Author Archives: Christina

I think my problem with having sympathy for Victor is he tried to hide, run from his problems for so long. He did nothing overt to save Justine and seems so self-centered to not have even considered it was Elizabeth, and not him, that would be killed. He really doesn’t try to do anything to confront, resolve the issues he’s created. His motivations while they may have been good, his lack of responsibility far overshadow his motivations. I did watch the 1994 Frankenstein. Like you, I found this to be the closest representation to the book, but there is still quite a lot of artistic interpretation going on. Nonetheless, I felt like the spirit of the book was kept fairly intact. Continue reading →

Hollywood by nature is sensationalistic so it is no surprise in each Frankenstein movie the focus has been so grievously misplaced. It’s playing to the expectations of the public, not so much setting them. The public is morbidly curious (just look how traffic stops when there is an accident)about things that are extraordinary (usually not in a good way). In the Frankenstein movies I’ve seen, the tension rests mainly on moments that play on our morbid curiosity or ability to take us somewhere we have not been before. I don’t even think this is a question of interpretation, “artistic” or otherwise, but interpretation as to what will yield the most money (and the lack of the author’s input).

In response to your comment about Victor not fleeing, if he fled, the movie is pretty much over in the eyes of Hollywood. After all, who would want to see an 80-90 minute drama of a man struggling with moral and ethical choices and the consequences of such? It would certainly be a much slower paced movie. How would such a movie be made and cast? Can you think of a movie that stayed pretty true to the book? The only recent series I can think of that stayed true to the book(s) is the Game of Throne series. I suspect this is so because Martin had a heavy hand in it (there are direct quotes from the book).

In case you are wondering how many Frankenstein movies, there are at least 42 http://www.eeriebooks.com/blog/horror-movies/42-frankenstein-movies-to-see-before-you-die/

But fear not, I found a graphic motion comic that stays true in the It’s Alive scene: http://youtu.be/T8Mm5ypkYf0

On another note and distinction, the book allows us to judge the creature abhorrent (I found him abhorred but not abhorrent) whereas the movie has already judged, for us, the creature abhorrent. Continue reading →