Connections between man, dog and werewolf (capstone)

There are so many stories and back and froths on which truths are the true facts about werewolves. I think that my topic is one I have never really stopped to consider. The idea that humans domestic dogs and some breeds are very close to the wolf bloodline. Meaning that when it comes to the dogs being animals that we can control, there is no need to stress because we know that if there are issues then the situations can be handled. However, as soon as we think about a person transitioning from being a human to being part wolf the standards of acceptance suddenly change. The fears must come from the lack of control we now have over how to handle situations. This then made me dig in deeper into the historical moments I previously researched about in the 1500’s. In one of the articles I found, they stated that dogs were suspected of being involved with witchcraft and that is the reasoning behind their abilities to “understand” humans and their commands. 

For example, the men I brought up in my top five blog posts were essentially serial killers who may or may not have been able to transform into a werewolf. The idea of being able to control and stop regular humans from doing crime seems easy, but as soon as the person loses control of the situation, death immediately becomes the answer. I can see this idea being tied to a lot of historically important moments in our lives today. There have been many people who have lost their lives trying to make a difference in the world. The only reason behind their deaths happened to be that someone felt as if the control was shifting and the only answer was death. 

Relating back to werewolves, it can be easy to shift and adjust the conversations had about them. I feel that if we compare the folklore about werewolves to the werewolves a lot of younger people in today’s age know, they are completely different. For example, there is a lot more gore, murders and cannibalism in folklore. Whereas the media today sets out this narrative of monsters being in romantic relationships and causing a weird disconnect of the true facts about werewolves. Like stated in my second source, the idea of romance fiction and masuline werewolves kind of just play hand in hand nowadays. This can actually cause  a lot of debate on which werewolves are the trust from of them because one group considered them serial killers and the other recognized them as their idea of masculinity. That ties into my last sources as it speaks more about how some people with special body features almost exactly resemble werewolves and how that can be a reminder to us that these things were in fact true and happening. To better tie the three things together, the romanticized ideals of werewolves are a pro in the sense of branching out, but that also continues the deceit of information and spreads the false facts faster. Overall I think that the media today has softened the idea of monsters to make it seem as if they aren’t as scary as they seem, when in reality they can hold the control over others easier. 

Sources: 

Barendse, Joan-Mari. (2018). Oswald Pirow’s Ashambeni (1955) : A “history” of dogs, humans, werewolves. Tydskrif Vir Letterkunde, 55(3), 96-107.

Full Moon Masculinities: Masculine Werewolves, Emotional Repression, and Violence in Young Adult Paranormal Romance Fiction. (2019). Gothic Studies, 21(1), 28-39.

Bénézech, M, & Chapenoire, S. (2005). Lycanthropy: Wolf-men and Werewolves. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 111(1), 79.