Monsters in Literature and Film (ARB-0130)

Spring 2026 · ARB 0130 · Tufts University · 3 credits · Undergraduate

Monsters embody collective cultural anxieties and fears, mark and overstep the boundaries of social normativity, and offer narrative and metaphorical avenues of literary and filmic revolt. Mermaids, Frankenstein’s monsters, and Jinn as monsters that probe rapidly-shifting artistic, political, and social realities. The meaning of monstrosity engages the themes of modernity; war; dictatorship; revolution; decolonization; Islamic and secular feminisms; and questions of gender. The current resurgence of monsters in contemporary cultural production raises questions of queer body politics; literature of disability; and the meaning of citizenship in an age of global migration. Literature and film as parts of a transnational network, without sacrificing cultural specificity.

Course codes: ARB-0130, ARB 0130, ARB0130, ARB-130, ARB 130, ARB130, ILVS-0130, ILVS 0130, ILVS0130, ILVS-130, ILVS 130, ILVS130, ILCS-0161, ILCS 0161, ILCS0161, ILCS-161, ILCS 161, ILCS161

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