Monsters, once a feared and taboo subject, are now the golden boy of Western culture. Everything from movies and TV shows to books about humans who love a vampire. People no longer see vampires and zombies as something scary, but as fantastic creatures who, just like humans, can be good or evil. This new trend of anthropomorphizing historically evil creatures by Western media is changing people's perception of good and evil. People no longer fear monsters and try to avoid them, but openly embrace them and effectively demoralize society. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Historically, people have been afraid of monsters and took precautionary measures against them. People were actually afraid of monsters, to the point of killing people they thought were monsters. Take for example the Salem witch trials of 1692. Over a hundred people died as a result of botched routes. In the book "Wonders of the Invisible World" by Cotton Mather, the author transcribes the traces that happened, and they seem rather ridiculous. Elizabeth How pleads not guilty in witchcraft charge, later charged against her; the Court, according to the usual proceedings of the courts in England, in such cases, began by hearing the depositions of several affected persons, who were severely tortured by sensible and evident witchcraft, and all complained of the Prisoner, as the cause of their Woe. It was also found that the Sufferers were unable to bear his Gaze, just as, in their greatest fainting spells, they distinguished his Touch from that of other Peoples, being thus relieved by them (Mather 149). It was not stated, but she was found guilty and hanged. There was no real evidence to incriminate her, much less convict her, but since people were driven to mass hysteria because they were afraid, they didn't care. The media has played an important role in the anthropomorphization of monsters. Monsters are one of the most dominant topics in entertainment, from books like "Twilight" and "Vampire Diaries" to movies like "Minions" and "I, Frankenstein" that make monsters seem cute and cuddly or almost human. The monsters of the past simply no longer exist. Vampires are now considered glittery, feminist creatures who are now the butt of jokes because of the Twilight saga. Vampires were considered really tough villains, based on one Vlad the Impairer, an evil person who killed and tortured many people. The media has changed our view of monsters so much that people actually want monsters to exist. Zombies are becoming increasingly popular, with shows like "The Walking Dead" and films like "World War Z" and "Zombie Land" becoming very successful and attracting crowds of zombie enthusiasts. With the growing popularity, many people are looking forward to a zombie apocalypse. How often do you see "Zombie First Response" bumper stickers on cars? In Las Vegas, Nevada, they have an entire store dedicated to supplies for the coming zombie apocalypse. People actually want zombies to take over, they don't think about how many people would die, they just want some ridiculous fantasy created by pop culture. They only think about the "fun" part of an apocalypse, like surviving on earth and killing humanoid creatures, and not about the fact that everything you loved and cared about is gone. People get these fantasies from movies that only show the "interesting" parts, because no one wants to see a movie that depresses them, they go to have fun and see things that can add to theirfantasy. Monsters now come in two varieties, good and evil. Monsters are no longer considered just emotionless killing machines. Modern perceptions of monsters can now be classified as good or bad, and that happens often. The "Twilight" series, once again, can be used as a reference. There are vampires who act like good guys and vampires who are supposed to be bad guys. How can things that were once considered only bad now be considered good? Well, what exactly are good and evil? Good and evil are concepts created, maintained and modified by society. They are just reflections of what people believe in the current moment. In the late 19th century homosexuality was considered evil, but now being against homosexuality is considered evil. These concepts only reflect what people want them to do. In modern society people believe less and less in personal responsibility and more and more "we are just products of our environment". If people today believe that no one is essentially evil, that they simply behave as they know how, then specious numbers of creatures cannot simply be ruled out. The advent of the Internet has contributed to the glorification of monsters. The Internet is a double-edged sword; everyone has an opinion. Websites like Tumblr allow people to say whatever they want, without any filter. According to Freudian theory “The id acts according to the “pleasure principle” – the psychic force that motivates the tendency to seek immediate gratification of any impulse (Wegner, 481).” People do what they want because they want to. People worship the devil, talk about their friendly encounters with demons and ways to summon loved ones from the dead. People read these stories not from some dusty old book or hearing them from a creepy old lady, but they read them in the comfort of