Frankenstein's Hot Takes

Hello! Welcome to day 2 of movies, day 3 of blog.

Frankenstein. Frankenstein. Icon, classic, kind of cute??? in a lost puppy way. Mary Shelley sure knew what she was doing when she thought up this monster. 

Before you come for me, yes I know Frankenstein is the scientist not the monster, but if everyone else in the world knows this face as Frankenstein, wouldn't it be easier for me to go along with it? I mean if everyone says it's true isn't it then true? But that's a philosophical question for a different day. Either way, I'm talking about this handsome fella.

same^

Frankenstein was directed by James Whale and was released in 1931. In contrast to Caligari, which I'm now remembering I compared to this film and will claim was an intentional segue, Whale's was first released in America and based on an English novel by Mary Shelley. Everyone knows her as the badass creepy gal who carried her dead husband's heart around with her, but together she and the aforementioned husband Percy were actually pretty cool people from what I can tell. Please don't hesitate to tell me I'm wrong if they sucked, but I'll need some solid proof. 

This film is awesome for a lot of reasons, but I'll start with the picture above to tell you more than I can type. The monster is fucking cool! He's scary, weirdly sympathetic and iconic. Frankenstein's monster is obviously known today as more of a stereotype and less of an innovative reanimated creature, which is kind of disappointing. Perhaps Shelley would be okay with that, but something tells me she'd rather he be ominous and creepy as opposed to a Halloween joke where drunk dudes walk around with their arms sticking out mumbling something about brides. Not to mention that Frankenstein's monster wasn't dumb...but I'm going on a tangent here. Let me add one little thing though before I leave this train of thought. If I could change anything, it would be the elimination of Frankenstein's monster's voice. In the original novel, he was quizzical, tortured, smart...here's an example from the book.

God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him, but I am solitary and abhorred.

See what I mean? He's contemplative, and we see his/its personality. I miss that guy in this movie. 

However, this 1931 film has everything else you'd want from a scary movie. It follows this reanimated man-monster as he hunts the creator who abandoned him. Simultaneously, the audience follows Dr. Frankenstein as he descends into madness, questioning the morality of playing God while also struggling to protect his loved ones from the confused creation. This aspect of the movie, the playing God part, is an apparent social commentary, warning us to take a step back and look at technology and industrialization before trying to run shit (and ruin shit). We didn't quite listen.

This layer adds to the movie infinitely as it follows the trend many horror films to this day still adhere to, of making that social commentary while still scaring the shit out of the audience. Though it's not one of the movies on my list, Dawn of the Dead is the most obvious example that comes to mind: literally being consumed inside a shopping mall. I mean.

Frankenstein is good. Heck, I'll say it's great. If you find yourself getting distracted trying to watch, I won't lie to you: same. But don't be unwilling to let this classic creep up on you. It's worth the watch.