point-counterpoint_monsters

Had the hostages known there was a werewolf there, the Iran Hostage Crisis might have been kind of scary. Point, Counter Point: Monster Edition The Vince College Review has assembled two top scholars in the field on monstory - Monster History - to debate the most persistent and provocative issues facing scholars today. Here on campus is Dr. Max Shore, RN, Professor Emeritus at the Tyson Foods Institute of Fright in Little Rock, Arkansas who will present his side of the argument: that monsters have made tremendous, highly beneficial contributions to history. Via phone is Phillip Danforth, a graduate of Vince College who owned and operated the now-defunct NO MONSTERS! Indoor Walking Tour in Danbury, CT, who has not left his home since 1994. Max Shore: I believe those who discount the contributions that monsters have made to history are simply unaware that monsters have played critical roles in everything from the collapse of the Kansas City Hilton skywalk to the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion to the death of Salvador Allende. It was Sharpie, the razor-clawed werewolf who, in 1979, unlocked the gate of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, allowing radical students to storm the compound and take hostages. It is that kind of forward-thinking proactive act that has distinguished monsters in history. Phillip Danforth: A monster once looked right at me. MS: And their role has not been confined to public acts; did you know the producer of the movie "Big" was a monster? Look it up in IMDB.com. It is true. However, in the public sphere, among the five who broke into the Watergate Hotel, there were no fewer than two monsters. People thought they were Cubans. There were Cubans, but Cubans and monsters look very similar. I know because I have done research. Knowing that, how can you say monsters have made no contribution? A couple of the Watergate burglars were monsters. The rest were Italians, which is far worse. PD: I'm certain that one lives in my shower. Behind the curtain. I don't go in that room. Or look out the window. If I saw one, I'd die. MS: Finnius Thorpe, a Frankenstein, made outstanding contributions to medical science before his death in 1946. It was Thorpe who, in addition to growling and knocking things about, first envisioned using innocent people such as gypsies in medical experiments. Do you know that because of him, we know exactly how much air pressure human organs can withstand? Fascinating! Had he not been convicted of war crimes during the Nuremburg trials and hanged he would have likely gone on challenging assumptions and breaking down barriers like that. Funny aside: do you know that the prosecutor during the trial, once, without thinking, called Thorpe a "monster?" Well, yes! PD: Monster bites hurt. One bit me once. I thought. The EMTs said it was a nail. I shivered for a year. I live my life consumed by fear. MS: A Dracula ordered the British troops to fire on the colonists at the so-called Boston Massacre. PD: Dracula is the worst. MS: He also blew the whistle at Gallipoli, sending the troops over the top. PD: [unintelligible] MS: And had "Bonkers" candies discontinued. PD: I can't sleep. In case Dracula comes to my house. MS: Well, you've stumbled on to what I think is the last "acceptable" prejudice in our society. Many, many people think that monsters are frightening- PD: Terrifying. MS: Let me finish. A lot of people believe that the Draculas, Goblins and Swamp Things of the world are going to leave their habitat, come to your home and harm you. And this is true, but it is only a percentage of them. Your average, everyday monster is out making contributions in ways we neither see nor hear about. Part of the problem is that when Swamp Thing sets up a micro-loan program in New Guinea, energizing local economies, it doesn't make the papers. But when he is home in the swamp and tears the limbs off a lost and frightened couple in the middle of the night, that's front page news. It's a double standard, really. And very irresponsible on the part of the press. PD: I'm too upset to move most days. MS: Now, some weeks the percentage of monsters who do harm or kill may be something on the order of 100%, but that is not every day. The bottom line is that we need to respect these people and the contributions they've been making for decades. Politics, engineering, medicine - it's all there. Even folklore: did you know the Easter Bunny is a monster? PD: He can't be. That is bone-chilling. MS: Yes. The reason we leave carrots and things like that out for him is to keep him from breaking into our bedrooms and devouring us. Someone wrote an excellent account of it once, called "Bunnicula." PD: I'm really, really upset. MS: And literature. What is your favorite book? PD: "To Kill a Mockingbird." Because Boo Radley wasn't actually a monster. He was sweet. This picture is from a famous movie. Titanic, I think. MS: Quite right, but did you know that Harper Lee based the character of Atticus on a monster? PD: My eyes are closed. MS: Indeed. Yes, Lee wanted a heavily made-up Boris Karloff to play him in the movie, as a brain-devouring undead man who defends fellow monster Tom Robinson in court. Robinson was accused of sexually assaulting a non-monster. At the time, the idea of a monster even kissing a non-monster was scandalous. Anyway, closed-minded anti-monster movie moguls insisted on Gregory Peck and Brock Peters, who did not play the characters as monsters. Little known silver screen history. PD: [hangs up]. © The Vince College Review.