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On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears

Page 48

by Asma, Stephen T.


  Plato, 51–52, 58, 59, 194–195, 212

  platypuses, 125

  playthings of Nature, monsters as, 38

  pleasure principle, 188

  pleiotropy, 273

  Pliny the Elder

  book of (see Natural History)

  on Chinese, 37

  and credulity, 33

  on fossils, 30

  on giant octopi, 35

  on griffins, 28

  on hermaphrodites, 42

  on India and Ethiopia, 22

  on manticores, 33, 34

  on Nature’s playthings, 38

  on physiognomy, 283

  on Scythian tribes, 36

  on toad-fish monster, 142

  on umbrella-footed humans, 36

  on unicorns, 129

  on werewolves, 33–35

  Pliny the Younger, 75

  pliosaurs, 279

  Plutarch, 37, 42–43

  Poe, Edgar Allen, 183, 184–185

  Poetics (Aristotle), 34–35

  poetry, 27

  Polidori, John, 183

  political agendas, 37–38, 142

  polydactyls, 36, 174

  Polyphemus, 26–27, 98

  pope-ass monster, 142

  population reduction theory, 168

  pornography, 245

  possession

  ancient accounts of, 57–58, 59

  and exorcisms, 106–107, 119–120, 278, 279

  and loss of agency, 284

  modern accounts of, 278–279

  and psychopathology, 225–226

  and sexual repression, 117

  posthumanism, 261–262, 266–267, 273–274, 275

  postmodernism, 252, 253, 275

  poverty, 248, 249

  power, human drive for, 187, 217, 244, 265–266

  Power, Samantha, 281

  Prague, 11–12, 12

  predators, 24, 198–199

  preformationism, 45–46

  pregnancy, 143, 146–148, 162

  “Prester John’s Land” (Driesbach), 78

  pride, 101, 102

  primates, 239–240

  primitivism, 216–217

  Prince Randian, 139–140

  prison experiment at Stanford University, 244–245

  prodigies, 146

  Proffitt, Dennis R., 22

  projection, 57, 198

  Prometheus Bound (Aeschylus), 27, 28

  Protestants, 142

  Protoceratops, 28–29, 29

  prototype theory, 282–283

  Prysner, Mike, 235

  Pseudodoxia epidemica (Browne), 127–128

  pseudoprophetes (false prophets), 68

  psittacosaurus, 29

  psychopaths, 193, 212, 223–226, 228. See

  also criminal monsters Psychopathy Checklist diagnostic tool, 220

  psychosomatic theories, 148

  purpose of monsters, 43–44, 48–49, 275–276

  Pygmies, 77

  Pynchon, Thomas R., 284

  Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, 33

  Al-Qaida, 249

  Al-Qaida Reader, 248

  Quay, Stephen, 194

  Quay, Timothy, 194

  Qur’an, 92

  race

  attitudes toward, 235

  and lynchings, 232–233

  monstrous races, 36–38, 233, 235

  and natural selection, 237

  See also xenophobia

  racism, 138

  rage, 208–212, 227

  Raimi, Sam, 183

  ram, one-horned, 43, 48

  Ramayana, 37

  Ramirez, Richard, 280

  rape, 210, 246

  reality principle, 188–189, 191, 192

  reason and rationality

  of the ancients, 42–45, 52–54, 57, 58, 60

  and concept of monsters, 10

  Freudian theory on, 188

  of medieval intellectuals, 80–81

  reductionism, 153, 258, 268, 274

  Reformation, 142

  relativism, 252, 253–254

  religion, 188, 192, 216. See also specific faiths repression

  and adulthood, 190

  and conscience development, 210

  and narcissism, 189

  and sexuality, 116–117, 195–196, 215–216

  and torture porn, 197

  and uncanniness, 192

  reproduction

  ambivalent reactions to, 184

  and bio-horror, 201

  and demons, 144–145

  and hybridism, 167–168

  and witches, 112-113

  Republic (Plato), 52–54, 194–195, 212

  repulsion, 5–7

  Resident Evil video game, 198

  Resnick, Mitchel, 259–260

  responding to the marvelous, Doran’s model of, 130–132, 140

  Rhizocephala (“root-headed” barnacle), 198–199

  Ringling Brothers Circus, 139, 139

  Ritvo, Harriet, 129

  The Road (McCarthy), 25, 197

  Robinson, Margaret, 33

  robo-roach technology, 263

  robotics, 190–191, 257–260, 263

  Roman Catholic Church

  and Inquisition, 107–108, 112, 113

  and omens, 142

  and papacy, 68, 107, 113

  and witches, 278

  Romans, ancient

  and biblical prophecy, 67

  ethnocentrism of, 36

  and hermaphrodites, 39–42

  and infanticide, 40, 41

  and prophetic arts, 39

  Romantic criticisms of science, 152–153

  Romero, George, 183

