The essay that is typed below shows how, even 200 years after its first publication, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is still a very important pop-culture symbol in the modern day. It discusses the use of the novel in movies, TV series, and artwork. Working from oldest use to most recent, this essay aims to trace the steps that the novel has evolved through throughout the ages. It shows how the evolving of the creature has taken place throughout the years, and that it continues to evolve to fit modern tastes in horror. This has led to some of the more recent views of the creature being much like the artwork displayed throughout the essay.

This helps the reader see exactly how horror has changed throughout the years from linear horror to more complex horror we see today in movies like SAW and Paranormal Activity. Other than shwing those it also aims to persuade the reader to see how important of a novel that Frankenstein is even in the current year.

–ESSAY BELOW–

Throughout the past 200 years, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has been adapted into many forms of media including art, music, literature, politics, and more than most others, film. The movement into film has been more and more refined since Thomas Edison made his first venture with his version of Frankenstein in 1910. The monster has changed many ways in the multiple genres that it has been seen. From being lumbering and slow in movies to being almost completely human in some animated adaptations of the story. This change of appearance for the creature is not just a look adjustment to fit the times, but a look at what ultimately makes the creature scary and entertaining for the generation that is watching it.

From the 1931 movie.

During the beginning of film adaptations of Frankenstein, the creature is seen as a ginormous beast. He is slow, lumbering, and not very coordinated. This goes away from the true to book look at the story where the creature was much faster, extremely agile, strong, and smart enough to learn how to survive and speak. This change in the way that creature acts is a very distinct change from the original story and was most likely done to increase the suspense of some of the scenes and to create a more menacing atmosphere for the audience that is watching it.

The change to the creature’s speed of movements and thought processes is not the only thing that has been a major change throughout the film life of Frankenstein. A character, known as Igor, has also been added to the story and serves as Dr. Frankenstein’s assistant while he is creating the monster and aids him in gathering the parts necessary for the creature to come alive. In the films, he most likely is used as a comedic relief character that has many blunders throughout the creation process of the creature. One of the most notable mistakes Igor makes is when sent to recover a brain for the creature to use, he drops the normal brain (destroying it) and decides to bring back a criminal’s brain instead. This is linked to the reason that the creature is so angry and bloodthirsty throughout the course of the films.

Image from an article by Colleen Prieto on sandradodd.com

Later into the life of Frankenstein on the big screen, the creature began being depicted in all sorts of ways, one most notably being the creature’s appearance in the popular children’s TV-show “Scooby-Doo.” First appearing in the show in 1969 in the episode “A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts” (Scoobypedia), the creature found new popularity with the younger generation through the cartoon. The creature would remain on the show and make appearances until 2008. The carton depicted the creature as scary and menacing, much like the creature from the story. However, it kept the boxy and somewhat large figure that it had been given throughout the creature’s time in the movies.

Inside the cartoons, the creature took on many forms, from automatons to people in costumes to the actual creature the 1988 telefilm version called, “Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf” (Scoobypedia). The creatures, for the most part, kept the same quick and agile movements that the creature had in Mary Shelley’s story as being shown by the creature being able to keep up with the main cast while chasing them through haunted houses on their wacky chase scenes. However, the creatures in the cartoon seem to not retain the mental capability that the original creature had in the story. They seem almost fully transfixed on one thing, and that one thing being chasing and, presumably, capturing the gang before they can uncover the person’s identity.

Image from the Imageboard Zerochan as part a fan-drawing thread.

Today, many of images from Frankenstein have been changed to show a gruesome and grotesque abomination to humanity. However, some people have begun to make the creature -seem fully human-like and almost superhuman or otherworldly in presence, much like the image board “Zerochan” shows in some of their fan drawings of the novel’s cover. Many of these put a Japanese style flare on the drawing of the novel’s cover and show the creature in more of a protector role rather than a menace to humanity by showing the creature standing firmly protecting his bride.

With the popularity of visual media for the past 200 years, many stories have been brought to life on the big screen. However, one has had more adaptations than many, and that one story is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. From the multiple movie adaptations to the modern-day manga and fan-art of the creature and the many assets that have been added over the years, the creative ideas for Mary Shelley’s story have continued to expand. One commonality of all of these ideas is that everyone has improved the monster to fit the fears of the common population of the time period. This has led to Frankenstein remaining a classic among young and old readers and will continue to hold its fame throughout, hopefully, the 200 years.

Sources:

Blamspam. “Frankenstein (Novel) Mobile Wallpaper #502431 – Zerochan Anime Image Board.” #502431 – Zerochan Anime Image Board, 2 Apr. 2011, www.zerochan.net/502431.

“Frankenstein (Disambiguation).” Scoobypedia, scoobydoo.wikia.com/wiki/Frankenstein_(disambiguation).

PRISMA/ALBUM, and AKG/ALBUM. “How A Teenage Girl Became the Mother of Horror.” How Frankenstein and Its Writer Mary Shelley Created the Horror Genre, 29 Apr. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/magazine/2017/07-08/birth_of_Frankenstein_Mary_Shelley/?user.testname=photogallery:3.

Prieto, Colleen. Scooby-Doo, Frankenstein, and a Big Storm, sandradodd.com/connections/scoobydoo.

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