May 13, 2020
Through the body of the monster fantasies of aggression, domination and inversion are allowed safe expression in a clearly delimited and permanently liminal space. Escapist delight gives way to terror only when the monster threatens to overstep these boundaries, to destroy or deconstruct the thin walls of category and culture. When contained by geographic, generic, or epistemic marginalization, the monster can function as an alter ego, as an alluring projection of (an Other) self.
Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Monster Culture (via bluebeardsbride)
