Beautiful Monsters

Penny Dreadful is a beautiful, Gothic masterpiece. Until it appeared, I forgot how much I loved good vampire fiction, so I am reading as much of it as I can this year, or books with faeries rooted in the original folklore. After all, fairies, vampires, angels, they are all pretty much the same thing. Monsters. The Uncanny. And yes, The Dead. It's no secret that I prefer Monsters to the serial killer folks out there. Serial killers and related murderers are not really evil in the sense of Monster evil, they are part of human psychopathology, which is grounded in mental disease. Monsters, on the other hand, are not human. They reflect the shadow world of our fears. It's a whole new ball game.

On Penny Dreadful, there was a character named Fenton, a Renfield-like character, serving his Master, the powerful Vampire/Dark God. I found Fenton absolutely gorgeous, and the casting of Olly Alexander worked perfectly. Isn't he a beautiful Monster? Of course, he is.  I was so disappointed when he died. I believe he could have had a much longer character arc.

There is something appealing to me about the Fentons of dark fiction, the young, vulnerable, partly human Monsters who are caught between worlds. You ache for them, understand them, in a way you cannot let yourself care for the others. You know they are doomed, too, which makes it worse. I am sure there is a whole Jungian element to loving these beautiful, young, carefree Monsters whose fates are sealed the moment they are chosen. Maybe it's the fact that most of these Monsters are chosen and do not really choose. Maybe it is their youth and vulnerability. I don't know. Must think about it.