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When I think of the Uncanny Grotesque, I think of The Amityville stories. The idea that certain house can make the father of the house murder his family in exactly the same way and have the same type of family dynamics move in each time is uncanny.

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Nazi Zombies is a game mode of the popular game series, Call Of Duty, this game mode is a game of survival there is no winning or losing only seeing how long you can live. When playing the game, it invokes feelings of fear dread, and unfamiliarity, the zombies run towards you attempting to swing their arms and take you down. Although it is only a game it terrifies and thrills whoever's playing it , I know from personal experience, I have yelled and jumped out of my seat multiple times from playing this game. The game brings more uncanny aspects to it when it diversifies the types of zombies that are after you, some crawl and explode a poisonous gas after being killed, which will temporarily blind you while you try to escape these evil beings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsKdbWNi3cI

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An artist in 2004 named Mike Kelley curated an exhibition at the Tate Museum in Liverpool, England that was entirely made up of uncanny sculpture, meant to arouse anxiety and dread in the viewer. Some of these sculptures are so repulsive to me, I would be totally fine if I never saw them again. My stomach is kind of queasy after viewing these images, though they are not overtly traditionally "gross," for example blood and gore.  They are just bizarre and make me kind of uncomfortable.  Click if you dare:

https://whitecubediaries.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/the-uncanny-where-psychology-meets-art/

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It Follows is a masterpiece in building an unnerving atmosphere that makes the viewer feel like they're in a fever dream. The film relies on the uncanny to keep the audience on our toes as we constantly guess  whether any of the people in the background are the follower or not. It keeps you on the lookout for anything that might be wrong, but because nothing is quite like reality, then everything is uncanny.

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For this week's padlet I found a very interesting video about the uncanny elements in Alfred Hitchcock's film Psycho. It is quite informative and helps understand the concept of uncanny better. I hope you all enjoy watching it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FMkGEZP3w0

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When I began thinking of what I should post here fr the uncanny the first thing that popped into my mind was Psycho. Psycho is a film created by Alfred Hitchcock who is considered the master mind of horror. Psycho in particular is a classic horror film that is said to be ageless and the ultimate scary film. I personally agree with that because it ranks in my Top 10 favorite scary movies. I never understood why I was so scared until I began studying the uncanny in class. In Psycho one aspect of the uncanny I want to focus on is doubles and mirror image. Two of the main characters Norman and Marion are doubles of each other. The use of doubles is so unsettling because it represents the self which is known while also being something that is other, or unfamiliar. This juxtaposition creates the sense of unease and anxiety for the audience. Marion represents the contemporary American everyday life of the super-ego, where Norman is the mirror image, representing the nocturnal repressed id. There are several key details that display Marion and Norman as doubles of each other. First, Marion and Norman share similar letters in their names which is a change from the original version to add the uncanny. Then there is the strategically placed mirrors in many connected scenes alluding to the characters mirroring each other. Along with that there is some very artful scene imagery that allows for the connection between the two characters where Marion is the day and Norman is the night.

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Psycho is a 1960 American psychological horror film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, and written by Joseph Stefano, starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, John Gavin, Vera Miles and Martin Balsam, and was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch.

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This image of Chucky is from one of the later movies. This movie every since the first one left me with the uneasiness that the uncanny presents. Dolls specifically because of their human qualities are something that are very familiar yet simply unfamiliar due to their miniature features and soulless identity. Chucky is an extreme example because Chucky seems completely human like with a soul even though it is an evil soul. This combination gives the audience a high dosage of uncanny by making Chucky as vulgar and unpredictable through out all of his movies. I chose this pic because it should how bad ass Chucky is and how "human like" he tries to be.

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This image is an image from the film Bicentennial Man starring Robin Williams. This image is showing a man placing a silicon face onto the face of a robot who just wants to be human. Even his robot form he looks very human like. This is an example of the Uncanny Valley because this idea is that inanimate object looking very human like.

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I struggled a bit to think of an example of the uncanny that wasn't already provided in class, but my mind kept on coming back to Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, The Phantom of the Opera. Christine is the upcoming Prima Donna at the Paris Opera and was orphaned at a young age. Before her father's death, he told her she would always be protected by an Angel of Music that he would send for her. The Phantom ultimately fulfills this role and even when Christine finds out he is a bad man, she is really unable to shake his influence for a majority of the musical. Many critiques argue that this is because she is sexually attracted to the Phantom, but I believe that argument is simplified and one-sided. I would argue that Christine is experiencing the uncanny familiarity in the Phantom that she felt with her father and that is why she is continually so drawn to him throughout the story and despite her fear of him.

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The AMC show, The Walking Dead, is popular and I believe that it's not just because American audiences love violence, but because it demonstrates the horrific and grotesque on both a grand scale (apparent wold wide zombie apocalypse) and on a micro level (the things that individuals experience and see) . One moment in one of the earlier seasons particularly strikes me as being uncanny. During this season, the major cast spent episode after episode of trying to find Carol's daughter, Sophia, who was separated from their group. Finally, when a secret stash of zombies in Herschel's barn emerges, we see Sophia, who tragically and horrifically was no longer human, but a "walker." This is uncanny because first, we see Sophia like we've never seen her before, yet still recognize her in her new form as a zombie. Second, this is uncanny because these zombies emerged from the barn that is on the idyllic property of a man whom we couldn't imagine would decide to keep zombies under lock and key. The safe, the familiar, the sane is transformed into fear, uncertainty, devastation and the realization that the world can change at any time.

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The Mark 1 is a life sized robot, who's face looks incredibly detailed and realistic. However, once you see the Mark 1 try to speak, it is immediately apparent that it is a robot due to the awful and unrealistic mouth movements that almost make it look like it is trying to chomp on something. To me this created a very uncanny effect due to the fact that the robot looks very much like a human, thus is familiar to us, but then once it begins speaking, or really just moving it's limbs in any manner, it becomes very bizarre and unfamiliar.

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Meet Life-Sized Humanoid Robot Mark 1 | CNBC

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Sophia is a robot that is very uncanny to a human. She has facial expressions and a human like voice as well as a wide range of motion. Watching her move and talk gives a very disturbing and uncanny feeling because she would be hard to differentiate from an actual human if seen in public. The only aspect that makes her appear to be a robot is that you can see the metal on the top of her head, however; with a wig on this issue would go away and she would be completely disguised.

