Parents are
monsters. Let’s be real here; they yell
for no reason, chase you around, scare you, and take most of the fun out of
everything. Mothers are monsters to
their children because they have to discipline them. Fathers are monsters to their daughters for
scaring away the boy with the motorcycle even though he “really was a sweet
guy!” It’s no wonder that the first monster was a mother- Grendel’s mother, to
be exact. Imagine her as a mother on the
playground when someone tried to be mean to Grendel. Grendel was a grown(ish) man(thing) and she
threw a fit when he got what was coming to him.
But five year old Grendel getting pushed off a swing by a five year old
Unferth? Mother Grendel would be
raging.
Mothers as monster
evolved more than fathers, though. The
mother monster figure has appeared in plenty of pop culture, such as the movie
“Monster-in-Law” and nearly all the Disney princess movies. But the Supernatural franchise has taken the
mother monster and ran with it. In just
about every season, a mother is a monster of some kind: a witch whose son is
the King of Hell (no, not Satan), an evil angel who appears to the two
characters in the form of their mother, or a mother that has to feed on humans
and has to move her and her son around so they can stay alive. Supernatural has not been afraid to explore
the different kinds of mothers; self-serving, sympathetic and protective. But the most famous mother monster on
Supernatural has been Eve.
Eve gets two stupid,
easy to seduce men to help her get a new body and comes back to Earth. On Earth, she creates new breeds of monsters
to try and take down the people who have killed the ones that she created
before. Eve is basically the grandmother
monster; she creates all these big monsters who go out and create smaller
monsters. That phrase makes her sound
like a monster who knits sweaters out of entrails and bakes cookies from flesh
and blood, but that would be false.
Both of the monsters
are mothers- and very over protective ones at that. They don’t really see the wrong in what their
children are doing- killing ruthlessly or for sport- and go on a mad quest to
avenge their children. That much stays
the same, but the two monsters have their share of differences. The first is that one is made beautiful. Eve takes the form of a young woman in her
early twenties and the first place she goes into is a bar. Immediately everyone is watching her and
can’t believe how beautiful she is. Eve
sets to work, using the humans in the bar to crate her new monsters. Mother Grendel, on the other hand, would
never be able to step foot into a bar; she would be attacked, chased out, or
killed. Mother Grendel just didn’t have
“the look” they were going for, but Eve was an easy 10/10. While the two of them had the same goals and
motives, their main difference was that one was beautiful and the other was
beastly.
Mother monsters and
their motives have not really evolved over the years; their main need is to
continue to create other monsters. When
one is hurt, they turn into “raging psychos” and kill more than their fair
share of men. But their looks have
changed; they have gone from horrible creatures that go bump in the night to
stunning women that walk runways.
Monsters were made to represent the inner evil humans had- now they look
just like the best of us.
First of all I must start by saying I love my parents and thankfully they are not the helicopter parents you described. However I find your post very interesting for the longest time I’ve watched monster/ sci-fi movies and seen primarily male dominated roles of the “head of evil”. As a supernatural fan I got tired of the traditional “king of hell” and found in most literature that the primary role of power often fell to a female, similar to Grendel’s Mother and how she proved to be far more cunning and intelligent than her son. Which is why I’m glad you made this comparison, it’s so interesting to see Supernatural finally creating a character that breaks all the stereotypes they created and plays against them. This proved refreshing as an audience member and a much needed change in pop culture
ReplyDeleteWow, I really enjoyed reading your post! Although I'm still not quite to that part in Supernatural, it's great to read about it in comparison to Beowulf. I can definitely see the difference in not just mother monsters but all of our modern monsters. It's in almost every movie/TV show you can think of. Whether it's someone being turned into a werewolf or a vampire, or some other creature, it's usually some unpopular, nondescript teen who is then transformed into someone way more beautiful and seductive. With those traits and the usual acquiring of uncanny athletic ability, you definitely nailed it when you said that they've become the best of us.
ReplyDeleteI will admit, I've watched Supernatural before, but stopped watching after I was spoiled by my sister (who, yes, is a SuperWhoLock fan,) about later seasons. So, I cannot say that I have a clue of what you are talking about.
ReplyDeleteBut, the way you wrote about it makes me think that this is actually a nice twist on the idea of a "doting mother monster". And in a show such as Supernatural, something like this is actually more needed to make the chaotic world of the Winchester brothers to be more relatable and far more expansive.
Not all mothers are the same, and as you did say, there are several examples of caring and forceful mothers in the show. It staves away from having several one-trick ponies and archetypes, and in turn makes new characters with different personalities and different motivations for how life really works.
Now if only we can get this kind of writing in animated TV shows.
I will admit, I've watched Supernatural before, but stopped watching after I was spoiled by my sister (who, yes, is a SuperWhoLock fan,) about later seasons. So, I cannot say that I have a clue of what you are talking about.
ReplyDeleteBut, the way you wrote about it makes me think that this is actually a nice twist on the idea of a "doting mother monster". And in a show such as Supernatural, something like this is actually more needed to make the chaotic world of the Winchester brothers to be more relatable and far more expansive.
Not all mothers are the same, and as you did say, there are several examples of caring and forceful mothers in the show. It staves away from having several one-trick ponies and archetypes, and in turn makes new characters with different personalities and different motivations for how life really works.
Now if only we can get this kind of writing in animated TV shows.