Monsters as People: Subversions of the Inhuman and Queerness

This thesis takes the form of a nonfiction graphic novel to analyze how ideas about monsters are subverted in DreamWorks’s How to Train Your Dragon and Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water, and how these subversions are queer acts. Both of these movies initially introduce the inhuman as something to fear, but later deliver messages of empathy and respect as the protagonists learn to communicate with and befriend the inhuman. Interestingly enough, these movies present contrasting opinions on whether monsters should be integrated into society or remain outcast; How to Train Your Dragon shows a society where dragons become normalized by the end and argues for the integration of monsters into society. Conversely, The Shape of Water concludes with the protagonist Elisa escaping society with the Amphibian Man, therefore arguing that the monstrous is to be kept separate from society at large. The act of personifying monsters elevates them to the same level of respect as humans. I maintain that the personification of monsters queers the definition of both person- and monsterhood by blurring the distinctions between the two. This is important because it allows humans to recognize not just the humanity of monsters, but the monstrosity in ourselves.