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Hot Robot At SXSW Says She Wants To Destroy Humans | The Pulse

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BINA 48 is a humanoid robot. Not only is she a robot, but she has the uncanny look of looking like a human. She is perfectly groomed and can have interviews with to talk about her emotions and how she is feeling. She was made to look like the wife of a doctor to paid to have her made. She has been programed to where she can understand speech when spoken to her and her responses are a bit of a wild card, like you would expect from some humans. I think this robot falls perfectly into the Uncanny Valley as she is a robot made to look like a human. And it is a little bit creepy with how close she looks like a human. If you have not seen a video of BINA48 you can see her talk here.
http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2015/09/08/humanoid-robot-bina48-peppered-with-annoying-questions/

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The abject and the grotesque- Akhil kosaraju

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The abject and the grotesque- Akhil kosaraju

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I came across this interesting video on youtube which elaborates on the Grotesque body and explains it lucidly in the context of art.

Amongst others the presenter talks about various examples like open wound, feces and other bodily discharges that are considered repulsive or taboo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lofltWkwqrM

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Part 2 The Abject and The Grotesque: Introduction

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Deformation and Hybrid Identities Part 2 The Abject and The Grotesque: Introduction In her influential 1982 essay "Powers of Horror", Julia Kristeva developed the term 'abject' to explore the human reaction to the fragmented, decayed or impure human body.

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The Ren and Stimpy Show by Jessica Frampton

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The Ren and Stimpy Show by Jessica Frampton

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I distinctly recall one particular show as a child that was deeply connected with the grotesque body. That show would be Nickelodeons Ren and Stimpy Show. In the early 1990s when it aired cartoons where still hand drawn. The creator John Kricfalusi  spent many hours focusing on just their bodily images. He made sure every hair and corpuscle was drawn perfect and that it would produced a grotesque image for the viewers. He took mundane task and added a grotesque image to reflect the pain and horror that the characters where feeling. If you google images from this popular nineties cartoon their are mass images of body grotesqueness in every single one of them.

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I found an example of the grotesque body in real life.  The Great War was the war that ushered in the modern technological age, and with it, industrialized slaughter on a never-before seen scale.  The nature of modern warfare dictated that it was necessary to "soften up" an entrenched position with artillery before attacking it.  Head wounds due to shrapnel from this heavy artillery were the number one cause of death in the war, and they created horrific wounds of the soldier survived.  Often times, much of the face would be completely torn off, leaving gaping holes where the mouth or nose used to be.  These veterans then found civilians gaping at them in disgust in the streets after the war, and doctor Harold Gillies of England decided to have a go at creating plastic face masks to hide the new deformities.  These were often times very successful, and made great strides in advancing plastic surgery and facial reconstruction.  Many of the images are far too graphic to show here, but I found one man with the mask on.

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Hellboy is a devil human like being who was adopted as a baby by a scientist, after the scientist finds him in a cave near a war zone. Hellboy then grows up and helps defend society against crime and demonic entities. For the most part he is completely human, his thoughts, interactions with other people, and general demeanor. However, in appearance, Hellboy is completely red, has a tale and an arm made out of thick red stone. He would also have large curved horns protruding from his head but he chops them off so he feels like he belongs more.

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I have been interested in plant life lately, and came across an interesting cultural practice in the Amazon in which shaman's powers are believed to take root in phlegm. This alone, might cause us to say, "ew!" Phlegm and other fluids associated with the body are not considered socially acceptable conversation for sure, and are often featured in grotesque art or literature. This phlegm is nurtured by ingesting a plant, ayahuasca, that is apparently horrific tasting, and causes vomiting. If one vomits after ingesting ayahuasca, then this demonstrates that the person is growing, learning and cleaned. Because of the significance of vomiting, this is often displayed in art. I found this statue or gargoyle, which is associated with a page that gives more information about this medicinal practice along with references to the grotesque body. The statue/gargoyle itself is grotesque in nature because of the references to the lower part of the body (via the gut, stomach) which causes a degradation that Bakhtin spoke of, and also, because the future isn't proportioned in the way that we expect and prefer to see. The human eye typically prefers symmetry, and a classical presentation of features, which is also mentioned by Bakhtin. If you're interested in reading more about ayahuasca, here is a link: http://www.singingtotheplants.com/2012/05/ayahuasca-and-grotesque-body/

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The Bearded Lady - Caitlyn Maldonado

My original idea of the grotesque body involved monsters and two-headed people but I think this is a good representation of the idea that a subject does not have to be completely deformed or deranged to be an example.

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The video game "Silent Hill" has many examples of the grotesque body. The two most prominent ones are Pyramidhead and the nurses. Pyramidhead has a large pyramid instead of his head and the nurses don't have faces. This game is considered to be a horror game so it really shows how the grotesque body is considered to be horrific.

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Ice King Game of Thrones- Nico Weissberg

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Ice King Game of Thrones- Nico Weissberg

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Ice king from Game of Thrones. This character from game of thrones is an example of the grotesque body. The character is the leader of an undead evil army. He is physically different from the "normal" human form yet is human enough to be recognizable. His physical attributes mirror his inner corruption as he was once a human who spent his life defending people from the undead.

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Sloth from The Goonies is an example of the grotesque body because of his physical deformities. Because of his abnormalities and deformities, Sloth is often treated as being less than human as he is chained to a wall and locked in a basement by his own brothers in order to be kept out of sight. This type of treatment by his own family members just goes to show how people living with physical abnormalities have a hard time feeling normal and fitting in, in most societies.

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Hunchback of Notre Dame: Sabrina LeMasurier 

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Hunchback of Notre Dame: Sabrina LeMasurier 

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The Hunchback of Notre Dame is an example of the grotesque body due to his facial and body deformities. The townspeople were feared Quasimodo due to his hideous appearance. Disney took this film and showed children that just because someone looks different does not mean that you should be treat them different. Disney puts there romantic, happy ending spin on Victor Hugo's tragic story of a deformed man.

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When I think of grotesque body, I think of body horror movies, and the king of the body horror genre is Hellraiser. It may not be the most horrific, and it's definitely not the best, but it was genre defining and definitely hits the nail on the head when it comes to combining humor with horror. I don't think it was originally supposed to be as amusing as it is, but the campy quality of the movie make it almost endearing and lovable, at least half as much as it is gross and disturbing. The Cenobites fit pretty cosily into the grotesque body genre, as they were humans that became warped and disgusting on the outside to match their hedonistic inside.

