Category Archives: monster theory

Creature Designers: The Frankenstein Complex

June 14th, 2016 | Posted in documentary, monster theory, monsters, special effects

A new documentary on practical effects is coming. It’s called Creature Designers: The Frankenstein Complex. See the trailer above. Beyond the general subject matter that connects to my passions, for me, the initial quotes were priceless in connecting to the broader themes of this blog. Guillermo del Toro says, ““I think we need monsters to […]

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Brown University Graduate Student Conference on the Monstrous and the Religious Imagination

January 23rd, 2014 | Posted in conference, fantasy, monster theory, monsters, monstrous, religion

Brown University is presenting an upcoming conference titled “Beasts Monsters, and the Fantastic in the Religious Imagination.” The schedule from the website: Friday, February 28, 2014 Keynote Address 6:30-7:30pm  Dinner Reception 7:30pm  Saturday, March 1, 2014 Breakfast 8am-9am I. Morning Session: Doing Things with Demons 9am-10:45am  “When a Bad Being Does Good Things: The Demon […]

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Brown University Conference: Beasts, Monsters, and the Fantastic in the Religious Imagination

October 10th, 2013 | Posted in call for papers, fantasy, monster theory, monsters, monstrous

My friend, colleague, and co-editor with J. Ryan Parker of Joss Whedon and Religion (McFarland, 2013), made me aware of this call for papers for an intriguing conference at Brown University. It is titled “Beasts Monsters, and the Fantastic in the Religious Imagination.” From the website: An Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference Hosted by the Department […]

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John Edgar Browning: Speaking of Monsters

March 27th, 2013 | Posted in horror, monster theory, monsters, teratology

It was with great excitement that I heard about the book Speaking of Monsters: A Teratological Anthology (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), edited by John Edgar Browning. This volume provides an in-depth scholarly exploration of a number of facets of teratology, the study of monsters. It took us a while to finish this interview, but Browning made […]

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Todd Browning’s Bagel Heads

September 28th, 2012 | Posted in Body, Body modification, grotesques, monster theory

Last night I caught a program produced by National Geographic, an episode in their series Taboo. This particular program looked at various aspects of body modification. One expression comes in the form of a new fad introduced in Japan, the “Bagel Head.” In this procedure individuals have saline injected into their foreheads until swelling develops, […]

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Stephen T. Asma – On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears

February 1st, 2011 | Posted in Darwinian evolution, monster theory, monsters, monstrous

Quite some time ago I promoted a forthcoming interview with Stephen Asma regarding his book On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears (Oxford University Press, 2009). As I worked my way through my growing collection of books for research, review, and interviews, On Monsters finally crawled to the top, and I am pleased […]

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Monster Theory: Culture, Monstrousness and Ourselves

September 19th, 2008 | Posted in cultures, monster theory, monsters

As I searched Amazon.com for reading materials related to the fantastic to add to my wishlist the description of Monster Theory: Reading Culture (University of Minnesota Press, 1996) struck me as intriguing: “Explores concepts of monstrosity in Western civilization from Beowulf to Jurassic Park. “We live in a time of monsters. Monsters provide a key […]

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