On this day 220 years ago, writer Mary Shelley was born. If that name is at all familiar, one must owe credit to the rise of her most revered story, "The Modern Prometheus: or Frankenstein." It was among the most influential horror novels ever written, of which she wrote while a teenager. With today also being Frankenstein Day, it only feels right to explore why this supernatural being has continued to endure in so many forms over the past century. Whether it's in silent films, talkies, satire, or stage shows, Frankenstein's Monster continues to endure because he embodies something richer about humanity than simple scares. He's a monster who reflects our deepest insecurities, and that's scarier than any actual jump scare could ever think to achieve.
To an extent, 2017 has so far marked a return of sorts for Shelley's most beloved works. Later this fall, Elle Fanning will star in a biopic of Shelley's life. Universal Horror's reboot series Dark Universe has also promised to include the monster in their main team of characters. But why does he continue to resonate? After all, he is nothing more than a pile of dead tissue stitched together and brought back to life. How can that compete with the far more mystical vampires, werewolves, or even zombies? To be honest, Frankenstein's Monster would lose pretty easily in a fight. However, he is also something far more complex than what horror usually allows from monsters that are often one dimensional.
Think back to the most iconic version of the character: 1931's Frankenstein. Boris Karloff played The Monster, at first not even getting proper billing in the credits. It was warned that he was a scary creature. Based on how everyone reacted, it would be tough not to argue that. However, the story becomes more complex when you add Colin Clive's Dr. Frankenstein, of whom brought the character to life to begin with. There was a joy in creating life from death. To hear him scream "It's alive!" has become one of cinema's most iconic moments. Along with his neck bolts, the character almost doesn't exist without those two words. So, how could a creature so celebrated at birth turn into such a nightmare?
The answer relies more on human ego. There comes a point in everyone's life when they want to play God. They want to alter the existence of time and space to change small details. For Shelley, rumors had it that The Monster was in some ways based off of her miscarriage. There was a desire to control and create something pure. For Dr. Frankenstein, that was to pull out dead tissue and prove that it could be fused back to life. Even then, The Monster's infantile state could be shaped to Frankenstein's whim. Instead, he was frightened and misunderstood, eventually using his insecurity to lash out. As The Simpsons once stated "It's so easy to condemn, so hard to create." The Monster was misunderstood and his chaos largely stemmed from being excised from society.
The Monster in a lot of ways embodies freakish technophobic thrillers like Ex Machina. The idea of creating life is an obvious human drive, and robots have come to embody a digital Frankenstein's Monster. There's a belief that it could make life easier, but often leads to more problems. Where egos are fulfilled to their brim, they are eventually met with awful side effects. Unlike the robots that fill our pop culture (or even animatronic dinosaurs in Jurassic Park), The Monster is more disturbing because he is real. He is recognized as being in some ways a bastardized version of a human being. It only gets worse when he becomes more empathetic and forms his own conscience, able to feel the pain lashed onto him for being different.
The Monster didn't necessarily ask to exist, but must find a purpose nonetheless. He exists to fulfill the creator's weird fantasies. To some, he is just a science experiment with a personality. To others, he is a burden with a psychological capacity that almost rivals man. In James Whale's sequel The Bride of Frankenstein, he even learns to form rational thought that adds a gay subtext about outcasts in general. Monsters have always embodied an outcast mentality, but in some ways being a literal product of your environment is one of the worst curses for a monster to have. You know you're a monster, but have no function to cure it. Unlike the werewolf or vampire, you can't even pretend to be human as you have never been properly one.
In its serious form, that is what makes Frankenstein's Monster so enduring. Even then, he compliments well to almost anything. Young Frankenstein famously satirized the old movies by showing him evolving socially in comical manners (both on screen and on stage). Monster Squad saw him fight crime. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the most faithful version put to film, showed how morally complex The Monster is when confronted with his maker, who quickly takes on a God-like personality along with his guilt. In more liberal circles, Frankenhooker both features The Monster as a woman AND a hooker (two firsts) while Frankenweenie turns the mythology into a dead dog story (that actually ends happily).
There's no shortage of ways to make something like Frankenstein's Monster into compelling drama. He works as a basic horror plot device, but he's also capable of being more philosophical while exploring the meaning of life and creation. While Shelley's book definitely has the prose of a teenage novel, it's still one that works at creating a universe that hasn't left public consciousness at all. It's why her work continues to endure, even as her real life story is just as peculiar as what she left on the page. It only seems right then to recognize why "Frankenstein" has continued to endure on this Frankenstein Day of all days. While there's been great versions of the character, there's almost no wrong way to assemble this character. He has no past and is unsure about his future. He's the most insecure monster out there, and he's also in some ways the most compassionate.
The answer relies more on human ego. There comes a point in everyone's life when they want to play God. They want to alter the existence of time and space to change small details. For Shelley, rumors had it that The Monster was in some ways based off of her miscarriage. There was a desire to control and create something pure. For Dr. Frankenstein, that was to pull out dead tissue and prove that it could be fused back to life. Even then, The Monster's infantile state could be shaped to Frankenstein's whim. Instead, he was frightened and misunderstood, eventually using his insecurity to lash out. As The Simpsons once stated "It's so easy to condemn, so hard to create." The Monster was misunderstood and his chaos largely stemmed from being excised from society.
The Monster in a lot of ways embodies freakish technophobic thrillers like Ex Machina. The idea of creating life is an obvious human drive, and robots have come to embody a digital Frankenstein's Monster. There's a belief that it could make life easier, but often leads to more problems. Where egos are fulfilled to their brim, they are eventually met with awful side effects. Unlike the robots that fill our pop culture (or even animatronic dinosaurs in Jurassic Park), The Monster is more disturbing because he is real. He is recognized as being in some ways a bastardized version of a human being. It only gets worse when he becomes more empathetic and forms his own conscience, able to feel the pain lashed onto him for being different.
The Monster didn't necessarily ask to exist, but must find a purpose nonetheless. He exists to fulfill the creator's weird fantasies. To some, he is just a science experiment with a personality. To others, he is a burden with a psychological capacity that almost rivals man. In James Whale's sequel The Bride of Frankenstein, he even learns to form rational thought that adds a gay subtext about outcasts in general. Monsters have always embodied an outcast mentality, but in some ways being a literal product of your environment is one of the worst curses for a monster to have. You know you're a monster, but have no function to cure it. Unlike the werewolf or vampire, you can't even pretend to be human as you have never been properly one.
In its serious form, that is what makes Frankenstein's Monster so enduring. Even then, he compliments well to almost anything. Young Frankenstein famously satirized the old movies by showing him evolving socially in comical manners (both on screen and on stage). Monster Squad saw him fight crime. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the most faithful version put to film, showed how morally complex The Monster is when confronted with his maker, who quickly takes on a God-like personality along with his guilt. In more liberal circles, Frankenhooker both features The Monster as a woman AND a hooker (two firsts) while Frankenweenie turns the mythology into a dead dog story (that actually ends happily).
There's no shortage of ways to make something like Frankenstein's Monster into compelling drama. He works as a basic horror plot device, but he's also capable of being more philosophical while exploring the meaning of life and creation. While Shelley's book definitely has the prose of a teenage novel, it's still one that works at creating a universe that hasn't left public consciousness at all. It's why her work continues to endure, even as her real life story is just as peculiar as what she left on the page. It only seems right then to recognize why "Frankenstein" has continued to endure on this Frankenstein Day of all days. While there's been great versions of the character, there's almost no wrong way to assemble this character. He has no past and is unsure about his future. He's the most insecure monster out there, and he's also in some ways the most compassionate.
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