Monsters and fixity: The invasion narratives inside us

This article introduces the “monster of fixity” to sf-horror discourse, examining how such figures reinforce ideological stability through narrative conflict. Unlike boundary-transgressing monsters, these antagonists embody rigid ethical codes, hierarchical order, and binary moral structures. Through case studies of Quatermass and the Pit (1958–59) and Predator (1987), the article argues that such monsters anchor audiences within fixed subject positions, foreclosing interpretive ambiguity. Drawing on Cohen, Quinn, Althusser, and Duffield, and in dialogue with postcolonial, feminist, Afrofuturist, and queer/trans sf-horror scholarship, it contends that monsters of fixity not only reflect cultural anxieties but actively participate in ideological containment, reinforcing normative identity, elite authority, and historical continuity.

Email me for a copy of the author accepted version if needed.