"MONSTER CULTURE (SEVEN THESES)" DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

For class, each of you should have read "Monster Culture (Seven Theses)" by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen. It is, by far, the most difficult piece we will read all semester, and many of you probably struggled quite a bit with his intense language and cultural references. To facilitate our discussion of Cohen's explanation of what the concept of "monster" does in a culture, we're going to break down each section and have one group accept responsibility for translating it for the rest of us.

Thesis I: The Monster's Body Is a Cultural Body

• How does the image of the "crossroads" help introduce the idea of the monster as a cultural construct?
• Why does Cohen see the monster as a "glyph" (4)? Why does he suggest that "the monster exsists only to be read" (4)?
• How can you apply this idea to any of the monsters we have read about (or watched) in class thus far?

Thesis II: The Monster Always Escapes

• Cohen observes that "No monster tastes of death but once" but then links that apparently obvious statement to cultural "anxiety" and a "propensity to shift" (5). What kind of "shift" do monsters reborn make? How can this help us to understand the anxieties and issues in a culture?
• Why does the shifting image of the vampire support Cohen's claim?
• How can you apply this idea to any of the monsters we have read about (or watched) in class thus far?

Thesis III: The Monster Is the Harbinger of Category Crisis

• What's a "Harbinger"?
• What words are throwing off your ability to interpret this section of the essay? Share any of the definitions you looked up with your group and then seen if that helps to understand the essay a bit more.
• Why is the ability to categorize a person, place, or thing so important to people? How does this support a "system" or a cultural perspective?
• Why do monsters threaten our system? Does their existence merely make us uncomfortable, or is there a larger threat to the system?
• Identify a key quote in this section that you think is central to understanding the issues related to category crisis.
• How can you apply this idea to any of the monsters we have read about (or watched) in class thus far?

Thesis IV: The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference

• Cohen argues, "the monster is an incorporation of the Outside, the Beyond--of all those loci that are rhetorically placed as distant and distinct but originate Within" (7). What does he mean by the terms "Outside" and "Beyond"? How can these concepts be said to "originate Within"? Why the weird capitalization?
• What social catagories does "monstrous difference" tend to involve? What power does labeling a group "monstrous" give to the group using the label?
• How does "scapegoating" fit into this argument (11)?
• How does the monster's difference offer an alternative? Why is this "dangerous"?
• Identify a key quote in this section that you think is central to understanding the issues related to category crisis.
• How can you apply this idea to any of the monsters we have read about (or watched) in class thus far?

Thesis V: The Monster Polices the Borders of the Possible

• How does the image of the monster police social norms?
• What examples does Cohen give of "the monster of prohibition" (13)? How do such monsters help support social hierarchies?
• How does Cohen use his discussion of incest and miscegenation (reproductive mixing of the races) to illustrate both the police-monster and the hierarchies it protects?
• Identify a key quote in this section that you think is central to understanding the issues related to category crisis.
• How can you apply this idea to any of the monsters we have read about (or watched) in class thus far?

Thesis VI: The Monster Is Really a Kind of Desire

• Cohen links monsters to the idea of the "repressed," the attraction of "forbidden practices" (16), "escapist fantasies" and "freedom" (17). Why? What is the appeal of the monster?
• How do representations of monsters allow people to explore this appeal--and how is it normally reined in to restore social norms?
• What exactly is "abjection" (19)? How does it help readers to understand the attraction/repulsion split people feel towards monsters?
• Identify a key quote in this section that you think is central to understanding the issues related to category crisis.
• How can you apply this idea to any of the monsters we have read about (or watched) in class thus far?

Thesis VII: The Monster Stands at the Threshold

• How does this final thesis tie together all of the other theses?
• Isolate a quote as being the key point in this section.