Creating 21st Century Monsters

by Tricia Urlaub

In the last couple of thousand years, literature has provided us with monsters we can both love and hate. Frankenstein, Dracula, Beowulf, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have all given us a "fright" outlet that allows us to examine our inner selves more closely.

Frankenstein's monster, the lumbering oaf who never had any chance of fitting into society, was a lesson in relationships more so than in death and dismemberment.

Dracula, a legend born from the fifteenth-century Wallachian ruler Vlad Tepes, gave us a taste of eternal life, something humans have been curious about for, well, an eternity.

Humans are facing technological strides at the rate never seen before. This already has, and will continue to shape the face of the literary monster. Think of HAL in Arthur C. Clarke's 2001:
A Space Odyssey. In creating monsters we can consider technology as a way of communicating with readers. Breakthroughs, including cloning, artificial intelligence, robots, achieving immortality, or at the very least, extending longevity are all factors we can stir into our stew of creativity.

"The Stepford Wives," by Ira Levin was filled with monsters. The women created to take their "sisters" place were robots and killed off their "sisters." They paraded around town in frilly dresses and offered to fill your cup with coffee but they did not bleed, and the first act of their "lives" was murder. More importantly, the husbands were even more monstrous by creating these beings with their technology and ultimately loving them more than their human wives.

Regardless of the era, however, monster creation should be based on human fears and frailties. HAL was a computer unnervingly human, thus based on our fear of creating machines that will outsmart us. The men in Stepford were afraid of their wives' independence and in the end, dominated them completely (hmm... any wonder it was written by a man?).

There will always be the "classic" monster with which to draw inspiration; ie: vampires, werewolves, witches, etc. But when thinking outside the box to create a 21st century monster, remember the human species insatiable drive for speed, knowledge and power. Surely there are some new classics ready to emerge from this horizon.

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The photograph in this article is a "camera" gargoyle sculpted by Walter S. Arnold. http://www.stonecarver.com/cathedral.html

Didn't understand Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey? Click on this link for a very cool explanation. http://www.kubrick2001.com/

Tricia Urlaub has published several speculative fiction stories both online and in print magazines. She resides in Upstate New York with her family, which include two little boys, a grownup one, and assorted animals. She is a lover of all things odd, quirky and haunting. Her website, Tormenting the Muse, (www.triciaurlaub.com), has a little something of each.
You can write her at turlaub@rochester.rr.com