Abstract:Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein served to offset the anxiety and fear created by previous horror and monster films. Written and produced in 1974, just one year after one of the scariest films of all time, The Exorcist, Mel Brooks created a horror/monster film that would alleviate psychological tension instead of creating it as The Exorcist did the year previous. I watched monster movies through parodic glasses. To do this, Brooks used elements described by Freud's humorous methods and elements of parody by Harries. In creating a parodic film, Brooks allowed his audience to satisfy both their psychological drives toward sex and aggression. For centuries, authors have placed human characteristics on their fears allowing audiences to confront a concrete creature rather than an abstract idea. Fear of death has led to stories about vampires and mummies, fear of the unknown has led to stories of creatures invading the Earth, fear of reincarnation has led to stories of mad scientists creating life from death. With the invention of cinema in the late 19th century, these fears could be seen using human actors and actual "monsters", making both the fears and the realization greater. As more and more films of this type were created, audiences became more tolerant of the once-scary monsters, forcing filmmakers to go even further. To continue this trend, filmmakers soon began creating more fear than alleviation, creating another psychological void that needed to be filled. Sensing that the realm of horror films and many other film genres were saturating the film industry, Mel Brooks wrote and directed two films in 1974: Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. That...... middle of paper ......which allowed for the alleviation of a nation's anxiety and fears as well as a significant degree of sexual tension. It opened the door for other writers, directors, and filmmakers to attempt to relieve tension in their films rather than create it and in doing so helped popularize a genre of film: Parody.Works CitedBerger, Asa. Blind men and elephants: Perspectives on humor. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers 1995Harries, Dan. Film parody. London: British Film Institute 2000Rose, Margaret A. Parody: ancient, modern and postmodern. New York: Cambridge University Press. 1993- Parody// Meta-narrative. London: Croom Helm Ltd. 1979Sinyard, Neil. Mel Brooks films. New York: Bison Books 1987 Young Frankenstein. Dir. Mel Brooks. Perf. Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman and Cloris Leachman. Twentieth Century Fox, 1974. DVD. Twentieth Century Fox 1999.