Evolution of the Flying Monkey

As you well know, this blog is called "Don't Make Me Call My Flying Monkeys".  But Why?

When I was younger, my favorite movie was the Wizard of Oz.  I knew all of the songs and sang them to the dismay of anyone else watching the movie.  I must say though, that I still do a pretty mean cowardly lion impersonation.

"If I were the King of the forestttttttttttttttttt"Good huh?  I bet you could feel the vibrato.

I was the kid in the group that said I liked the lion and Toto but the flying monkeys had my heart from the very beginning.  Yea, I will admit that they were a bit scary at first, but it was the witch!  Why do you think they called her wicked?  She forced the monkeys to do things that I believe were against their nature.  I will never be convinced that these monkeys, flying or not, chose to wear those horrible vests.  I bet that they were very restricting during flight.

I love the monkeys!  When I had my son and he got big enough that I could threaten him with mythical creatures, I chose the flying monkeys of my youth.  How nostalgic to tell him to be good or I will call the monkeys.  Friends and I use to use the monkey saying and then bust out laughing, it was almost like the "That's what she/he said".  Well, maybe not but it was funny.  Nowadays, the monkeys are more popular than I would have imagined.  You can get them on mouse pads, mugs, bumper stickers, tee shirts, and the ever popular road construction cone.  I know the cone will be my next monkey purchase.

When I was in high school I did an English paper on the flying monkeys and their origin.  They didn't really exist before the Wizard of Oz but they are similar in many ways to Gargoyles, who often had wings.

Hey, how would you like to learn a little about gargoyles?  You would?  Excellent!

Gargoyle on Ulm Cathedral in Germany

Gargoyles originated around the 11th Century with a two for one deal; one was as a way to ward off evil spirits and the other was as a rain spout.  I swear this is true!  There was no political or religious agenda at first, but when the Roman Catholic Church was recruiting in a big way they were able to use those decorative downspouts to their advantage. 

Since literacy was virtually non-existent for the general population, images were very important. Non-Christians were use to images of nature and myth; animals and human/animal hybrids, and would have potentially felt welcomed by the sights of these gargoyles on a church or cathedral.   The gargoyles were also used as a reminder to those pesky pagans that they needed to stay on the right path, call them a "sermon in stone" if you will, often depicting various verses of the bible or the hell that would follow if you didn't do what you should.

Notre Dame

It is not unreasonable that they Catholic Church would use the Pagan's own images to keep them coming, if you think about some of the other alterations that were made to keep the general public in the pues.  The  birth of Christ was changed so that it fell around the winter solstice and would fit nicely into the existing pagan celebrations.  This way everyone is happy.  Except for this poor fella. 

So what was I talking about?  Oh yea.