Monsters

The Psychology of Monsters

Zombies: Why do people fear zombies? Yes they fear the obvious mindless brain eating aspects but is that it? Zombies represent something deeper, they are the past coming back to haunt us. Who becomes a zombie? Our Ancestors. They rise up and in a mindless rage they try to make us like them, brainless. What is the one thing we have over them, the power of reason and logic. People fear their past cominc back to haunt them and take from them what they have gained.

Vampires: Yes they have sharp fangs and suck blood but is that all? Vampires are associated with lust and overwhelming passion. The vampire is the lust that comes for you in the middle of the night. That power is burned away in the light of day. This power is overwhelming and has super human strength. It draws on blood, what does blood represent? Vitality. The vampire is that lust for vitality that comes for us in the dark. When we are consumed by it we can either be killed by it or feel that we can live forever. In the old world it was considered a curse to be consumed by this lust was to be cursed. It was considered better to be killed by it rather than losing your soul by giving in to it.

Frankenstein/Killer Robots: This is possibly one of the oldest fears known to man. In ancient times when a man had wealth or power it was known that his son would take his power when he died. Fathers feared that their son would try and take this power as opposed to waiting for him to die of old age. Zeus' father consumed his children due to fear of them taking his power. That is the origin of this more modern fear. Frankensteins monster and killer robots are proverbial children of modern men. Men fear that their creations will rise up and kill them or try to rule over them. In IRobot or The Matrix men's creations rose up to enslave men as a son takes the crown from his father.

Wolf man: Feral bestiality and raw animal nature. Men fear giving in to that inner animal that is scratching to get out. Like a vampire it is giving in to some inner instinct that society tells us to resist. Giving in to the inner beast we become a monster that needs to be feared. Depending on what school of thought on Lycanthrope that one subscribes to this inner beast is unleashed at a full moon or at any given time. Man has always felt an inner influence coming from the moon. People that study crime have noticed a trend of the full moon's unfluence. How do you quell the inner beast? Silver. This could represent a sacrifice of something pure with high monetary value.

The monsters that we fear represent things that we fear in ourselves. That is why these monsters are enduring and so widely feared. They are found in cultures around the world because these fears are inherent in all of us. Fear of the past coming back to haunt us, our children taking power from us and the lust and the beast inside us taking us over.