(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) O'Shea, Brianna, author
The purpose of this poster is to compare the role of monsters that initially appeared in 19th-century novels as they are reimagined in a contemporary work. The focus will be Jekyll and Hyde (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), Griffin (The Invisible Man), and their reinterpretations in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (LEG). This contrast will ask if monsters can change when reinterpreted and what these changes, or lack of, means in terms of societal fears. Through cultural studies research as framed by Jeffery Jerome Cohen and Alexa Wright, monsters embody specific cultural fears (Cohen 4) that then define what constructs acceptable human identity (Wright 1). Within the original texts, Hyde's monstrosity is an embodiment of the loss of racial purity, while Griffin's is a personification of the fear of the unknown and unseen, racial Other. However, changing cultural attitudes towards human traits create a change within the monster. In LEG, Hyde's shift in monstrosity suggests a greater fear of the consumption of violence, while Griffin's lack of change displays a continued fear of the unknown Other acting as a terrorizing force. The implications of this outcome indicate a transformation in how culture perceives purity and violence, yet a lack of change in how the unknown, racial Other is viewed. Monsters are reimagined continuously in contemporary manners, offering a method to examine how society has or has not changed, especially in terms of the present-day treatment of others and the consumption of violence.
