The Monument Mythos: A Deep Dive

when you consider all of the various factors that go into making something along the lines of an arg or a creepy web series all the possible things that can go wrong over the course of its creation it's kind of a small miracle when one actually turns out to be not only watchable but good not only that but significant perhaps even genre defining i'm pleased to say that i've identified such a case [Music] [Applause] [Music] the same time that many other presidents have spoken by themselves america will speak hello and welcome to nightmare masterclass my name is david stockdale i'll be your host on this excursion into the dark unknown every once in a while a series comes along that really piques my interest in this installment i'll be analyzing a strange web series known as the monument mythos it was created by an artist named alex kansas alex kansas has been on my radar for some time now and i've been meaning to cover the monument mythos since someone brought it to my attention last year but i wanted to wait until the completion of season two i've watched the whole thing multiple times at this point and i've found the work to be really engaging i would strongly recommend that you watch the entire series prior to moving forward with this video if i had to give you an impression of the work in one sentence i'd say that it combines aspects of both lovecraftian horror and the alternate history genre and i think you'll find that the overall quality of the series in terms of its production values is really quite high for our youtube series the voice acting in particular is commendable the monument mythos does so much with what is clearly a limited budget independent creators should consider this to be a true master class in storytelling with minimal resources so if that sounds up your alley be sure to check out the monument mythos for yourself now i'm not going to be doing a lengthy play-by-play for this one because i think that's well trodden territory at this point but i will be talking about some of the more notable moments in the series and i'll be drawing some overarching connections with respect to the fictional universe in which the monument mythos takes place before we get going i just wanted to give a quick shout out to the sponsor of this video extra now folks i'm going to let you in on a little personal detail about yours truly i'm a little forgetful and i tend to lose things i don't know if you've ever lost something as important as your wallet but let me tell you it's not an experience i would recommend well i'm happy to report that i don't really have to worry about that anymore exter sent me two items to review the first being this nifty parliament wallet and the second being this tracker card if you're not familiar with the concept of a smart wallet let me explain just pop this tracker card in your wallet sync it up with your phone and worry no more now with my affiliate link you can get a discount of up to 15 on all orders so be sure to hit up that link in the video description also i just wanted to say that if you enjoy my videos please consider supporting me on patreon at patreon.com forward slash nightmare masterclass every patron gets weekly updates on the status of current projects as well as a credit at the end of every video that's it for the plugs let's get started on this deep dive of the monument mythos [Music] the series establishes an alternate history of the united states in which some rather strange events unfold there's not strictly speaking a singular overarching narrative at least as far as i can discern rather the monument mythos is comprised of 22 videos most of which are not obviously related one more notable aspect of this series is the fact that it's divided into two seasons in a manner akin to a tv show this lends a general level of accessibility to what might otherwise be considered a rather complex and detail-laden undertaking i mean it's all been laid out for us in these two playlists what more could you ask for but despite the work's neat presentation there is quite a bit of complexity in the universe or should i say multiverse of the monument mythos each video gives us a glimpse of some bizarre alternative history in which james dean became president instead of richard nixon and incomprehensibly strange beings reside within the cherished monuments of our great nation upon an initial viewing there is enough explicit detail to discern that these videos take place within the same fictional reality although it's not entirely clear how all of these details fit together or what broader narrative they're driving at after a more thorough inspection one might come to the conclusion that the american government is concealing the existence of some horrific otherworldly monsters and perhaps even employing them as part of a grand plot to serve the interests of some nefarious group of elites they are challenged by an organization known as the ada an acronym that stands for various things over the course of this series the ada employs questionable methods and by some accounts a spouse's reactionary ideas by the end of season two i think it's fair to say that this series of events has spiraled out of control and caused some kind of massive apocalyptic event let's proceed first with an analysis of liberty lurker the very first video in the mythos series liberty lurker establishes a rather ominous tone the video in question pertains to the construction of the statue of liberty the first part of the video contains portions of an interview with the designer frederick augusta bartholdi he explains in an exasperated fashion how the americans had constantly shifted their requirements with respect to the size of lady liberty's pedestal although the statue was intended to be a gift he explains the u.s ambassador urged us to follow president grant's requests authority goes on to say people wonder why the pedestal is so much taller than the lady all i tell them is ask the americans the video then depicts a rendering of the statue's blueprints the blueprints are labeled stli18084 the caption reads provide entrance for sustenance install engine to assist with eventual departure it would seem that whatever is being stored within the pedestal requires sustenance meaning of course it's alive it needs to be fed in addition it's clear that plans are in place to initiate the creature's departure the second part of the video entails a series of occurrences in 1954 during which thousands of immigrants reported a