One example of a monster is the Loch ness Monster - Nessie!
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| Loch ness Monster? |
Long, T. (2007).
The Loch Ness Monster is a legend which has been around for a very long time, with films being made on it and becoming a main attraction for the Loch Ness Lake. 'Nessie' is an unknown creature which lives in the Loch ness, it could either be a myth or some people actually do believe it is real but the idea of it being unknown and different has created the title "The Loch ness Monster"
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| Loch Ness Directed by John Henderson (1996) |
imdb, inc. (1996). Loch Ness .
This Legend lead onto the Film "Loch Ness" By John Henderson which was made in 1996, this was a good film about a man who goes on the search for the Loch Ness Monster and actually stumbles into something he could only dream of. This was a great classic for me, the legend was very heart warming to me as a child so I believe this film was made for more a family audience, not to scare them but for them to enjoy.
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gotoegypt. (2010).
Looking back on famous legends, the Egyptian Mummy came across, although it is a fact that when a pharaoh had died that they were Mummified and buried within a tomb and with their high beliefs with the power of Magic, it wasn't a surprise that sooner or later the idea of the Mummy returning back to life had hit the media.
First it had all started with the motion that Mummies were evil as seen in "The Mummy (1932) Directed by Karl Freund"
The Legion-Lairs. (2009). The Mummy (1932): Or, Boris' Other Bride.
And there is also the "Mummies Alive!" Series
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| Mummies Alive ! 1997 - 1998 animated series |
ioffer. (2011). Mummies Alive DVD collection.
Around the time of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and other popular action animated shows, this series dove straight into that category, still using the same features of Mummies coming back to life but changing the audience completely to children as it's not a horror and it was a cartoon after school show. These Mummies come back to life not as enemies but as heroes.
monstersandbeasts. (1999). The mummy.
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| The Mummy 1999 |
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| Metropolitan Museum's collection of European Medieval art |
"Doing a little research, we found that some medieval art was meant to glorify the Crusades, which were a series of military campaigns waged by Christians against non-Christians in the 16th Century. It has been suggested that the monsters in art of this time were meant to depict non-Christian people in an extreme way, as if this would help convince viewers of the righteousness of the Christian campaigns."
McKinney, M. (2003).
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| Lucifer trapped in Earth’s frozen core. (Giovanni Stradano, 1587) |
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| Dante's Hell (Giovanni Stradano) |
With Religious Demons and Monsters on topic, I then came across the Giovanni Stradano artwork for Dante's Inferno (1587). The top image shows Lucifer being frozen within Earth's Core, the demonic wings, beast like face, it seemed like this was a very popular imagery which had been portrayed as hell's Monsters.
The Story Behind Dante's Inferno was that he had betrayed his wife and his soldiers during battle so Lucifer had taken his wife to the dark reaches of hell and Dante must travel through hell fighting off all his sins to be able to save the woman that he loves. So is the monster Dante aswell?.
Fantasy-Art-Workshop. (2011).
These images seem to be more fearful than anything, I can imagine that these would be used to make people fear hell and believe in God.
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| Bosch, Hieronymus: The Garden of Earthly Delight - Hell 1504 |
Religion was a strong theme around the 1500s for monsters, the Garden of Earthly Delight images are quite interesting due to the images being about hell and showing the people doing sinful things. So looking at this I see that the "Monsters" within people had a big influence of how people represented evil and hell.
"Bosch's most famous and unconventional picture is The Garden of Earthly Delights (c.1500; Prado, Madrid) which, like most of his other ambitious works, is a large, 3-part altarpiece, called a triptych. This painting was probably made for the private enjoyment of a noble family. It is named for the luscious garden in the central panel, which is filled with cavorting nudes and giant birds and fruit. The triptych depicts the history of the world and the progression of sin. Beginning on the outside shutters with the creation of the world, the story progresses from Adam and Eve and original sin on the left panel to the torments of hell, a dark, icy, yet fiery nightmarish vision, on the right. The Garden of Delights in the center illustrates a world deeply engaged in sinful pleasures."
