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Monsters and Monstrosity

COM LIT 9 (4.0 units) – Session II

The monster, in all its many forms and contexts, is a powerful cultural tool for the expression of social tensions, a lens for deciphering a society’s greatest hopes and darkest fears. It is a creature that crosses borders and boundaries, a creature of fragments, never behaving exactly as expected, and always returning to trouble our dreams again. Monsters, as cultural artifacts, reflect both the perturbations of an individual mind and the social, political, or economic processes that shape those anxieties. We will be engaging in such questions as: what is a monster? Why are monsters so prevalent in literature, television and film? What can monsters reflect about the people and the societies that they terrorize? Are monsters to be pitied or feared, saved or destroyed? This course concerns the in-depth analysis of literary texts, television series, and films; the analysis that we do will be informed by an interdisciplinary approach to literary and cultural theory, incorporating such interpretive lenses as critical race theory, gender theory, queer theory, disability studies, psychoanalysis, and ecocriticism. The primary texts themselves will range from poetry collections and short stories to popular films and television shows, and the secondary texts, equally diverse, will equip us with the tools necessary for thorough and meaningful engagement. Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary. (IV, VII)