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This is Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. Gollum is emaciated, typically walks on all fours, and maintains almost not characteristics of the hobbit he once was. Even in Middle Earth where grotesque creatures are common, Gollum's appearance is considered especially grotesque by all who meet him. Gollum's grotesque appearance is reflective of his poisoned mind, which makes his story all the more tragic. Throughout the story, Gollum receives a lot of pity from the reader not only because of what he has turned into, but because the reader also fears that the story's hero, Frodo, could also potentially fall victim to the same fate. Gollum's grotesque body, therefore, is symbolic of the effects of pure evil on even the most innocent of creatures.

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Grotesque Body & AHS Freak Show- Amanda Castanuela

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Grotesque Body & AHS Freak Show- Amanda Castanuela

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I've brought up American Horror Story in this class before and I am bringing it up again for this post because I feel like this particular season 'Freak Show' is very similar to our unit on grotesque body and similar to "Geek Love." In this season of AHS, it revolves around a carnival setting where there is a freak show. This connects to Bakhtin's statement about how life inside the carnival is free and acceptable. There are instances where the 'freaks' go out in public and scare people because they are not inside the carnival setting. There are also moments where the abnormal/grotesque bodies of these people are used for entertainment when people pay to see them and even when a man pays to have them killed to be placed in a freak show museum. This season and "Geek Love" were very similar because the more abnormal/grotesque they were then the more money they made or were worth.

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I remember watching The Elephant Man in high school and researching that the movie was based on a true story of Joseph Merrick. In the movie his name is John and he was found by a doctor to be working at a circus in Europe. They believe at the time that he was mentally disabled and none of the nurses would work on him at the hospital as they felt he was scary or incurable. We learn in the film that John is actually very smart and fully capable of reading. Throughout the movie we see that he is actually funny and loving, but people fear him for the way he looks. I think that this relates back to the grotesque body by if you look at photos of Joseph Merrick, he looks unnatural and disfigured. People fear him for the way he looks. But in the end we see he has a heart of gold that has nothing to do nor does it reflect his grotesque body.

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When I think of monsters, I think of the The Last of US,  an amazing video game about a fungus that takes over the minds of humans and turns them into basically zombies. Below is a picture of a "clicker" which relies on it's keen sense of sound and use of sonar to hunt out and kill other humans. This monster is very grotesque and horrific in nature due to it's appearance, and how it still has the body of a human, but it's face and head have been overtaken by the fungus. Here we see a merging of what's real (the human body) with what isn't (the fungus that has overtaken the human brain).

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Dementors were introduced in the third Harry Potter book as the guards of prisoners in Azkaban. They feed on human happiness and can consume a human's soul with their "kiss". The dementors "glory in decay and despair [and] drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them" (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Rowling). Holding no loyalty to anyone, the dementors ultimately aligned themselves with Voldemort and aided him in "cleansing" the wizarding world. They are large, dark creatures that are truly monstrous in appearance and also monstrous in their pleasure of causing pain and suffering in others. They terrified me when I was a child and I still find their appearance and motive in the story unsettling and monstrous to this day.

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Destructive nature of human mind-Akhil Kosaraju

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Destructive nature of human mind-Akhil Kosaraju

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For this padlet, keeping in tune with my views on the nature of the monstrous, which I feel is the destructive nature of the human mind itself, I felt it would be interesting to understand Agent Orange, which was depicted as Agent Yellow in the film The Host.

When I watched this video report filed by The Newyork Times, I realized that the damage done was not restricted to the rebels in the Vietnam War and the environment but also those who came in contact with it from the American military too. In fact the results are being felt even today, which I felt has the elements of the monstrous.

The link to the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzvTB0mOS0w

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Very similar to The Host creature used as a metaphor for the politics and war in South Korea, Godzilla was a metaphor for WWII in Japan. The newest one I believe was also a metaphor for climate change and polution, so these asian films do like to employ the monstrous grotesque and politics to their films, that is for certain! Godzilla is sometimes referred to the "king of monsters," which is another reason Godzilla came to mind when thinking about the monstrous grotesque. The relationship between these two films to the war metaphors is striking: godzilla representing a nuclear bomb and destroying 2 buildings (representative of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I later learned).

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Throughout the ages the monster represented in books, films, and TV
shows have changed based on the fears of society. In the past it was Frankenstein today it is aliens and the Zombie Apocalypse. These current creatures of our horror films stem from disease, mutations, infectios, science experiments, other worldly beings. The list goes on but the underlying theme is science. As science progresses if opens up more questions and develops a greater unknown. Just as they have done in the past, monsters will evolve as society evolves.

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Watch The Walking Dead Online | Stream New Full Episodes | AMC

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Watch The Walking Dead online. Stream the latest full episodes for free online with your TV provider.

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Orcs from Lord Of The Rings  - Jack Levine

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Orcs from Lord Of The Rings  - Jack Levine

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The Orcs from Lord of The Rings are human like creatures with grotesque distortions. Despite their unattractive and abnormal appearance already making these creature monstrous. They also have savage uncaring tendencies, they hate themselves and eachother. They also dislike their masters yet they continue to serve them out of fear. This miserable existence and grotesque appearance is what make Orcs a perfect depiction of the monstrous.

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Mary Shelly's Frankenstein's Monster - Allie Propst

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Mary Shelly's Frankenstein's Monster - Allie Propst

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I'm a bit of a traditionalist in the sense that one of my favorite classic novels is Frankenstein. I've always been bothered by the representation of the story in Hollywood, because it removes all of the philosophical quandaries posed by the original and makes the monster far more literal. I've always loved the blurring of the lines that define which of the two main characters is a monster, or if both of them reflect each other. The monster is subtly physically grotesque, technically beautiful, but wrong enough that he's hideous, while Frankenstein is mentally grotesque with his morbid and disturbing studies and resulting, cruel abandonment of his creation.

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Monstrous Grotesque - Caitlyn Maldonado 

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Monstrous Grotesque - Caitlyn Maldonado 

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What I found interesting about reading about the monstrous grotesque is that the monsters presented are not always necessarily frightening. This character from the movie Hercules, is half man and half animal. The description of this character by itself, would seem characteristically grotesque and monstrous but does not seem as intimidating as the actual portrayal.

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Monsters have been around for centuries. We all know the classics fromFrankenstein, Wolf Man, and even Dracula. One thing that each of these monsters have in common is their somewhat human aspect. These monsters terrify as well entertain us so much that these characters still make their appearance still to this day. Also I think it is interesting to know the different monsters throughout the world. In America while yes we do have some creatures within our movies and Tv but the main amount of our monsters are human like; i.e. vampires, zombies, werewolfs.