Pioch, N. (2002).
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| The Triumph of Death -Bruegel, Pieter the Elder (1562) |
Bruegel, Pieter The Elder's "The Triumph of Death" is a very dramatic image, it shows a village of people being killed by what looks like a skeleton army which explains Death rising up and killing people in a triumph victory.
"There is no escape from the scourge of war. The men and women in the fire-strewn landscape try to fend off death's henchmen with sword and spear. But the living are badly outnumbered, their efforts futile. Not only is death inevitable and unsparing of society high and low, a lesson Medieval and Renaissance artists never tired of teaching their audiences, but death is perversely creative as well. The variety of tortures in store for the human race during wartime is endless. The hallucination is as intense and action-packed as Bosch's, but the cold-bloodedness of the violence leaves no room for whimsy."
Pioch, N. (2002).
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| The Blob (1958) Directed By Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. |
Calabria, N. (2010).
Moving on from religion and onto famous monsters that had become instant classics. With all the demon and evil stories passing on through centuries, Monsters began to become popular within the film industry. My first example is "The Blob" (1958) Directed by Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr, this film is about a killer blob which is swallowing people who step in its goo. From Just looking at it I wouldn't really say it had the appearance of a monster, maybe when it became twice the size of a building then it could be classed as monstrous but the actions of the Blob speak more towards its famous Monster Category.
Borntreger, A. (2001).
"Conceptually and dramatically precise, The Blob is one of the most famous of all monster movies, and one of the greatest. 5 out of 5 stars (no halves)."
Humanick, R. (2011).
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| THEM! (1954) |
getfilm. (2010). them 1954.
Another great Monster classic is "Them!" (1954) Directed by Gordon Douglas, except this one isn't a giant blob, they are giant ants which kill the people within the town. 1950s had become quite a popular time for "Monstrous" sized beings to take over in the media.
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| R.L Stine Goosebumps |
Zutter, N. (2011).
Then in the 90s Came the Goosebumps Franchise which was aimed at kids but still had the same kind of monsters which appeared in 50s Classics. The Franchise first started out as books but then was turned into a Television series which was shown on Fox Kids Children's Channel. Some Episodes contained the blob and giant ants as seem in the films previously spoken about but somehow the audience had changed from Adults to Children. I grew up watching Goosebumps every night, it didn't ever scare me, it just seemed like something fun to watch however it could be scary to other audiences, but now after growing up with Goosebumps I love Horror Films. Age is changing in Horror, younger audiences are able to handle monsters much more now than 50 years ago.
doitlikeuwant. (2011).
"Slappy The Dummy" was a puppet who kept coming back trying to kill his owner, his strange appearance and the fact that he was a dummy made him quite scary and is a good example of a monster which had been shown through the goosebump series, very similar to films like "Child's Play" and "The Puppet Master", all popular Horror franchises.
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Arachnophobia (1990) Directed by Frank Marshall is a good example of this
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| Arachnophobia 1990 |
Nik. dailymediafire. (2011).
The film is about a poisonous spider which has migrated over to a small town in American and laid a lot of eggs in a barn and these spawn go off and bite people which kills them instantly. Definitely not one you would automatically jump at and call a monster but the idea of using people's fears against them had become popular.
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| 'Eight Legged Freaks 2002' |
which then leads to the film "Eight Legged Freaks" 2002 Directed by Ellory Elkayem, although the film seemed more like a comedy than a horror, the story had taken the idea of the monstrous size seen in "The Blob" and "Them!" and the large fear of spiders, also including the spiders hideous features to make the creature a monster instantly. Why make it a comedy though? to make it for the whole family to enjoy?.
allmoviephoto. (2002). Eight Legged Freaks Photo
Newman, K. (2006).
imdb, inc. (2002).
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| Are you afraid of the dark - The Tale of the Laughing in the dark |
Ashley. (Bad*Alice). (2011).
