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Title: Monsters from the Id: The Rise of Horror in Fiction and Film
ISBN: 1890626066
Author:
E. Michael Jones
Publicate Date: 2000-05
Publish: 2000-05
List Price: $27.95
Average Customer Rating: 3.5
Format: Hardcover
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1: Horror As the Conflict Between the Enlightenment and the Natural Moral Order.
Everyone who is tempted is attracted and seduced by his own wrong desire. Then the desire conceives and gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown it too has a child, and the child is death. - James 1:14-5.
_Monsters from the Id: The Rise of Horror in Fiction and Film_, published by Spence Publishing in 2000, by noted Catholic intellectual E. Michael Jones and founder of _Culture Wars_ magazine offers a unique perspective on the horror genre in both fiction and film, seeing it as largely a conflict between Enlightenment "liberation" and the natural moral order (expressed in the form of the monster). Throughout this book, Jones will argue that we moderns do not understand horror because we are too immersed in the values of the Enlightenment and thus fail to appreciate the conflict between Enlightenment "liberation" and the natural moral order (as expressed in the Counter-Enlightenment). In particular, Jones will examine the case of sexual liberation (frequently championed by proponents of the Enlightenment), showing how remorse and guilt resulting from such liberation ends up taking on the form of the monster. Jones will argue that the reason why horror exists at all is because this conflict has not been adequately resolved in our society and that when the moral order is transgressed it comes biting back. Throughout the book, Jones traces the trajectory of horror along with the trajectory of the Enlightenment and sexual liberation, showing how bloodshed always results when the values of the Enlightenment are put into effect. In this way, the monster that appears in the horror story or film may be seen as the repressed natural moral order coming back to its rightful place.
Jones begins with some comments on "A Legacy of Horror". Jones notes the role of Mary Shelley's work _Frankenstein_, arguing that the interpretation of this book has become confused, and then makes some comments on the film _Mimic_ which includes the triumph of religion (and in particular of Roman Catholicism in the form of a rosary) over the Enlightenment. The first part of this book is entitled "The Monster Travels From France to England". Jones begins by considering why the French revolution failed. Jones notes the bloodshed of the French revolution and the role of such disturbed individuals as La Mettrie and de Sade in bringing it about, quoting extensively from the works of Erik von Kuehnelt-Liddehn. In particular, Jones examines the role of William Godwin and his arguments for Enlightenment rationalism and sexual liberation. Jones notes the relationship between Godwin and the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, as well as his marriage to noted feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. Jones also notes the role of such individuals as the Duc D'Orleans in bringing about the regicide during the French revolution as well as the role of Adam Weishaupt and his Illuminati as mentioned by the Abbe Barruel in his _Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism_. For Mary Wollstonecraft (as for her daughter who became Mary Shelley) the results of sexual liberation were devastating. Following this, Jones notes the role of electricity as a liberating force (mentioning Benjamin Franklin's famous experiments for example) and in the life of the poet Shelley. Jones notes how Mary Shelley came to arrive at an arrangement with the poet and how together with Lord Byron they engaged in the writing of ghost stories. Jones notes the influence of Barruel on the Shelleys. Further, Jones explains how Mary Shelley, who was equally devastated by the consequences of sexual revolution, came to write her novel _Frankenstein_, in which the monster came to take on the features of remorse (perhaps owing to the fact that the poet Shelley's first wife Harriet had committed suicide). Jones also notes the role of the depraved individual the Marquis de Sade on Mary Shelley and the use of his novel _Justine_ by her. The second part of this book is entitled "The Monster Travels From England to Germany". Here, Jones notes the role of Dracula, mentioning the role of prostitution and syphilis (the "white worm" - i.e. the treponema) in Bram Stoker's novels (who himself was to die of syphilis). Jones further shows how a homosexual subculture developed in Germany in the Weimar republic, mentioning such figures as Chistopher Isherwood and Magnus Hirschfield (as well as the concept of "Kulturbolschewismus"). To further demonstrate this point, Jones shows how Darwinism came to play such a central role and how this related to the blood (the hereditary means by which genetic material is passed on). Jones notes the influence of this culture on Adolf Hitler (mentioning his fear of syphilis as well as the widespread fear of the "heredo" in France). Jones shows how this ultimately resulted in the Nazi tyranny. The third part of this book is entitled "The Monster Travels from Germany to America". Here, Jones notes the role of the American revolution and contrasts the America at the time of Toqueville to that of later eras. Jones explains how propaganda came to play a central role in advertising, mentioning Bernays. Jones also mentions the films of Hitchcock (including _Psycho_ and _Lifeboat_, showing the role of the Nazi) and the film _The Forbidden Planet_ (wherein the phrase "monsters from the Id" occurs). Following this, Jones turns to a discussion of the Reece Committee which set out to investigate tax exempt foundations. Jones notes the role of Rockefeller for example in providing funding to such notorious hucksters and cultural bolsheviks as Kinsey. Jones then mentions the film _The Body Snatchers_, noting the prominent role that divorce played in this film. Following this, Jones discusses Hollywood and death. Jones notes the role of pornography (mentioning such perversions as _Deep Throat_) and demonstrating the manner in which Hollywood pushed aside the production codes. Jones also notes the role of nudity in films, demonstrating how the monster always appears at the time in which the moral order is desecrated. Jones mentions the harmful effects of pornography and shows the results of the Meese Commission. Following this, Jones turns to a discussion of the _Alien_ movies, which some may see as a sort of feminist fantasy. Jones maintains that these movies have much to say about contraception and abortion, in which the fetus comes to play the role of the "alien". Jones ends with a discussion of the misreading of horror. Jones argues against various feminist, Freudian, and Marxist interpretations of horror. Jones also shows how many have come to see in horror a "puritanical" and "conservative" mindset which they view as harmful. However, Jones effectively shows that such an understanding rests contrary to the nature of horror itself, in which the natural moral order (as represented by the Counter-Enlightenment) re-asserts itself against the Enlightenment and the horror that brings.
