What do you think?
Rate this book
Predator: A Memoir, a Movie, an Obsession - Library Edition
In his first memoir, Ander Monson guides listeners through a scene-by-scene exploration of the 1987 film Predator , which he has watched 146 times. Some fighters might not have time to bleed, but Monson has the patience to consider their adventure, one frame at a time. He turns his obsession into a lens through which he poignantly examines his own life, formed by mainstream, white, male American culture. Between scenes, Monson delves deeply into his adolescence in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and Riyadh, his role as a father and the loss of his own mother, and his friendships with men bound by the troubled camaraderie depicted in action and sci-fi blockbusters. Along with excursions into the conflicted pleasures of cosplay and first-person shooters, he imagines himself beside the poet and memoirist Paul Monette, who wrote the novelization of the movie while his partner was dying of AIDS.
A sincere and playful book that lovingly dissects the film, Predator also offers questions and critiques of masculinity, fandom, and their interrelation with acts of mass violence. In a stirring reversal, one chapter exposes Monson through the Predator's heat-seeking vision, asking him, "What do you know about the workings of the hidden world?" As Monson brings us into the brilliant depths of the film and its universe, the hunt begins.
A sincere and playful book that lovingly dissects the film, Predator also offers questions and critiques of masculinity, fandom, and their interrelation with acts of mass violence. In a stirring reversal, one chapter exposes Monson through the Predator's heat-seeking vision, asking him, "What do you know about the workings of the hidden world?" As Monson brings us into the brilliant depths of the film and its universe, the hunt begins.
Audio CD
Published April 11, 2023
About the author
Ander Monson
29 books67 followersAnder Monson is the author of Vanishing Point; Neck Deep and Other Predicaments, winner of the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize; the novel Other Electricities; and the poetry collections Vacationland and The Available World. He lives and teaches in Arizona and edits the magazine DIAGRAM.
Although Ander is a proud graduate of Knox College, he also received advanced degrees from Iowa State and the University of Alabama.
More info is available here.
http://poetry.arizona.edu/presenter-a...
Although Ander is a proud graduate of Knox College, he also received advanced degrees from Iowa State and the University of Alabama.
More info is available here.
http://poetry.arizona.edu/presenter-a...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 24, 2023
An expose and love letter to a rewatch of one of the greatest action films of all time…
Predator: A Memoir, a Movie, an Obsession by Ander Monson is a deeply personal story about a fan’s love for the movie Predator, while also torn between its influence (good and bad) on modern society…
To be clear, the author does a full rewatch of the movie from beginning to end…with many chapters covering pivotal scenes (and even minor lines) that will likely be familiar to readers. Often times, he offers his own analysis along with some behind the scenes anecdotes related to particular characters, actors, and scenes. This may intrigue fans of the film, though the missives are spread throughout the book with some parts getting more focus than others.
A third of the book (which doesn’t directly reference the film) handles the influence of the Predator as a film on pop culture and regular human (mostly American) culture and what it says about our society both back then and today. Some light coverage is given to various Predator spinoff films, books; and comics (though oddly not video games even though the author is clearly a video game fan). There are even details on Predator fan communities and a story about the designer of Dutch’s knife from the film.
However, roughly a third of the novel is dedicated to various stream of consciousness thoughts that watching the film engenders. All of these are only tangentially linked to the film, but you can’t help but acknowledge their relevance considering our present day. Assorted anecdotes about politics, gun culture, the AIDs pandemic, other action movies of the 80s and 90s, even what the term “predator” has come to mean in the last thirty years.
It’s a bit of a mind crash…but for those interested in film making commentary of philosophical analysis, then I recommend checking this out…there’s also some light LGTQ themes that some fans might find interesting…
Honorable mention goes to the writer of the Predator novelization who died of AIDs and serves as a partial foil to the author at various times…
Predator: A Memoir, a Movie, an Obsession by Ander Monson is a deeply personal story about a fan’s love for the movie Predator, while also torn between its influence (good and bad) on modern society…
To be clear, the author does a full rewatch of the movie from beginning to end…with many chapters covering pivotal scenes (and even minor lines) that will likely be familiar to readers. Often times, he offers his own analysis along with some behind the scenes anecdotes related to particular characters, actors, and scenes. This may intrigue fans of the film, though the missives are spread throughout the book with some parts getting more focus than others.
A third of the book (which doesn’t directly reference the film) handles the influence of the Predator as a film on pop culture and regular human (mostly American) culture and what it says about our society both back then and today. Some light coverage is given to various Predator spinoff films, books; and comics (though oddly not video games even though the author is clearly a video game fan). There are even details on Predator fan communities and a story about the designer of Dutch’s knife from the film.
However, roughly a third of the novel is dedicated to various stream of consciousness thoughts that watching the film engenders. All of these are only tangentially linked to the film, but you can’t help but acknowledge their relevance considering our present day. Assorted anecdotes about politics, gun culture, the AIDs pandemic, other action movies of the 80s and 90s, even what the term “predator” has come to mean in the last thirty years.
It’s a bit of a mind crash…but for those interested in film making commentary of philosophical analysis, then I recommend checking this out…there’s also some light LGTQ themes that some fans might find interesting…
Honorable mention goes to the writer of the Predator novelization who died of AIDs and serves as a partial foil to the author at various times…
Displaying 1 of 1 review