Another example of a children's television show that was similar to the goosebumps theme was "Are you afraid of the Dark" Hosted on Nickelodeon. This series as well as Goosebumps showed monsters, ghouls and many things that would be classed as "Scary". Many of the shows did actually have a creepy theme for example "The Tale of the laughing in the dark" the clown which appeared from one of the many doors in the theme park was freaky, clowns have been continuously mentioned throughout media as being scary and that episode showed why. So Typical Monsters from slimy goo, Giant bugs, ghosts, puppets and clowns etc had become more acceptable to large audiences; as spoken in previous sections within the Fairy Tale areas, Fairy tales were children's books, brought up at a young age learning many morals and stories, these stories too also introduce the idea of monsters and people doing evil things.
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| 1989 Joker |
Beiting, A. (2010).
The Joker, a villain who I had mentioned in the "Monsters - Present" page has been loved by many different audiences for a long time. Batman is very iconic as a hero which makes his greatest villain yet "The Joker" just as Iconic. However he wasn't as Merciless back in the day as the one portrayed in the recent Dark Knight Film. In the Classic Television Show "Batman" Starring Adam West, Joker never really got up to some deadly crimes, seemed to play around more than anything which made him more acceptable to younger audiences.
allyouneedismovies. (2011).
But throughout time "The Joker" Has been presented in many different ways however one thing that has stayed the same has been the appearance, with the clown-like face make up and bright coloured clothing. This feature has stayed popular throughout the character's existence. Joker is a true Monster, He has the crazy looks and he has the evil purpose which is to attack Gotham in some and play with Batman.
Cronin, B. (2007).
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| Joseph Merrick - The elephant man |
hawhawjames . (2011).
Then comes the abnormal appearances of the Human kind, these people were looked upon as freaks for a show. Although we may look at shows today and feel sorry for people, not accusing them as being monster like but back in the late 1800s, "Circus Freaks" were enjoyed by spectating their differences.
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| Charles Sherwood Stratton |
Mattoon, N. (2010).
These people became well known and famous for their acts for example Charles Sherwood Stratton was known for being the smallest man in the world but this didn't make him a monster. Maybe "The elephant man" would be accused of being a monster back in the day due to his appearances being more abnormal than just size.
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| 1850 |
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning. (2004).
Take "Grace McDaniels" for instance, she became well known because of being the "Muled-faced woman". But these people weren't hated by the public, people paid to see these people. So abnormal appearances attracted audiences back in the day as it was something different.
Anderson, E. (2006).
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Carroll & Graf. (2002).
Carroll & Graf. (2002).
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| imdb, inc. (2001). From Hell . |
Moving away from abnormal appearances in humans and move towards the actions of people, "A Killer" has been referred to as a monster many of times so I stumbled across the "Jack the ripper stories". The complete History of Jack the ripper book was published in January 2002. This shows that the tales of a killer can stick around for along time, the Jack the ripper story has been turned into a featured length film "From Hell" (2001) Starring Johnny Depp and directed by Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes. The Name "From Hell" refers back to previous research of monsters from hell. Both Book and film were published around the early years of 2000 and many features of killers have been spread across throughout the media since then, in the news were the public would hate them but in films the audience love to hate them.
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| This image is a newspaper recreation of a ripper victim |
"The late Victorian period saw an industrial expansion in crime fiction, accompanied by a belief in the power of rational thought – perhaps the apotheosis of both trends was Sherlock Holmes."
Anthony, A. (2011).
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Another Killer Based around the late Victorian period was "Sweeney Todd - the demon barber of fleet street" once again referring back to demons and hell. The stories are about a barber who sliced his victims while they were having a shave and then minced them up into pies. This musical thriller was released to television in 1982 which then later turned into a feature length musical film in 2007 starring once again Johnny Depp.
imdb, inc. (2011).
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Halliday, D. (2009).
then we have the classic films made based around the stories of "Frankenstein", many people get confused between Frankenstein as being the monster when he is actually the professor but is this really a mistake. The interesting thing with this story that attracted people was not only the stylish way of bringing back the dead but the argument of who is the true monster; the hideous undead creation who is hated for his appearance or the professor who realises what he has done and instantly thinks he has created a monster so he despises the creation. This is a good mix of Monsters within humans than just within strange appearances. Frankenstein creation has become a iconic monster.
