Blog Post #4 - Robin Wood and the Other

"Robin Wood and the Other" by Ashley Olafsson

CCS 202 Blog Post #4

The Other is one of the most important theoretical concepts in the horror genre. The Other is the opposite of normal – it is the abnormal and what is rejected by society for being so due to not fitting into societal norms. Much of what occurs in horror movies is in regards to the Other for someone is rejected by society and therefore, retaliates. For my final essay, I am going to write about how what occurs in some horror movies is all due to societal representation of the Other and how these monsters act on the feeling of rejection. In Robin Wood’s “The American Nightmare,” Wood discusses the Other and it represents that which “bourgeois ideology cannot recognize or accept but must deal with in one of two ways: either by rejecting and if possible annihilating it, or by rendering it safe and assimilating it” (Wood 27). If it was not for these monsters being shunned by bourgeois society, they could potentially have a chance of being assimilated and would not feel a need to behave in such monstrous ways. However, more often than not, they are not given the chance to be assimilated into bourgeois society; usually, the Other simply gets rejected by society and all goes array.

Wood also says that the Other “functions not simply as something external to the culture or to the self, but also as what is repressed – though never destroyed – in the self and projected outward in order to be hated and disowned” (Wood 27). However, society and their norms are very constricting in this way, for why does the Other have to function as anything at all? Why do we have to distinguish certain people or things as “the Other” and have to decide if we should reject or assimilate them into our society? It is due to societal norms that the Other even exists. In regards to Bride of Frankenstein, these norms have to do with behavior and appearance – the norms are being heterosexual, white, behaving in a certain way, etc. – and the monster is exactly the opposite of the other characters.

As stated, a very key example is from Bride of Frankenstein – the monster is definitely the Other and gets rejected by society for he is outside society norms and is quite abnormal. Right away, everyone assumes he is this terrible creature and they all want to kill him. However, the monster ends up meeting a blind man and the audience sees a whole new side to the monster that they did not see previously – a kind side. The monster is friendly and behaves with a childlike personality as the blind man welcomes the monster into his home and teaches him how to say certain words and plays him music, which the monster thoroughly enjoys. The blind man in the movie accepts the monster for because he is not being able to see, he does not judge him and immediately does not reject him for not fitting into societal norms. This shows that if society did not perceive the Other in such a negative light and reject difference, then maybe the Other would not have to act like a monster after all and therefore, after being assimilated, not have to even be referred to as the Other.

Our society is very visual and quick to judge people based off appearance – throughout the whole movie of Bride of Frankenstein, no one ever gave the monster a chance to behave morally. However, when given the opportunity to not be boxed into otherness and behave kindly, the monster did exactly that. When he was not judged and rejected for being the Other, he did not behave so monster like. Therefore, based off Wood’s theory, we can see how it is societal norms that cause the idea of the Other to implement monstrous behaviors on the monster by simply rejecting them and box them into a corner that being different can only be bad.

Works Cited

Wood, Robin. "The American Nightmare." (1979): 25-32. Print.