for instance, people testify of the existence of Vampires in some cultures in the form of Chupacabra. Additionally, the unreal monsters are presented to the society as fictional creatures. These are usually utilized in literature to represent the evil portion of the community and form part of the cultural heritage or contribute in spreading the societies literature from one generation to the other. On the other hand, the religious individual takes monsters as a sign of divine displeasure, which comes to the believers as a form of punishment or remorse from their gods. Hence, the birth of monsters is considered unnatural, and one that represents the adverse revelation of the reality. Therefore, the paper will identify loss of control, hidden fears and the unknown as factors that lead to the birth of monsters, evaluate how the environment facilitates the creation of monsters, and how the monsters reflect their contexts of origin.

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Loss of Control and Creation of a Monster

Humankind believes in experimentation. In many cases, they are engaged in experiments which they try to create living organisms out of their knowledge and resources available. In the verified research institutions, some bodies are established to control the extent to which the researchers can carry their trials. Hence, this limit and also eliminates the chances of defects in the process of experimentation. However, some researchers establish private laboratories, where they engage in illegal experiments since they have removed the impacts or the rules created by the regulatory bodies (Radkowska-Walkowicz). Therefore, in such cases, curiosity in human being may trigger them to experiment with the procreation process, where some even try to create artificial human beings. The recent developments in technology especially the emergence of synthetic fibers and artificial intelligence has opened ways for such scientist to create anything they like in the globe. For instance, the novel Frankenstein Dr. Victor tries to create a human being and then ends up creating a monster (Wollstonecraft Shelley, and Groom). He achieved this by stitching various parts of human body retrieved from corpses and then reanimating the resulting creature. In such periods, there were no regulations on the extent of scientific research, since the Frankenstein's monster is considered as the first one to be created by man in the ancient times. The novel further narrates that the resultant creature was ugly, and he was even depressed over its appearance. Hence, it can be said that lack of control leads to the creation of the Frankenstein monster.

Additionally, a scientist may operate in a regulated environment, where they are involved in the experimentation of legal trials. However, if such individuals alter or mistakenly utilizes the wrong procedure, the resultant creatures tend to have defects, some of which may be detrimental leading to an evil being in the society. For instance, in the Invisible Man movie, Griffin who is a protagonist in the plot is a young science student, who was consumed by the urge to become a superior creature. During his experiments, he mistakenly combines chemicals, which he reacts in the presence of unidentified radiation and succeeds to make the human tissue invisible. His obsession pushes Griffin to test it on himself and succeeds to achieve invisibility. Unfortunately, he is unable to reverse the process, since he had not established an anti-dote. Hence, he decides to utilize his power to engage in evil acts such as crime as a source of income and survival. This movie exhibits the adverse effects of mistakes made by the scientists during their research, who end up creating irreversible creatures that in turn come back to torment the members of the society such as the case of Griffins.

Loss of control for instance in environmental pollution exposes creatures to new conditions that lead to the emergence of anomalous traits. Real monsters are in some cases in the form of animals or creatures that behave in abnormal ways or exhibit distinct behaviors from their cluster. This can be as a result of changes in the conditions of their habitats or actions taken by human beings that go beyond control, and thus end up altering the animal's behavior or sequence of life. For instance, Bryner has cited a smoke-breathing elephant in Nagarahole National Park in India. According to the specialists, this has been facilitated by the elephant's consumption of burnt charcoal, which was left by the nation's forest department as they burn fire lines as a measure to assist in controlling forest fires in the country. Such activities leave behind charcoal, which the elephants feed on the charcoal, which it puffs it later as smoke. Hence, the loss of accountability by the forest department has enabled the elephant to have access to the remnants of charcoal, which consumption has led to the emergence of a distinct trait in the elephant's biological processes. Such an animal is considered as a monster due to its unusual behavior, which has occurred due to the lack of control of the forest department's actions. If they disposed of the charcoal remains well, such an elephant could not have emerged or identified as a monster in the society.