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| The Munsters 1964 - 1966 |
Three Sorry Boys. (2006).
but Frankenstein's creation hasn't only been used within horror and thriller media, it was also used in comedy in the television show "Munsters" and another remake of the Frankenstein story was made in 1994.
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| Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) directed by Kenneth Branagh |
saberdance. (2011).
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| Freddy Kruger from The classic "Nightmare of elm street" |
Killers have become very popular in the horror industry as they are something everyone fears, so around the 1980s the film industry took a popular hit with the famous killers we all know today like Freddy Kruger and his blade fingers. Nightmare of elm street went onto many sequels and had just recently had a remake.
Rapelje, J. (1999).
"What makes Freddy truly terrifying, and an inspired invention on Craven's part, is that he exists not in the real world but in the shadowy realm of dreams."
5 star Rating.
Braund, S. (2006).
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Another famous killer within the film industry was Michael Myers; the Halloween killer. Michael's character kills people throughout the town around Halloween time. He wore a freaky white masks which made him quite frightening, the power of not knowing what he looked like was good.
TrG . (2010).
"Halloween (October 30, 7:30 p.m.) is one of the most financially successful independent films of all time. Shot for about $300,000, it grossed around $60 million worldwide, equivalent to over $200 million today. This success has been both blessing and a curse. While it made Carpenter’s reputation, it also inspired a host of imitations who embraced the “teenagers who have sex must die” trope, but upped the graphic violence quotient in their films while discarding the well-calibrated suspense that made Carpenter’s original so memorable."
Boslaugh, S. (2011).
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Louro, C. (2010).
Saw was first released in 2004 and had 6 more sequels and 2 game releases, this franchise was a big success because of its gore and violence. Jigsaw (John) was a killer who picked up victims from the streets and tested them on their will to live, a big feature was the puppet which talked to the victims before the trap was to begin and the pig faced character who collected them, both have very dark strange appearances which created the horror factor of the film and the actions alone of jigsaw trapping the people was cruel which makes him a strong monster in the film industry.
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| Kevin McCarthy with "Witch's Dungeon" Display |
By the 1970s and in the 1980s, the museum had doubled its size, and began to achieve national attention, due to articles in “THE NEW YORK TIMES”, “NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC”, “RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT!” and even “PLAYBOY”. Network TV shows such as “TO TELL THE TRUTH”, “KIDS ARE PEOPLE TOO”, “ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT” and several others featured the museum. Actors, VINCENT PRICE, JOHN AGAR & MARK HAMILL all provided special recordings for the museum tour. The leading voice actress for many Warner Bros. & Disney cartoons, JUNE FORAY, became the voice of “ZENOBIA THE GYPSY WITCH”, the official hostess of “The Witch’s Dungeon”.
Horror had become a very popular genre within the industry which included lots of different kinds of monsters so entertainment displays were made which audiences could come visit and see the monsters up in person. These displays have become very popular throughout time but for this example I show the "Witch's Dungeon" which opened in 1966 just a few years after the original makes of the classic monster films.
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not all Monsters have to be hideous and evil, the view of monsters being cute animal like beings are very popular to kids.
Monsters Inc is a good example of the way the media is making 'Monsters' into a more family friendly viewing instead of the horror aspect.
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| Final Door scene from the Movie 'Monsters Inc' 2011 |
Mubi. (2008).
"Monsters generate their city's power by scaring children, but they are terribly afraid themselves of being contaminated by children, so when one enters Monstropolis, top scarer Sulley finds his world disrupted."
imdb, inc. (2001). Monsters, Inc.
I like how 'Disney Pixar' have taken the idea of Monsters scaring children like 'the monster in the cupboard' but have made it out that it's the monster's job to do it while also showing the monsters as friendly loveable characters.
