Where have all the monsters gone?

Abstract

Monsters have been rehabilitated in popular culture, moved from the realm of the truly monstrous to the world of neoliberal ‘sameness’. The zombies of In the Flesh and the vampires in True Blood, as only two examples of this trend, have lost their monstrous edge and have come to represent different ways of being human. While some discussions of this reimagined monster describe the weaving of monsters into mainstream culture as a way of acting out discourses of inclusion, I argue here that contemporary narratives that focus on monsters as metaphors for difference and inclusion are, ultimately, not providing a vision of a utopian world of equality. Instead, these representations are enacting a dystopian vision of a neoliberal social order that demonstrates a fear of true or radical difference.