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I was just wondering, where did the modern idea of the benign type of werewolf come about?

It was the movies, actually. Wolfman, to be exact. Stories from the middle-ages depict werewolves very differently than we do today. Entirely wolf, instead of on two legs (gestalt).

I don't think you and I are thinking eye-to-eye because by benign, I meant as in not necessarily good or evil when transformed (Eg. retains human personalty and free will when transformed), and I sure as hell don't think that the Wolfman could be considered of that type.

doubt it also. just looked like alot of hair covering a mans face and growing some fangs and claws. dont consider that a werewolf

That may be so, but before then, all werewolves were entirely wolf in form, and had no human characteristics after the transformation. Wolfman was the first to walk on two legs, and had human characteristics. The form of the werewolf evolved beyond that over the course of the next century through books and movies.

FYI: I changed the title of this thread. I hope you don't mind, but you get more readers if you discribe what the thread is about.

Actually, I didn't just mean physical form. I also meant their personalities. By that i mean the fact that over the years the persona of the werewolf has changed, from cold-blooded killer to keeping their human personality when transformed. So when did that happen?

Dreamer wrote:Actually, I didn't just mean physical form. I also meant their personalities. By that i mean the fact that over the years the persona of the werewolf has changed, from cold-blooded killer to keeping their human personality when transformed. So when did that happen?

There were stories as far back (and much earlier) as the brothers Grimm that had werewolves that could change at will and control their actions.

And lets not attack the Wolf Man makeup again, it's a damn good movie and they did what they could with the technology they had (and look at the subtler details next time you get the chance, you'll see that it's more to the makeup than a hairy man with fangs). Go after Teen Wolf if you want to attack bad werewolf makeup. Especially since Teen Wolf was post-Howling and American Werewolf in London.

Yeah, but the idea of the werewolve's personality shifted in the other direction (That is, to evil ravening beast) when they were put on film. I was just wondering when the idea of the werewolf being sentient while transformed came back from that dormancy.

Dreamer wrote:Yeah, but the idea of the werewolve's personality shifted in the other direction (That is, to evil ravening beast) when they were put on film. I was just wondering when the idea of the werewolf being sentient while transformed came back from that dormancy.

Well, to be honest, it really wasn't. Not that I'm aware of, anyway. Freeborn is the first non-evil werewolf film that I've heard of. Werewolves are predominantly evil or unappealing in films, and I don't think it ever got to the point where werewolves started being good.

Oh, damn, nevermind. Silly me, I posted earlier in the thread about Teen Wolf. In that film, Michael J. Fox plays a hereditary werewolf who can control himself almost completely, with only one outburst to speak of. It was a silly little film, and was pretty awful. It sure as hell didn't start any trends. We can also count Cursed, since they never said what the hell was so damned cursed about them. They had complete control of themselves after changing, after the first change they seemed to have control over when they changed, and the siblings seemed to really just be bitching about nothing. But really, this never really caught on in any way other than internet groups such as this. Also Castlevania.

How about "Ladyhawke" as the turning point? Made some time in the mid 1980s if I remember rightly. It's not "A Werewolf Movie" as such, but I'd class the main character as a werewolf and he's certainly not the Big Bad of the story. It's a decent story and not a bad film (although it could happily lose Annoying Comic Relief Sidekick and be a better film for it).

ravaged_warrior wrote:

Dreamer wrote:Yeah, but the idea of the werewolve's personality shifted in the other direction (That is, to evil ravening beast) when they were put on film. I was just wondering when the idea of the werewolf being sentient while transformed came back from that dormancy.

Well, to be honest, it really wasn't. Not that I'm aware of, anyway. Freeborn is the first non-evil werewolf film that I've heard of. Werewolves are predominantly evil or unappealing in films, and I don't think it ever got to the point where werewolves started being good.

Oh, damn, nevermind. Silly me, I posted earlier in the thread about Teen Wolf. In that film, Michael J. Fox plays a hereditary werewolf who can control himself almost completely, with only one outburst to speak of. It was a silly little film, and was pretty awful. It sure as hell didn't start any trends. We can also count Cursed, since they never said what the hell was so damned cursed about them. They had complete control of themselves after changing, after the first change they seemed to have control over when they changed, and the siblings seemed to really just be bitching about nothing. But really, this never really caught on in any way other than internet groups such as this. Also Castlevania.

What about in non-movie media?

I think the bigest change was people like us, people who realized how wonderful it would be to get under a wolf's skin without hurting those they loved. Despite the wolf's evil image throughout history and the negative publicity it has continued to receive today, we saw the beauty and power in the beast our imaginations had created. The only inperfection we found was that annoying tendancy to be evil, so we just wipped it out. At least that's what I think. I can't really speak for others.