4th Street: Magic, Monsters, and Metaphor
These are my notes from the 2011 4th Street Fantasy convention. For this particular panel, these are just the thoughts that I had in reaction to it, not necessarily what was actually discussed.
Magic, Monsters, and Metaphor
A lot of this focused on the transformation from human to beast and vice versa.
In these stories, is transformation the final end point? For example, the Beast transforming back into the Prince at the end.
A monster transforms to--what? if not human? The point seems to be to make the outer shell more true to the self. What else?
There's a long tradition in horror of what happens when a beast [metaphorical or an actual animal] appears to be human, beginning with Little Red Riding Hood and going on to Men in Black [an Ed suit], the horror of an innocent wolf being forced into human ways in the Tiffany Aching books, Mimic, Bodysnatchers--even in Alien, the horror is because of the beast within. Though there's an equal balance where the horror is in the forced concealment/change/rejection of magical or natural creatures. The artificially created chimerae in Moon Over Soho, the shapeshifter in Melusine, the bear husband story.
So we have beast-human transformations representing:
* innocence
* horror
* outside of society because of power or punishment
* hidden beauty/power
Magical transformation as a power corrupts metaphor? See the idea of permanent transformation caused by crime/sin (Wendigo).
Why are monsters/monstrous transformations and aliens not interchangeable metaphors?
Magic, Monsters, and Metaphor
A lot of this focused on the transformation from human to beast and vice versa.
In these stories, is transformation the final end point? For example, the Beast transforming back into the Prince at the end.
A monster transforms to--what? if not human? The point seems to be to make the outer shell more true to the self. What else?
There's a long tradition in horror of what happens when a beast [metaphorical or an actual animal] appears to be human, beginning with Little Red Riding Hood and going on to Men in Black [an Ed suit], the horror of an innocent wolf being forced into human ways in the Tiffany Aching books, Mimic, Bodysnatchers--even in Alien, the horror is because of the beast within. Though there's an equal balance where the horror is in the forced concealment/change/rejection of magical or natural creatures. The artificially created chimerae in Moon Over Soho, the shapeshifter in Melusine, the bear husband story.
So we have beast-human transformations representing:
* innocence
* horror
* outside of society because of power or punishment
* hidden beauty/power
Magical transformation as a power corrupts metaphor? See the idea of permanent transformation caused by crime/sin (Wendigo).
Why are monsters/monstrous transformations and aliens not interchangeable metaphors?