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asiacatdogblue This Won't End Well... from Chicago, IL Since: Feb, 2010
This Won't End Well...
#1: Apr 5th 2012 at 7:45:22 PM

Remember when you heard the term, "monster?" Bane when children heard the term, "monster," they thought to those dangerous horrors that lurk in the dark(namely bed or closet at night) and kidnap or eat children while they're asleep.

But now, thenks majority to Japanese fiction and other trends, The term ,"monster" now associates with " those cute, cuddly creatures that one can raise into badass fighting machine and still be kept as pets.

When you thought something was scary, dangerous, threatning, of challenging, back then, but now... not as much. It's often either now "cute" or "wimpy." What you thought was originally tough has now gone soft. Has the term "monster" lost its original meaning? Or am I just delusional?

Look at vampires then( Nosferatu) and now(Chibi Vampire).

...eh, it's probably just me being Nostalgic.

Yep, I'm still here.
Loid from Eastern Standard Time Since: Jun, 2011
#2: Apr 5th 2012 at 10:34:37 PM

I don't think vampires' horror were ruined by chibi, I think it was ruined by the rise of vampire romance novels. At least vampires got sexier, though.

"Dr. Strangeloid, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Cleanlink" - thespacephantom
Aondeug Oh My from Our Dreams Since: Jun, 2009
Oh My
#3: Apr 5th 2012 at 10:36:59 PM

Vampires are slowly being ruined by both Japan and the West. On our end it's the romance novels that Loid mentioned. Damn you Anne Rice. Damn you to hell.

-hugs Carmilla-

...vampires...vampire romance used to be creepy and abusive and awesome...

;_;

If someone wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, then that's their business. We know what we're doing. - Achaan Chah
Loid from Eastern Standard Time Since: Jun, 2011
#4: Apr 5th 2012 at 10:45:09 PM

Yeah, but... but... sexy!

"Dr. Strangeloid, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Cleanlink" - thespacephantom
Aondeug Oh My from Our Dreams Since: Jun, 2009
Oh My
#5: Apr 5th 2012 at 10:45:45 PM

Carmilla was sexy!

If someone wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, then that's their business. We know what we're doing. - Achaan Chah
Loid from Eastern Standard Time Since: Jun, 2011
#6: Apr 5th 2012 at 10:50:40 PM

I don't believe you.

"Dr. Strangeloid, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Cleanlink" - thespacephantom
Aondeug Oh My from Our Dreams Since: Jun, 2009
Oh My
#7: Apr 5th 2012 at 10:53:40 PM

D:

If someone wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, then that's their business. We know what we're doing. - Achaan Chah
ElRigo I'm freezing! Send help! from Baja Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Awaiting my mail-order bride
I'm freezing! Send help!
#8: Apr 5th 2012 at 10:58:24 PM

There is little monstrous about monsters anymore. Unless they are giant monsters, those still rock. Too bad they are so scarce nowadays.

I dont really like anne rice, but what she did to vampires is nothing compared to what that.. other author did to them.

Loid from Eastern Standard Time Since: Jun, 2011
#9: Apr 5th 2012 at 11:08:45 PM

Made them sexy Mormons? Cause that was great.

"Dr. Strangeloid, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Cleanlink" - thespacephantom
ElRigo I'm freezing! Send help! from Baja Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Awaiting my mail-order bride
I'm freezing! Send help!
#10: Apr 5th 2012 at 11:11:46 PM

[up] And werewolves are now magical indians. That dont eat people.

Dammit, I have always been a werewolf loving man, why would she do this?

edited 5th Apr '12 11:11:58 PM by ElRigo

Ramus Lead. from some computer somwhere. Since: Aug, 2009
Lead.
#11: Apr 5th 2012 at 11:20:03 PM

Someone knocking Chibi Vampire?

RAAAAGGGGEEEEEEEE

Anyway vampires, like zombies and such, go through cycles. The original sexy and romantic vampire? Dracula. The dude was a beast in bed, man. If you're going to blame him for the current evolution of the vampire in fiction, well, nope, vampires at this point tend to take a wide variety of shapes. At this point the popular one is indeed the sexy, romantic vampire since, face it, it's fantasy to have someone that strong and mysterious. And Japan definitely didn't cause this to occur, loveable and clumsy vampires have existed since the dawn of comedy. What purpose they do serve now is to be an interesting foil to humans, essentially being cannibals at their core and just different enough to be alien yet familiar.

Not to mention Chibi Vampire is the shit. That lady knows how to write romance.

edited 5th Apr '12 11:23:33 PM by Ramus

The emotions of others can seem like such well guarded mysteries, people 8egin to 8elieve that's how their own emotions should 8e treated.
ParkingCetacean I don't know. from a computer Since: Oct, 2011
I don't know.
#12: Apr 5th 2012 at 11:41:26 PM

>post on how modern monsters suck
>use vampires as example
>discussion on how modern vampires suck no pun intended
>ctrl-f "sparkle": 0 results
I am disappoint.

It's probably mostly nostalgia mixed with the fact that it's harder to scare an adult/ young adult / teen than to scare a young kid.

And to say I was nervous... it wouldn't be quite enough.
AStrayBard Sega's Last Hope from 867-5309 Since: Aug, 2011 Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Ramus Lead. from some computer somwhere. Since: Aug, 2009
Lead.
#14: Apr 6th 2012 at 12:31:38 AM

The Count, if anything, made them cooler.