  Romulus, 40

  Rops, Felicien, 118

  Roth, Eli, 196–197

  Rove, Karl, 281

  Royal College of Surgeons, 156, 166

  Rush, Benjamin, 236–237

  Russell, Bertrand, 250

  Rutilius Lupus, 39

  Rwanda, 240

  sadism, 195, 215

  Sadler, John, 143

  Said, Edward, 37–38, 236

  Salem witch trials, 109

  saltational jumps in nature, 165–166, 166–169, 170–171

  Sartre, Jean-Paul, 185, 192

  Satan, 64, 68. See also demons and devils

  satyrs, 36, 79, 88

  Saw, 195, 204

  scapegoats, monsters as, 11

  Scaurus, Marcus, 30

  school massacres, 203–204, 205, 216

  Schopenhauer, Arthur, 187, 191, 192

  Schubert, Laura, 279

  Schwarzenegger, Arnold, 257

  science fiction films, 199, 212–215

  Sciopodes (one-legged men), 77–78, 78, 129

  Scopes monkey trial, 139

  Scott, Ridley, 192, 201, 201

  Scythia, 88

  sea monsters, 126

  in Book of Revelation, 68

  giant octopi, 35, 185

  Kraken sea monster, 2, 185

  in literature, 185

  Loch Ness Monster, 279

  phobias about, 1–3

  Seba, Albertus, 123

  secular ideology, 196

  Security Prison S21, 7–9, 8

  Seductions of Crime (Katz), 211

  segmentation process (somitogenesis), 171, 176–177

  Sein und Zeit (Heidegger), 185

  Semu-Banda, Pilirani, 278

  Seneca, 55, 60

  September 11th terrorist attacks, 197, 201, 241, 249

  serial killers

  and aggression, 210

  in film, 241

  media coverage of, 195

  and murderabilia, 279, 280

  and pornography, 245

  public fascination with, 195, 280

  Seth (biblical), 88

  severed limbs, 188, 190, 193

  sexuality

  androgyny, 42

  demonization of, 118, 118–119

  homosexuality, 215–216

  and horror films, 195–196, 202

  and hybrid mon
sters, 145

  incest, 204–205, 212, 216–217

  and repression, 116–117, 195–196, 215–216

  sexual abuse, 59, 225

  and technology, 261, 276

  See also desire; genders

  Shakespeare, William, 130, 131–132, 140

  shape-shifting

  ambivalent reactions to, 184

  of demons, 104, 106, 116

  of witches, 108

  Shelley, Mary, 11–12, 100, 151–153, 183

  Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 152

  The Shining, 193

  Siamese twins, 137

  The Sick Woman’s Private Looking-Glass (Sadler), 143

  Simpson, O. J., 212

  sin, 81

  Single White Female, 280–281

  666 (mark of the beast), 68

  skepticism, 36, 126, 127, 136, 140

  slavery, 237, 238, 257, 258

  Sleepy Hollow (film), 193

  Sleepy Hollow (Irving), 183

  sloths, 32, 133

  Smith, Susan, 59, 231

  snakes, 3, 4, 5, 91, 132

  snot, 184

  social constructionism, 252

  socialization, 210–211, 247

  social stresses, 197

  society’s role in psychopathology, 244–249

  socioeconomic theory, 248

  Socrates, 51, 52–54, 57, 194–195

  soi pour soi, law of, 158–159

  Solinus, 88

  souls of monsters, 79–83

  Spartans, 242–243

  speciation, 166–171

  Species and Varieties: Their Origin by Mutation (De Vries), 170

  speculative monsterology, 162

  spiders, 3–4, 4

  spirits, 188

  spiritual depravity, 142–143

  spit, 184

  splatter-punk film genre, 194, 195

  Sprenger, Jakob, 113

  Stanford University prison experiment, 244–245

  Stelarc, 263, 263–264, 264

  stereotyping, 37–38

  Stevens, Dana, 242–243

  Stile, Elizabeth, 109

  Stoicism, 59, 60, 117

  The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Stevenson), 206–207

  Stratton, Charles (Tom Thumb), 136, 137

  Strickland, Debra Higgs, 234

  Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche (Jung), 225

  sublime (concept), 186–187, 191, 192

  succubi, 113, 144, 145

  Suetonius, 30–31

  suffering, 99, 198–199

  suicide, 60, 70

  suicide bombers, 248, 250

  Summa Theologica (Thomas Aquinas), 79–80

  Superego, 210

  Supernatural Horror in Literature (Lovecraft), 185

  superstition, 42–45

  surrealism, 193

  suspension of disbelief, 131 Sweeney Todd, 193

  symbolism

  in Bible, 65, 66, 67–69, 73

  of frustrations, 191

  of hubris, 98

  during Reformation, 142

  Taliban, 253–254

  Tarantino, Quentin, 193

  tarantula hawks, 199

  Tartars, 87

  tattoos, 109

  technology

  artificial intelligence, 266–269

  biotechnology, 269–274

  cyborgs, 260–265

