staging inquiry: monster culture. staging inquiry: monster culture

Staging Inquiry:Monster Culture

Staging Inquiry:Monster Culture

WHAT IS INQUIRY?

“Academic writers usually study a body of information so closely and from so many different perspectives that they can ask questions that may not occur to people who are just scanning the information. That is, academic writers learn to make inquiries. Every piece of academic writing begins with a questions about the way the world works, and the best questions lead to rich, complex insights that others can learn from and build on” (Greene 5).

“HABITS OF MIND” FOR SCHOLARS

WHAT IS INQUIRY?

> Openness to Possibility:– Inquiries are unpredictable and often your questions can

change with new information– New exploration reveals unexpected or controversial

connections> Skepticism:

– Valid positions require careful support and nuance– All previous positions can and should be reevaluated

and, if necessary, revised based on new information

“HABITS OF MIND” FOR SCHOLARS

WHAT IS INQUIRY?

What is a monster?

“HABITS OF MIND” FOR SCHOLARS

WHAT IS INQUIRY?

> Openness to Possibility:– Be willing to look at the world and ask “why?”– Be open to multiple means of answering different questions.– Recognize that things have multiple angles, causes, effects.

> Skepticism:– Be wary of “common-sense” or untested truth.– Be willing to question held beliefs and assumptions,

especially your own!– Recognize that criticism makes ideas stronger.

STEP #1: FORMING OBSERVATIONS

Opening Observations:

1. There are no “monsters” in nature.

> Openness to Possibility:.> Skepticism:

?

Opening Observations:

1. There are no “monsters” in nature. Monsters are native to fiction/culture.

> Openness to Possibility:.> Skepticism:

We love monster stories!

Opening Observations:

2. Monster fictions (in all media and genres) have been a continuous presence in the history of modern popular culture! – Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818)– Stevenson’s, The Strange

Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886)

– Wells’, The Invisible Man (1897)

– Stokers’ Dracula (1897)

> Openness to Possibility:.> Skepticism:

Opening Observations:

2. Monster fictions (in all media and genres) have been a continuous presence in the history of modern popular culture! – Film arguably made monster

stories even more popular– Frankenstein (1910)– Nosferatu (1922) – King Kong (1933)

> Openness to Possibility:.> Skepticism:

Opening Observations:

2. Monster fictions (in all media and genres) have been a continuous presence in the history of modern popular culture! – Film arguably made monster

stories even more popular– Frankenstein (1910)– Nosferatu (1922) – King Kong (1933)– Of course, beyond these early

examples there are too many monster movies to mention!

> Openness to Possibility:.> Skepticism:

Opening Observations:

Monster stories sure seem popular!

But why?

> Openness to Possibility:> Skepticism:

ExtendingInquiry:

“Man on the Street”/Common-sense answer:

Monster stories are a form of escapism, pure and simple. They are popular because they provide people with dumb entertainment.

– Is this answer sufficient? What are people escaping from? How exactly does it create this escape? Is this the only function they have?

– Is this really correct? How can we support this conclusion? How can we challenge it?

> Openness to Possibility:> Skepticism:

ExtendingInquiry:

> Openness to Possibility:> Skepticism:

Meet THE CLAW!> Introduced in

Silver Streak Comics #1 on December 1939.

> Appears in several comics from 1939-1941 and then disappears except for a few revivals in the 1970s and 80s.

The Silver Streak (1940)

The Silver Streak (1940)

ExtendingInquiry:

> Openness to Possibility:> Skepticism:

Observations:YELLOW PERIL!

> Maintains a slave army of yellow men, all indistinguishable from one another, who worship him like a god.

> “Other” of modern, secular individualist society

> Critique of American neutrality as a kind of weakness

> Leaves the U.S. vulnerable to foreign invasion from Asia.

The Silver Streak (1940)

Extending Inquiry:

“Man on the Street”/Common-sense answer:

Monster stories are a form of escapism, pure and simple. They are popular because they provide people with dumb entertainment.

> Openness to Possibility:> Skepticism:

Extending Inquiry:

Inquiry Based Answer:Monsters seem to be constructed from established ideas about (racial, political) “otherness.” And they are often freighted with political purpose and arguments of “national” import.

> Openness to Possibility:> Skepticism:

Extending Inquiry:

> Openness to Possibility:> Skepticism:

1960 (Cold War)

• One of the many adaptations of the Dracula story for film and popular culture

Extending Inquiry:

> Openness to Possibility:> Skepticism:

Opened in 2008.

Extending Inquiry:

Inquiry Based Answer:Monsters seem to be constructed from established ideas about (racial, political) “otherness.” And they are often freighted with political purpose and arguments of “national” import.

> Openness to Possibility:> Skepticism:

Homework

> Contribute to this inquiry with your Inquiry Assignment:– Choose an example of your own– Create your own observations and reflections– Contribute to our ongoing inquiry

> Read:– Stygall– Graff & Birkenstein– Greene & Lipinsky