Paradigms of Monster Creation

In this short clip on Wired, J.J. Abrams outlines the mass media stereotypes on monsters they had to deal with when designing the alien for Super8.

Video: J.J. Abrams and Neville Page on Creating Super 8's Wicked Alien

Per J.J. Abrams:

• Thin, "spider-like"
• Big and blocky, "brute-beast"
• Slender, "elegant"

Interesting how the audience expectations, shaped by previous media treatments of monsters and aliens, still seem to fall into three very primitive forms, found also in literature:

• Thin and spidery: demons or demonic forms, almost always evil.
• Big and blocky: orgres, trolls, servants of evil (usually invoked or summoned). Also grotesque and misshapen.
• Slender and elegant: I'm thinking of both the "grays" and the "nordics" of UFO mythology; not to mention the typical elves of fiction and film.

There are exceptions, of course: amorphous blobs,  radioactive ooze, giant birds and turtles, tiny microbes and viruses. But these three "paradigms" seem to be everywhere.