unknown lands for monsters to hide. Furthermore, with the advent of the scientific
revolution and the impulse to classify the natural world, creatures that would have once
been labelled as monsters are now just a hereto undiscovered species, deformities are
now explained by mistakes in genetic code, and mental illnesses are no longer assumed to
be demonic possession. In theory then, now that the world is a rational place, and
potential monsters can be categorized as belonging to the natural world, there should be
no more monsters, or beings that defy categorization. From the western tradition there
should be no more dragons, ogres, and sea monsters, and from the Japanese tradition
there should be no more yamabito, tengu, oni, and a variety of other creatures that
threaten the stability of ordinary life. One would think that their existence would be
confined to legend, or pre-modern narratives.
However, this is hardly the case. Monsters have been thriving in the modern
world. They no longer exclusively haunt dark woods; they are a constant presence in the
newspaper, at the box office, in books, and in video games. Rather than disappearing,
monsters have multiplied and take on new and frightening forms. This is because as
beings that defy categorization, monsters are a cultural product, or rather the product of a
cultural imagination. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, in the first of his seven monster theses, ‘The
Monster’s Body Is a Cultural Body’, explains that,
The monster is born only at this metaphoric crossroads, as an embodiment
of a certain cultural moment—of a time, a feeling, and a place. The monster’s
body quite literally incorporates fear, desire, anxiety, and fantasy (ataractic or
incendiary), giving them life and uncanny independence. The monstrous body is
pure culture. A construct and a projection, the monster exists only to be read: the