An important aspect of awe that I think we may not be paying close enough attention to is terror. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which I studied in a British Literary course, deeply explores terror as it tells the story of Victor Frankenstein's monstrous, quasi-human creation. Most often, we read of Frankenstein's horror at the being of his creation. It is interesting because Frankenstein devotes roughly two years to creating the monster (unintended to be a monster, but a monster nonetheless), passionate and obsessed with the work all the while, until he finally finishes and immediately responds with abhorrence:
"I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.
How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!--Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath... I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room" (Chapter 5).
So in this case, the cause of awe is presumably a combination of the ugliness of the creature and Frankenstein's ability to create such a hideous thing. It's in seeing an atrocious mockery of something pleasing, natural, and symmetrical (the human body). It's a perversion, and it catches us off guard.
I know Erin is looking into terror and wrote a post called The Technological Terror where she explores how photography has developed with new technology. In it, she mentions how the development of technology is tied to a fear of us becoming more distant from nature, and that there is a terror to that. I would like to add that I think a huge part of terror in photography technology is in the experience of seeing something similar to what we're accustomed to, but perverted in such a way that it almost horrifies us. Photoshop's ability to grossly alter the appearance of the body is often an example of this sort of horrific experience.
So in this case, the cause of awe is presumably a combination of the ugliness of the creature and Frankenstein's ability to create such a hideous thing. It's in seeing an atrocious mockery of something pleasing, natural, and symmetrical (the human body). It's a perversion, and it catches us off guard.
I know Erin is looking into terror and wrote a post called The Technological Terror where she explores how photography has developed with new technology. In it, she mentions how the development of technology is tied to a fear of us becoming more distant from nature, and that there is a terror to that. I would like to add that I think a huge part of terror in photography technology is in the experience of seeing something similar to what we're accustomed to, but perverted in such a way that it almost horrifies us. Photoshop's ability to grossly alter the appearance of the body is often an example of this sort of horrific experience.
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