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Ivy Zheng
American History C Block
17 February 2017
The Great Depression and the Bride of Frankenstein
IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION OF SOURCES
Why were horror films so popular during the time of the Great Depression?
The first source is Here Comes the Bride: Wedding Gender and Race in “Bride of Frankenstein” written by Elizabeth Young in the autumn of 1991. Young argues that the movies have problems in subjects such as gender, sexuality, and race. The author also explains how the movie disembodies women metaphorically and literally. The value of this journal is the inclusion of VALUE/LIMITATION
The second source is Great Depression Fueled the Rise of Horror Films written by Jim Beckerman on October 26, 2011. In his article,
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Beckerman connects the relationship between horror films and the Great Depression while also explaining why people at the time were so enamored with horror films. The value for the reader of this article is to understand why horror movies were so popular during the Great Depression even though life was hard, and as well as inform historians about the relevance of such movies during this time period. LIMITATION INVESTIGATION Horror films, such as Dracula, The Bride of Frankenstein, Frankenstein, and The Invisible Man were on the rise during the Great Depression (1929-1939).
Scary films were popular during this time period because the people watching were extremely scared from the images in the films. "When people are down, they're almost eager to focus on something worse than what they're going through themselves," Edgar Allan Poe asserted, "they walk out and think, 'Maybe I'm out of work. But at least I'm not being killed by Frankenstein’” (Beckerman). At the time of the Great Depression, audiences were experiencing great economic hardship, forcing change in social attitudes toward race, gender, and sexuality. All these concerns are well represented in the movie, The Bride of Frankenstein, a story that revolves around a scientist who creates a female being for a male …show more content…
counterpart. During the Great Depression, no nation could recover from the national crisis without social and cultural changes. It led to a rapid rise in crime rates, unemployed workers, suicide rates, prostitution, alcoholism and a decline in health care (Eggertsen). To mirror this time period of disillusionment and despair, numerous horror films were made, reflecting the fears of America at the time of the Great Depression. Despite of cost of the movies at a time of severe reality, two out of five Americans were watching at least a movie every week (Ushistory.org). Gender, race, and sexuality play a major role in The Bride of Frankenstein.
The gender dynamics takes the form of a triangle, which includes two men and one woman. In the movie, the woman is erased by "disembodying the woman metaphorically," as we'll as "...dismembers them literally" (Young). The Bride of Frankenstein disembodies the woman's figure metaphorically and literally, which shows the mens' ambivalence towards women. Such an example of the low esteem held by the doctors is observed when Dr. Praetorious and the assistant go grave robbing after which Dr. Praetorious and Dr. Frankenstein began experimenting by discussing the female heart in the jar
(Young). The Bride of Frankenstein is interpreted as a gay parable because of how open Whale, the gay director, was during the Great Depression. He naturally moved towards feminist ideals before feminism was openly discussed. At the time, audiences were arguing how the old horror films represented sexual repression. Yet, Ernest Thesiger, a close friend of Whale’s, said that Whale saw Dr. Praetorious “as an old queen” in love with Dr. Frankenstein. This assertion can best be seen on the day of Dr. Frankenstein’s wedding in which Dr. Praetorious intruded, asking Dr. Frankenstein to join him in his laboratory to create life. Through indirect examples in the movie, the viewer can infer there is a persistent undercurrent of men creating life and carrying on life without the use of women. Another example is when Dr. Praetorious and Dr. Frankenstein create a woman. The two doctors were seen as a homosexual couple who is giving birth to a woman and defying God’s given role as a creator of life (Saporito). Even though the Great Depression brought about an economic downturn, horror films were increasingly in popularity. The author Beckman writes, “When people are down, they’re most eager to focus on something worse than what they’re going through themselves. They walk out and think, ‘Maybe I’m out of work. But at least I’m not being killed by Frankenstein’” (Beckerman). The monster, Frankenstein appeared as the marker of social and racial differences. Whale was an openly gay director who influenced the film while allowing his audience to feel slightly better about their lot in life. REFLECTION WORKS CITED
Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature highlights Frankenstein as the work of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, published in 1818, and it brought into the Western world one of its best known monsters. Elements of gothic romance and science fiction help in telling the story of young Swiss scientist Victor Frankenstein, as he creates a horrible monster by putting together limbs and veins, leading to destruction and his later regret. The creature is left alone in the world, even by his own creator, for his hideous appearance, and through watching humans he learns their ways of living. Haunting Victor due to his loneliness, he forcefully makes Victor agree to make him a female companion, but Victor’s regret and misery enables him to tear up his