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Adventure Time: Adventure with Monsters by Jessica Frampton

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Adventure Time: Adventure with Monsters by Jessica Frampton

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When I first read that we had to post some kind of monstrous post. At first Zombies of all kinds crossed my mind, from video games to movies and television. As I was surfing through the images of monstrous zombies, that I find to be more intense but with the exposure over the past few years less intensifying. I stopped and noticed my son attentively watching one of his favorite cartoon "Adventure Time". As I began to watch the particular episode the characters whom all have their own unique form began to take on grotesque images of monstrous creatures: the perfectly looking human "Marcelle"...transforms in a demon while trying to fight off monstrous creatures from the "normal" looking princesses potions. The plot jumps around a lot which introduces a mass amount of monstrous creatures that really have no explanation on why they are the way they are. This particular cartoon leaves me feeling a bit uneasy and disturbed only because of the mass amount of oddity and monstrous characteristics that are portrayed as normal to our children.

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The Monstrous Grotesque: Coraline (Sarah Woolverton-Mohler)

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The Monstrous Grotesque: Coraline (Sarah Woolverton-Mohler)

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I really loved trying to choose something for this section's Padlet and came up with some wonderfully grotesque monsters. However, my 8 year old son (who isn't fazed by much) was terrified by The Other Mother in the 2009  film, Coraline, which surprised me until after learning more about the grotesque and the monstrous in this course. This film was based on Neil Gaiman's novel, Coraline, which should be recommendation enough as his writing is dark, fantastical, grotesque and interesting. The Other Mother is a version of Coraline's mother who looks just like her real mother, except she has button eyes. While Coraline's real mother is constantly distracted and uninterested, The Other Mother is warm, loving, and devoted. The Other Mother is a great representation of the monstrous grotesque because the audience feels uncertain, uneasy and disturbed when being presented with a different version of such an important person in Coraline's life. Mothers are typically viewed as someone in which we can find comfort, love and safety. The Other Mother manipulates this general cultural understanding, and instead of facing a monster that is obviously scary, we now face something that may be much more insidious. It's oftentimes more scary to not know what to fear. Additionally, having eyes that are obscured also adds to the monstrous. In many cultures, eyes are an important window into determining a person's veracity. Having a character that is disarmingly and disturbingly "like but not like" Coraline's mother, AND with eyes in which we cannot decipher real emotion or intent, we become terrified for Coraline. (Later, in this film, we do see a more overt representation of a monster, but I still believe that having a character that SHOULD be safe and familiar, but IS manipulating and hiding in plain sight is much more monstrous.)

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Harry Potter & The Monstrous-- Amanda Castanuela

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Harry Potter & The Monstrous-- Amanda Castanuela

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There are many monsters throughout the Harry Potter series that I would consider to be monstrous grotesque. There is one monster in particular who encompasses many monstrous characteristics. I would consider the snake to be one for the most monstrous characters. The snake is the mascot for the house Slitherine, the sign of the dark mark relating to Voldemort and Voldemort's pet who becomes a horcrux that needs to be destroyed in order to kill Voldemort. Through its many characters in this series the snake represents the unknown because it is linked to this mysterious evil man that only a few have actually seen. It is linked to the projection of out fears because Voldemort's followers have this tattoo on their arm, this elicits fear in those who see it because it is known that it is a sign of evil. Lastly, the snake is an external manifestation of evil. The snake must be killed in order for Voldemort to be killed. The snake represents the monstrous because it is linked to Voldemort who is the evil character.

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One of my favorite shows was True Blood. This was a show about Vampires in Bon Temp. The vampires are grotesque in that they kill those for blood and that they are evil in many ways. Outside of the vampires in True Blood there are shape-shifters like witches and those who turn from human to animal, and werewolves. Each of these are grotesque in a monstrous way in that they are not "normal". Monstrous forms are those that “merge with other forms of life, so grotesque figures ‘represent something abnormal or normally impossible”. Each of the monstrous grotesque on True Blood hold some human like characteristic, but they also are something monstrous or have the ability to become something that is monstrous. Monstrous forms are those that “merge with other forms of life, so grotesque figures ‘represent’ something abnormal or normally impossible”. Each of the monstrous grotesque on True Blood hold some human like characteristic, but they also are something monstrous or have the ability to become something that is monstrous. From the reading in class, “Monstrous and Grotesque”, we see that the main monstrous character, the vampire, is a depiction of the classical grotesque. They are part human and part other. they are the “depiction of fluid transformations from ‘civilization’ to ‘barbarism’”

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Stranger Things Other Side - Taylor McGowan

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Stranger Things Other Side - Taylor McGowan

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As we learned in our first week of readings, "Grotesque art can be defined as art whose form and subject matter appear to be a part of, while contradictory to, the natural, social or personal worlds we are a part of." In the History of the Grotesque, we are told "its images most often embody distortions, exaggeration, a fusion of incompatible parts in such a fashion that it confronts us as strange and disordered, as a world turned upside down."  Stranger Things, the newest hit on Netflix, takes this definition literally and defines this dark world as the "Upside down" where things appear to be the same or similar to the way they are in the regular world, but darker. You know how to get around because it is still your neighborhood, or your friends pool, but everything is dark and disgusting, a place I would have no desire to be in. While I was reading our first weeks readings, this television show was the only thing that came to mind. The grotesque may be easy to define in this gross and disturbing universe, but it is much more difficult to define in other areas, such as comedy (Shaun of the Dead may be an example, but what are others?)

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The story of Frankenstein's monster is a perfect example of the monstrous grotesque. The monster is described by Mary Shelley as "8-foot-tall, hideously ugly, but sensitive and emotional". The monster was constructed by Victor Frankenstein by combining various human body parts to make a human-like creature. He is nameless and seen to be someone who doesn't fit into society.