The emotions of others can seem like such well guarded mysteries, people 8egin to 8elieve that's how their own emotions should 8e treated.
abstractematics Since: May, 2011
#15: Apr 6th 2012 at 12:41:51 AM

Vampires always had easy counters, so much less of a threat than they seem at first. It's more like nowadays we gave them a chance to do something besides being destroyed.

Now using Trivialis handle.
Malph (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#16: Apr 11th 2012 at 11:55:42 AM

[up][up][up] The Count is a hardcore badass. And he doesn't sparkle (you happy now, Cetacean?).

TomoeMichieru Samurai Troper from Newnan, GA (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Mu
Samurai Troper
#17: Apr 11th 2012 at 12:10:58 PM

Then of course you have the badass Trenchcoat Brigade vampire hunters dhampirs like Blade.

edited 11th Apr '12 12:11:08 PM by TomoeMichieru

Swordplay and writing blog. Purveyor of weeaboo fightin' magic.
TheBatPencil from Glasgow, Scotland Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: I'm just a hunk-a, hunk-a burnin' love
#18: Apr 11th 2012 at 12:19:57 PM

The thing is, most old timey monsters have been done to death. Every cliche has been used every trope written about and deconstructed a thousand times. It has a lot less power when it's codified and common. In the case of vampires they've been outright neutered by horny teenage girls and their creepier cousins, the middle-aged women who want toyboys.

You have to make new monsters these days. The Alien is the best example.

And let us pray that come it may (As come it will for a' that)
abstractematics Since: May, 2011
#19: Apr 11th 2012 at 12:22:25 PM

[up]There's actually a trend of anthropomorphism.

Now using Trivialis handle.
asiacatdogblue This Won't End Well... from Chicago, IL Since: Feb, 2010
This Won't End Well...
#20: Apr 22nd 2012 at 5:14:56 PM

[up][up] And eventually, the newer monster will get decayed as well.

...and even so, I still miss how Witches were often dipicted in fiction. Bitter, mean scary. Like classic witches have traded their humanity for true magic and power. I don't mind a young, non-ugly, normal skinned witch, but Japan often goes too far with that. Though, I guess I have Bewitched to blame.

Yep, I'm still here.
TenTailsBeast The Ultimate Lifeform from The Culture Since: Feb, 2012
#21: Apr 22nd 2012 at 5:20:01 PM

Monster, to my mind, bespeaks of not being bound by anything. Of being truly superhuman, without any practical limits to hold you down. I've always to be monster since I was a wee little baby. waii

I vowed, and so did you: Beyond this wall- we would make it through.
IraTheSquire Since: Apr, 2010
#22: Apr 22nd 2012 at 5:26:15 PM

There are still monsters left I think.

Vampires are just simply been around for too long and everything that can be done with them has been done basically.

And werewolves are now magical indians. That dont eat people.

Dammit, I have always been a werewolf loving man, why would she do this?

The 'not eating people' bit has already been done before.

MadassAlex I am vexed! from the Middle Ages. Since: Jan, 2001
I am vexed!
#23: Apr 22nd 2012 at 5:47:18 PM

Someone brought up Giger's Alien, which really ties neatly into this whole thing.

Because, despite first being experienced by audiences in 1979, the Alien was neutered before the 80s were out. James Cameron's sequel was a great film, but it opened the floodgates for a new interpretation of the monster — one as a hive beast with heavy insectoid implications. Ergo, there's now the interpretation of the "mindless" mook Alien, and it's become the standard through people trying to imitate the second film. The comics are the biggest offenders here, but the games can be almost as bad. What was once part Lovecraftian nightmare and part folkloric revenant is now cannon fodder for the good guys.

I think we got here because we live in an age of science and explanation. Premodern humankind lives without concrete scientific methods using highly fallible observations to put together the logic that bound their world together. That some things were unexplained and eternally horrifying comes as no surprise, because they lacked the methods or tools that would allow them to explain certain phenomena.

The world is different today, where rational science is one element of the new, modern folklore — it merely happens to be folklore that is correct. It's no wonder that in our time monsters become explained, because it's natural in relation to the way we consider and explain the world around us. In past eras, we looked at the lightning and feared the gods; today, we look at the lightning and marvel at the beauty of natural weather forces.

We simply know how things work, and that translates over to fiction. As good as Blade is, it's honestly just as guilty of the root sin that Twilight represents — domestication of the monster. Blade himself is half vampire, but the pseudo-science of the setting gives it a kind of rationality that allows vampires and other monsters to reconcile with the modern world. It's a form of narrative domestication, and it's pretty much exactly what Twilight did for a different purpose. In Blade's case, it's so there were rational ways for the vampires to be defeated; in Twilight's case, it was so the protagonist could bone a pretty, wealthy immortal.

Rationality is the enemy of horror, because horror is being naked and alone against something you have no understanding of. When you can rationally explain something, then the monster simply becomes wildlife — but if one becomes an undead monster for sinning in life, at the mercy of God's judgement, then that is dealing with powers beyond the ken of mortals with no explanation past a disembodied willpower. That's why a traditional revenant is scary, but a modern vampire is stake-bait.

Swordsman TroperReclaiming The BladeWatch
ThatHuman someone from someplace Since: Jun, 2010
someone
#24: Apr 22nd 2012 at 5:56:35 PM

There is little monstrous about monsters anymore. Unless they are giant monsters, those still rock. Too bad they are so scarce nowadays.
Yeah, giant monsters seem to be a dying trend. For example, the Godzilla franchise is pretty much retired and Ultra Series has been in a low point for some time.

edited 22nd Apr '12 5:57:19 PM by ThatHuman

something
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