A Look at the Story of Frankenstein and the Societal Changes in Film
Frankenstein’s monster, a misunderstood creation fabricated by Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s classic story, has been terrorizing readers and audiences alike for well over one hundred and fifty years. Since the story was first written in 1818, there have been numerous plays, and over one hundred films, each adaptation trying to portray its own vision of the original story. Mary Shelley came to create “the prototype of a new literary genre – science fiction” (Hardwood 14) while James Whale crafted his beautiful film creation, Frankenstein, to portray conservative values and civil rights while still telling the classic story. Other versions of Frankenstein and modern films such as Blade Runner and The Terminator use the “Frankenstein myth” to show how technology must be contained. Yet the most popular and admired of these variations incorporate changes to the original story that connect not only with the audience’s fears, but societal fears including the Great Depression and evolving technology.
Mary Shelley and Her Monster
While an entire book can be written on Ms. Shelley and her life, I am choosing to focus solely on her social and family contacts and issues surrounding her life that pertain to the writing of Frankenstein. These issues include her parents and lovers, the social crowd in which she entertained with, the contest and dream that lead to the story’s creation, the science that prompted the story to involve an unnatural creation of life, and some theories touching on the social and political agenda of the story.
Mary Shelley was born to William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, both influential writers and intellectuals of the...
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...e still is only a mother and really serves no other purpose. Both these movies came out in the early 1980’s, a time in which computers and technology was first being researched and discovered. These directors tapped into the their audience’s fear of machines like Mary Shelley tapped into her audiences fear of creating life.
Concluding Thoughts
Mary Shelley came up with an idea for a story while having a nightmare in the middle of the night. That nightmare was then transferred onto paper and then to the silver screen, each new adaptation changing the original story to get the most fear or response from the audience. I feel that we have not seen the last of Frankenstein or the themes he carried with him for the last 187 years, and as Martin Tropp states, “Something about the story is never exhausted, always current, always able to attract a new generation” (2).
Mary Shelley was the second wife of famous English poet Percey Shelley. She had three children during her lifetime, but only one survived birth. Her most famous work was this novel, Frankenstein; it was not until long after she was dead that she received any real credit for her other novels.
Literature and film have always held a strange relationship with the idea of technological progress. On one hand, with the advent of the printing press and the refinements of motion picture technology that are continuing to this day, both literature and film owe a great deal of their success to the technological advancements that bring them to widespread audiences. Yet certain films and works of literature have also never shied away from portraying the dangers that a lust for such progress can bring with it. The modern output of science-fiction novels and films found its genesis in speculative ponderings on the effect such progress could hold for the every day population, and just as often as not those speculations were damning. Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein and Fritz Lang's silent film Metropolis are two such works that hold great importance in the overall canon of science-fiction in that they are both seen as the first of their kind. It is often said that Mary Shelley, with her authorship of Frankenstein, gave birth to the science-fiction novel, breathing it into life as Frankenstein does his monster, and Lang's Metropolis is certainly a candidate for the first genuine science-fiction film (though a case can be made for Georges Méliès' 1902 film Le Voyage Dans la Lune, his film was barely fifteen minutes long whereas Lang's film, with its near three-hour original length and its blending of both ideas and stunning visuals, is much closer to what we now consider a modern science-fiction film). Yet though both works are separated by the medium with which they're presented, not to mention a period of over two-hundred years between their respective releases, they present a shared warning about the dangers that man's need fo...
Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein was first published in 1818 in an increasing secular British society, after the French revolution but the beginning of Industrial Revolution and during a period of technological and scientific advancement. Over 150 years later, Ridley Scott released Blade Runner, a film set in the 2019. The influence of the Cold War, capitalism and rising consumerism and uncontrollable scientific developments in areas of cloning, came together to form a dystopian world. Despite the differing contexts, values such as man's fascination with creating life, an obsession with science and discovery and the importance of parental responsibility are present in both texts, essentially representing Mary Shelley in the 1800s and Ridley Scott in the 20thcentury. The universality of such values are how each text broke through boundaries of their time, thus leading to being viewed as valuable. Shelley and Scott’s concerns for such issues lead to not being critically acclaimed at the time.
To begin our analysis, I will look to how Mary Shelley positions Victor Frankenstein's motivations to create life against natural laws within the ideas of individualism, as Victor can correlate directly to the educated human at the center of Enlightenment, Industrialism, and Romanticism values. With the burgeoning interest in scientific discovery during the Industrial Revolution "transform[ing] British culture" and "changing the world"(Lipking 2065), many concepts of society were also changed, which Shelley looked to explore through Victor's actions. Rooted in the scientifically curious spirit of Industrial England, Victor's attempt to create life can show many examples of how an importance of the individual acquisition of knowledge and accomplishment can disrupt society. Victor's...
Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is impressive, entertaining, and fascinating so is it no surprise there have been so many films and artworks influenced by her novel. Many of which have put their own spin to the horror novel, especially the character of the creature that remains one of the most recognized icons in horror fiction. However, there have been critics whom argue modern versions and variations have lost the horror and passion that is an essential to the creature. The start of the Creature is bound to one book. However, public impression of the Creature has changed severely since the publication of the original novel, leading to diverse styles and plot lines in its diverse film adaptations. People’s impression of the Creature have become so twisted and turned by time and decades of false film posters and article titles that most use the name “Frankenstein” to refer to the Creature itself, rather than the scientist who created him! It’s a shame! An understanding of literary history is a necessity to comprehend the truth of the Creature’s tragic history and how decades of film adaptations changed him into the hulking beast most people know him as today.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley became widely known as one of the best horror novels of her time and the basis for films that branched out of Shelley’s novel. Frankenstein was heavily inspired by the Industrial Revolution and the Romanticism. Therefore, Frankenstein’s monster appears to be Shelley’s representation of the Industrial Revolution and the society’s fears and anxieties regarding the rapid growth of science and technology.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a nineteenth century literary work that delves into the world of science and the plausible outcomes of morally insensitive technological research. Although the novel brings to the forefront several issues about knowledge and sublime nature, the novel mostly explores the psychological and physical journey of two complex characters. While each character exhibits several interesting traits that range from passive and contemplative to rash and impulsive, their most attractive quality is their monstrosity. Their monstrosities, however, differ in the way each of the character’s act and respond to their environment. Throughout Frankenstein, one assumes that Frankenstein’s creation is the true monster. While the creation’s actions are indeed monstrous, one must also realize that his creator, Victor Frankenstein is also a villain. His inconsiderate and selfish acts as well as his passion for science result in the death of his friend and family members and ultimately in his own demise.
Shelley’s Frankenstein can be considered as one of the first representations of a possible apocalypse that is now ubiquitous, humans will someday create something that will destroy mankind. In different works, this Armageddon takes various forms: in the iconic movie The Matrix man-made machines enslave the human race, while in another popular movie I Am Legend, a genetically engineered virus mutates and kills the vast majority of the world’s population. Frankenstein, however, is not intended to give the reader an impending sense of doom, instead it warns about the consequences of creating something, no matter the intent behind its creation, without exercising proper caution.
Burns, Alisa. “Frankenstein of the Future.” Frankenstein Commentary. N.p., Sept. 2002. Web. 24 Apr. 2011. .
Hollywood has managed to reeducate the world of the timeless and classic literature by altering the story to the point beyond recognition. Starting back with 1931 Frankenstein, where producers took a simple strategy and altered the theme of the story in a way they thought audiences would enjoy more. An ambitious man of science that tries to play a god by creating a man of his own vision. The sequel followed in 1935 named The Bride of Frankenstein, which took off even farther form the original novel by introducing audiences to the author Mary Shelly, and her husband Percy.
Many timeless novels have impacts on our everyday culture, not only as a book, but also through music or movies. Many popular novels have multiple adaptations, which shape how we approach their interpretation, in ways we may never even notice. In some films, humans are depicted as monsters, whether through their actions, or through the thoughts of other beings. In these films we find issues with our own society, and in turn see ourselves as monsters, and look for ways we can change, for the better. One particular novel that influences this side of Hollywood is Mary Shelley's “Frankenstein”. The ways Frankenstein influences pop culture can be seen in science fiction films in which humans are depicted as monster, and “monsters” are seen as more humane beings, such as I, Robot, and Ender’s Game.
Mary Shelley’s novel arises several questions relevant to the present day. A question that arises from the novel is whether man is born evil or made evil from his life experiences. The debate on whether how far man should pursue knowledge exists today as well as other questions challenged in the novel therefore “Frankenstein” is a popular novel at present as much as it was in the past.
Frankenstein is a fictional story written by Mary Shelly. It was later adapted into a movie version directed by James Whales. There are more differences than similarities between the book and the movie. This is because, the movie is mainly based on the 1920’s play, other than the original Mary Shelly’s book Frankenstein. A text has to be altered in one way or the other while making a movie due to a number of obvious factors. A lot of details from the book were missing in the movie, but the changes made by Whales were effective as they made the movie interesting, and successful.
Most Americans have some idea of who Frankenstein is, as a result of the many Frankenstein movies. Contrary to popular belief Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a scientist, not a monster. The "monster" is not the inarticulate, rage-driven criminal depicted in the 1994 film version of the novel. Shelley’s original Frankenstein was misrepresented by this Kenneth branagh film, most likely to send a different message to the movie audience than Shelley’s novel shows to its readers. The conflicting messages of technologies deserve being dependent on its creator (address by Shelley) and poetic justice, or triumph over evil (showed by the movie) is best represented by the scene immediately preceding Frankenstein’s monster’s death.
Walter Scott’s critique in the 1818, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine Review of Frankenstein, is that Frankenstein is a novel of romantic fiction depicting a peculiar nature that narrates the real laws of nature and family values. This review explains that Mary Shelley manages the style of composition, and gives her characters an indirect importance to the reader as the laws of nature takes course in the novel. In addition, Walter Scott appreciates the numerous theme...