This book offers a fascinating study of horror in both fiction and film. Jones offers a unique interpretation of horror, showing how "monsters from the Id" manifest themselves at the time when the natural moral order is desecrated. In particular, Jones focuses on the consequences of sexual liberation and the collective guilt that ensues by allowing for such things as abortion. This results in the creation of horror which shows the natural consequence of what happens when the moral order is repressed. Thus, in effect we witness the consequences of the Enlightenment unfold in the horror genre.
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2: a religious conservative theory of horror; controversial but informed and thought-provoking
How's this for a Grand Unified Theory of horror: All horror monsters (including aliens, vampires, plagues, and slashers) are the personification of the guilty conscience that punishes unrepentant sinners (especially those who've transgressed God's sexual code). The Monster is Remorse, which author E. Michael Jones defines as regret without repentance.
Jones's interpretive theory of horror is easy enough to apply, especially to what's been called the "have sex and die" cycle of films. Consider Halloween: P.J. Soles engages in premarital sex. She knows that she has violated the moral order, but she suppresses her guilty conscience, thus eschewing repentance. But the guilty conscience never relents, and returns in the personification of Myers. Myers is also Nemesis (another of Jones's metaphors), the Greek goddess of "retributive justice" who restores God's/Nature's moral order to balance. Appropriately, Jamie Lee Curtis, a "good girl," escapes Myers.
After positing his theory of horror, Jones attempts to prove its validity by tracing the "trajectory" (a favorite term of his) of "Enlightenment thinking" over the past 250 years, paralleling it to the trajectory of the horror genre.
Jones regards Enlightenment thought as the desanctification of Man. The Enlightenment redefined Man as a soulless animal, a biological machine in a mechanistic universe. Man-the-machine (a clockwork organge, as Anthony Burgess termed it) is not restricted by God's laws, and is thus free to improve himself (e.g., eugenics) and free to live according to his pleasure (e.g., free love).
Enlightenment thinkers believed that Man, once returned to his natural state, would be a Noble Savage bound by his own Reason, but Jones claims that Reason has proven a poor substitute for Religion. The Enlightenment trajectory (which encompasses de Sade, whom Jones often cites) has spread syphilis, AIDS, abortion, prostitution, pornography, divorce, and the genocides of Bolshevism and Naziism.
What has this to do with horror?
Jones believes that horror films are popular not because so many modern people are sinners, but because they refuse to admit it to themselves (i.e., no repentance). Thus, Monsters From the Id is informed by Jones's devout Catholicism: All sex outside of heterosexual marriage is desanctified, in violation of God's law. People subconsciously know that desanctified sex has caused many of their social ills and personal miseries, but because they refuse to repent, they suppress their guilty conscience. Horror is popular because it resonates with people's guilty conscience. Catharsis comes when people face "dark truths" they dare not consciously admit, even to themselves.
The idea of horror and catharsis is old, but not everyone agrees about which "dark truths" are being exposed. Film critic Robin Wood has a different Grand Unified Theory. Wood believes civilization requires some "basic suppression" (e.g., delayed gratification), but that "bourgeois morality" enforces "surplus suppression" (i.e., suppression beyond what's needed, done so that people will conform to roles deemed productive for patriarchal capitalism).