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The Origins of Sleeping Beauty - Jamie Rosenfield

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The Origins of Sleeping Beauty - Jamie Rosenfield

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This is an incredibly twisted story first jotted down in 1634 by Giambattista Basile, entitled "Sun, Moon, and Talia" originally. The Disney version is incredibly watered down. In this original telling, the princess is poisoned when she eats a plant, and falls down seemingly dead. Her father, the kind, leaves her on a bed in one of his empty estates. Later, a wandering knight finds her in the woods and rapes her while she is unconscious. She gives birth to two children while she is still unconscious. When she wakes up, she attempts to eat her children to get rid of them.  The knight burns his wife alive and leaves her to search for the sleeping beauty.  He finds her, and they live happily ever after.  The last line of the story (and it's "moral"), is  "Lucky people, so ’tis said, Are blessed by Fortune whilst in bed." Hmm.... One of the more disturbing "fairy tales" I have read!

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“The Three Little Pigs” a story in which three pigs, in fear of being eaten by a wolf, run into their homes and hide. The first pigs house was made from straw, the second was made from wood, and the third was made from brick. The wolf blows over both the straw and wooden houses. But is unable to to blow down the brick home, leaving the lesson here, hard work and foresight pay off. Although this lesson is a good one the story still holds elements of the grotesque in the fact that the pigs lacking this quality were eaten alive by a wolf while their friend stayed in the safety of his own home.

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Pan's Labyrinth is the quintessential grotesque fairy tale for the modern day. It takes elements that would have been considered grotesque historically, and makes them hideous and disturbing by our more hardened standards. One of my favourite aspects of the movie is how charmed the little girl seems to be by most of the Labyrinth, despite how overtly creepy it clearly is, and how well it's juxtaposed to represent the horror of the Spanish civil war.

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The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Caitlyn Maldonado 

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The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Caitlyn Maldonado 

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The story of the hunchback of Notre Dame was one of the first things that came to mind when thinking of a grotesque fairy tale. It is not your quintessential fairy tale but was a tale of a grotesque body and the power that was held over him for being abnormal.

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The Sun Moon and Talia or the Story of Sleeping Beauty as we know her is a more complex tale then modern times portray. This painting is taken from what i believe is one of the most grotesque scenes in the story. The version of the story we are familiar with has the prince entering the story as a heroic angle there to take away the cursed princess. In Basile's version, and what this painting is depicting, is when the prince enters he is not a heroic prince charming yet he begins to rapes sleeping beauty repeatedly and leaving her to give birth while unconscious where she lies. This version of our beloved classical fairy tale has a darker emergence then we ever could of imagined.

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Der Struwwelpeter is a book of German fairy tales designed to teach lessons to children. An example of a story from this book is called "Die Geschichte von den schwartzen Buben" or "The Story of the Inky Boys". In this story, some children are being mean to a black boy and Saint Nicholas gets angry and dips them in tar to teach them a lesson. The book is full of stories like this, some far more grotesque than others. What is most grotesque, I think, is that these stories were written specifically for children and have some pretty gruesome morals.

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Snow White and the Huntsman- Nico Weissberg

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Snow White and the Huntsman- Nico Weissberg

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Although the film was almost unbearable to watch, it was an interesting take on the tale of Snow White. The story returns to the use of the grotesque found in The Brothers Grimm tale.

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TV show Beauty and the Beast was created by Ron Koslowin 1987. This tale morphed the previously known fairy-tale with a Utopian science fiction twist. This TV show like many common day fairy-tales are not strictly in the fairy-tale genre. Many examples we see today have a futuristic twist to them. This futuristic, technology based inspiration pushes many common fairy-tales into the genre of science fiction. I believe this is because technology is such a fascinating topic that people fear they can not control. When people fear something they write or create other forms of art out of it. Doing so can either humanize it, lessen your fear. Or ampliphy it, depending on the artists wishes. In past eras when witches, magic, and magical creatures were a common everyday fear, they were written about. Much like today with technology.

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TV show Beauty and the Beast was created by Ron Koslowin 1987. This tale morphed the previously known fairy-tale with a Utopian science fiction twist. This TV show like many common day fairy-tales are not strictly in the fairy-tale genre. Many examples we see today have a futuristic twist to them. This futuristic, technology based inspiration pushes many common fairy-tales into the genre of science fiction. I believe this is because technology is such a fascinating topic that people fear they can not control. When people fear something they write or create other forms of art out of it. Doing so can either humanize it, lessen your fear. Or ampliphy it, depending on the artists wishes. In past eras when witches, magic, and magical creatures were a common everyday fear, they were written about. Much like today with technology.

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Mad Hatter from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland- Allie Easter 

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Mad Hatter from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland- Allie Easter 

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This is the Mad Hatter (performed by Johnny Depp) from Tim Burton's movie, Alice in Wonderland. In Burton's version of the story, the Mad Hatter is transformed from the silly goof in the Disney version into a character with much more depth. This depth reveals that the Hatter is quite internally tormented by his insanity. While he is still the comic relief at times throughout the movie, the viewer gets a much better understanding of the depth of the Hatter. This new depth is grotesque because in the Disney version, the viewer assumes the Hatter is happy in his madness. However, in Burton's version the Hatter shows that he can easily lose his grip on reality and that often torments and frustrates him.

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A Grotesque Fairy Tale - Shrek - Dan Walllin

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A Grotesque Fairy Tale - Shrek - Dan Walllin

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When I tried to think of a grotesque fairy tale, the first thing that came to mind was one of my childhood favorites; Shrek. Shrek is the embodiment of the grotesque, he's a green ogre who eats eyeballs and rats, bathes in mud, uses ear wax for candles, becomes friends with a talking donkey and rescues a princess that he turns into a fellow ogre. He lives a very grotesque life, yet the producers of the movie were able to portray his story with tons of humor, humor is another major aspect of the grotesque that they hit on the head. Everything about Shrek's life is abnormal, and that's exactly what draws the audience into the movie.

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Element of Age in Fairy Tales- Sarah Woolverton-Mohler

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Element of Age in Fairy Tales- Sarah Woolverton-Mohler

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This staged photograph is the work of Japanese artist Miwa Yanagi, who has designed a series of photos that are based on the Grimm's version of various fairy tales, but with a twist. It's interesting to note that because so many fairy tales are so recognizable, across cultures even, that when we see Yanagi's photos, we are immediately disturbed because they are presented not as expected. In her work, the familiar becomes unfamiliar, which is a classic grotesque element. Also important of note, In many of the photos, the expected protagonist is wearing a latex mask/makeup to appear significantly older, yet their body still looks young. In this photo, the antagonist, is presented as a young girl who but for her actions in the photos appears to be innocent. This is an interesting display of the grotesque as it manifests in fairy tales-- age is oftentimes important. We expect that the young child is innocent and are often shown that the witch, evil queen etc. is old. Here, in this photo, we aren't sure what to expect, and this uncertainty avails itself to the overall grotesque quality of this piece. Here's a link to Yangi's work so you can check out some of the other pieces: http://www.yanagimiwa.net/fairy/index.html

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A unique take on classic fairytale -Akhil Kosaraju

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A unique take on classic fairytale -Akhil Kosaraju

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I found an interesting take on a fairy tales where the author Marissa Meyer has written a novel called Cinder. It is a unique version of Cinderella, where the protagonist is a cyborg and the story is set in China, instead of Europe or the West.

