That Monster Over There: Silvia Kolbowski, Trump, and Allegory.

This article analyzes Silvia Kolbowski's 2018 video *That Monster: An Allegory*, which uses re-edited fragments of James Whale's 1935 film *The Bride of Frankenstein* to explore the psychical and political underpinnings of Donald J. Trump's appeal in the 2016 US election. Kolbowski frames Trump as a pathological figure whose chaotic persona resonates psychically with millions of voters, linking this dynamic to psychoanalytic concepts such as shame, narcissism, and the death drive. The video’s looping structure—first with Philip Glass’s score and then in silence—invites an open, allegorical reading that emphasizes repetition, refusal, and erasure rather than fixed identities. Drawing on postmodernist theories of allegory and psychoanalysis, the work encourages reflection on the unconscious desires and systemic economic injustices that contribute to political phenomena like Trumpism, while resisting definitive interpretation and highlighting the complexities of individual and collective subjectivities.