To get an idea of Wood's perspective, here's a sample: "The most significant development in film criticism and in progressive ideas generally ... has clearly been the increasing confluence of Marx and Freud, or more precisely of the traditions of thought arising from them: the recognition that social revolution and sexual revolution are inseparably linked and necessary to each other ... it is here, through the medium of psychoanalytic theory, that Feminism and Gay Liberation join forces with Marxism in their progress toward a common aim, the overthrow of patriarchal capitalist ideology and the structures and institutions that sustain it and are sustained by it."
Wood believes horror monsters are the personification of suppressed sexual desires. Jones believes horror monsters are the personification of suppressed sexual morality.
Jones questions Wood's trajectory. If Wood's interpretive theory is correct, then horror's popularity should parallel society's "surplus suppression" of sex. Instead, since the 1970s, horror's popularity has risen while sexual suppression has fallen. Jones offers this as proof that horror reflects suppressed morality rather than suppressed sexuality. (Wood might dispute that "surplus suppression" of sex has significantly diminished.)
Whatever the reason for horror's popularity, Wood and Jones seem to agree that horror will lose its appeal once its "dark truths" are no longer suppressed. But perhaps there are enough fears for everyone? Wood may concede Jones's point that Cronenberg's films reflect horror as suppressed sexual morality (Wood has called Cronenberg's work "reactionary"). But Jones is mute on I Married a Monster From Outer Space, a film that portrays "bourgeois morality" as stifling.
Monsters From the Id has been both lauded and excoriated. Most praise pertains to Jones's analysis of Frankenstein and the French Revolution, which fills over a third of the book. Mary Shelley's mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was a feminist and Enlightenment advocate (and victim) of free love. Wollstonecraft moved to France in 1792 (the heady period following the Revolution) and practiced what she preached with an American, Gilbert Imlay. Wollstonecraft expected to settle down in America with her revolutionary soul mate. Instead, Imlay got Wollstonecraft pregnant, then abandoned her in Paris just as the Terror was intensifying.
After losing many friends to the guillotine, Wollstonecraft returned to England, married Enlightenment political philosopher William Godwin in 1797, and died the following year. In the interim, Wollstonecraft gave birth to their daughter, Mary Godwin.
Despite Wollstonecraft's misfortunes during the Revolution, Mary was raised with Enlightenment values, which were encouraged by her future husband, and free love advocate, Percy Shelley. Percy was married to Harriet, but like Wollstonecraft, Percy practiced what he preached. He first committed adultery with Mary, then altogether abandoned Harriet for Mary. Harriet, mother to Percy's children, committed suicide.
Here is where Jones's interpretive theory kicks in.
Mary was struck with remorse over her part in Harriet's suicide. But because Mary Godwin Shelley believed in Enlightenment values, she could not admit that she and Percy had behaved immorally. They'd only practiced free love; Harriet had made her own choice. Unable to confront, or even understand, her guilty conscience, Mary could not repent her sin and be free of guilt. So she sublimated her guilt in Frankenstein, a character who espouses Enlightenment values (a mechanistic universe in which men are free of moral restrictions) as a means to human progress and happiness. But instead of happy progress, Frankenstein is baffled to discover that his noble intentions result in a monster that destroys both the Enlightenment practitioner and the innocents around him. The monster is remorse, both Frankenstein's and Mary's.
Monsters From the Id is an uneven book. The section on Frankenstein and the French Revolution is intriguing and extensively-researched. The section on Dracula, Darwin, and syphilis is more speculative. Jones relies on circumstantial evidence to postulate that Stoker suffered from syphilis. In his section on "Blood and Berlin," Jones pays only cursory attention to Nosferatu, instead obsessing on homosexuality in Weimar Germany. (He unearths Samuel Igra's curious claim that Dollfuss was assassinated partially because he was about to expose Hitler as a male prostitute from 1907-1914.)
Jones often strays off topic (as when he discusses the 1954 Reece Committee investigating Foundations). He may counter that such tangents are required to establish historical context, so as to show the parallels between the Enlightenment and horror trajectories. Fair enough. But sometimes he establishes much historical context, only to show a tenuous connection to horror. I expect horror fans will feel cheated by Jones's scant analysis of German horror -- although fans of Dr. Laura should feel well compensated.
Jones's recounting of the Reece Committee does set the stage for his analysis of Jack Finney's Body Snatchers. Jones thinks it key that Finney's two lead characters are both divorced (from previous marriages), and that their victory over the pods parallels their decision to marry. When they re-acknowledge God's marriage code, the horror dissipates.
Jones's writing tends to be turgid and redundant. He belabors his points, citing more than necessary for us to understand his position. Perhaps he hopes to preempt hostile responses with a mountain of citations. Still, compared to most academic texts, Jones's verbiage is only middling. His prose could be tightened, but I've read worse.