It sounds quite interesting and I am looking forward to read a fairy tale with a Sci-fi twist! I am sharing the link of a review below:

http://gulfnews.com/your-say/gn-book-club/cinder-a-unique-take-on-a-classic-fairytale-1.1888351

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Anthropomorphic Creatures - Katelyn Root

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Anthropomorphic Creatures - Katelyn Root

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In most of all Disney fairytales there are anthropomorphic creatures that are there to help the princess. Instead of a mother, the princess always has a stepmother. To step in place for that loving and caring role, they use creatures in the wild. Snow white had the creatures pictured below, Rapunzel in Tangled had a chameleon and a horse, Cinderella had mice and birds. The use of anthropomorphic creatures has always been in fairytales like dwarfs, goblins, and gremlins. This is just a candy coated version of the grotesque. This is grotesque in the abnormal use of creatures.

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Live Action Fairy Tales- Amanda Castanuela

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Live Action Fairy Tales- Amanda Castanuela

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There has been a recent trend where Disney has been re-making their old school cartoon fairy tales into live action movies. There is more freedom to make the grotesque elements especially grotesque because of the technology that is available now, compared to when the cartoons were drawn many years ago. The dragon from Sleeping Beauty and the Beast form beauty and the beast are perfect examples of how the grotesque body is used to show evil. The dragon who tries to destroy everything and the Beast who kidnaps Belle. Another grotesque element in Beauty and the Beast is the furniture that they give human like qualities to, this is both grotesque in the body form and the abnormal form.

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Fairytales have been around since the beginning of time, and this day and age we feel like we need to remake everything to be relative of the time. Grimm the television show on NBC does exactly does that. Keeping the grotesque and eerie feeling of that the Grimm brothers placed within their stories, while placing their own twist on the old stories.  So if you like a little grotesque in your life and crime this is the show for you.
By: Sabrina LeMasurier

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This season, NBC had nine drama series debuting in September through late fall, three of them new (plus limited series Heroes Reborn). The network has already renewed eight drama series for next season, with one more, The Mysteries of Laura, on the bubble. It is pretty clear that not all returning NBC drama series would make it on the fall schedule. That may include for the first time veteran , whose initial Season 6 order is for 13 episodes, not the customary 22, I have learned.

That is not a fixed number, as I hear the pickup is for a minimum of 13 episodes, with a likelihood for more. The move was made to give NBC brass scheduling flexibility. Of the renewed dramas, Jennifer Lopez's Shades of Blue is a 13-episode order; that is how the show has been set up, as are most heavily serialized starring vehicles on TV, including The Following, How To Get Away with Murder and Aquarius. But the rest are shows that have been doing full seasons: the three Chicago series (the newest, rookie Chicago Med, produced 18 episodes because of a late launch), Law & Order: SVU, The Blacklist, Blindspot and Grimm.

Grimm, whose first five seasons consisted of 22 episodes each, had been the little engine that could, an under-the-radar show that became a breakout during the 2011-12 season, despite airing on Fridays. This season, the supernatural procedural is averaging a 1.6 most current adults 18-49 rating and 6.1 million viewers. That is down from last season's averages (2.0, 7.1), but Grimm still ranks as one of the highest rated scripted series on Friday despite being a self-starter, with very little lead-in support. It also is owned by NBC and does well internationally, something that plays more and more into networks' renewal decisions.

Except for 2012 when it launched following the Summer Olympics, Grimm has been starting late, with a premiere date around Halloween. Its final Season 6 episode count will depend on when it debuts and how many episodes it can run in a row.

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'Grimm': NBC Keeps Options Open With Shorter Season 6 Order

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This season, NBC had nine drama series debuting in September through late fall, three of them new (plus limited series Heroes Reborn). The network has already renewed eight drama series for next season, with one more, The Mysteries of Laura, on the bubble.

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 A man studied photography in prison- Akhil kosaraju

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 A man studied photography in prison- Akhil kosaraju

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Some of you may have read this article which has become quite popular in the social media. It is about a man who took to photography after being released from prison and his pictures are mostly about the destitute and mentally ill. They bring an element of beauty despite being grotesque in nature.
Link-http://www.upworthy.com/a-man-studied-photography-in-prison-these-are-the-photos-he-took-when-he-got-out

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One thing that I took away from the readings is that some of the ideas of grotesque behavior come from the truths that people believe. There are people who enjoy dressing up and engaging in relationships with other people who dress up in animal costumes. While these are still normal people who do not have physical disfigurements or anything that people would find visually grotesque, their actions and extracurricular activities are seen as grotesque. This causes it to be abnormally grotesque.

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Wildlings from Game of Thrones - Dani Pokora

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Wildlings from Game of Thrones - Dani Pokora

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When thinking about the abnormal grotesque, I started to think about the Wildlings from Game of Thrones. While they are not visually abnormal, they are seen as abnormal and grotesque by the other people in the kingdom. They are seen this way simply because they live beyond the Wall which is considered to be a savage place. However, as the show goes on, you start to see that the way people are treating them is much more grotesque than the Wildlings themselves. Like I said, they are not the normal type of grotesque but they way they are portrayed and treated makes them come off that way in the show.

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Link:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/baron-the-mastiff_us_57dac209e4b04a1497b2dfba?section=us_weird-news

This picture encapsulates the grotesque. The dog is comically distorted in size - he is bigger than the human. Creatures of this size typically instill fear in the
hearts of humans. Very large animals are often times threatening and frightening, but the owner says that inside, "he is a sweet little puppy." The dog doesn't seem to realize I his own size. find this hilarious.

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This painting by Zdzislaw Beksinski screams grotesque. The artist grew up in Poland during WWII giving a possible meaning of invasion to this painting. I see it as a metaphor for foreign values forcing their way into your life disrupting what is normal.

