Thanks to the critical and commercial success of The Shape of Water as well as the huge boom of self-published creature-based erotica, monsters and romance have been a major topic of discussion lately. The world has once again discovered what so many of us have always known: some people dig the big, the bad, and the beastly. So many monster movies of the past, like King Kong or The Creature From the Black Lagoon, involved an element of sexual danger. The monster is a threat to the beautiful blonde heroine….or is it? These creatures are drawn to the ingenue, often to their own destruction. Every once in a while, though, those beautiful heroines love them back. To some, it’s a mystery how beauty can learn to love a beast, but when you put aside the fur and the fangs, I don’t think we’re so different.
Power dynamics are a huge part of so many romance stories, whether we acknowledge them or not. If we didn’t enjoy power dynamics, there would be no dukes falling in love with penniless maidens, no billionaires romancing their spunky secretaries. When one (or more…) of the romantic leads is a monster, that turns a certain amount of that power differential into a question of physical danger. Instead of the social power that most male romantic leads wield, the monster man has physical power. He may bite. (At least, I hope he will…) The idea of a “bad boy” or “alpha male” type is so popular in romance, and I just really have a hard time suspending my disbelief enough to be interested in a romantic lead who’s kind of a jerk. I always end up going, “girl, you deserve so much better than him,” and yet, I’m totally okay with my heroines falling in love with a guy who might literally eat her. It seems contradictory at first, but it’s important to me that there’s a level of respect between romantic partners, even in fiction. A monster gives me that edge of a threat that some people like to get from a bad boy with a potential for physical damage instead of emotional suffering.
In addition to that delicious hint of danger, one of the elements that has always drawn me to monster love stories is the way they play with attraction that’s outside the norm. Whether he’s an incredibly sexy vampire with those unfortunate fangs or a full-on fish creature, a monster man usually has something about him that doesn’t fit into our society’s model for an attractive man. Sure, sometimes that turns out more hilarious than sexy (i.e. Edward Cullen’s “This is the skin of a killer!”), but on the whole, it’s one of my favorite tropes. As someone who falls a little more on the “unconventional” side of beauty myself, it feels good for a story to say that you can be unconventional, unusual, or even downright unearthly and still be attractive, still be loved.
I can think of no better way to leave you than with a few of my personal favorite sexy monsters. Read on and enjoy, my fellow weirdos. Read on.