terrible smell while making their way through the port of ellis island the video relays segments of an interview with a girl named eleonora bramante ellis island was awful she says the whole place reeked of flesh like a slaughterhouse and if that wasn't ominous enough eleanor also states that she had witnessed lines of people being led into the pedestal at night the final scene of the video depicts an occurrence in 1985. we are told it's the first sighting of the liberty lurker in the footage the statue of liberty shifts to the right allowing some kind of creature to emerge from the pedestal bartholdi was in fact the designer of the statue of liberty the actual name of the monument is liberty enlightening the world it's common knowledge that the statue of liberty was a gift from the nation of france this was part of a broader effort to demonstrate the friendly relationship between france and the us two fledgling republics formed on the basis of a new economic order liberalism the statue is commonly understood as a beacon to immigrants coming to the u.s seeking a better life a plaque on the statute contains a poem called the new colossus its most famous lines are as follows give me your tired your poor your huddled masses yearning to breathe free yet narration in liberty lurker relays upon inspection local authorities liken the way storage compartment to a mass grave given these details it strikes me as interesting that the statue of liberty in this work serves as the dwelling of something terrible something that demands human flesh while this video certainly merits an in-depth exegesis all its own there's still so much more to discuss [Music] [Applause] [Music] as i alluded to earlier this is a universe in which golden age hollywood celebrity james dean was elected president instead of richard nixon in 1968 in reality dean suffered an untimely death in a car accident in 1955 and while the documentary style video dean democracy relays to us events that led up to dean's election it makes sense to question the general trustworthiness of this video after all it does appear to be biased in favor of the man himself it's also a bit odd that dean apparently had the media on his side if we are to believe the narrative established in dean democracy a major network agreed to use their prime time slot to announce his candidacy not only that they replayed his campaign ad on loop it raises the question why is he getting this kind of special treatment it is stated that dean ran on an explicitly anti-war message but it makes sense to ask did dean adopt this position because he felt it was the right thing to do or did he do it because he knew it would be overwhelmingly popular we do get a glimpse of the type of rhetoric employed by his campaign what are we waiting for let's bring them back home [Music] yet there's no further elaboration on why dean was against the war in vietnam it's almost as though he went out of his way not to offer substantive talking points on the matter this is consistent with the way he expresses himself later in the series during saturday's morning press conference president dean shared his thoughts on the discovery in two words i'm surprised so how can a man of so few words be elected president don't you have to be a good orator to garner such a position with the vietnam war having started in 1955 it makes sense in this alternate history that a charismatic celebrity such as the likes of james dean could indeed bring together an electoral coalition necessary to win the presidency especially as top billing on an anti-war ticket but dean democracy establishes that james dean won with a stunning 75 percent of the popular vote the work is making a point of establishing the hyperbolic nature of his popularity despite his reserved nature while some see him as an innocuous figure i would argue that dean represents the potential dangers of personality cults in the us speaking of cults [Music] [Applause] [Music] the monument mythos is distinct from your run-of-the-mill conspiratorial narrative the work is not some thinly veiled series of tongue-in-cheek illuminati references i mean that's certainly a notable component of it but what takes the spotlight in this case is the broader notion that there are things beyond the realm of human comprehension in this sense the work is lovecraftian but this is a common theme in science fiction as well it was arthur c clarke who said any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic what interests me here is the human element the psychological reaction to certain unexplainable phenomena how do we make sense of things that lie beyond our understanding almost invariably the answer is some form of projection we assume certain things about the phenomenon that really say more about us than the thing we're attempting to understand when you consider certain details in the monument mythos i believe it's important to contextualize it in the following manner the work takes place in an alternate history in which human civilization specifically the united states has experienced a series of encounters with otherworldly beings over the course of the country's development it's likely in my view that these beings are highly advanced aliens who are capable of feats beyond our comprehension many of the historical tidbits we are given in the series are simply people attempting to cope with the totally incomprehensible events initiated by an extremely advanced alien society most of the videos take the form of alternate history zeitgeist type theory videos dr disturbing represents the perspective of an average person attempting to connect the dots but some of these videos also depict propaganda made by the u.s government for the purpose of instilling order needless to say this represents the ideology of those in power at the level of the text one might say there's a strong implication that the us government is acting like some kind of cargo cult or at least that's the conclusion i've come to after watching the series a few times the commonly accepted idea of a cargo cult is as follows a cargo cult is a group of people that have developed the tendency to perform elaborate rituals they do so in order to summon a more technologically advanced society to deliver goods this occurs in isolated communities in which there's little to no communication with the outside world with the exception of very limited rare encounters during these encounters the more technologically advanced people will often trade with the isolated group the