The state of the state of emergency: Life under alien occupation in gareth edwards' monsters

초록

Unlike the post-9/11 giant creature films it references, Gareth Edwards' Monsters (2010) replaces the military spectacle of the alien invasion with an examination of life under alien occupation. With various visual and narrative strategies - relegating the alien creatures to the background, retaining their mystery and sublimity, and constantly redefining their figurative significance - Monsters expands the range of allegorical possibilities for the giant creature film. Like in few other texts from the same historical period, this expansion aligns the film to the reality of the Bush administration's decree that the socalled 'war on terror' would know neither temporal nor geographic boundaries. A decade after the traumatic events of September 11, 2001, the film accounts for the loss of historical immediacy and the shifting of historical priorities in ways that uncouple the subgenre from its militaristic overtones. Its status as the first film of its kind about alien occupation rather than alien invasion promises a significant paradigm shift within the post-9/11 discourse.