# Rooting for the Monster in movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 16, 2017, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145 "2017-06-16T21:56:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/1 "2017-06-16T21:56:05Z")
Ever find yourself rooting for the monster when the hero(s) isn’t an ass? I watched _The Shallows_ a couple of days ago and realized I was rooting for the shark. Other than going to an unknown beach alone, the girl didn’t do anything particularly wrong. Even that doesn’t deserve being eaten. The movie sucks by the way. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/2 "2017-06-16T22:05:38Z")
Does thinking it was OK Hannibal Lector got the chief Psychologist count? Or is that just a matter of an asshole victim getting it? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/3 "2017-06-16T22:13:25Z")
Ray Harryhousen’s _20 Million Miles to Earth_ presents the monster in a pretty sympathetic light. You understand why the heroes do what they do, and you understand why the monster does what he does. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/4 "2017-06-16T22:20:49Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Does thinking it was OK Hannibal Lector got the chief Psychologist count? Or is that just a matter of an asshole victim getting it? That Dr. kind of earned it, so I don’t mind Hannibal getting him. I was imagining wanting Michael Myers to kill Laurie Strode. > [@mbh](#): > > Ray Harryhousen’s _20 Million Miles to Earth_ presents the monster in a pretty sympathetic light. You understand why the heroes do what they do, and you understand why the monster does what he does. Funnily enough, I watched recently also. I understand the Venusian and sympathize but I didn’t want him to win. I didn’t want it to die either, so that is closer to my thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/5 "2017-06-16T22:33:10Z")
I was rooting for most of the dinosaurs in _Jurassic Park,_ especially when those two annoying children got trapped in the kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/6 "2017-06-16T23:56:17Z")
Who doesn’t root for the monster? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/7 "2017-06-17T00:34:33Z")
Lake Placid had a character do it in universe. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/8 "2017-06-17T00:43:35Z")
When the Martians appeared on-stage next to Tom Jones (replacing his dancers) in Mars Attacks I was cheering so enthusiastically that the people in the theater started laughing at me rather than at the movie. And, of course, part of the gag is that Tom is one of the main survivors, singing away at the end. –G! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/9 "2017-06-17T00:47:00Z")
I always root for Godzilla\* and King Kong. Also Frankenstein and the Wolfman. \*Real Godzillas, not that stupid Matthew Broderick lizard. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/10 "2017-06-17T00:50:48Z")
Kong, in all three versions; The Frankenstein monster, even though I knew how it would come out; The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. I wanted Dr. Jekyll to get better, despite knowing he that one turned out as well; Eric the Phantom of the Opera. The Hunchback of Notre Dame-- and when I read it, I was glad the movie hadn’t ended like the book. Norman Bates, even though I had a sneaking suspicion he was a serial killer. I’m sure I’ll come up with more. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/11 "2017-06-17T12:43:42Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > Who doesn’t root for the monster? Including C.H.U.D.s? Chet after Lisa transformed him? The Blob? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/12 "2017-06-17T13:06:25Z")
King Kong is the classic example of this. Director Merian C. Cooper brushed off suggestions to make Kong more human, or to moderate his brutal behavior. “Before I’m finished,” he is supposed to have said, “they’ll be crying for him.” He was right, too – people sympathize with Kong, ripped from his native habitat and fighting back as best he knows. as far as I know, he’s the first movie monster consciously treated that way, although his predecessors in film (the brontosaur in the silent _The Lost World_ and the titular _Giant Pet_ in Winsor McKay’s early silent cartoon of that name) shared the same situation, if not the more human construction of Kong. It was a lot easier for **Mighty Joe Young** to be sympathetic. His film was made by the same crew that made Kong, but Joe was smaller and didn’t kill anybody. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/13 "2017-06-17T13:45:54Z")
Alien, Aliens, and Alien3, I pretty much rotted for the humans. Everything else? I root for the Xenomorphs. Watching Starship Troopers, I root for the bugs, because humanity has devolved so much that they’ve forgotten basic infantry tactics. Super8; after what the government did to the alien (monster), I was all Team Monster. ---
**Author:** ![Flare4roach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7cd45c/32.png) [@Flare4roach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flare4roach)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/14 "2017-06-17T13:49:58Z")
I think this premise was one of the reasons for the success of Karloff’s “Frankenstein”. Who couldn’t sympathize with him? He was a simple being who only wanted kindness and companionship but was chased down, beaten, chained and tortured at every step. Karloff expressed this confusion of humanity with his eyes and pleading hands. It broke my heart as an 8 year old kid and still evokes those strings today. Remember him playing with the little girl? Smoking a cigar? He just wanted friendship. I think this film and “The Bride of Frankenstein” are masterpieces because of that very reason. The creature had human feelings. I think Hollywood abandoned Frankenstein’s humanity in the remaining films and chose to ride out the creature as more of a monster than human and they suffer because of it. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/15 "2017-06-17T14:00:43Z")
**Splice** Also, that lady in the first couple of seasons of True Blood that derived all her powers from people partying and having sex. Can’t remember her name but I hatred seeing her die. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/16 "2017-06-17T15:37:18Z")
**Alien** Everyone on the ship (as well as the entire society it showed) was a complete moron. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/17 "2017-06-17T15:50:57Z")
There’s this found footage killer Bigfoot movie, [Exists](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNKqNBey9MQ). Not as bad as it sounds, really. Anyway, the characters were just average- not geniuses, but not completely stupid either. And the bigfoot is more of an unseen presence looming in the dark- but at some point, I was _“you know, dude, I get that you’re fighting for your life and all, but could you be more careful and try to avoid harming him in your escape attempts? this is a seriously endangered species you’re dealing with.”_ ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/18 "2017-06-17T18:40:58Z")
I felt sorry for the robotic girls in Cherry 2000. And I Rooted for The Amazon Women On The Moon. I guess its all in the terminology. We call them monsters if they are perceived as bad guys. Nobody called LeeLoo a monster. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/19 "2017-06-17T19:07:18Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > Alien, Aliens, and Alien3, I pretty much rotted for the humans. Everything else? I root for the Xenomorphs. > Watching Starship Troopers, I root for the bugs, because humanity has devolved so much that they’ve forgotten basic infantry tactics. > Super8; after what the government did to the alien (monster), I was all Team Monster. I definetly was rooting for E.T.'s big brother, which is how I thought of that creature on Super8 though I never thought of it as a monster. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145/20 "2017-06-17T21:12:50Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > \*Real Godzillas, not that stupid Matthew Broderick lizard. Funnily enough, I’ve heard nothing but praise for the animated series follow up. Apparently even the Japanese producers loved the take. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rooting-for-the-monster-in-movies/789145.md?page=2)