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Link to the Article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3758462/This-biggest-nightmare-Father-cannibal-frat-boy-breaks-Dr-Phil-apologizes-victims-families-saying-son-never-knowingly-this.html

WARNING: This article is pretty disturbing so don't read about it if you don't have to!

Searching through the news the other day I found this horrific story about a frat boy who reportedly ingested a new drug named "flakka" and stabbed a random couple repeatedly before eating parts of their bodies and ingesting random chemicals in their garage. It is said that "when officers arrived, they say it took several shots from a Taser, a police dog and four officers to subdue Harrouff, who was showing abnormal strength." I hate to even comment on this atrocity, but I definitely think that the boy exhibited traits of the abnormal grotesque. His actions were insanely grotesque and he exhibited immense abnormal strength, and from the sounds of it, numbness to pain. The boy also said to his parents before the attacks that he felt like he had superpowers and was immortal. Even if he was under the influence of flakka, one has to question the mental state and character of the boy before he started ingesting it.

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twilight zone- Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.................

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The twilight zone is a show that exemplifies the Grotesque perfectly. It takes lessons and morals to make a story line then uses grotesque images to draw the audience in and truly depict their points. In an episode that really depicts this called, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, a women is set to undergo severe plastic surgery because of her horrifying ugliness, yet the entire length of the show the audience does not see a single person's face until the very end. When the woman's face is finally exposed she is incredibly beautiful and the rest of the people have large distorted noses and ears. The people and imagery is extremely grotesque while also bringing a strong moral lesson to the table. The lesson being that beauty is whatever you think it is and you should not let public opinion dictate what is beautiful to you.

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When thinking about an example for the abnormally grotesque, I considered Sloth from one of my favorite movies: The Goonies. Sloth was dropped by his criminal, alcoholic mother when he was a baby and then spent the majority of his life chained in the basement with little social interaction. While he is physically grotesque because of his deformed appearance and suffers from limited intellectual capabilities, he has a heart of gold and ends up being one of the heroes of the movie. By the end of the movie, it is apparent that it is his evil family, though physically "normal", that are the real monsters and not him. Unlike his family and despite his appearance, Sloth is capable of friendship, bravery, and leadership. I believe Sloth demonstrates that one is capable of transcending societal norms that attempt to restrict those believed to be physically grotesque and challenges the viewer to consider what and who is truly monstrous.

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I like to believe that I am someone who has an open mind, who strives to ask questions rather than judge, and who supports the LGBTQ community. I was really disappointed in my reaction when I read an article in Time Magazine (read here: http://time.com/4475634/trans-man-pregnancy-evan/) about a trans man who become pregnant. When I initially saw the picture below, I was shocked and thought, "this is weird!" I was disgusted in myself that I had this reaction and tried to identify why I felt this why, and why this was "weird." Evan, the person pictured with his child, was born as a biological female but had made a successful transition as a male. Evan and his partner used donor sperm and Evan become pregnant. Gender, breastfeeding and the trans community are all things that some consider to be "abnormal" but I would argue that none of these things are aberrations, that none of these things have to fit in neat little boxes to be "normal." I also think that we shouldn't be afraid if we do sometimes have feelings of "that's weird!" because it isn't abnormal to have our own biases. Instead of allowing our biases to take root though, we should allow ourselves to grow by questioning why we have them in the first place and be opening to changing our minds.

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Stranger Things is a relatively new television series available only on Netflix. This show focuses around four friends and the adventure they go on when one of them goes missing. There are two different characters that I would consider to fit into abnormal grotesque. First, there is a girl who helps the boys find their friends, she has powers to talk to their missing friend. She is clearly abnormal compared to the other characters because of these powers, a government agency also knows about her and did many experiments on her to use her powers for their own good. The other abnormal character is the monster in the show. This monster is the reason the friend went missing and once everyone figures this out they try anything to capture it. This monster is shunned into another world because humans don't want to deal with it and once they are forced to, they want to kill it. The abnormal themes from this unit are seen in many of the episodes of this show.

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A movie I had seen recently on TV, a dark comedy called ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ (2006) came to my mind. On the face of it, it appears to be a road film about a dysfunctional family.
It is a satire on the unreasonable and at times even disturbing elements of beauty pageants. It deals with a family going on a road trip, to enter the youngest child, in a child beauty contest overcoming all odds including an out of condition van that they travel in and the death of the girl’s grandfather.
There are many elements of the film which emotionally shock the viewer, especially the scene when the family decides to pursue the beauty contest while the grandfather’s corpse is still in their van. Another scene at the beginning of the film that takes the audience aback is one where the family discusses the suicide attempt of the girl’s uncle at the dining table with the both the uncle and the girl (who is only 7 years old).
Over all the movie was quite interesting and it did expose the many vagaries of human societies by using satire and dark comedy very artistically.
by- Akhil Kosaraju

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Frankenstein is a classic example of the definition of the grotesque. The story of Frankenstein defines the assumptions of what most individuals describe as the grotesque. It is viewed as a scary story with elements of surprise and shock. The image itself, brings some to feel uneasy.

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One of my favorite collections of grotesque stories would be on the scp website. It's a collection of various articles that a small group of writers have come up with that cover a broad variety of genres, but they all center around the main theme of "Secure, Contain, Protect."
Each article is a made up document about how this fictional institution logs and contains various dangerous/otherworldly beings. They can range from incredibly creepy, mysterious and deadly, to absurd, adorable and endearing.
While I wouldn't say each piece individually is grotesque, many are simply horrific or fantastical, the website as a whole does essentially match my definition of grotesque due to is essentially unsettling content.

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 Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children - Caitlyn Maldonado 

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 Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children - Caitlyn Maldonado 

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This book in it's entirety is a great example of the grotesque. It is a story about an orphanage of children who have peculiarities about them. There is quite literally a door to another strange reality from the real world that makes you think and may seem frightening to some.

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The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Dani Pokora

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The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Dani Pokora

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To me, this story is the very definition of grotesque. The appearance of Quasimodo is considered visually grotesque and the story itself has grotesque elements. Even though Quasimodo is a genuinely good person, he will not have a happy ending due to his appearance. Both this fact and the appearance of Quasimodo cause disgust and astonishment.

