Withes and werewolves from hundreds of years ago and today’s
are not the same, perhaps dimension of how witches and werewolves are affecting
our lives very differently. One good
example is the Twilight (I personally have never watched Twilight, but I have a
very idea of what the series is about).
Twilight a bunch of shirtless white guys and a bunch of dramas. I think the reason for this is that our
society changed, we valued individualism, compassionism and most importantly
capitalism more of today than hundreds of years ago. Capitalism is at its height in today’s
contemporary society where companies do whatever they can to catch the “cash
cow”. That is important because we are
not afraid of witches or werewolves anymore because of the advantage of science
helps us understand that witches and werewolves are merely impossible. But they are more importantly entertainment
to us. Twilight werewolves are not scary
or terrify in anyway but the series are just love stories and teenage
dramas. Twilight is nothing like what we
have read over the last week, no ripping heads apart, no eating young girls’
brains or any crazy sexual deviants. The
show marketed to a group of people with same taste and liking so the entertainment
industry can cash in the cash cow.
In general monsters in today’s society are not scary anymore
because we are not easily fooled and we are more educated to be fooled.
It's really a good idea to compare the symbol of witches and werewolves in the past to nowadays. I agree with your point of view that they are no more scary now, but an element for entertainment, as well as the reason you state that they don't scare people anymore because people are not so fool that will easily trust them as the science have developed in the past hundreds years. In Twilight, the werewolves are more like hermit living far away from human. They are strong and brave, but they don't want to proactively come into contact with ordinary people. They are no longer the symbol of desire of sex. It proves that the cognition of people will gradually change by the development of society.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you that the witches and werewolves are no longer the scary monsters to us since the scientific advancement reveals everything we want to know about those monsters. Hence, the most fearsome thing - the unknown - has vanished. However, scientific advancement also creates new troubles as wicked as the witches and werewolves. If, in the past, we consider werewolves as the people with mental illness that murder other people for sport with the aid of witchcraft, then we can obviously refer them to those who use automatic guns for massacres in the contemporary world. Don't get me wrong: are we just using different terms for the same type of monsters? Moreover, werewolves nowadays are not those with the same characteristics that we have learnt in the readings (incredibly strong, transform at night, eating flesh, etc). They are now the representation of the bad people next to you. They might be werewolves but they no longer need to transform to kill.
ReplyDeleteI agree in some respects. One could definitely relate scientific advancement to the reduction in the monsters fringe status. We are able to see through the ignorance of the past and allow ourselves to experience pleasure from these entities. This is very apparent in pop entertainment and is likely a byproduct of our lust for sensational, happy outcomes. We want to feel perpetually pleasant and safe. We seek said entertainment out to buttress this insatiable need. Realistic werewolves/witches/monsters are the antithesis of that mantra. They challenge our comfort and make us think about our place in the world. Who am I? Do I posses the capacity to behave like that monster? However, not all cinema/literature/mediums subscribe to that form. For example, the film The Fly (1968) - yes it is 47 years old, but is still relevant. The film delves into the capacity of science/engineering to manufacture unspeakable monsters. The main character essentially becomes an irreversible werewolf that elicits fear and repugnance. He does not terrorize the denizens of his town, but he certainly undergoes a transformation that would create panic if revealed and allowed to progress. He is so ashamed of his newly acquired abnormality that he hides away from the world. He desperately wants his previous form back, much like the human component of the werewolf. Eventually the wolf portion is in full command. In the film, the animalistic portion of his quasi-fly body begins to commandeer his faculties. And he can feel this mental coup taking place. I won't spoil the outcome, but it is an excellent film that really makes one ponder the varying array of potential modern werewolves.
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