I Am The Monster, Oh How I Love You Frankie

 “I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel...” 

― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

 

We all know that the monster of Victor von Frankenstein can be truly horrific to think about. When the novel was written by Mary Shelley, the novel was supposed to be part of the Romantic genre but luckily it ended up in the genre of Gothic fiction, where the love interest is matched over a pair of gloomy aspects. In this blog we will discuss how we picture the monster of Frankenstein as more than just some bits and pieces of human corpses.

1. The Monster was made for comic relief. In Mel Brook's movie, Young Frankenstein (1977), Gene Wilder's character makes a monster based on the written works of his cuckoo grandfather, the Baron von Frankenstein. But Gene's character uses it to his advantage were we see the monster being used to explain the notion that the brain is still capable of performing normal functions once it has been reanimated and brought back to life.

2. The notion of reanimation has been part of scientific experimentation since the testing of reanimating a worm in a glass jar. In the movie, a medical student asks Gene's character if it is possible to reanimate dead tissue or anything dead in that particular way. Well the grandfather of Charles Darwin did just that. Also the notion of reanimation was also studied in the experiment of keeping the head of a dog alive for three days. Some of these do make you want to go to the bathroom and crawl around the toilet for a while, but this has been important to science because so many people are interested in keeping humans alive for longer or learning how to stop death in its tracks.

3. There can never be a Boris Karloff replacement. Boris Karloff was an actor in the 20th century (1901-2000). He was known for his famous roles as the monster in the 1931 film of Frankenstein and the 1932 movie The Mummy which was re-adapted and the role of Imhotep went to a different actor. Boris Karloff is known in the Hollywood business as the man who earned his own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame for being one of the most incredible actors of the time.

While there isn't much ado about Frankenstein and his monster, there are some usages where the monster is the friendly neighbor next door. So next time you want to Put on the Ritz, go ask Frankie for his amazing monster help.