Monstrology

Monstrology is an interdisciplinary field that studies monsters as cultural, literary, and mythic phenomena. It investigates how monsters are constructed, represented, and interpreted across cultures and media, and what they reveal about human fears, values, and social dynamics. The field encompasses the classification of monstrous beings, their symbolic significance, and their functions within narratives, ritual contexts, and popular culture. Researchers draw on folklore studies, anthropology, literary theory, art history, theology, film and media studies, and, when relevant, anatomy and zoological concepts to analyze imaginary or legendary creatures such as dragons, vampires, werewolves, as well as modern or invented monsters.

Methods include comparative analysis of textual and visual sources, iconographic study, fieldwork with communities where monsters feature in tradition, and analyses of representation in novels, comics, films, games, and museums. Classification schemes may organize monsters by origin (mythic, supernatural, posthuman), habitat, behavior, or narrative function, though authors often emphasize fluid boundaries between categories.

Historically, monstrology grew out of medieval bestiaries and Enlightenment natural philosophy before expanding with 20th-century literary and cultural studies. In contemporary scholarship, the field examines monsters as social constructs that negotiate power, persecution, otherness, and taboo, as well as entertaining figures in entertainment media. Critics caution against essentialist taxonomies and argue for attention to context, variation, and audience reception. Monstrology remains closely related to folklore, mythology studies, and to some extent cryptozoology, while maintaining a distinct emphasis on interpretation and cultural meaning rather than empirical biology.