okay, the headline may be a bit OTT – and the chain of thought (“reasoning” is too strong a word) that leads to my question – “Is the trope of “Humans Are the Real Monsters” harmful to our society?” – may be a bit dodgy ... but i’ll let you be the judge
i recently read this article: 8 things about Lord of the Flies you didn’t learn in high school – and it reminded me of when i read LotF in high school – our teacher’s take on the story was a little different to that described in the article[1] – sure, the message was still along the lines of “people are monsters”, but our teacher pointed to Golding’s Catholicism and the idea of “original sin” – that we are all born corrupt (and this was in a secular, government school!)
okay – at the time i found this take more-or-less “reasonable” – not the “people are monsters” thing, but the idea that this was what Golding was trying to say ... i mean, it’s what our teacher told us, so who was i to argue?
but now, i find the article’s position – that LotF was a parody of the “Boys’ Own Adventure” style stories popular at the time, as well as a broader satire of the British upper class – far more believable than whatever variation of the Standard Reading we were taught in school
the article touches upon the real-life LotF event that was far different to Golding’s story – IRL, six boys from Tonga survived on an island for over a year before they were rescued – maintaining their fire and even setting a fracture when one of the kids broke an arm – all the while managing not to become some weird death cult – which sounds lovely, but doesn’t sound very cinematic
because cinema, we are told, requires constant conflict – and a bunch of kids getting on with the day-to-day slog of survival while dealing with their (relatively) minor interpersonal conflicts would soon become a yawn
a writer dealing with the above premise, would either need to invent a series of new, external conflicts – storms, wild boars, the island becoming a volcano, etcetera – or, they could simply fall back upon the old trope of, “Humans Are the Real Monsters”[2] – and so have the kids fight amongst themselves or, have outsiders visit the island who (naturally!) just happen to be “monsters”[3]
now storms, volcanos, and even wild boars, are not cheap – and some of these may even, depending on the setup, appear a bit unbelievable – like, what are the chances that the island the kids are marooned upon, just happens to be a dormant volcano?
but people being arseholes, behaving like monsters? – sure we can all buy into that! – if not from our day-to-day lives, then certainly by the stories we consume – be it news (if it bleeds, it leads) to entertainment (from traditional, fictional narratives to “reality shows” which are cast specifically to create conflict)[4]
trying to write something full of drama and stakes without the “Humans Are the Real Monsters” trope is really, really hard
say you have this brilliant premise, like, ahhh ... one day, all the world’s electric toasters become sentient, seize control of the electrical grid and plunge the world into chaos!!!
genius, right?! – but then you’re slogging through the second act and things start becoming a bit too repetitive – what to do? what to do? what to do?
easy! – just introduce some humans who behave like “monsters” – y’know the type, humans who are paranoid and aggressive and dangerous and (usually) nonsensically self-destructive – problem solved!
of course, you may want to provide some semblance of a rationale for why these humans are “monsters” or at least, behaving like monsters – but there’s no need to try too hard, because the assumption is that audiences already understand, “Humans Are the Real Monsters”
now i’m not saying these humans don’t exist (Exhibit A: The World Today), but they are far more prevalent in fiction than they are in reality – we knows this, because, as bad as The World Today is, we understand that it would be far, far worse if “Humans Are the Real Monsters” were the rule, rather than the exception
sure there are “types” of human who are more prone to behaving like monsters than others ... nazis, billionaires, TV evangelists and so on – but these “types” are not the common people that are often called upon to be the face of the “Humans Are the Real Monsters” trope
i was mulling this over when i was reminded of a conversation about how people of certain age are so easily hoodwinked by online scammers – people who grew up at a time when, if they were in need of assistance, would think nothing of going to the nearest Gothic mansion on a hill and ask to use the phone – or conversely, wouldn’t hesitate to offer a stranger and his chainsaw a lift to the next town ... the sort of people who would’ve told their children, “If you need help, just go ask an adult.”
this world was not that long ago – i’m sure that most of my peers were given the same advice as me, and were told to “go ask an adult” ... something that today, sounds dangerously irresponsible
which got me thinking, when did this idea that “Humans Are the Real Monsters” come into being?
