The Monstrous Fantastic Conference Paper Abstracts - International ...

45. (FTV) Angels & Demons CypressChair: Jeffrey Andrew WeinstockCentral Michigan UniversityMonstrous Messengers: Bad Angels in Horror FilmsRegina HansenBoston UniversityMedia images of angels have usually focused on the positive. From Clarence in It’s A Wonderful Life to the helpful angels of Touched By AnAngel, angelic characters, especially in American film have reflected a combination of New Age and pop-Christian ideals. Angels have beenguardians, saviors or simply representations of “good energy.” In recent years, however, the image of the helpful angel has been replaced bythat of an angry, punishing creature, closer to popular conceptions of the demonic than the angelic. In some ways, this is more in line withoriginal scriptural and theological understandings of angels as beings of pure spirit meant to carry out God’s will, even when that will isdestructive. Moreover, these modern films also suggest a thinner line between the angelic and the demonic, another reflection of earlierliterature – from Christian theology to the work of Dante and Milton -- in which demons are merely fallen angels. This paper will examine howthe newer depictions of angels as monsters (in films like Constantine and The Prophecy) are closer to depictions of angels in scripture andtheology than are the sentimental "Touched by an Angel" images. Angelic tropes to be discussed will include the “avenging angel,” “the angelof the bottomless pit,” and the “angel of death.”Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Most Monstrous of All?: Supernatural's MonstersLisa MacklemUniversity of Western OntarioIt is difficult if not impossible to imagine a horror movie without a monster of some ilk. Monsters are what scare us, and they come in manyshapes and sizes. The television series Supernatural, based as it is on a monster-hunting family, manages to cover the gamut of monsters. Someof these monsters are easily recognizable from urban legends and the horror tradition and some are either completely original monsters or anoriginal spin on an old favorite. Some monsters recur in the series, like the demons Azazel or Alastair. Some types of monsters, like vampires,are worthy of more than one episode while others are specifically identified as “monster-of-the-week” characters. The monsters inSupernatural, as in much literature, film, and television, serve a deeper purpose than to simply instil fear in the audience. Laura K. Davis andCristina Santos suggest that “one of the reasons monsters fascinate and compel is that they are symbols of human vulnerability: we are allpotentially vulnerable to violence. The fine line between ‘human’ and ‘monster,’ between ‘Self’ and ‘Other,’ however, makes the monstersomehow even more alluring, and yet makes the Self more vulnerable to it” (x). The monster often acts as a mirror to the larger themes runningthroughout the series and this is what sets the series apart from other series and movies: not that they don’t examine the usual tropes, but thatthey are able to incorporate so many of them and interweave them meaningfully throughout the series, both playing into and thwarting theaudience’s expectations. Indeed, not all monsters are supernatural – and not all monsters are entirely evil. Monsters become foils for thehunters themselves in the monster-heavy landscape. The two brothers live in a world that is largely oblivious to the monsters lurking in theshadows, but even in the community of hunters they are outsiders. Philip L. Simpson points out that “isolation is the essence of the horrorgenre. Characters in horror films confront the monsters in the border zone” (qtd. in Royer and Royer ix). Both brothers carry something of themonster within themselves. Good and evil, black and white, hunter and monster blur in the world of Supernatural, creating a richer and morenuanced landscape."What music they make": Demons, Angels, MusicIsabella van ElferenUtrecht UniversityIn literature, cinema, television, and even computer games, music often represents demons and angels. Music identifies, conjures up andvocalises supernatural beings: ghostly melodies haunt the heroines of Gothic novels, the children of the night in Stoker’s Dracula make music,flageolet tones or disembodied child song indicate supernatural presence in horror movies and TV, sacred hymns exorcise demons andvampires, pounding drones of white noise indicate the presence of zombies in survival horror games. Music, moreover, can draw listeners intoits flow and take them across borders of reality or spirituality; for this reason music functions as a gateway to other dimensions in culturallydisparate ceremonies. Buddhist mantras, Gregorian chant, and Satanist rites alike are based on the same metaphysical assessments of musicalimmersion, which has been described as “supernatural ecstasy” by Edgar Allen Poe. My paper explores these musical metaphysics, arguing thatmusic’s transcendent workings are the result of its subtle disturbance of the ontology of Being and Time. Music compellingly suggests thepossibility that there can be Beings that are infinite like deities, that fold time like ghosts do, that are undead like vampires or zombies, or thatare quite outside time like the Lost smoke monster. The musical distinction between angels and demons, in this sense, is only recognisablethrough conventions -- while monsters mostly sound harsh and dissonant, angels are often carried by serene polyphony. Mostly. Often. Butbeasts, too, can sing in treacherously sweet timbres, like Dracula’s brides and their silvery, musical laughter. Does the supernatural ecstasy ofmusical experience allow a real difference between angels and demons?