Shapinskaya Ekaterina Nikolaevna,
Doctor of Philosophy, Professor,
Russian State University of Physical Education,
 Sport, Youth and Tourism.
e-mail: reenash@mail.ru

Monster as a cultural hero:
representations of monstrosity in popular culture
(beginning)

Abstract. The article deals with the phenomenon of monstrosity in its representation in the texts of mass culture. The figure of the monster is seen as a vivid manifestation of the phenomenon of "friendliness", the example of which shows the change in attitude to the Other in different cultural contexts. The mythological origins of the image of a fantasy monster are traced, the mechanisms of creating monstrous images are identified, the most famous literary and screen representations of monstrous are analyzed. A comparison of literary and screen text, revealing by their means the problem of attitude to Another in culture. The conclusion is made about the ambivalence of fantasy-monstrous images that filled the modern mass culture from the point of view of the role in the formation of the relationship to the Other in culture and society.

Keywords. Monstrosity, mass culture, representation, myth, romanticism, cultural text, literature, cinema, Other


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