Humes Fall 2026 "Monsters" Readings

Surekha Davies- Monstrification

Mary Shelley- Frankenstein

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Julia Kristeva- Approaching Abjection

Dan Sinykin and Johanna Winant, “Introduction” from Close Reading in the Twenty-First Century

• Pyramid of organizing information/analysis

• You should note if you think you have a claim and it is ok to not know your full thoughts on it yet

Karel Čapek- R.U.R

• Playing God

• What is better? Old Rossum vs New Rossum- what do you prioritize/seek in a robot/ labor/assistance or AI/modeling humanity

• New Rossum removed emotions, while Domin added them and Gall enhanced emotions

• Difference in Rossums’ motivations (which one is sinister)

• Think about/recognize the implications of your creation

• Current factory workers don’t know how to create robots —> Should we create technology that we ourselves do not know the full inner workings of

• Theme of love w/ robots in love and recognizing this Adam and Eve

Tobias Higbie- Why Do Robots Rebel? The Labor History of a Cultural Icon

• Robot doesn’t have to be a machine, but is just a human that is conditioned to do the same thing over and over again

• Speaks of class divides and how government uses that as a tool to keep people subservient

• Easier to associate robot w/ mechanical device amidst job takeovers/pressures

• Working class people become closer to machines than people

• Diff ppl of diff backgrounds view the RUR robots differently

Ruha Benjamin- Coded Exposure

• Emphasizes that technology is not necessarily a step forward but also perpetuates stereotypes in society

• Scopic vulnerability- the risks, harms, and exposure that come with the act of being seen or viewed by others (ex. facial recognition exacerbates racism by baseline tracking/automated bias)

• Different examples of evidence to show how different technologies lead to similar themes/results

• Who is responsible when the algorithm discriminates? Users? Programmers?

• People fail to eliminate that bias

• Camera can be subjective/has bias; isn’t just capturing something

Curt Leviant- “Introduction” from The Golem and the Wondrous Deeds of the Maharal of Prague, by Yudl Rosenberg

• How Golem was originally destroyed

• Original ways of animation/science behind creating the golem, signifies man made humans

• Origins of Golem story explained that Golem was meant to assist w/ labor, not just protection

• List of qualifications for Golem (refer back to Plenary slides)

Paul Wegener- The Golem: How He Came into the World (1920)

• Golem was made for protection/fill a gap humans had in existing- distinct from other creatures/robots

• Golem was not meant to reinvent the wheel (ex. not a new development in science) but for safety

• Golem is more tied to religion/mythology/Jewish folkore than scientific development

• Unmanageable monster idea- monster is created for a purpose and then there is a shift in control ex. Golem turns on creator

Scenes

• Little girl at the end takes the amulet from Golem’s chest, returning him to dust as he fulfilled his purpose

Mark Fisher-”Approaching the Eerie” from The Weird and the Eerie

• Eerie- absence where there should be a presence and presence where there should be an absence

• Eerie could come from not knowing a situation/fact/not being fully aware at all times

• When knowledge is achieved, the eerie disappears

• Weird- presence of that which does not belong (ex. an object)

Black Mirror- “Be Right Back” (Season 2, Episode 1, 2013)

• Avoidance of grief (ex. Ash’s mother w/ pictures of Ash’s brother, Martha uses AI as a quick fix)

• How desperation drives us to insanity/irrational decisions

• What does Martha want? She doesn’t want Ash to be perfect, she wants a human being

Key scenes

• Martha places Ash in the attic, connects to idea that Ash’s brother was placed in the attic by their mother which upset him

• Martha’s daughter does not call AI Ash “Dad”, but instead calls him Ash; could signify that she does not want her daughter to think AI Ash is her father

Ryan Coogler- Sinners

• Music as a form of power and resistance

• Music was created by Black culture, not something imposed

• Religion is used against Black ppl; justifies oppression and also a liberation

• Community building ex. Juke Joint and that community is very controlled (must be let in) —> cult like perception where devil arrives but in reality, is a result of exclusion

• Difference/double of church vs Juke Joint spirits are invoked at both but different connotations

Frantz Fanon- The Lived Experience of the Black Man

• Bc of French translation, it made it difficult to differentiate Fanon’s personal experience from references

• Black body is something imposed on

• Black man’s socialization- treatment based on race

• Inability to separate yourself from who you are and what the world is'; unable to see yourself properly

• Relates to double consciousness

W. E. B. Du Bois- Jesus Christ in Texas

• Religion plays a large role in creating a contradiction within discrimination ex. love thy neighbor

• Connects to Monstrification; oftentimes in religion, figures are not human and this is used as a justification in forming beliefs

• Only ppl who recognized/accepted him as Jesus were the black servant and little girl

• Ending w/ comparison and juxtaposition of crucifixion and lynching

Jerry Rafiki Jenkins- The Monsters of White Rage

• American dream in its tenant is not available to white ppl

• White rage or monsters come out when black ppl are successful

• Racism is very capitalist

• Dichotomy of systemic power being fought but also, white ppl keep Black ppl at the bottom

• If Black ppl succeed, it directly harms white ppl

Kimberly Belflower- John Proctor Is the Villain