Enduring Monsters: (Em)bracing a Diachronic Storm of Monstrosities

• Published in: Australian journal of French studies Vol. 55; no. 2; pp. 117 - 121
• Main Authors: Patterson, Jade, Bourgeois, Bertrand
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Clayton, Vic Liverpool University Press 01.07.2018
• Subjects: Attitudes; Cameras; Fear & phobias; Monsters; Signifiant and signifie; Social aspects; Storytelling; Storytelling in literature; Young women; Australia; France
• ISSN: 0004-9468; 0004-9468; 2046-2913
• DOI: 10.3828/AJFS.2018.12

Everywhere she looks, they surround her. The sea of camera phones tilt towards the young woman, like a many-eyed monster's rectangular eyes. A tell-tale blink of a camera phone flash, then the holder vanishes round the corner. "Hello? Hello?": the young woman's words, so typically spoken in answer to a phone, seem solely addressed to the phones, as the glazed eyes of the humans holding them register no recognition. Then suddenly, a masked man emerges from a car, pulls out a rifle, and pursues the young woman, setting off a terrifying monstrous pursuit. The mass of expressionless phone wielders continue to track the young woman, recording her every move in a double meaning of the term "shooting".
Everywhere she looks, they surround her. The sea of camera phones tilt towards the young woman, like a many-eyed monster’s rectangular eyes. A tell-tale blink of a camera phone flash, then the holder vanishes round the corner. "Hello? Hello?": the young woman's words, so typically spoken in answer to a phone, seem solely addressed to the phones, as the glazed eyes of the humans holding them register no recognition. Then suddenly, a masked man emerges from a car, pulls out a rifle, and pursues the young woman, setting off a terrifying monstrous pursuit. The mass of expressionless phone wielders continue to track the young woman, recording her every move in a double meaning of the term "shooting".