On The Topic Of Monsters

I want to talk today about monsters. 

Monsters are very good at pretending that they're not monsters.

Why do you think every good horror story talks about the monsters being hidden, concealed away?

If you saw their true, hideous nature, people would run a mile. 

We want our monsters to be easily identified and constantly doing evil, the same way modern day slasher films depict them -- constantly wielding a knife or chainsaw, laughing maniacally as they pursue a waifish teenager running for her life. 

The reality is, that not all monsters are monsters all the time. Universal's original horror movies proved that. Dracula plays the charming society gentleman. The wolfman was not a ravenous murderer all the time, and was a good man who said his prayers. Dr. Jekyll's potion brought out his dark mirror, Mister Hyde. Frankenstein's monster played an innocent game with a little girl, tossing daisies into the river, until he ended up killing her. 

The real monster in Frankenstein, however, was Doctor Frankenstein himself. He created something horrible, and yet was viewed as a poor man, a victim of his own madness, rather than responsible for all the chaos that had been caused. 

I think that was the most chilling part of that entire film. We villify the ugly one, the one who looks like he's capable of evil. The handsome man with a respectable career? Why, he couldn't possibly be at fault! 

This is a perfect allegory for our modern day view of real life monsters -- rapists and abusers. 

Abusers are very good at hiding their dark side, just like our horror movie monsters, but for some reason we think that abusers will be more in line with Jason Voorhees, rather than as insidious and dangerous as Hannibal Lecter.  

The reason for this, is that we want to believe that our own dark natures are not capable of that kind of evil. Seeing a good, respectable person suddenly exposed as being an abuser or rapist raises the uncomfortable thought of, "Could I someday do something so reprehensible, if someone I respected so much is capable of it?" 

It's incredibly dangerous to ignore that thought, to believe that the bad guys are always easily identified by their twirling moustaches, evil laughter and possibly their wardrobe. 

Once you realise that yes, the capacity for great evil is within us all, is when we begin to realise that we have the responsibility to choose to fight against that evil. When you become aware of this, you can make an active decision to be the better person. 

If someone felt an urge to hit their spouse out of anger, instead of giving in, they could decide to seek help, and stop the violence before it begins. That simplifies it a great deal, but there is always a choice made. I do not for one second believe it when someone says, "I couldn't help myself." You can always, always help yourself, and if you can't? If that is genuinely your excuse, and you actually cannot help yourself, then perhaps prison is the only place for you. 

Abusers thrive on this excuse. They flourish when they can pass the buck onto their victim, resulting in the modern day phenomen of victim blaming.

Abusers and rapists can be anyone. Actors, politicians, teachers, and according to statistics, most likely to be someone you are related to or intimate with. As such, they can also be upstanding members of the community who do a great deal of good in the world. 

Look at the Catholic Church, for example. Priests married happy couples, comforted the sick and dying, unburdened guilty consciences through confession, and gave the dead their send-offs to the next life. Despite doing all this, behind closed doors, many of them abused vulnerable children.

There was a priest in my own parish who was genial and charming, funny and well liked by all. Father Gabriel* did a lot for the community. I was an altar girl, and out of all the priests at that church, he was my favourite, right up until the day he walked up behind me in the vestry and began fondling my shoulder, his fingertips skimming onto my chest, all while groaning and moaning. I was very young, and even though I didn't understand what was happening, I knew it made me uncomfortable and I didn't want it to ever happen again!

I decided not to go back to altar service after that. Mostly because I knew that nobody would believe me, and would say I was telling lies, even though I was a "good girl" and wasn't known for causing trouble. Hell, in some ways, I couldn't believe it myself. I couldn't believe that such a nice priest could make me feel so disgusted, and I buried it for years before I realised, as a teenager, that I was very lucky that nothing worse happened.

My monster was testing the water, and seeing how far he could push. I was lucky enough that I had run, and he didn't get the opportunity to do worse to me. I later heard that Father Gabriel* was moved to another parish, and later in life, I heard he had been accused of child abuse. My monster made an active choice to conceal his dark side and move on to another victim, knowing that his status in the community and the church would protect him. No doubt, his next parish would comment on what a lovely, kind-natured man he was, and express the same shock that he could do the things he did. 

So when I hear people say that Brock Turner may have raped someone, but he doesn't deserve to have his "life ruined" because he's got some great times when he swims, I view it as no different to "But he's a man of the cloth! You shouldn't ruin his life with these accusations!" 

When I hear people say that Johnny Depp is such a nice guy, who does so much for charity (hell, he adopted a bat at a bat sanctuary I'm a fan of), and he couldn't possibly be guilty of domestic abuse, it's proof that monsters are very good at not appearing to be so. 

It is essential to their survival that they appear to be human, act human, look and seem human in every way. It's how they lure their victims in, gain their trust, and secure their defense when their crimes are brought to light. 

All monsters are Dr. Jekyll, concealing Mister Hyde to be revealed when they indulge their wickedness. 

Remember that, and strive to be more human than they are.