The reading by Barbara Creed titled “Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection”, is an in-depth examination on the role of women in horror films. Creed challenges the commanding patriarchal view, which frequently puts the woman in the position of the helpless victim. She argues that when the feminine is constructed as monstrous, it is frequently done in conjunction with its mothering role and function. Creed’s main thesis supports that the prototype of all cinematic definitions of monstrosity related to the feminine is linked to the woman’s reproductive body. Creed elects to use the term “monstrous feminine” instead of female monster, because for Creed it is the “femininity itself that is monstrous” (41). It has been unfairly
abandoned; this made him feel as if he was the only person with out no
The female characters in Young Frankenstein and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest are, stereotypically, satiric and parodic renditions of oppressed or emotionally unstable feminine personalities. The theme of the treatment of women is not only played out in the external relationships the women interact within but also in the basic mentality and roles they embody within their personality. The women of Young Frankenstein add a comical element to the film which a direct contrast to the insignificance of the female in Mary Shelley’s novel. The women of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest are either almost terrifying when thinking of the potential evil lurking just beneath the surface or effectual props in the healing of those who need it.
Victor Frankenstein: The Real Monster. & nbsp; Science is a broad field that covers many aspects of everyday life and existence. Some areas of science include the study of the universe, the environment, dinosaurs, animals, and insects. Another popular science is the study of people and how they function. In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Dr. Victor Frankenstein is an inspiring scientist who studies the dead. He wants to be the first person to give life to a dead human being. He spends all of his Frankenstein is to blame for the tragedy, not the monster he has created, because he is the mastermind behind the whole operation, and he is supposed to have everything under control, working properly as a good scientist should. & nbsp; Although some critics say that the monster Victor has created is to blame for the destruction and violence that followed the experiment, it is Victor who is the responsible party. First, Victor, being the scientist, should have known how to do research on the subject a lot more than he had done. He obviously has not thought of the consequences that may result from it such as the monster going crazy, how the monster reacts to people and things, and especially the time it will take him to turn the monster into the perfect normal human being.  something that would take a really long time and a lot of patience which Victor lacks. All Victor really wants is to be the first to bring life to a dead person and therefore be famous. The greed got to his head and that is all he could think about, while isolating himself from his friends and family. In the play of Frankenstein, when Victor comes home and sets up his lab in the house, he is very paranoid about people coming in there and & nbsp; I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. (156) & nbsp; Victor is saying that he has isolated himself for two years and in the end, he is not at all happy because of the bad outcome. He also adds, "Winter, spring and summer passed.so deeply was I engrossed in my occupation" (156). By spending most of his time inside on his experiment, never going out, but mostly worrying about his success, he has got himself crazier. This has made him lose sight of his surroundings and judgment & nbsp; Moreover, the monster should not be held responsible for killing Victor's family members and friends as shown in the book and movie, because it is Victor who has brought a dead creature back to life. He expects the monster to know everything when he wakes up cool, calm, and collected. But when the monster is awakened, he does not know anything. He sees a world different from what he is used to, which makes him get nervous and scared, so he&nb has removed him from dead. With the dawning of life, the monster has to learn about his new environment. In the play of Frankenstein, the monster starts to gradually get used to things. The problems he encounters are with Victor's assistant, Peter Krempe, Victor's friend, Henry, and other family members, including Elizabeth, and these are reactions to how these people treat him. These reactions are clearly shown in the movie of Young Frankenstein, where Victor tries to teach the monster how to live like to show off the monster to an audience in a dance routine of sorts. But then people start to scream, panic and throw things at the monster, so he reacts by attacking them to defend himself. In this case, it is clear that Victor tries to push the monster too hard because he wants to be famous.
