Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Comparative Literature

Supervisor

Randall, Marilyn

Abstract

Deriving from the Latin monere (to warn), monsters are at their very core warnings against the horrors that lurk in the shadows of our present and the mists of our future – in this case, the horrors of techno-capitalism (i.e., the conjunction of scientific modes of research and capitalist modes of production). This thesis reveals the ideological mechanisms that animate “techno-capitalist” monster narratives through close readings of 7 novels and 3 films from Canada and the United States in both English and French and released between 1979 and 2016. All texts are linked by shared themes, narrative tropes, and a North American origin. Since the corpus emerges from the home of the current techno-capitalist hegemony, it reveals the fears of those who benefit from the system yet are still terrified by its potential. The inclusion of Canadian texts nuances the analysis by taking into account the internal hierarchy of the North American capitalist empire.

The thesis is primarily interested in how texts from three different cultures in the corpus construct their plots, characters, and settings to perform similar kinds of ideological work, that is, the work of representing and critiquing capitalist ideology. Special attention is paid to repeated motifs used to reveal and represent the monstrousness of the techno-capitalist system. The study of these motifs is divided into three sections. The first explores techno-capitalist monsters as personifications of the worst excesses of contemporary consumer culture. The second focuses on the fusion of science and capitalism as dramatized through the figure of the mad corporate scientist. The third reads the corpus as a collection of environmental narratives that comment on the techno-capitalist exploitation of nature. The ideological analysis of the corpus favours a socio-economic hermeneutic but also addresses issues of ethnicity and nationality. A Marxist theoretical approach is privileged throughout, with reliance on Baudrillardian concepts such as the code and the hyperreal.

Summary for Lay Audience

Deriving from the Latin word monere, which means to warn, monsters are at their very core warnings against the horrors that lurk in the shadows of our present and the mists of our future. This thesis is especially concerned with the monsters created by techno-capitalism: the worrisome alliance of science and capitalism. Through detailed analysis of 7 novels and 3 films from Canada and the United States in both English and French, this study reveals the ideological mechanisms that animate “techno-capitalist” monster narratives. All 10 works studied are linked by shared themes, narrative tropes, and a North American origin. Since the novels and films analyzed emerges from the home of the current techno-capitalist superpower, they reveal the fears of those who benefit from the system yet are still terrified by its potential.

In three chapters, this study explores how American and Canadian novels and films released between 1979 and 2016 construct their plots, characters, and settings in order to represent and critique capitalist ideology. It pays special attention to repeated motifs used to reveal and represent the monstrousness of contemporary consumer society, for-profit science and uncontrolled exploitation of natural resources. These motifs include, but are not limited to, cannibalism, mad scientists, theme parks and human/animal hybrids.

Using concepts created by well-known philosophers like Karl Marx and Jean Baudrillard, among others, this thesis highlights the socio-economic subtext behind popular monster stories while also touching on issues of ethnicity and nationality. The result is a unique and nuanced analysis that explores the seldom-studied internal hierarchy of the North American capitalist empire by studying its worst nightmares.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

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