Princess Lesson: Monsters

When we are children we tend never to think of monsters as something tangible. Or that we think they may exist but that Mummy or hiding under the bedsheets will keep us safe. But one thing that takes time to understand is that monsters... Are more real than we think.

Being humans we like to give faces or names to thinks that we either do not understand, just discovered, or are afraid of and, as we all know, monsters are no exception. But what types of monsters do people fear most? Do we fear aliens more than vampires?

Now, a question is to be posed... Do we fear the more humanoid monsters or those who bare little resemblance to our own species? If I were to choose, I would say we fear those more like ourselves.

I suppose you can think of this in the way that Victorians were greatly afraid of deformity. Especially physical kinds. And, if one thinks about it, humanoid monsters are usually physically deformed humans. Frankenstein, vampires, werewolves, zombies... the list goes on. We are afraid because they are like one of us but... Different. And it is this which fears us most, I believe.

And this is why I think things like horrible people and serial killers put more fear into us than some alien from outer space that might not exist.

( To be continued... )