As humans we understand that in order to make ‘man’ you need both a male and female, but in this book the wretch is the creation of only male. Victor finds the parts and sews them together to create this monster. The female is left out of the equation even though that is one of the female most important roles in life, being able to reproduce. In fact, the main role of women in the story is for the sake of making males learn a lesson from what happens to the women or just to make the story move along. A few prime examples of this are Elizabeth, Justine, and Margaret. From the beginning when Frankenstein is introduced to Elizabeth he thinks of her as a possession that is all his own. He says "I looked upon Elizabeth as mine-mine to protect, love and cherish. All praises bestowed on her I received as made to a possession of my own" (21). He wants to protect her and watch over her like he is a big brother. Another good example of a role of a woman in this story is with Justine. Justine is a servant for the Frankenstein’s. She is a very nice girl and is more of a sister to Victor than a servant. Her stay eventually ends when she is accu...
terror but I couldn’t understand why my creator was horrified at my sight I was devastated all I remember was charging at him My farther was running for his life when my farther thought I was dead he left town without me keeping his secret in his attic.
The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is one of the literary texts interwoven in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. It talks of a story about a girl Lotte and a boy named Werther. The two fell in love although the girl was already engaged to an older man Abert. When Lotte marries the older man, Werther commits suicide because of rejection. The creature in Frankenstein finds this book and teaches himself to read from it. Shelley makes a reference to the novel The Sorrows of the Young Werther and Victor’s creature gets hold of the book and reads to practice language skills and pass time. Through this book, the creature learns a lot about feeling and emotions. The creature says "As I read, however, I applied much personally to my own feelings and condition" (Shelley 114). This shows how much the creature leant from the book because Victor created it and left it all alone without any teachings on how to speak and act like a woman.
creature is not to blame - it is the creator. For this reason, we feel
“Oh! No mortal could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch” (Shelley 57). This statement is how Mary Shelley successfully portrayed the overall negative consensus of the industrialization of Europe in the 1800s in her novel Frankenstein. This story parallels the world’s transition from nature and emotion to reason and truth which was the primary cause for the industrial revolution. Though the revolution brought new technology and knowledge, people felt as though they were enslaved by this sudden change. This is clear through Shelley’s Dr. Frankenstein and the ‘wretched monster’ that would forever change the world.
In gothic novels tragic figures are symbols of pain to the characters. Victor Frankenstein brings misfortune to his loved ones, which concludes to his overall tragedy. Ironically the monster in this novel is Frankenstein the creator not the creature. He has seven victims including himself and his fall is due to his ambition to be superior.
When reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, one cannot help but notice that the women characters seem to have little substance compared to the male characters. This may have been caused by the time period in which she wrote: one in which females were considered inferior to males. This difference between the sexes can be looked at using a variety of different perspectives. Johanna M. Smith, a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, discusses this issue using feminist eyes in her essay entitled "'Cooped up': Feminine Domesticity in Frankenstein." The main points in Professor Smith's essay are that the female characters are there only to reflect the male characters, and that the Frankenstein family has a weird style of living, which she describes as a "bookkeeping mentality" (Smith 279).
From the beginning of time in history, women have always been portrayed as and seen as the submissive sex. Women especially during the time period of the 1800s were characterized as passive, disposable, and serving an utilitarian function. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a prime example displaying the depiction of women. The women in Frankenstein represent the treatment of women in the early 1800’s. Shelley’s incorporation of suffering and death of her female characters portrays that in the 1800’s it was acceptable. The women in the novel are treated as property and have minimal rights in comparison to the male characters. The feminist critic would find that in Frankenstein the women characters are treated like second class citizens. The three brutal murders of the innocent women are gothic elements which illustrates that women are inferior in the novel. Mary Shelley, through her novel Frankenstein, was able to give the reader a good sense of women’s role as the submissive sex, through the characters experiences of horrific events including but not limited to brutal murder and degradation, which is illuminated by her personal life experiences and time period of romanticism.
In conclusion, in Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein, the female characters always fulfill the limited and archetypical roles that are set for them by society. In this novel, many female characters are considered to be possessions. In fact, they are considered to be the servants of men. “I have a pretty present for my Victor—tomorrow he shall have it.” (Mary Shelly, Pg. 70)
Mary Shelley in her book Frankenstein addresses numerous themes relevant to the current trends in society during that period. However, the novel has received criticism from numerous authors. This paper discusses Walter Scott’s critical analysis of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in his Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine Review of Frankenstein (1818).