Frankenstein: The Pop Culture Monster

After many failed attempts at posting my blogs, here is one of my two class blog posts! I had intended for this to go up before my oral presentation, but please feel free to comment on the blog itself or in conjunction with the oral presentation. Thanks! Rachel      

             After having the opportunity to delve into the theatrical world of Frankenstein, I left feeling slightly perplexed as the various portrayals of Mary Shelley’s monster within these modern day adaptations. As I will present in class, there have been quite a few different adaptations of Shelley’s text, the earliest most well known adaptation surfacing in the early 1930s. Each of the adaptations have focused on a similar story line of mad scientist creating Frankenstein, the name of the monster, and the ways in which this creature terrorizes the town, only bringing destructions in its wake. However, in almost every one of these cinematic portrayals, the Frankenstein monster is a dumb, mindless creature that has no coherent human thoughts, but rather the simplistic thoughts congruent with a young child, speaking in monotones and single syllable communication.

            This most well-known early movie adaptation is James Whale’s Frankenstein, produced in 1931. Here, the monster is depicted in this mindless way: Frankenstein is a garish looking monster, whose body looks more robotic than human skewing the idea that this monster was supposedly made from human parts. Rather, this version of Frankenstein elicits more of a sense of fear for audiences instead of the complex nature of Shelley’s original interpretation. Having this cinematic version as a jumping off point, the movie versions that have followed have consistently stayed within these parameters of an almost robot like monster, eliciting little to no communicative skills.

            In the majority of popularized cinematic adaptations, the representation of the monster’s physical state tends to stay very constant.  The garish, clay like skin, broad forehead with little to no hair, small scars across the face, tale and lanky body frame, and some sort of un-human characteristic, such as bolts on other side of the neck as seen in the picture below. As cinematic quality and technology progressed, adding color to the big screen productions, the monsters gained a green colored hue, often times making the monsters look pretend, doll like, and clearly fake. This is indeed an extremely skewed vision of Shelley’s original intentions. No longer is the monster a product of human body parts, but a true “creation” seemingly from scratch.

Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster in Bride of Frankenstein

            Throughout the past few decades, the Frankenstein phenomenon and cult fascination has grown exponentially. Cinematic portrayals are no longer the only ways in which Shelley’s Frankenstein has come to “life”. Various parodies and satires, such as Mel Brooks Young Frankenstein, television derivations, like The Munsters, and stage adaptations, including Young Frankenstein – The Musical, have all surfaced claiming to portray the story of Frankenstein, or at least an attempt at this portrayal. As these new forms of popularization have surfaced, the ways in which popular culture identifies Frankenstein is in no way related to the character in Shelley’s novel. Rather, like the ways in which early cinematic creations depict the monster (green looking skin, tall and lanky frame, speaking incoherently or at a very reduced level) is how these modern adaptations depict the monster.

            Children, many of whom utilize television as their first contact with popular culture, are given this false image of Shelley’s monster, believing that “Frankenstein” is a mindless, robot creation whose only objective is to scare people, potentially even hurting them. Shows such as Arthur, Scooby-Doo, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and even SpongeBob SquarePants have all utilized this imagery of “Frankenstein” at some point of their television run. Their false presentation of the true imagery of Shelley’s Frankenstein makes it extremely difficult down the line for introduction to Frankenstein. I myself was a product of these pop culture representations, and found it quite difficult to transition from the mental picture of the giant, green, scary monster to the more human depiction in Frankenstein. What truly amazes me is the way in which one, seemingly innocent, director’s vision of Shelley’s monster generated an entire sub-culture where there are no longer any aspects of the original left in existence. I hope that, as the cinematic world progresses further, more true to text adaptations of Frankenstein will surface, creating a new culture for future generations where Shelley’s work truly comes to life.

Frankenstein. Dir. Kenneth Branagh. Perf. Robert De Niro, Kenneth Branagh, Helena Bonham Carter, Ian Holm, Tom Hulce, Aiden Quinn, and John Cleese. Tristar Pictures, 1994. DVD.

Frankenstein. Dir. James Whale. Perf. Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, and John Boles. Universal Pictures, 1931. DVD

IMDB.com, Inc. International Movie Database. Amazon.com Company, 1990. Website. www.imdb.com.

Wikipedia contributors. "Frankenstein in popular culture." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 28 May. 2012. Web

Young Frankenstein. Dir. Mel Brooks. Perf. Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Teri Garr, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Kenneth Mars, Richard Haydn, and Gene Hackman. 20th Century Fox, 1974. DVD.