  and God, 257, 262, 267, 274

  robotics, 190–191, 257–260, 263

  technophobia, 284

  teleology, 42–45, 48–49, 159, 168–169, 179

  The Tell-Tale Heart (Poe), 183

  Tennyson, Alfred Lord, 185

  teratology, 156–159, 163–164, 166, 169, 172–175

  Terminator films, 257–258, 259

  terrorism, 241, 248–249

  tetrapods, 173–174

  The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, 196, 197

  Thales, 44–45

  Thanatos, 215

  Them, 201

  Thesaurus (Seba), 123

  Theseus, 191

  The Thing from Another World, 199, 200

  Thomas Aquinas, Saint, 79–80, 115

  300 (film), 242, 242–243, 283

  Thucydides, 43

  Thumb, Tom, 136, 137

  thumos, 52–54, 55–56, 57, 58. See also emotions

  Tillman, William, 137

  toad-fish monster, 141–142

  Tobias, Krystal, 10

  Todd, Sweeney, 195

  tolerance, 42, 253

  Tolkien, J. R. R., 97–98, 101, 283

  tomatoes, genetic engineering of, 262, 271

  Topsell, Edward, 130, 145

  torture, 7–9, 245

  torture porn film genre, 194–198

  Totem and Taboo (Freud), 57

  transgendered people, 270–271

  transhumanism, 261–262, 266–267, 273–274

  transmutation, 163–166, 167–168

  travelers’ tales, 27, 188

  The Travels of Sir John Mandeville (Mandeville), 27, 90–91

  tribalism, 240

  Tritons, 30, 34

  Tsukuba University, 263

  Turing, Alan, 267

  Turing test, 267

  Turistas, 195

  Tutsis, 240

  Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (Verne), 185

  Twin Peaks, 193

  2001: A Space Odyssey, 267

  tyrant personalities, 53

  Ugandan Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, 70

  ugliness, 283

  umbrella-footed humans, 36, 78

  uncanniness (Freudian concept), 188, 190, 191, 192–193

  “The Uncanny” (Freud), 188

  uncanny valley, 190–191

  unconscious, 188, 190

  Unferth, 94–95

  unheimlich, 188

  unicorns, 125, 129

  U.S. Department of Defense, 258–259

  U.S. National Nanotech Initiative, 260

  vagina-inhabiting snakes, 91

  vampire bats, 132–133

  vampire clan in Murray, Kentucky, 13

  The Vampyre (Polidori), 183

  variations, genetic

  as biological mechanism, 275

  Darwin on, 166, 167, 170

  De Vries on, 170

  Lawrence on, 160, 162, 167

  and speciation, 163

  Vazquez-Salazar, Nelly, 278–279

  vengeance, 55–56, 58

  ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC), 224

  Verne, Jules, 185

  victimization, 59–60, 211

  Victorian era, 130, 187–188

  video games, 191, 198

  Vietnam conflict, 197, 235

  violence, 220, 247

  vitalism, 152

  Volta, Alessandro, 152

  vomit, 184, 193

  Vries, Hugo de, 170, 179

  Vrolik Museum, 6, 158, 174

  vulnerability, 183–202

  and bio-horror, 198–199

  and cosmic fear, 185

  and horror films, 194–198, 200–202

  and modernity, 186

  theories based in, 191–192

  See also horror

  Waal, Frans de, 239

  Wallace, David Foster, 193

  Wall-E, 258

  warfare, 234–235, 241

  Warwick, Kevin, 261

  Watchers (Grigori), 72, 74

  Waterton, Charles, 132–134

  werewolf syndrome (hypertrichosis), 137

  werewolves, 33–35, 114–115, 169

  West, Thomas, 141–142

  Whedon, Joss, 195

  Wild at Heart, 193

  Wills, Gary, 232–233

  Windsor witches, 108, 109

  witches, 107–113

  and demons, 108, 109, 111, 112–113, 118–119

  and desire, 117

  and gender, 118–119

  in literature, 130, 131

  modern accounts of, 278

  and rise of science, 134

&n
bsp; tests and trials for, 109, 111, 119

  witch hunters, 113-115, 278

  Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of Psychopaths among Us (Hare), 220

  Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 282

  wolf archetype, 126

  Wood, J. G., 133

  wunderkammern, 135–136

  Wuornos, Aileen, 59

  Xenophanes, 37

  xenophobia

  and instincts, 239–240

  of medieval Christians, 86–87

  and race, 231–235

  and sexual repression, 217

  theoretical frameworks for, 236–239

  zebra fish monsters, 176–177

  Zefirus, 19

  Zemeckis, Robert, 100, 101

  Zimbardo, Philip, 231, 244–245, 249

  Zip the Pinhead, 138–139, 139

  Zohar, 89

  zombies, 40, 190, 191

  zoology, 126, 127

  Zoroastrianism, 64

 

 

 


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