.matthew.
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- Joined
- Jan 12, 2020
- Messages
- 1,156
Another thread got me thinking about ancient myths and how my favourites often featured monsters, which led me down the rabbit hole of what it means to be monstrous.
I’m struggling to find monsters in modern fiction that I’d define as such. You have your vampires and werewolves, but they seem more like comic book villains compared to the unique creatures of myth, the true monsters who instead of hiding in the shadows, preyed on towns and villages and were feared by all. These creatures could not be defeated by mere force, and always required a hero to rise, an odyssey to be embarked on, or a great sacrifice to be made.
Urban fantasy often has nods to these entities but even then, the power of the magic users or the sheer number of different creatures in those worlds make the monsters far less of a threat, and in my view, almost dismiss them as monstrous altogether. When you consider the technology and military capability of the real world, our strength now would easily be enough to put down Medusa or the Minotaur. It makes me wonder if there is a place in the modern world for monsters at all.
So, in this spirit I ask for your favourite monsters, and pose the question as to why modern fantasy shies away from them in favour of quantity over quality.
I’m struggling to find monsters in modern fiction that I’d define as such. You have your vampires and werewolves, but they seem more like comic book villains compared to the unique creatures of myth, the true monsters who instead of hiding in the shadows, preyed on towns and villages and were feared by all. These creatures could not be defeated by mere force, and always required a hero to rise, an odyssey to be embarked on, or a great sacrifice to be made.
Urban fantasy often has nods to these entities but even then, the power of the magic users or the sheer number of different creatures in those worlds make the monsters far less of a threat, and in my view, almost dismiss them as monstrous altogether. When you consider the technology and military capability of the real world, our strength now would easily be enough to put down Medusa or the Minotaur. It makes me wonder if there is a place in the modern world for monsters at all.
So, in this spirit I ask for your favourite monsters, and pose the question as to why modern fantasy shies away from them in favour of quantity over quality.