[ad_1]
For centuries, humans have been fascinated by monsters in all their forms, from ancient wonders to modern space samples. Bo Eriksson, lecturer in history at Stockholm University, is one of those who have studied this subject. Just before Halloween, his latest book "Monsterbestiarium" is presented. It presents fifty different monsters from mythology and popular culture.
What is it that we constantly invent new monsters to intimidate? Bo Eriksson sees it as a product of our evolutionary legacy. The ancient times have weighed in the stories the dangers to which they were exposed.
The fear and vulnerability, coupled with the enormous brain capacity we had, helped us create imaginary monsters to deal with our curiosity, he says.
Ghosts of the brain
Our brain capacity allows us to imagine something that does not exist, but that can exist or should exist. Monster is literally a ghost brain, says Bo Eriksson.
The monsters also had an educational function, he believes. The children were discouraged from walking near the water, talking to them about swamp samples.
Bo Eriksson sees three flowering periods for the monster. The first is the mythological age of ancient Mesopotamia, ancient Greece and Rome. The second period is the 19th century, "the century of the vampire", when characters such as Frankenstein's monster and Dracula are born.
The third and largest period is the one in which we live now. We have never seen as many monsters as we do now in all the history of the world, he says.
Cost-effective monsters
One explanation is that it is purely commercial. Horror movies and scary games bring money back.
People like to get scratched and pay for it. But that does not explain everything, says Bo Eriksson.
He points out that the monster's flowering season coincides with major social changes. The popular cultural horror figures of the 19th century were born during industrialization. And today, humanity is facing a new great transformation: digitization. A collective anxiety is expressed in the new monsters.
In these times of change, as in the 19th century, we can see that there is an explosion of monsters.
Dragons monsterkung
Bo Eriksson does not think it's so strange that we humans like to be scared. When the monster is killed, the order is restored and we breathe out of the release and leave the cinema with a sense of hope.
But the worst horror movies happen when the monster does not die. I do not know how many times you have killed Godzilla and Godzilla is coming back, he recalls.
Does the expert have favorite samples? Bo Eriksson laughs and explains that he has two:
One is the dragon. Zombies, vultures and vampires are so popular today, but the dragon defeats them all. The dragon is the monster king monster. It's a slug, it's big, it's dangerous and it has existed for most monsters.
The second favorite is the Japanese monster Kappa, whose first mention dates from the 700s.
Kappa is both charming and fun but incredibly angry, disgusting and dangerous at the same time and you have to take care of it.
[ad_2]
Source link