their own home, which in my opinion gives it a much lighter connotation, you are no longer associated with creepy books and sketchy people , but someone just like you. The Creepypasta website has contributed quite a bit to the glorification of monsters. Creepypasta is a website created with the sole purpose of creating scary stories, the best known being "Slender Man" and "Jeff the Killer". The story of Slender Man has recently caught fire, with video games being created and references to him in Disney shows, and people even going as far as trying to kill another person for him. NBC news had covered the story. As the middle school friends played in a wooded area Saturday morning in the Milwaukee suburb of Waukesha, one of them retrieved a five-inch blade tucked into his waistband, according to a criminal complaint. She and another girl allegedly held the third girl down and stabbed her 19 times all over her body. ... One of them allegedly told police that they wanted to become "proxies" of the faceless character and that they would have to prove their dedication by killing, NBC affiliate WGBA in Green Bay reported. They planned to take their victim's body to a part of the Nicolet National Forest in the northern woods of Wisconsin, where Slender Man supposedly lives. (Ortiz, NBC) While mental health may come into play, two girls still tried to killing a friend of theirs to please a completely fictitious monster they had so glorified that they felt they had to kill for it. I admit, creepypasta is a very fun site that contains many interesting stories, but people tend to forget that they are made up. Each of these stories is just the writing project of someone with a lot of creativity and free time. Some people want monsters to be real so much that they will believe anythingthat they want. I went to high school with some pretty "interesting" people. They believed that certain stories were actually true. They didn't go to certain places at certain times because they were afraid that this thin man might catch them. They changed their lifestyle because they feared something imaginary that they believed was real. Places without the influence of Western culture are more likely to be afraid of monsters and evil forces. Every year a church I went to sent people to Hati to try to help after the earthquake. The stories they would tell were like no other. People were horrified by voodoo. From stories of zombie-like creatures that have forced people to flee villages, people have blades inserted into their arms to somehow make them stronger. The people there behave almost like Western culture did hundreds of years ago, in the sense that they are terrified of monsters. My old pastor, who had gone to Hati twice, was kind enough to talk about his experience there. “Voodoo plays a big role in their society. When I said “zombies” in a sermon there, they all gasped. Sorcerer voodoo is what helps keep crime down (since they might put a curse on you in response to your crime.) I've never seen a curse cast on someone, but I've seen a boy running around called with a blank look His face has been like this his whole life is passed down by a member of the family to another, and now to him the shepherds say they can cast out the demon, but unless Christ comes into his life there will be other spirits returning to take his place." (Keith Robinson, Email) The people of Hati actually fear voodoo and voodoo-related monsters. Hati, in case you didn't know, is a very poor country. They have no real access to Western media, except when an occasional visitor lets them borrow their iPod. They have never heard of Twilight or The Walking Dead or other depictions of monsters in Western media, they have never seen or heard of a monster as anything other than hideous and dangerous, which gives them no reason to think they are anything other than scary. people's views on religion have changed, as have their views on monsters. I believe that the concept of good and evil was originally established by religion and created by it. Recently, over the last forty years or so, the number of Christians and the involvement of Christianity in government have declined. This is the same amount of time that monsters became more human. In the 19th century, when Christianity was much more conservative and played a much larger role in society, monsters were considered evil, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Demons were considered very real and very terrifying. Demon possession was so recognized and believed that people began to use it as an explanation for things. If your wife was acting strange she was possessed, if the girls played too much, as in Salem's case, they were possessed, if inanimate objects were acting "strange" they were possessed. One case that shows the change in perception over time is Robert the Doll. Robert, the supposedly possessed doll of an 18th century painter's son, was a truly creepy looking doll. He looked like a deformed human being, had reportedly laughed and threatened the maids, ran across window sills at night and threatened to kill the young owner (Robert the Doll, Warren). People were terrified of this doll, and rightly so. After the death of Eugene, the owner, in 1979, the house and the doll were made public. After that is.