What makes a monster? This idea has been something that I have struggled the most with as I continue to create 'Meryl'. While being advised to perhaps not create a proper monster but instead of something with monstrous aspects, my research has led me to do quite the opposite. Monsters are incredibly important when looking at the social anxieties and what they can represent. In the medieval and Gothic context, their social significance is to warn and to 'images that embody the cultural or psychological characteristics that we as a society find difficult to acknowledge' (Lawrence).
However, as society progresses the monster often is coded through ways that while it does portray the social anxieties of a certain era, it also becomes a creature that can be related to.
Lindsey Ellis hits the nail on the head when discussing monsters in reference to Del Toro's Shape of Water, saying, 'Shape of Water takes the monster movie in a new direction, conceding that, 'hey- maybe the maiden isn't that terrified of being carried off by the fish-man, maybe she relates to the fish-man, maybe the fish-man is lonely like she is, maybe the fish-man is treated the same way that you- a woman or disabled or gay man or person of colour in your unfair era feel treated by society'.
This is what I want to embody. The character Meryl is a metaphor, and they represent what communities often attempt to hide away. The metaphor is strengthened through the look that Meryl will be given. I aim to play around with special effects makeup and create half a face made of unnatural skin, be it paper or a different material. While it may not be overtly 'monstrous', it will still create a strange, uncanny person that does not quite into a community.
While Meryl is a monster, it does not mean that Meryl is evil or the villain of the story. It just means that they are treated unfairly and differently, and while this may not be shown in the film, I will show the outcome of this and the isolation that Meryl puts themself in as a result of this.