My final project is an academic analysis of monstrosity and disability. Initially I was planning on looking at the history of the monster through a disability lens, but instead I have decided to take 3 forms of media and analyze how they use disability to portray monstrosity. Specifically, I am looking at Frankenstein, The Phantom of the Opera musical and the children’s book, Wonder.
As of today, I am a little less than 3000 words into this essay which aims to be about 4000 words, or 15-20 pages after formatting and citations. My goal is to get the final 1000 words before this coming Monday, and then work on reformatting and adding additional citations as needed. I am using the theoretical framework of the “recognition” (and by proxy, misrecognition) theory in politics and using it under a disability framework as well as work from Rosemarie Garland-Thomson and her work with freaks, staring, and disability. I really like the theory of misrecognition, as it gives power to the viewed and talks about the nature of bias and power dynamics in literature and media.
Right now my biggest challenge is getting everything to sound academic. My ultimate goal is to get this completed to submit for graduate application. I am struggling to get all of my analysis to sound coherent, but I do have quite a bit of analysis complete, especially for The Phantom of the Opera.
This project is showing me that there are a lot more cases of monsters as othering for literature and beyond. I really struggled narrowing down my sources and what works I wanted to focus on. It gives me hope if I end up pursuing this as a doctorate thesis, I have a lot of works to choose from and even more frameworks to view them through.
My questions would be:
How do you view facial deformity? Do you have any references of monsters in literature that act as characters of disability?
Some work that I have already completed, I will spare you 3000 words worth of work. So here is a bulleted example of some analysis that I am looking at for my work.
This is from my introduction:
When one thinks of the monster as a deformed body or a portent of misfortune, it draws connections to the Victorian entertainment of the Freak Show. The Freak Show was often put on as a traveling expedition featuring monsters and freaks of nature, creatures who were not meant to exist but walk among the populace. The “beings” featured in these Freak Shows were often people with visible, physical disabilities. Ranging from dwarfism, to limb difference, to the “stretchy skin” side effects of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, the majority of the attractions of the freak show were not monsters or freaks, but in fact people with disabilities. These shows were invitations to stare at the other, creating a barrier between the “normal” audience and the abnormal, “monstrous” freaks that lay spectacle.
This is from the analysis of the Phantom of the Opera:
- The Phantom is accustomed to such reactions, later even mentioning that his own mother reacted in a similar fashion. From birth the Phantom is misrecognized as a monster, a creature, a phantom. Phantom is defined as a ghost or a figment of the imagination, simulating that because of Erik’s disability, he isn’t even granted the semblance of humanity’s existence and is instead immediately recognized as a monster.
- Throughout the opera, the phantom is given metaphors of being “of the night” which can be understood as both being hidden, away from the light, and the only things that happen in such dark places are acts of evil. So by proxy, the phantom is evil through his existence and his disability.
If you want to see more, I have tons. Let me know!