May Monster Madness #3: Skeksis

May Monster Madness is hosted by Annie Walls, Little Gothic Horrors, and Something WicKED This Way Comes.

On this third day of monstrous fun, I decided to visit a film I viewed many times throughout my childhood.  As an adult, I love it just as much now as I did then.

Skeksis!

The 1982 film The Dark Crystal features a classic quest story, a battle between good and evil, and stunning visuals.  The story features a young Glefling named Jen who needs to heal a crystal by finding a shard of it that split away.  When the split happened many years ago, a species of tall, flowing beings were split into two races called the Mystics and the Skeksis.  

The Mystics are gentle, kind, and wise.  The Skeksis are dishonest, scheming beings who will do anything to get what they want.  These two races represent the good and evil that resided within each member of the race that spawned them when the crystal cracked.  Healing the crystal when the Great Conjunction comes (which is the three suns aligning in the sky) will bring these two parts back together to form a whole.

The Skeksis meet many of the criteria for being monsters. They're incredibly ugly, first of all. While it is undeniable that not all monsters are ugly, being hideous does add to a monster's street cred.  They also crave power, and they don't mind who they step on to get it.  They drained most of the Gelflings of their vital essence to prolong their own youth.  They then proceeded to do the same to the Podlings, and they used the withered husks that remained as slaves.

Since they were spawned from the darkness that resided within the original race, this hails back to a recent post I did about Monstrosity and Storytelling.  The basic idea is that we look at the monsters we see inside ourselves in bring them into the world as physical beings so we can confront them.

Since the main audience for this film, however, is children, the Skeksis are not only monstrous.  They can also be quite ridiculous and funny.   The monstrous aspects of these beings are undeniable, but the humor helps dispel and repulsion and fear that might result from seeing their monstrosity.  In a way, the humor operates as a way of defeating the monster.  While it may harm those on screen, being able to laugh at them reminds children that these monsters won't harm them.  A monster's power is diminished when you don't give in to the fear.