"The Monkees" Rewatch: I Was A Teenage Monster

The premise of “I Was A Teenage Monster” is actually pretty simple: the Monkees have been hired by scientist Dr. Mendoza to teach “a youngster” to play rock ’n’ roll, but start to have doubts once they find out the “little monster IS a little monster” of a Frankenstein’s monster variety. (Or is he a machine?) Soon they discover the doctor’s real intention of “teaching” the monster by stealing their musical abilities and then wiping their memories. So, the boys must find a way to regain their talents and thwart his “avaricious ambitions” for the Singing Android (aka Andy.)

Straight up, I adore this episode! It has so many great moments. Plus, it gives me a chance to talk about magical realism! While I’ve talked in the past about the series’ tendency to stretch one’s suspension of disbelief fairly wide, shall we say, “Teenage Monster” is likely the most overt example of magical realism up to this point. Now, the definition of “magical realism” might seem self-evident, but for clarity’s sake (and to put my English degree to some use): Magical realism is an artistic genre and tradition from Latin America that basically presents a grounded reality where some magical or mythical elements exist unexplained and accepted as if ordinary, often for the sake of some sort of (mostly political) commentary. Obviously it shares characteristics with other genres, like sci-fi, fantasy, science fantasy, surrealism, etc., and the overlaps can make it a bit hard to categorize. It seems like the big thing that characterizes it is the fact that it’s all played very mundane and just how things are. I don’t know if the writers of this episode were consciously trying to fit into the genre or if it actually technically does fit into it, but I think the argument could be made. After some initial fear the band does just act as normal and accepts their memory loss and the idea that Dr. Mendoza could and did transfer their musical abilities to Andy. Of course, the question of whether or not Andy is a “monster” or very sophisticated machine complicates things, because if he is a machine then the episode might be more sci-fi/fantasy. However, between Mendoza’s assistant Groot asking to be turned into a Wolfman and all the music seeming to emanate from Andy (instead being proficient at the instruments), I think the magical realism description still kinda fits.

Something that really struck me while watching the episode for this blog was the scene where the boys attempt to teach Andy rock ’n’ roll, specifically their priorities. Before teaching him anything about actually playing an instrument or singing, they gave him a new name, a Beatle haircut, “groovy clothes,” a guitar he couldn’t play, and a choreography lesson from Davy and Peter. Basically the image trumped all and, well, the music would eventually be fed into him later. I’m probably not the first to point this out and frankly I’m surprised it never dawned on me before, but the parallels between the monster in this episode and the Monkees’ own creation (right down to turning on their respective creators) are really interesting. Now, this episode had been written and filmed before behind the scenes tension erupted over music and input from the Monkees’ members, so I doubt (though I could certainly be wrong) this episode was intended as a commentary on the manufactured nature of the group. However, more pointed commentary on their construction and the constraints that resulted does become a theme in later output. It’s funny to see, though perhaps inadvertently, how early it started.