Hidden Fears and the Creation of Monsters

Most of the monsters are fictional. Their creation originates from a hidden fear, where the occupants of society believe on a set idea or punishment in case they go against set laws. These kinds of monsters are based on religious or cultural beliefs. For instance, the ancient elders associated zombies with darkness. Such monsters were used to warn or prohibit children from operating in the dark or at night. This was popular especially during the medieval era used in the Caribbean plantations in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The Zombies were associated with soulless slave bodies, who operated and stalked the plantations at night. This myth was adopted by the consequent generations, where people believe that Zombies exist across the world. Additionally, other forms of monsters include monsters from within, where a certain society or group of people are considered as monsters due to their actions. For instance, the members of the pirate communities are regarded as monsters due to their acts of murder and destruction in the society. Therefore, individuals' fear of the unseen leads to the creation of emergence of monsters such as zombies which are incorporated in the community as a myth or actual belief.

The Unknown and the Creation of Monsters

The scope of human knowledge is usually limited since an individual cannot exhaust all the activities and occurrences of nature. Hence, human beings tend to associate the abnormal or superficial phenomena in the environment with monsters. Therefore, this is used to fill the gap of the unknown created by the lack of or uncertainty of an incident. For instance, some proportion of the population associated the devil with monsters. Individuals who are not staunch believers of the religion satisfy their curiosity and the doubt of the eternal life with a monster. Hence, such individuals do not hold on a certain belief but associate the uncertainty of the proposed devil with a monster. On the other hand, the staunch Christians believe that God cannot be associated with evil or harmful occurrences against His people (Radkowska-Walkowicz). Therefore, the believers tend to associate the evil phenomena such as floods, destructive thunderstorms, and drought with a monster. Hence, this helps them fill the gap of uncertainty since they hold the belief that the evil activities and scenarios in the universe cannot be associated with God. Therefore, such examples explain how the birth of monsters can emerge from the unknown.

Environment and How It Facilitates the Creation of Monsters

Environmental factors may lead to the emergence of real monsters which come in the form of strange creatures. Ecological changes or exposure to harmful chemicals leads to mutations, or initiate the adaptation process, which in turn leads to the emergence of dangerous or unusual creatures or "monsters." In other cases, disturbances from the human activities lead to counter-reaction from the habitats of such environments leading to abnormal behaviors or conditions from such creatures. For instance, Geggel analysis the mass deaths of more than a hundred whales in Hamelin Bay, Australia. The instance was associated with noise pollution, which is artificially generated by humans, especially from the Navy Sonar. The short-finned pilot whales are sensitive to loud sound, and the initial prognosis of the situation associated the behavior of the creatures with the noise pollution in the Australian coastline. Another instance was witnesses Taiwan in 2004, where the stranded G. macrorhyncus species were stranded in the shore after massive military exercises in the country. The Australian Fisheries department warned on the possibility of a further mass exodus of the short-finned pilot whales from the deep sea if the noise pollution persists. Hence, such an occurrence was identified as unusual with the whales referred to as monsters by the Hamelin bay residents, therefore indicating the role of environment in the creation of monsters.

How Monsters Reflect their Environment

A creature's environment of the factors that they are exposed to determines their personality and how they carry themselves in their day to day lives. This principle also applies to the monsters, such that their environment determines their behavior. For instance, the Frankenstein's monster has exhibited several personalities that reflect its environment and how it is perceived in the society. Dr. Victor created it for self-fulfillment, but after it came into life, he was not impressed by its appearance and abandons it, leaving it to survive on its own. The sense of rejection and betrayal by Frankenstein drives the creature toward a revenge mission. After it learns how to speak, the monster embarks on the journey in search of its creator, and finally finds Dr. Frankenstein's lab. The creature murders William after it learned that he was the brother of its creator (Wollstonecraft Shelley, and Groom). Moreover, when Frankenstein was not able to create it a companion, the monster promised to revenge, and in the process, it kills Frankenstein's friend Henry Clerval and wife Elizabeth Lavenza.

However, the monster exhibited positive personality traits such as emotional and affectionate creator to individuals who welcomed it. For instance, as it wandered in the wilderness, it sought solace from a peasant family, who welcomed it (Wollstonecraft Shelley, and Groom). Although they later released it, it is seen saving a girl from the river. Hence, it is evident that the monster reacted differently according to the conditions awarded to it by the environment.

Conclusion

The paper has identified loss of control, hidden fears and the unknown as factors that lead to the birth of monsters, evaluated how the environment facilitates the creation of monsters, and how the monsters reflect their contexts of origin. For instance, loss of control is exhibited by Dr. Frankenstein, who manifests curiosity in the human being which triggers them to experiment on the procreation process, where some even try to create artificial human beings such as the Frankenstein's monster. Additionally, indivi...