Prose fiction The history of monsters in fiction is long. For instance,
Grendel in the epic poem
Beowulf is an archetypal monster: deformed, brutal, and with enormous strength, he raids a human settlement nightly to slay and feed on his victims. The modern literary monster has its roots in examples such as the monster in
Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein and the vampire in
Bram Stoker's
Dracula. Monsters are a staple of
fantasy fiction,
horror fiction, and
science fiction (where the monsters are often
extraterrestrial in
nature). There also exists
monster erotica, a subgenre of
erotic fiction that involves monsters.
Film Pre–World War II monster films During the age of
silent films, monsters tended to be human-sized, e.g.
Frankenstein's monster, the
Golem,
werewolves and
vampires. The film
Siegfried featured a
dragon that consisted of
stop-motion animated models, as in
RKO's
King Kong, the first giant
monster film of the sound era.
Universal Studios specialized in monsters, with
Bela Lugosi's reprisal of his stage role,
Dracula, and
Boris Karloff playing
Frankenstein's monster. The studio also made several lesser films, such as
Man-Made Monster, starring
Lon Chaney Jr. as a carnival side-show worker who is turned into an electrically charged killer, able to dispatch victims merely by touching them, causing death by electrocution. There was also a variant of Dr. Frankenstein, the mad surgeon Dr. Gogol (played by
Peter Lorre), who transplanted hands that were reanimated with malevolent temperaments, in the film
Mad Love.
Werewolves were introduced in films during this period.
Mummies were cinematically depicted as fearsome monsters as well. As for giant creatures, the cliffhanger of the first episode of the 1936
Flash Gordon serial did not use a costumed actor, instead using real-life
lizards to depict a pair of battling dragons via use of camera perspective. However, the cliffhanger of the ninth episode of the same serial had a man in a rubber suit play the Fire Dragon, which picks up a doll representing Flash in its claws. The cinematic monster cycle eventually wore thin, having a comedic turn in
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).
Post–World War II monster films '' (1954) In the
post–World War II era, however, giant monsters returned to the screen with a vigor that has been causally linked to the development of
nuclear weapons. One early example occurred in the American film
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, which was about a
dinosaur that attacked a lighthouse. Subsequently, there were
Japanese film depictions, (
Godzilla,
Gamera), British depictions (
Gorgo), and even
Danish depictions (
Reptilicus), of giant monsters attacking cities. A recent depiction of a giant monster is depicted in
J. J. Abrams's
Cloverfield, which was released in theaters 18 January 2008. The intriguing proximity of other
planets brought the notion of extraterrestrial monsters to the big screen, some of which were huge in size (such as
King Ghidorah and
Gigan), while others were of a more human scale. During this period, the
fish-human monster
Gill-man was developed in the film series
Creature from the Black Lagoon. '', Britain's
Hammer Film Productions brought
color to the monster movies in the late 1950s. Around this time, the earlier Universal films were usually shown on American television by independent stations (rather than network stations) by using announcers with strange personas, who gained legions of young fans. Although they have since changed considerably, movie monsters did not entirely disappear from the big screen as they did in the late 1940s. Occasionally, monsters are depicted as friendly or misunderstood creatures. King Kong and Frankenstein's monster are two examples of misunderstood creatures. Frankenstein's monster is frequently depicted in this manner, in series and films such as
Monster Squad and
Van Helsing.
The Hulk is an example of the "Monster as Hero" archetype. The theme of the "Friendly Monster" is pervasive in pop-culture.
Chewbacca,
Elmo, and
Shrek are notable examples of friendly "monsters". In the
Monsters, Inc. franchise by
Pixar, the monster characters scare (and later entertain) children in order to create
energy for running machinery in their home world, while the furry monsters of
The Muppets and
Sesame Street live in harmony with animals and humans alike. Japanese culture also commonly features monsters which are benevolent or likable, with the most famous examples being the
Pokémon franchise and the pioneering anime
My Neighbor Totoro. The book series/webisodes/toy line of
Monster High is another example.
Games Monsters are commonly encountered in fantasy or role-playing games, as well as video games, as enemies for players to fight against. They may include
aliens,
legendary creatures, extra-dimensional entities or
mutated versions of regular animals. Especially in role-playing games, "monster" is a catch-all term for hostile characters that are fought by the player.
Sentient fictional races are usually not referred to as monsters. At other times, the term can carry a neutral connotation, such as in the
Pokémon franchise, where it is used to refer to cute fictional creatures that resemble real-world animals. Characters in games may refer to all of such creatures as "monsters". Another role playing game that has many different fantasy creatures (monsters and dragons alike), is
Dungeons & Dragons. In some other games, such as
Undertale and
Deltarune, "Monsters" (which are usually NPCs) refer to strange beings that are either
undead,
robots,
humanoids or mythical creatures that share similarities with human beings. ==See also==