"a gruesome gallery of slimy, tentacled, bulbous beasts who manage to be completely grotesque yet instantly likable (apart from Randall that is, who's a scheming salamander voiced by Steve Buscemi)."
★★★★ Rating - reviewed by Neil Smith
Smith, N . (2002). Monsters, Inc. (2002). Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2002/01/15/monsters_inc_2002_review.shtml. Last accessed 25th Oct 2011.
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Pengikut - Blogspot. (2011).
Another franchise which aims at children based around "Monsters" is Pokemon, the creatures in the game wouldn't always be classed as monsters but because of their abilities and monster like features turned child friendly I feel like these are a good example of how monsters are used to aim towards the children audiences. Pokemon Games and Television show became very popular during the 90s.
MobyGames™. (2009).
As an animated film based on the video game phenomenon Pokémon opens in the UK on Friday, teachers across the country are banning Pokémon cards from their schools.Collecting and trading the cards, which feature different Pokémon monster characters, has become a huge craze among school children.
But some schools are finding the competition between young collectors too much to cope with, so have banned pupils from bringing their cards to school. Pokémon -The Movie has already proved a massive hit in the United States, where it grossed more than $50m - nearly £31m - in its first week of release. It is expected to be equally popular with children in the UK, who are worrying their parents with the spiralling cost of their hobby.
bbc. (2000).
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Abdi, K. (2010).
Another popular franchise which contain monsters are "The Muppets show" which started around 1976, it was and still is very popular, with many film releases and mechanise. Families loved the crazy looking characters and their little adventures which made The Muppets such a success. These types of little monsters are definitely a new look upon how people view monsters.
Chapman, P. (2009).
The same with Sesame Street Television show which began in 1969, this show had many different types of monsters but one popular monsters which stand out today are "The cookie Monster" as you can tell by the name, this monster loved to eat cookies and Elmo the small little red puppet, they were a very funny characters and were loved by many. Sesame street was about teaching young children things like maths and other lessons.
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plaidstallions. (2006).
As monsters had become very popular to children toys were made based around monster features like "The Stretch Monster" which was released in the 1970s.
lots of children played with this toy, with the first release of the hero they obviously needed villains which the hero must face and monsters had become quite popular as the bad guys in the media.
Rivas, R. (2011).
With the success of Stretch Armstrong, Stretch Monster and other stretch characters, "Vac-man" was created. This toy could be stretched but stayed stretched if the toy was pumped up and when the valve on his head was pressed the air was released and "Vac-man" returned back to his original size. The Monster toys were popular and had many characters which sold.
The monster characters seemed dark and evil looking, they were all presented as the bad guys and by their appearance it looks like they were trying to aim for the toy to be play with by a boy.
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Trumbore, D. (2011).
Monsters have also had their moment in the Games Industry with the Game "Rampage", you play as a monster who destroys cities. this had taken the monstrous appearances and sizes from other media influences and used it as a Godzilla effect, were the monsters are evil just causing complete havoc.
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Tvcream. (2009).
The Honey Monster from the Sugar Puffs Cereal was a big success and has been around for many years as the mascot for the brand, this monster was fun and friendly towards people which was pleasing for a product which they wanted to sell as it would be strange to try and fear the audience away from the cereal with a scary monster. The Honey Monster was big and fluffy with a deep growling voice, seemed more like a soft giant toy kids could play with.
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Hazell, C. (2011).
The Monster Munch brand has been around for along time, the monster hands for the crisps have always stayed the same but the packages have changed slightly over time. Although they still are similar with the cartoon monsters placed on the front. These monsters may be strange looking and obviously monsters but they do not give off a negative view and are aimed more at children. Monster Munch crisps have been successful with the public as they are still selling today after many years.
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A large influence on monster design that we have seen throughout time are the Mythological Monsters. During the 1900s in previous research I have discussed that these types of monsters were very popular and has featured in a large amount of media. Jason and the Argonauts which was made in 1963 continues this fact of popularity and shows that mythological monsters were very popular back then and may even have a big influence on future productions.
