Afternoon of Alterity - Nazareth College

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ook “contains recipes from the boardinghouse killer for meals sheserved her tenants, who reportedly enjoyed her tamales, stews andsoups,” Bugabee said in an interview. She is also a serious force onthe Web, with appearances in a serial killer calendar and numerousother sites devoted to such macabre topics” (1).The paradigm shift is also explored through the Columbine HighSchool massacre in 1999 made shooters Dylan Klebold and EricHarris “heroes in the eyes of some disturbed teens” (Fox & Levin,2). They are heroes to those who do not fit in and wish they couldachieve what the Columbine shooters did. Fox and Levin write that“not only did they avenge the schoolyard bullies and nasty teachers,but their also famous for it, because they got their faces all over thenews. While not quite a moniker, ‘doing a Columbine’ has becomea code phrase for shooting up a school” (2). The paradigm shift isevident here because these shooters believed that they were the truevictims. They also had followers and sympathizers that also believedthey were the victims and all the bullies and teachers were the truemonsters. The question becomes if Dylan Klebold and Eric Harrisare victims, does that make their victims deserving to die? These boyswere and probably still are heroes to boys and girls that feel the sameway that they did. They have followers who see them as idols andthey have become celebrities in many disturbed people’s eyes.Famous serial murderer Jeffrey Dahmer reached celebrity statuswhen in 1991 “he made People’s coveted list of the 100 mostintriguing people of the 20 th Century” (Fox & Levin, 2). Televisionis also a place for media to idolize the serial killer. The televisionprogram Dexter is about a serial murderer. The creator breaks thedichotomy between hero and monster when he says, “You may thinkthat he is doing good, but he is a monster. He’s killing becausehe is monster” (Lasswell 77). He further explains that “Dexter is acharacter who is a responsible citizen who channels his murderousimpulses strictly in the service of removing bad people from theemily mastrobattisto 77
world” (77). The paradigm is evident once again. Although Dexteris clearly a monster, his actions make many believe he is a vigilantekilling the “bad people.” What the audience fails to really examineis that Dexter is a serial murderer who is as bad as the people hekills. We sympathize with Dexter, therefore we see him as a hero.Fox and Levin explain that “America’s preoccupation with makingmonsters into celebrities goes far beyond placing them on the coversof our leading publications. Their images can also be found onserial-murder trading cards, comic books, T-shirts, calendars andaction figures for children” (Fox and Levin, 2). What does all thissay about our fascination with serial murderers? We view monstersas heroes and buy memorabilia with their pictures on it. We reallyare a corrupt society.Fascination is not the word that accurately describes the wayour culture views serial killers. The word should be obsession. Weare obsessed with our monstrous heroes and aspire to be themin a perverse way. It is highly doubtful anyone in medieval timesaspired to be Grendel or Grendel’s mother. Their murders wereviewed as despicable and horrific. These killers of multiple victimswere monsters. The middle ages had a clear dichotomy betweenmonstrous and hero. That dichotomy began to dissolve whenJohn Gardner created a new paradigm for which we should viewGrendel as the victim. Today we have come full circle. Our societylives vicariously through these serial killers whether through factualor fictional portrayals. “The A&E network, routinely airs killers’biographies, which raises the rhetorical question as to whether truecrime is considered art or entertainment” (Fox and Levin, 2). Serialmurder is based on how culture charges it. In medieval time serialkillers were viewed negatively. Today, however, we view serial killerspositively because we deem them our celebrities. Charles Mansonhas more marriage proposals inside prison than any other person.He has groupies that beg to be his followers. When a groupie78 afternoons of alterity
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Afternoons of Alterity A Codex of t
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Table of ContentsFrom Medieval Mars
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From Medieval Marsh Monsters toFutu
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imagination, we must first attempt
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seed of monstrosity within themselv
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essence as a monster, it seems reas
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she bore two sons, one from the imp
Page 16 and 17:
perhaps, anti-heroes) of the futuri
Page 18 and 19:
to watch the murder and mutilation
Page 20 and 21:
and modern audiences through their
Page 22 and 23:
Works Cited“Bushwhacked.” Firef
Page 24 and 25:
Projecting Otherness ontothe Disabl
Page 26 and 27:
in any systematic structuration. An
Page 28 and 29:
The idea of the monstrous’ vulner
Page 30 and 31:
not us and are in the proximity of
Page 32: they want to be treated. The interv
Page 36: Monstrosity and theIrruption of Rea
Page 39 and 40: describing his fears of this place
Page 41 and 42: stained with sin” (Spearing 221).
Page 43: often and at will to show man somet
Page 46 and 47: What’s Love Got To Do With It?The
Page 48 and 49: story than as the beginning? What f
Page 50 and 51: It is textual content like this tha
Page 52 and 53: through the story as the Green Knig
Page 54 and 55: the first advocating voices for end
Page 56 and 57: “capable of seeing things objecti
Page 58 and 59: Darkness: The True Monster ofLitera
Page 60 and 61: the way they can make us feel, but
Page 62 and 63: not only closes out, extinguishes,
Page 64 and 65: and temptation, most especially for
Page 66 and 67: hours “led to the term ‘night
Page 68 and 69: specifically his relationship to da
Page 70 and 71: humanization of Grendel draws the r
Page 72 and 73: subconscious the message may be. Th
Page 74 and 75: Serial MonstrosityEmily Mastrobatti
Page 76 and 77: is clear that they are monsters and
Page 78 and 79: murderer that he once was. He has b
Page 80 and 81: of the killing, “When investigato
Page 84 and 85: asks Charles Manson to marry her, t
Page 86 and 87: Monstrous Mothers andObjectified Da
Page 88 and 89: and her sisters plot to kill their
Page 90 and 91: easons for “otherness.” On top
Page 92 and 93: The original ideas are still intact
Page 94 and 95: objectified creature. “Cultures o
Page 96 and 97: Works CitedAcker, P. Horror and the
Page 98 and 99: Grendel: A Manifestation ofMedieval
Page 100 and 101: ut never was his physicality hinted
Page 102 and 103: to wander in the darkness and the c
Page 104 and 105: Magic could not resurrect Grendel t
Page 106 and 107: Works CitedBeowulf. Trans. RM Liuzz
Page 108 and 109: The Monster Under the BedThe Creati
Page 110 and 111: to procreate but the accepted manif
Page 112 and 113: Cain had/killed his father’s son
Page 114 and 115: can, without a doubt, be placed int
Page 116 and 117: The vagina’s ability to function
Page 118: Ed. Barbara K. Gold, et all. Albany
Page 121 and 122: To understand precisely how states
Page 123 and 124: a strict delineation between each g
Page 125 and 126: monstrous and societal rules to fol
Page 127 and 128: Gawain is willing to accept his mis
Page 129 and 130: survive, challenge, and defeat. Esp
Page 131 and 132: governmental standards, then are we
Page 134 and 135:
They Walk Among UsOccupational Viol
Page 136 and 137:
sports and regard our members of th
Page 138 and 139:
modern readers are not part of the
Page 140 and 141:
otherness and disdain for humanity.
Page 142 and 143:
are underpaid and for the most part
Page 144 and 145:
Home and Spatial IdentityPhysical t
Page 146 and 147:
closeness among the people that the
Page 148 and 149:
Into the dark gorge I ventured; the
Page 150 and 151:
the treasures that fill up their ho
Page 152 and 153:
threatened by the very existence of
Page 154 and 155:
and draped in damp, shaggy moss, an
Page 156 and 157:
individual. Home resides within the
Page 158:
Works CitedArmitage, Simon. Sir Gaw
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