Christian nationalism is a kind of con game. And of all the authors examined in this podcast, the one most likely to appreciate that con would be Richard Marsh, author of the 1897 horror novel The Beetle. A one time con artist himself, Marsh treats the gender fluidity of his shapeshifting monster as a con game, a scam that defrauds God himself. Today, we're going to talk about how The Beetle's view of transgenderism illuminates the complex of hate, fear, and fascination with which Christian nationalists tell some of their most vicious lies: the ones about LGBT+ people.
Written, narrated, and produced by Lucas Kwong
Theme song "Lair" by The Brother K Melee (www.brotherkmusic.com)
Closing song "Expire/Exhale" by Lucas Kwong
Voice actors: Christian Young-Valdovinos, Naomi Kwong
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Further Reading:
Victoria Margree, British Women's Short Supernatural Fiction, 1860-1930: Our Own Ghostliness
Daniel Orrells Minna Vuohelianen, and Victoria Margree, eds., Richard Marsh, Popular Fiction, and Literary Culture, 1890-1915
Joe Vallese, ed. It Came From The Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror.
Cynthia Miller, ed. The Silence Of The Lambs: Critical Reflections On A Cannibal
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Hi everyone, Lucas here, creator of Monster in the Mirror, and before we begin this week's episode, I just want to take a minute to acknowledge the horrifying massacre at Club Q in Colorado Springs, perpetrated by the homophobic grandson of a Republican assemblyman in a major epicenter of the Christian right.
We were actually supposed to release this episode on the 21st, but because it deals with transphobia and portrayals of transphobic violence, we felt it was a little too raw to release it on November 21st, just over a day after the horrific massacre in Colorado Springs.
There are times when the subject matter in this podcast pops up in the news with disturbing clarity, and this was one of those times.
So I just wanted to reiterate that while the liberatory and affirming nature of this episode is hopefully clear, it's going to involve discussion of explicitly transphobic and homophobic audio clips, as well as an examination of the portrayals of transphobic violence found in the novel we're discussing in this episode.
And finally, I wanted to take the opportunity to say that, while this series strives to convey the cartoonish nature of these texts, and occasionally even the enjoyably melodramatic or absurd aspects of them, none of those elements mitigate the harm that is caused by the parts of them that demonize sexual, religious, and racial minorities.
The point is, it's precisely because of how enormously entertaining these texts were that they gave life to harmful tropes that have survived from the 19th century to present day.
I hope it's clear that while we have something of a gallows humor in our approach to these texts, we take deadly seriously the consequences of their imagined monsters.
So with that in mind, here is episode 4 of Monster in the Mirror.
And now, this week's episode of The Monster in the Mirror.
I find this to be one of your kind's greatest innovations, Mr. Wells.
To capture a song in a matchbox and unleash it with the gentlest of motions.
The pleasure for me lies precisely in that ingenious mechanism by which one carefully, delicately breaks the silence.
Reverend, you're a beacon of hope to heterosexual Baptists like myself.
What's the first thing you say to yourself when you look in the mirror each morning?
Marriage is between a man and a woman.
The song of fear rarely erupts unbidden, Mr. Wells.
It wants the delicate touch that sets this music box to work.
In America, a little flattery goes a long way.
Senator Hawley, before I offer my testimony today, I'd like to commend you on being a critical voice speaking up against the woke agenda.
Would you agree that you're a really, really big deal?
I'm extraordinary.
Yes.
Yes, you are.
Now, as a president of faith and family focus, I want to talk about a group of people who don't know how good they had it when they couldn't vote.
Would that be women?
Bingo.
For the nightmare to work, your kind must not only believe that the monster is breathing down their necks, They must also believe that the monster's defeat is almost, almost within their grasp.
They must couple their disgust with a ballooning sense of self-importance, zealous devotion to the patriots in the trenches alongside them.
And once they're all wound up, the concert can begin.
Okay Matt, are you ready for your call?
So what is the hero asking his followers to do?
We are fighting for truth.
Then why are you asking them to do it?
Because it's quote, a big money maker.
Oh wow, I didn't think they'd applaud that one.
Uh, okay.
Now do your usual spiel about doctors mutilating children.
Fighting to protect our kids from mutilation in the name of gender.
That's right, Matt.
They're also fighting to keep your inner child feeling like an important person.
And what are those throngs of adoring fans here to give your inner child?
The sort of affirmation that he desperately longs for and needs and deserves.
Okay, now make clear how they should respond if a white Christian guy like you starts brainwashing their children.
Sit back in silence and allow our kids to be victimized.
Wow Matt, you got them super wound up.
I bet you can straight up tell them that they're in a cult that fosters delusion and creates an identity crisis and they just keep clapping.
A cult which fosters delusion, intentionally creates an identity crisis.
Several gentlemen in the crowd burned down a school after that.
I had the fortune of being present as they did it.
Breathtaking.
Why, Mr. Wells, you're crying.
How very maudlin of you.
I suppose even a genius like yourself cannot comprehend what your species is capable of.
If you wind them up and wind them up and wind them up and wind them up, Don't be me.
I've broken your little music box.
I suppose my touch isn't always so delicate after all.
You're a sexist, oh, oh.
What you got with love in your spine?
Come from me, oh.
Oh, I see you living in the night.
Let's go.
If it isn't obvious by now, Christian nationalism is kind of a con.
Yes, it's a movement fueled by true believers who are genuinely consumed by the delusions that they disseminate to the rank and file.
But at the same time, it's also about wealthy, powerful people cheating the rank and file out of their money, their resources, and their lives.
Like owners of a gaudy casino where the house always wins.
These grifters lure the masses with the promise that if they fork over just a little more cash and have just a little more faith, their lives, and that of the nation they idolize, could be transformed into heaven on earth.
In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for President of the United States.
Of all the authors examined in this series, perhaps none of them would have respected the con artistry of Christian nationalists more than Richard Haldeman, known by his pen name, Richard Marsh.
One of the most popular writers you've probably never heard of, Marsh made his living on a series of wildly popular bestsellers at the turn of the century.
Grotesque chillers involving murderous dolls and bizarre psychological experiments, He was also quite literally a con artist, whose attempts to profit off forged checks earned him 18 months of hard labor in 1884.
Marsh's taste for outright fraudulence even showed up in his literary life.
Many scholars have observed that he was happy to plagiarize works as famous as Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, as well as cannibalize his own work His talent for con artistry is important when talking about the work we're examining today, his best-selling novel, The Beetle.
It's a book that's likely unknown to you, and it may surprise many of you to learn that its success in 1897 overshadowed another horror novel about a foreign monster, one we've already examined in this series, Dracula.
The most famous literary nightmare of the past 130 years was eclipsed by Marsh's tale of a shape-shifting Egyptian demon who has a taste for occasionally transforming into a giant beetle, and when not taking an insectile form, morphing from a man to a woman and back again.
So why would Marsh's history of fraud matter to a discussion of the Beatle?
Well, it's because Marsh treats the villain's gender fluidity as a kind of con game in itself.
A scam that defrauds God and man.
But in addition to talking about the obvious homophobia and transphobia on display, we're also going to discuss how, in his preoccupation with the Beatles' sexual transgressiveness, Marsh betrays more than a little admiration for its, his, her, their criminal schemes.
And as such, his tale of a cross-dressing terror illuminates the complex of hate, fear, and fascination with which Christian nationalists tell some of their most vicious lies, the ones about LGBT people.
This episode contains transphobic and homophobic audio clips, as well as depictions of transphobic violence.
Please take a moment to prepare yourself.
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