based on my admittedly limited grasp of the history of cinema, literature, and so on – i’d guess the trope began its rise during the Cold War – the same period when LotF was first published (1954)
WW2 and the horrors it brought certainly played a part – evidence that “normal people” could, if not actually commit, then at least condone, truly monstrous things – no doubt shook the public psyche
but the ongoing growth and longevity of this trope suggests that there’s more to it – below are are a few ideas that attempt to explain why the “Humans Are the Real Monsters” (HARM) trope is so ubiquitous in screen storytelling:
• as mentioned earlier, the HARM trope is often easier to write – strangely, audiences will accept the most baffling behaviour by other humans[5], but will expect a detailed rationale for why the giant ants are rising up against us
• also, as mentioned, the HARM trope is often cheaper to produce – it’s much less costly to have two groups of humans punching-on, than to have humans battling giant ants (or even zombies, as season after season after season of The Walking Dead has clearly demonstrated)
• the HARM trope helps to atomise society, ensuring that The Powers That Be (TPTB) face little likelihood of a coordinated pushback against their many and varied depravations
• the HARM trope helps conceal the true nature of the issues facing us – if audiences accept that “Human’s Are the Real Monsters” is the answer – then their response to various outrages will tend towards a world-weary shrug and a, “eh, whaddaya gonna do?” – a far more preferable response for TPTB than having people stop and actually examine the systemic mechanisms that drive humans to behave in such a monstery fashion
now you’ll notice that the first two “explanations” are relatively pragmatic showbiz solutions to telling a story on screen ... and that the second two “explanations” lean more towards the tinfoil-hat end of the spectrum with their suggestion that TPTB, if not explicitly championing the HARM trope, are at least happily benefiting from its widespread use[6]
which brings me to the question – irrespective of whether or not the HARM trope is some nefarious society-hacking scheme by TPTB or not:
Is the use of the HARM trope detrimental to our society?
no need to answer right away – have a think on it – or not
finally, i’ll leave you with this quote from renowned sci-fi and fantasy novelist, Ursula K. Le Guin – while not directly related to the question above, it does address one aspect of it – the “requirement” that stories have (interpersonal) conflict[7]:
“Well, to preach that story is conflict, always to ask ‘where’s the conflict in your story?’ – this needs some thinking about. If you say that story is about conflict, that plot must be based on conflict, you’re limiting your view of the world severely. And in a sense making a political statement: that life is conflict, so in stories conflict is all that really matters. This is simply untrue. To see life as a battle is a narrow, Social-Darwinist view, and a very masculine one. Conflict, of course, is part of life, I’m not saying you should try to keep it out of your stories, just that it’s not their only lifeblood. Stories are about a lot of different things.”
– Ursula K. Le Guin
[1] holy shit! – i just realised that i actually remembered something from high school English! ... wow, i wonder if any other “learnings” will resurface over time
[2] fyi: my take on the trope is a little different to the description given on the site TVtropes – as per my LotF example, i don’t think you actually need aliens, giant bugs, zombies or rampaging robots for the underlying concept of the trope to apply – you just need a BIG PROBLEM that is complicated and/or made worse by humans “behaving like monsters” – i.e. filling the role of an(other) implacable and unreasoning antagonist
[3] Gilligan’s Island Syndrome – in the beloved 60s sitcom about marooned castaways, on the few occasions where outsiders actually visited the island, they were always “monsters” who refused, for one reason or another, to help the castaways escape the island – sure, it was a silly sitcom with coconut-powered radios and such – but the point is, the writers, even then, fell back on a version of the “humans are the real monsters” trope to make their job easier
[4] if any producer for an international streaming service is reading this and is interested in a global event “reality show” idea that can only be done once ... drop me a line
[5] like, why in the James Bond franchise, are Blofeld’s employees so willing to fight to the death? – what’s their motivation? – i mean, they may all have “very good” reasons for putting their lives on the line (mass brainwashing?), but these reasons have never been explained
[6] okay, there’s another reason why the HARM trope maybe getting the play it does – the belief that it reflects the real world – that writers who use the HARM trope are being honest (brave, even) by injecting a harsh dose of reality into their fictions – i don’t believe it’s true, but these writers may actually believe it is true ... and for that, i feel sorry for them
[7] yes, i do understand that screen and text narratives have different strengths and weaknesses which may account for the HARM trope’s current “popularity” in screen entertainment