How To Talk To Your Monster
The Monstrous May Challenge:
Sunday 2nd May 2021 — How To Talk To Your Monster
How does your monster communicate?
Do they have a mouth, lips, a tongue, like humans do? Do they communicate verbally at all? Do they communicate via telepathy, via their tentacles, or their limbs? Do they speak, but at a pitch or volume or speed inaudible or incomprehensible to human ears? How is this gap bridged?
Does your monster understand humans but struggle to make itself understood? Does your monster want to be understood?
Alternate: How does your monster communicate with other, different monsters?
Misunderstood monsters was a through-line for my thesis work.
As someone who continues to feel monstrous and misunderstood, it’s a through-line for my life.
But communicating with my monsters has been a good way for me to understand them, to integrate them.
The way my thesis monster, Wat, “communicated” with the audience was two fold: directly, through the use of text that was part of or within his environment; and subconsciously, through his body language, facial expression, posture, etc.
I specifically wanted a human inside the monster suit, so that all the unconscious things we pick up from other humans would be transposed. The audience would automatically relate, or want to relate, to something that still registers as “other.” (However, because Wat was designed only to be photographed, I didn’t have to come up with a vocal answer to this.)
I’ve struggled a lot with communication since the pandemic started. And my feelings of being a misunderstood monster have surged. This past year, I’ve mostly communicated to others through memes.
This form of communication is digital/tech based rather than analogue, and depends on a community of others to also be so equipped. Most of the time when I think of monsters, I think of crytids and hybrid-animals; most of the monsters I draw have fur and/or feathers. It might be because I’m a very tactile/texture loving person: I want to be able to hug my monsters (and make them out of faux fur & felt). But maybe it’s time I thought more about cyborg monsters. Monsters with tails and teeth and tech. Monsters that can send memes.
jbbartram-illu
pixelskylines
jacobvanloon
turnnoffyourmind
blakekathryn
