Academic Research: Werewolves Past, Present, and Future...

This post is about the personification of werewolves through different periods in time helping me to pinpoint roughly what visually represented era I would like to base the creation of my monster on. All of which can be cited as (Anonymous, 2011, P. 17-19)

In the 18th century, wolves were an ever-present menace to people living in the European countryside. Now, werewolves seem to be as popular as vampires.

This is a reoccurring topic that keeps cropping up during my research, whether it just be for the sake of comparison or to slate this generations perceptions or in rare cases to praise it. This battlefield of opinion allows me to see the positives and negatives of both sides which thus helps me to narrow down my visual representation of the possibilities of my monsters.

The following three extracts help give a more detailed analysis of the development of Werewolves through time in the eyes of its varied generations.

You don't want to know what lurks in the shadows. 
It was March 1765 in the French countryside. A boy named François and his older sister were walking down a road, when suddenly, a strange beast sprang from the shadows. Francois's sister screamed in horror as the beast attacked her little brother. By the time help arrived, the boy was dead, his body mutilated.Nobody but the traumatized sister witnessed the crime. But villagers had no doubt what - or who - so savagely murdered François. It wasn't an animal. It wasn't a human. It was a werewolf.  

Why being a werewolf is sort of awesome.
So it isn't exactly convenient to sprout claws, fangs, and facial hair every time there is a full moon. But for teen Scott McCaIl, becoming a werewolf was just about the greatest thing that ever happened to him. It cured his asthma, helped him get a date with the girl of his dreams, and turned him into a star player on the school lacrosse team. It also gave him some seriously awesome biceps. 

I couldn't agree more when the text later goes on to state that Werewolves have joined vampires as entertainment superstars. This specific sentence is going to be in the back of my mind as I look to creating my monster as this is exactly what I want to avoid. I want to go back to the days when such beasts were feared and not idolised, when it was seen as a curse and not a cheat to life. As is clearly represent from the opposing texts above.