Alligators, Crocodiles and the Monstrous Uncanny

Abstract

In north Queensland during October 2004 a crocodile attacked a man in a tent and dragged him out of it, only to be saved from a worse fate by the valiant efforts of a grandmother who jumped on the back of the croc who released the man and then proceeded to attack her. The print media headlined the story and captioned the accompanying photo with ‘Gran who beat off croc attack’ (The West Australian, 2004). This headline gave a curiously Australian, and horrifyingly real, inflection to the immortal lines of a Tony Joe White song, ‘Polk Salad Annie, / gator’s got your Grannie, / chomp, chomp’ (White, 1997). The newspaper story described the crocodile as ‘a bloodthirsty predator’. This description of the crocodile was only jumping on the same bandwagon as its cousins in television news as they had already referred to the crocodile earlier in the week as ‘the four- metre monster’. The crocodile was constructed as a bloodthirsty predator and monster because of its size, its use of its jaws and teeth as a potentially lethal weapon and the fearful possibility of being eaten. These were placed on the menu for the delectation of the media consumer who could savour with relief over breakfast or dinner that they were safe from being eaten.

that hideous monster, the crocodile.

J. A. Hunter, a white hunter, author of White Hunter

(cited by Guggisberg, 1972, p. 171)