Analysis of Monster Culture

Monster Culture (Seven Theses)

By Jeffrey Jerome Cohen

Monsters. Vampires, zombies, wendigoes, yetis, Bigfoot, werewolves–monsters. In his first thesis, Cohen states that we humans are essentially monsters, in this particular instance, a vampire. As monsters, humans should be buried at the fork of the road so that if we were to come back to life, we would not known which way to go. Drive a stake to the heart to kill us, to kill the vampire, so that we will be forever buried there, haunting it to the end of our days. This monster is born at the metaphorical cross of roads from a place of time, whether it be culturally or mentally. The body is the embodiment of a certain culture–the monstrosity of a culture. We see the chaos that culture leaves behind, like a Yeti in the mountains. We know that the Yeti exists but it only vanishes, only to appear in the legends of King Arthur, as the ogre of Mount Saint Michael. No matter the culture, no matter the country, monsters are born from cultures. As monsters of created from society, humans dislike order. We resist the attempts they used to include us in a system. And so, because of this, we are dangerous; we are a being that threatens to smash the distinctions that are supposed to define us. Monsters tend to be things on the Outside, that have come to dwell among us. They are the incorporation of the “Beyond” as Cohen states, and are distant and distinct from Within. The monstrous body is cultural, political, racial, economic, and sexual. The exaggeration of culture makes up the monster inside of us. For example, in the Bible, the aboriginal inhabitants of Canaan are perceived as menacing giants –this justifies the Hebrew colonization of the Promised Land. In another example, medieval France celebrated the crusades by transforming the Muslim race into demonic characters who lack the mentality of humanity as was forced to succumb to their bestial attributes. Monsters are created from within all of us, forced to squeeze out because of the expectations of society. Born from war and political relations, monsters are us. They are our children. They can be pushed as far away as possible, but they always return. And when they come back, they bring with them more monsters that we have created and put away. And they ask that we reevaluate what it is we do and why we create them. But that is us. Humans that wreak havoc wherever they go. It is we who created the monsters inside of us.

The Betrayal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wagn8Wrmzuc

Judas - by Lady Gaga

The music video begins with the members of a motorcycle gang cruising on the freeway and we essentially see Gaga, who’s the only one in color at the moment, wearing a cross on her sitting behind the leader’s motorcycle––the leader most likely representing “Jesus” himself. We get a glimpse of the names of all the gang members and they all seem to coincide with the names of all 12 disciples of Jesus Christ. According the Bible, Judas was only known for one thing: betraying Jesus. In order to understand the music video, we need to gleam into the facts about Judas’s betrayal of Jesus Christ. Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, was a lover of money; he was a thief, and according to Matthew 36: 13-15, the priests paid him “thirty silver coins” to betray the Lord. From the start, Jesus had known about Judas’s intentions. Jesus told his disciples, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is the devil!” (John 6:70). At the Last Supper, Jesus predicted His betrayal and identified the betrayer: “Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon” (John 13:26). Judas Iscariot was not “clean”; he had not been reborn and was not forgiven of his sins (John 13:10–11). In fact, it would seem as if Judas was seduced to do what he did by the devil himself: “As soon as Judas took the bread that Jesus had given him, Satan entered into him” (John 13:27). No one had suspected Judas. He was a trusted member of the Twelve.

It was known to all that Judas betrayed the Lord with a kiss. After committing this atrocious act, Judas “was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders” (Matthew 27:3). But we learn that the feelings of remorse he had would not equal his repentance and so rather than making amends or seeking forgiveness, “he went away and hanged himself” (Matthew 27:5). Given the fact that Judas had grown close to Jesus during those 3 years of guidance, it is hard to imagine how he could cause such a betrayal. Judas teaches us to beware the small and gradual incidents in our lives, for fear that it may turn into something greater and more devious. His story is also a great reminder that looks can be deceiving.

Now, back to the music video. When getting a closer look at Gaga, she is completely covered in crosses in jewelry from head to toe. The leader, who bears a crown on his head, displays calmness in his actions, something that the Lord himself often did. The gang enters a town that looks somewhat middle Eastern, and Gaga begins to sing and dance. She dawns an extremely revealing red flowy dress with a crosses attached on the cloth on both breasts. At 1:32, it shows Gaga following closely behind “Jesus” going down the stairs and lightly pushing the man who represents Judas. Though I have observed the video throughout, I have still yet to come to a conclusion on who Gaga is supposed to represent. She seems like a bystander in the midst of all this chaos in the video, and it almost seems as if she’s not there. I think that Gaga represents the evil that grows inside Judas–possibly even the devil himself that is trailing behind everything. We see that she does dawn a red dress–the color that is the devil. At 2:05 we see Jesus eyeing Judas in the crowd below, and Judas coming out of with with two girls on his arms, signifying that maybe he’s losing himself to temptation. This little bit, I feel, represents the fact that Jesus knew about Judas’s betrayal, as he is constantly eyeing him, and Judas, himself, is completely unaware, possibly even about the fact that he is going to betray the Lord himself. At 2:38, it is shown that Jesus is guiding Judas away from Gaga, possibly saying that Jesus is asking him to stay away from his inner evil. At 3:29, Gaga is dawning to infamous red color yet again, and we see her holding a pistol in her hand, pointing it as Judas. Later on, we find out that the gun is actually a lipstick that she uses on Judas, signifying the devil telling Judas to give in. Lipstick is used on lips so I thought maybe since Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, it might possibly be alluding to that. The water that floods in around 3:43-4:17 signifies Jesus trying to “purify”Judas, and succeeds in bringing the devil down but this does not stop Judas from betraying Jesus with a kiss at 4:22. The water represents purification because when people get baptised, part of them are often submerged in water to “clean” out their sins. The music has also stopped in this time period, possibly to magnify the intensity of the moment. Towards the end of the video, Gaga is shown falling to her knees, as Jesus kisses her forehead and at the very end, Gaga is stoned to death by a crowd and the video closes with her sprawled out on the ground in a white dress.