classic example of a cargo cult is a situation that occurred during world war ii when allied forces engaged in a series of encounters with a group of indigenous melanesians in reaction to these soldiers with their extravagant unexplainably crafted goods some of the melanesians began imitating their actions marching around carrying sticks meant to represent rifles it said that they believed these rituals would make the soldiers return this is all subject to a fair amount of contention in scholarly circles specifically in anthropological discourse there are even some who argue that the term cargo cult is not an appropriate way to describe this phenomenon there's always the danger of our own biases influencing the way we understand other cultures that aside i believe the monument mythos is playing with the idea of cargo cults and in this context the trope is subverted because it's actually western civilization that is the less advanced society in this case the video lincoln looker in particular seems to support this theory in this alternate universe every sitting president gets to pick a lincoln looker this very unfortunate person is kidnapped by the us government and made to sit inside the statue of abraham lincoln for the entirety of the president's term this is referred to by former senior adviser leonard w moreland as a tradition at this point you might be wondering how did this tradition start it's never explained however given other details laid out in the monument mythos it seems to me that it has to be related to these other strange occurrences specifically these horrific beings that make themselves known to humanity over the course of the series i really don't know for sure i think the series is purposefully ambiguous so as to cast out on all fan theories but if i had to guess i would say that the tradition of assigning a lincoln looker is an attempt by those in power to emulate the behavior of these otherworldly beings in order to summon them or perhaps harness their power ultimately i believe it's a ritual that is performed in order to consolidate power [Music] [Applause] [Music] of course one's interpretation of a given work is always dictated by one's own preconceived ideological notions in other words one's understanding of the work always highly depends on how you think the world really works even if you haven't thought about it in depth everyone operates based on an unconscious conception of how society functions its evident interactions how we invest our time what we spend our money on etc one pertinent hinge point is one's understanding of the state in particular in this case the united states government this is controversial territory in the youtube ecosystem and so it only makes sense that your typical explainer videos tend to stick to the specified events as they're spelled out over the course of the series and perhaps offer speculation on the broader significance of those events in the context of this strange alternative history but the analysis never leaves the boundaries of this fictional universe instead what is offered is a speculative analysis of how things connect together admittedly this is an interesting area to explore but it's inherently limited in scope these interpretations tend to not acknowledge the possibility that the monument mythos is offering some kind of socio-political commentary even despite glaring parallels between its alternate history and our own because well that's potentially divisive that's not a personal judgment on my part with respect to any particular youtuber it's a structural assessment of the type of content that is incentivized within the youtube ecosystem yet even the simple task of explaining the monument mythos in the literal context of its established setting has proven challenging however one thing is certainly clear the monument mythos is deeply concerned with the scope of history in particular american history i stated previously that one's ideological preconceptions inevitably shape one's interpretation of an artistic work in this case the monument mythos the obvious question then is what role does my worldview play in shaping my own interpretation of the work self-analysis is admittedly quite difficult it has obviously occurred to me that my understanding of the world my biases are shaping my interpretation of the work this is really inescapable but i suppose laying out all my cards on the table might at least make my perspective a bit more transparent to you the viewer here's a little glimpse of the way i see things in 2022 history in my view is a chaotic tangled mess of antagonisms varying in scale and consequence these antagonisms are generated primarily from the divergence of interest between groups of people known as classes and from these antagonisms conceptions of society arise how exactly does this take shape the ruling class of a given society offers justifications for why they should be in that position and since they are in the dominant position they're better equipped to spread their ideas feudalism for instance was justified through the divine rights of kings on a related note the video alcatraz attack depicts some kind of self-replicating organism within alcatraz prison over the course of the video the term therapy is used to refer to the government's attempts to use radiation to stifle the organism's spread these attempts are unsuccessful it spreads throughout the city of san francisco and eventually the entire west coast at the end of the video it stated that as of the year 2020 the alcatraz zone extends to west texas in the final video of season 2 former senior advisor leonard w moreland makes another appearance interestingly he refers to the alcatraz incident three nights before my death alcatraz went stealth it looked like it had completely disappeared while everyone was asleep but it was still here it was all around us it had simply expanded imperceptibly fast it mimics the surrounding environment on a subatomic level everyone believed that it had not spread to the east coast yet but it definitely did i have just finished the last batch of tests and i can confidently say that i am not the same person as i was three days ago alcatraz had copied us all overnight every particle of this country and its citizens replaced the united states is the ship of theseus inside my skull is alcatraz's fleshy reproduction of my brain this passage is interesting to me because moreland's description of alcatraz can serve as a metaphor to illuminate how ideology functions signs are