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Small Assassin, Submitted by Sarah Woolverton-Mohler

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Small Assassin, Submitted by Sarah Woolverton-Mohler

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I read Ray Bradbury's short story, The Assassin, when I was in elementary school and was horrified by it. I immediately thought of this story when reading the pieces about the challenge of defining the grotesque because it has elements of a feeling of unease, surprise (the deadly assassin is not a professional hitman, a large carnivore, a monster, but a baby), cognitive dissonance (babies are typically seen as innocent, gentle beings who must be protected by their families and who are incapable of intentional violence, but instead, we see a baby who formulates multiple plots to kill his parents), violence, anxiety/fear about where the story is going (are the mother and father crazy?) and feelings of isolation (sharing a seemingly implausible scenario and not being believed by your loved ones). While reading this short story, the audience feels a sense of fear, anxiety, tension, disbelief and then horror at their own feelings of satisfaction when an adult tries to murder the baby at the end. (What a horrific thought!)

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This is an image that I found, (there are plenty more by this Belgium-Based couple), that definitely has elements of the grotesque. It feels to me sort of out of this world but at the same time, still grounded in reality. The figure holding the shrunken zebra has humanistic traits but is still eerily masked and anonymous. Something about their works, especially this one, just makes you feel uneasy and shaken.  Sorry, not sure why the image is coming out all enlarged.

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This painting is one that just screams grotesque. In all shapes and form. Throughout are weekly readings, many articles referred are attention to St. Anthony. When searching this, you will be come overwhelmed with multiple artistic work. If you google "Joos van Crasebeeck", you can visually see multiple forms of the grotesque.
Jessica Frampton

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Through the many years of being in theatre the idea of the some of Shakespeare's characters never came across to me as grotesque. After reading Yates it made sense though that Shakespeare did use the idea of the grotesque; Shakespeare did so by turning a man heads into a donkey. There is the sense of reality as well as whimsy, two key elements in the idea of the grotesque.
By:Sabrina LeMasurier

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The faun in the movie was not supposed to be good or evil, he is a guide that will usher the main character along. He is supposed to be neutral not caring wether the main character succeeds or not. He does this well with the way he talks but with his looks of a half man, half goat with skin like a tree he is a truly frightening character.  Throughout the movie I couldn't tell if he was a noble character to be drawn to or if I was supposed to be frightened by his grotesque looks.

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Grendel- Jack Levine                  The novel Grendel by John Gardner explores the grotesque because it teeters on the very skewed line of reality and fiction, between alienation and relatability. The protagonist, Grendel, a hairy monstrous beast with large snarling teeth, thick fur covering the entirety of his body, and remarkable strength that can destroy even the strongest of men. This seems like a fairly hard character to relate to and may strike most with horror and uncertainty. The emotions felt simply by the description of him make this beast grotesque as is, however what I found to be much more profound in the subject matter is how Gardner decided to portray Grendel, he delves into the beast's thoughts retrieving an entirely human mind. He describes real emotion, thoughts, and even a fully formed relationship Grendel has with his mother. To me, taking this terrifying beast and bringing a relatable human aspect to him is what made this novel grotesque. 

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Grendel- Jack Levine                  The novel Grendel by John Gardner explores the grotesque because it teeters on the very skewed line of reality and fiction, between alienation and relatability. The protagonist, Grendel, a hairy monstrous beast with large snarling teeth, thick fur covering the entirety of his body, and remarkable strength that can destroy even the strongest of men. This seems like a fairly hard character to relate to and may strike most with horror and uncertainty. The emotions felt simply by the description of him make this beast grotesque as is, however what I found to be much more profound in the subject matter is how Gardner decided to portray Grendel, he delves into the beast's thoughts retrieving an entirely human mind. He describes real emotion, thoughts, and even a fully formed relationship Grendel has with his mother. To me, taking this terrifying beast and bringing a relatable human aspect to him is what made this novel grotesque. 

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This piece is titled "The Face of War" and was painted by Salvador Dali. This painting distorts features of humanity and nature into one disturbing image. It implores the viewer to consider the grotesque reality of violence and conflict. Personally, this image instills a since of fear in me largely because it depicts human suffering and natural disaster. While some romanticize the glory of war, this piece attempts to give war an actual "face" to demonstrate the reality of fear, pain, and emptiness that is experienced from violent conflict. While this face has no eyes and speaks no words, it forces the viewer to look introspectively at the reality of events that make us uncomfortable because they are, in fact, grotesque.

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They represent reality by depicting the female and male body in a way that is not true to the human form. Harpharm says, “the familiar and the commonplace must be suddenly subverted” (p.462). It is a distortion of how the female and male body actually looks. I think it could be a form of grotesqueness how children and people idolize this form of an unobtainable human body. Is it grotesque that the Barbie does not even represent the anatomical human body? Is it grotesque how we sexualize the Barbie? Is it grotesque that people will change their looks to look like a Barbie? I find the Barbie to be interesting in how it is a popular item for children to play with daily, yet grotesque.

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This piece from Deviant Art by Frank-Lode has many elements of the grotesque that we have looked at. It has features of the familiar in the face but it is distorted by the roots of the trees. It also plays on fear. The idea of walking through a dense forest and seeing shapes that seem almost human in the shadows. It is this fear that makes this piece appealing to me. It gives an image of the uneasiness I have felt while hiking in the forest.

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American Horror Story- Amanda Castanuela

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American Horror Story- Amanda Castanuela

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Yates writes that, "When we encounter the grotesque, we are caught off guard, we are shaken and surprised, we have a sense of being played with...It evokes a range of feelings of uneasiness, fear, repulsion, delight, amusement...it elicits from us a paradoxical response," (Yates, 2). With each definition of the grotesque there is a mention that although it can be strange and feel weird people are drawn to it for some reason. No matter if it is because an individual is excited by it or scared  by it, that person is attracted to it. I find this very prevalent with American Horror Story, this is an extremely popular television show that focuses on a different theme in each season and each theme is grotesque in some way. There have been themes like murder house, asylum, coven, and freak show. Even the titles elicit a feeling that can be related the the grotesque without even knowing what happens in the show. This show plays on many feelings that are related to the grotesque definitions that many of the authors mentioned such as uneasiness, fear and delight.

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The Scream by Edvard Munch touches on so many elements of the grotesque which we have read thus far.  There is the obvious distortion of reality, abnormality of form, and the generalized look of horror on the character's face.  This is however considered one of the most beautiful pieces of expressionism known.  Can something be truly beautiful, by standard convention, and grotesque in the same light?  As well, you might even say that grotesque sums of money have paid for this piece, and grotesque acts of illegality have been committed to obtain it as well.  This piece is grotesque in exaggeration, in form, in beauty, in cost and ever so much more.