The Voice of Empathy
In almost every classic monster movie, there is a figure who stands apart from the fearful mob and the aggressive military. This is the monster sympathizer, a character who looks at the film’s creature—be it a giant ape, a misunderstood creature from a lagoon, or a scientifically engineered beast—and sees not a monster to be destroyed, but a living being that is lost, frightened, and acting out of instinct or pain. This archetype is the story’s emotional core and its moral conscience. They are the voice of empathy in a world consumed by fear and violence.
The monster sympathizer is often an outsider themselves—a sensitive scientist, an innocent child, or a marginalized person who feels a natural kinship with the creature. They are the only ones who make an effort to understand the monster’s motivations and communicate with it. Their central conflict is with the film’s human antagonists, who represent a reactionary and destructive impulse. The sympathizer argues for study and preservation, while the antagonist demands immediate extermination. The tragedy of many monster movies is the failure of the sympathizer’s compassionate worldview to win out against the brute force of fear.
The ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Dynamic
This archetype is a key component of the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ narrative, where a bond forms between a human (often a woman) and a monstrous or bestial creature.
- Ann Darrow in King Kong (1933 and subsequent remakes) is the foundational monster sympathizer. While initially terrified of Kong, she comes to see his protective and gentle nature. Her screams are not just of terror, but of protest, as she watches the mighty creature get captured and ultimately killed by the forces of ‘civilization.’
- Elisa Esposito in The Shape of Water (2017) is a modern and powerful version of the archetype. As a mute cleaning lady in a secret government facility, she is herself an invisible and marginalized person. She forms a deep, romantic bond with the captive amphibious creature, recognizing him as a fellow outsider who is being misunderstood and brutalized.
- Ofelia in Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) is a child who is more comfortable in a world of strange and sometimes terrifying magical creatures than she is in the brutal world of her fascist stepfather. Her sympathy for the monsters of the fantasy world is a direct contrast to the true monstrosity of the human characters.