Because Jones discusses the Illuminati's influence on the Enlightenment, some readers at Amazon have accused him of being a conspiracist. However, Jones alleges no conspiracies. Nor does he claim the Illuminati is extant. He only claims that the influence of the Illuminati (and of the Enlightenment) is extant.
Jones earned his PhD. in American literature at Temple University. Although Jones is something of an anti-Wood, Monsters From the Id also evokes David J. Skal's The Monster Show. Both books analyze horror's past 250 years within a historical/cultural context, often invoking similar topics (e.g., the impact of the Pill). Skal's book is more readable and entertaining, more focused on horror, yet also thematically broader (discussing the impact of war and economic depression on horror). But Jones and Skal appear equally well-versed on horror. Jones not only critiques old classics, but is informed about such modern gore fare as Blood Feast. It would be interesting to see Jones and Skal debate the meaning of the genre.
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3: Insightful and enlightening
Reviewers are correct that this book represents an essentially Christian (though non-sectarian) view of horror from the 19th century onward. If Christianity and extremism are synonyms for you (as it seems they are for at least one reviewer), you won't enjoy the book. However, if you're a theist of any stripe who also enjoys monster movies, TV shows, etc. I highly recommend this book. It offers insights that are available no where else.
The author pulls together biographical and textual sources and does an excellent job laying out his thesis that "Monsters are morality written backwards." After reading this book, I don't see how anyone could logically dispute his point. While reading I thought of dozens of example not covered in the text which also fit the thesis.
Finally, as for one review which says this book is about how "everything was better in the 16th century...the Illuminati, etc." There is simply nothing whatsoever like that in this book. This is not a conspiracy theory, it's a scholarly, historical examination of an interesting element of modern life from a theistic perpective.
This is one of the best books I've read this year. It's a solid four star book, but I'm giving it five stars because I'm annoyed by the witless trolls who leave useless one-star, one sentence reviews on Amazon.
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4: Starts Out Promising-Then Slowly Putters Along
E. Michael Jones' book "Monsters from the Id" starts out very promising, but then half way through falters and eventually putters out. By the time I reached the end, when the book started to pick up steam again, I lost almost any interesting his assertion. His first three chapters in part I of his book are very engrossing. He crafts nicely his thesis about sin and horror. His focus on the Shelly's and their beliefs and practice lifestyle and how it affected her writing of Frankenstein is marvelous, and while I do not know if I completely buy his assertion, it is extremely plausible. His chapter on Stoker and Dracula is also very well done, but mid way through Part II when we get to the 1920s and Germany, he does not craft his arguments and insights as well. The book begins to drag I think he begins to make some overstatements about the condition of the time in regards to sexual liberation and homosexuality. While these behaviors had an impact on Germany after WW I, other problems persisted to weaken Germany as well, and more importantly, the liberal theology espoused prior to WWI and during it, as well as a 100 years of liberal German philosophy and theology weaken any moral fabric, allow a place for a Hitler to rise. Of course other problems are there as well, but Jones focuses so much on European decadence that he loses sight on demonstrating horror fictions part in the process. While his assessment is interesting, he seems to be off track from what the reader is expecting.
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5: Hardly right wing, hardly extremist, just a book....
Possibly due to its being more concise than Jones' last effort ( in addition to having a more attentive copy editor!) this volume transfers its message more pointedly. The thesis is merely an extension of typical criticism of a 'moral' bent on Frankenstein or Dracula ( the former as reflecting certain agonies of Enlightenment man, the latter's connection of sex, blood and death) beyond its usual limits, to artforms of the twentieth century, cinema especially. Far from promoting an ideology ( unlike Papal Sins, which can be guaranteed a reader ignorant of papal history, latin and theology, like its author) Jones simply picks up these films and novels as they exist and are argued in popular culture, sets them in their wider context and history, and proposes to one the fireworks that result. Not that his argument is faultless, it isn't, not even than you'll walk away feeling converted in any way, though you might, but, compared to the illiterate ravings of Papal Sins; the neo-paganism of WomanChurch; the consumate fatuousness of Curran and so on and so forth, Jones' thesis may even take on some rather shocking semblance of sanity! Jones, in addition, hardly proposes a conspiracy theory of some Illumanist takeover, though prejudiced readers may well be desperate to misread in this manner, as his 'major' thesis, in Libido Dominandi for example, was that one's disordered sexual predelictions find themselves exploited for the benefit of the certain few, for political and financial gain. If this is a hairbrain conspiracy theory then plainly the media and advertising industries that we have at the moment are languishing in utter poverty...
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