Are Monster Kids Normal?

In the days before VHS and DVD's, we collected
Super8 versions of our favorite monster films .

As I mentioned before, my father took a dim view of my hobby. He couldn't as well as wouldn't attempt to understand why I was so incredibly fascinated with books and movies that dealt with the macabre or creatures from another world. For many years he would ask in a loud tone of voice, aching with disapproval," Why can't you be normal?" Which of course, makes me ponder the concept of normal.

You see, the word fan is derived from fanatic meaning : A person marked or motivated by an extreme,unreasoning enthusiasm,as for a cause. So when you see grown men at a football game, their faces and torso's painted to reflect the colors of their favorite team as they dance and holler
(after hoisting a few brews) like a bunch of yahoo's; they're  fanatics or fans for short. To my Dad, that was perfectly acceptable. In others words: his version of normal.

 When I was either eleven or twelve, Sister Florence Joseph,who knew of my lack of interest in sports, was my teacher in Parochial school  and was of the opinion that any normal red blooded American boy should be eager to engage in athletics. She convinced my parents  that enrolling me in Saturday Basket Ball practice would somehow, some way, imbue in me a love of  sports. Nice try people. Wasn't going to happen. So for the next bunch of Saturdays I attended basketball practice with  the same enthusiasm as if I'd stayed home and spent the day polishing the silverware. I spent more time talking with the coaches sons, who were watching the rest of us playing basketball, than I did spending quality time with an actual basketball.

Now here's the kicker: at the end of the school year, yours truly, and remember I showed little to no interest in basketball practice, was invited to a Sports Banquet! The other boys in my class who actually participated in the basketball ritual were God smacked. Several of them voiced their discontent to Sister Florence Joseph. One kid stated," All Joe ever did was sit around and talk. He never played basketball with us." But she was adamant; I was invited to the sports banquet and that was that. Perhaps the she felt that my attending a sports banquet would maybe, might, perhaps bring out a deep down, suppressed interest in sports that dwelled within  me after all. That poor, misguided woman.

My interest in the Banquet was so minimal that I told my parents about it the day I was to go. Boy, were they mad at me. But I got dressed up and was carted off to an event that included overcooked roast beef and an amateur, cut rate magician(probably the husband of one of the teachers) who valiantly struggled to perform his magic act before an obviously unimpressed audience. There was  a flurry of polite applause at the end of his so called act. After the dismal affair ended,  my  mom picked me up and took me back home. Basically, all I got out of that damned evening was a bland dinner and the antics of a piss poor magician. Ah, memories.

As long as we're talking about normal hobbies and interests, is someone who collects monster movie memorabilia and enjoys watching horror and science-fiction movies any less normal that the person who collects football cards, tacks up pictures of his favorites players on the wall of his bedroom and can rattle off a litany of football stats of his favorite team? Not in my book it isn't. A fan is a fan,no matter what his or her passion happens to be. As I like to say:whatever revs your engine.

And every hobby has it own special culture. Back in the day, when every Sunday Newspaper contained a TV supplement for the week, I would go to the movie listings and mark off all of the horror/science fiction films with a pen. I knew I couldn't possibly see them all, but I saw as many as I was able to. Years later, when I shared an apartment with my friend Larry, he noticed one Sunday that I was circling the horror/ science-fiction films that were on TV that week. He asked me why I wasn't circling any comedies or dramas. I said something like, " Because I know there's always a comedy or drama showing on TV." I don't know why, but I couldn't verbalize at the time that to me horror and science-fiction movies were something special. It's also a part of the culture,because I knew other horror and science-fiction fans who performed that very same ritual every Sunday.

So whether you  collect elephant figurines and have voraciously read any and all books on the subject,or have obtained every record of your favorite band and can tell anyone who will listen the entire history of of each of the members, or like myself, someone with an appreciation of the horror/science-fiction genre; then you're a fan. And everyone should be passionate about something; it makes life interesting.

In the 1960's and the 1970's there was a plethora of monster goodies that we Monster Kids has to choose from.