generated and spontaneously adopted in mass based on their particular ability to spread in a viral fashion in the material conditions present at a given moment in history these signs are what comprise the framework of ideologies and culture at large and so naturally these signs are also used to make sense of history itself but in truth these signs are merely a distorted cultural reflection of a deeper ultimately incomprehensible material reality which we are at best only really capable of approximating and perhaps getting a better grip on at some point later in history as time creates psychological distance from the events that comprise our reality for example the psychological conception of the self as an individual unit subject to scrutinous analysis is undoubtedly a product of modernism it was only truly possible once a certain individual focus was materially feasible through industrial development frederick jameson originally made this very astute observation in his work the political unconscious specifically he said the conditions of possibility of psychoanalysis become visible one would imagine only when you begin to appreciate the extent of psychic fragmentation since the beginnings of capitalism with its systemic quantification and rationalization of experience its instrumental reorganization of the subject just as much as of the outside world it might even be fair to say that this core individualistic understanding of humanity is the superstructural offspring of industrialism itself the cultural results of a radical change in the sphere of economic production while this series is enigmatic to its core i can't help but think that i've come to a number of conclusions with respect to the broader themes of the monument mythos let's begin first with eleanor bramante's account of the terrible stench at ellis island this occurs in the very first installment of the monument mythos it sets the tone for what's to come the horrific being that resides within the statue of liberty craves human meat implicit within this first video is the notion that the state is driven by an undying hunger for human flesh one way or another it must be quelled even if it means sacrificing innocent people it's all the more telling that the liberty lurker is strongly insinuated to be george washington himself after a series of bizarre mishaps this resonates with me because there's a scent in which it speaks to a hidden truth with respect to our way of life the industrialization process led to both deaths and terrible injuries for working class people it's still happening all around the world to this day companies even account for it it's the cost of doing business in parts of the world where we are fortunate enough to have some protections capitalists routinely attempt to get rid of safety regulations because such impositions eat into their profits and more broadly it's worth noting that wars are not fought by the wealthy those in power get working-class people to do their dirty work for them in order to preserve the bottom line the global economic order is built upon the ravaged bodies of countless workers there's a human cause to the drive for unlimited expansion [Music] [Applause] [Music] the monument mythos is defined as a work of analog horror and i do understand that classification based on the general presentation of the material however this is unlike any other work of analog horror that i've come across and at first i couldn't quite put my finger on it but after some reflection i've come to the conclusion that the monument mythos stands out because of its overt concern with american history the series also seems to be in part a thematic exploration of history as a general field of study note for instance that many of the video descriptions contain notes with supplemental information from an archivist other works in the analog horror genre certainly broached this thematic territory from time to time for example local 58 second installment contingency takes the form of an emergency message from the us government in the face of america's apparent demise at the hands of a foreign enemy the broadcast instructs americans to off themselves so the dark nature of american history is not an entirely new theme when it comes to analog horror but it seems to me that the monument mythos is exploring this terrain in a more thorough fashion it's an artful combination of american history and love crafty and horror and i have to say i hope it inspires similar works i see a lot of potential here it strikes me as an interesting juxtaposition it's perhaps an appropriate juxtaposition given the darker aspects of american history due to the nature of the particular kind of horror evoked in this series the work primes one to ruminate on the true horrors embedded within our own history it's my position that the eldritch horror in this series represents the unpredictable nature of life in modern society as well as the unfathomable acts that humans have proven capable of particularly over the last couple hundred years however i do think it's fair to say that the target in this case is not humans in general but rather those who have real power specifically in the united states over the course of its history and because of this i would argue that the monument mythos is the most subversive work in the analog horror genre there are plenty of interesting threads within the monument mythos that merit further inspection so if you'd like me to do another video let me know in the comments i should also mention that alex kansas has a new series out called the house in the ocean be sure to check that out if you enjoyed the monument mythos the artist has a kofi page so if you enjoyed the series maybe consider donating to the project i'll have a link in the video description that wraps it up for this installment of nightmare masterclass thank you for watching and good night [Music] you

Channel: Nightmare Masterclass

Views: 18,528

Keywords: monument mythos, the monument mythos, monument mythos explained, monument mythos baz, monument mythos memes, monument mythos español, monument mythos reaction, monument mythos explicado, monument mythos temporada 1, monument, monumentos, mythos, the ending of the monument mythos is insane, mitos dos monumentos, el terror oculto en los monumentos... | monument mythos, el terror oculto en los monumentos, themonumentmythos, #analog_horror #the_monument_mythos

Id: pQMA0IG7Jdk

Length: 30min 38sec (1838 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 05 2022