Look at these two clips from different film adaptations of Frankenstein. In the comments section, remark on the differences between them and Shelly’s text: How do they imagine the scene of the creature’s birth and how does these interpretations augment or diminish the theme of the novel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOcJwt8XB4M
After watching these movie clips about Frankenstein, the characters seem to be ecstatic and full of enthusiasm after seeing what they have created. Once they see what they have created they are joyful and exuberant, but this is not the case in the novel. In the novel, Frankenstein was horrified and deceived by the creature he worked relentlessly to create. “I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room…” He was in shock and awe after realizing and observing the dreadful creature he had produced. This contrast in reactions (movie clip vs. novel) somewhat changes the theme and feel of the story by demonstrating the character Frankenstein with different reactions after finalizing his creation.
Both of the above film adaptations are fairly different from the original Frankenstein novel by Mary Shelley. They both depict the scene of the Creature’s birth as a rather exciting and happy moment for a madman scientist. Frankenstein, in the clips, is thrilled to see his creation come to life and breathe or move. He cries aloud with joy. However, in the novel, this scene couldn’t have been a more horrid moment for Frankenstein. Once he injects life into the creature, he is disgusted with how hideous it is and what he had done to create it. So much so that he ran off from his Creature, abandoning it to take on the world on its own. In the first, black-and-white clip, Frankenstein even has an audience in the moment of the Creature’s birth, which I believe further ruins the point of the story. In the novel, not only does he despise his creation, but he also keeps his wretched secret to himself for as long as he possibly can.
Overall, I believe the movie clips display a completely different mood of the scene than Shelley had portrayed in her book. They make it a more exciting moment for Frankenstein, rather than a depressing and stomach-churning moment as the novel illustrates it to be.
Both the movie clips depicted gave off a very different image than the book gave off. In both clips the men are very excited, amazed and proud of their work. They are begging the monster to come alive, in the book he is excited too. But after a few minutes starring at the creature he had created he becomes terrified of it and is disgusted by its appearance. This is a crucial part in the story because this is when Frankenstein starts to become scared to the monster. He does not want to celebrate with anyone and even goes so far as to keep it a secret from his friends and family. The scene of both of these movies is not what I imagined when I read the book, first off Frankenstein is alone when the monster becomes alive and the way his lab is shown is different than described. I didn’t picture all the lights and crazy needles. I believe these movies would have been better if they depicted the true feelings that Frankenstein had, these feelings give his character more depth. Showing how he worked for years to create this being and in just a few seconds he is disgusted by it is very interesting to me and I wish it was depicted in these movies.
The Creature’s birth is dramatized and portrayed as an extravagant scientific breakthrough by both clips. In the book, the actual scene of how the creature came to life seemed to have little to none importance in the plot, however, Frankenstein’s initial reaction to seeing the Creature alive was focused on more in the story. In the film’s, Frankenstein seemed to marvel at the sight that the Creature was alive, while in the book, Frankenstein was disgusted by the mere sight of the Creature. Frankenstein initially didn’t know how to “describe [his] emotions at this catastrophe” (Chapter 4, paragraph 2), unlike the Frankenstein’s in the clips whom immediately were amazed by their results. Also, in the first clip, Frankenstein was accompanied by three onlookers and an assistant, although in the text he was by himself when he brought life to the Creature. In the second clip, there were a lot of extravagant steps to bring the Creature to life, while in the text Frankenstein simply “collected the instruments of life…[to] infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing” (Chapter 4, paragraph 1). The clips theatrical rendition of the text changes the theme by making the story less believable and more of a sci-fi tale. The reaction of the Creature coming alive and realization on what has truly taken place would shock anyone even the initial creator, so the clips make this reality had to see. In the novel, the latter is not the case as Frankenstein goes through his admiration and disgust at the sight of the living creature.
Both clips of the film adaptations display the birth of Frankenstein’s monster very differently. It seems that both clips add intense drama to the creation of the monster. Epic music is played in the background while Frankenstein endeavors to create the monster with excitement. The biggest difference between the clips and the novel is that in the clips, Frankenstein is excited and is in a state of euphoria when the monster is born. Unlike the movie clips, in the novel, Frankenstein’s excitement dies once he looks at the monster. He is horrified and disgusted by the monster’s ugliness. The clips diminish the theme of the novel because the monster is loved by Frankenstein in the movies. The theme of the novel is driven by the fact that the monster is hated by his own creator. The monster is driven by this rejection and his need for love in the story. However, based on the clips, the movies seems to fail to share the novel’s theme.
The youtube clips undoubtably capture one of the greatest moments of Shelly’s novel, although they use a great amount directive liberty to change key aspects from the original work. Both clips, although missing the aftermath, depict Frankenstein as ecstatic and overjoyed by the sight of his creation, while the same can’t be said for the book. The older clip also gives Frankenstein a more deranged demeanor in the way he repeats to himself “It’s alive,” which turned out to be one of the most recognizable moments of Frankenstein. One overarching theme of Frankenstein was the search for a friend, and the books ultimate rejection of the creature does not make it to the film adaptation as Frankenstein was clearly proud of his creation, which is unmistakably a major difference.
The creation of the monster in the movie differs greatly from his creation in the book. In the movie Frankenstein is beyond proud of his creation and all the hard work he put into it. He worked harder on this creation than probably anything else in his life and he was so thrilled with his results. You can see the excitement he is experiencing through his gestures and through his shouting of “It’s alive! It’s alive!” In the book Frankenstein is very excited about his creation coming to life but once he looks at the creature for a little and realizes what his end result was, his enthusiasm quickly fades away. This is upsetting for the monster cause his creator never gives him the attention and love that he wants and needs. It is interesting to see how changing one detail in the same story line can take the story in two opposite directions and portray such different emotions for the characters.
One of the major themes in Frankenstein is the creature’s yearning for acceptance and friendship while being shunned by society and even abandoned by his creator. Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein first showed a negative attitude towards his creation when he first gave it life. He was disgusted by his own creation. The creature was abnormally tall and completely grotesque to the point that Frankenstein decided to keep it a secret for as long as he possibly could. This already combats how the creation of the monster is portrayed in the first film because he had an audience and was unable to keep it a secret. The biggest difference between the two films and the book is that the two films show Frankenstein full of enthusiasm when bringing life to his creature while in the book he was ashamed of what he had created. The films dramatized the birth of this monster for cinematic effect.
After watching the movie clips about Frankenstein, both clips are about how Frankenstein created his creature; I felt terrified the moment I thought about that how this world would be like if this were true. The clips show us the process of how Frankenstein made his creature in detail and also show the emotions of Frankenstein more vividly. Characters in the movies are all seemed very excited about the creature they created and they are so eager to experience the moment that their creatures come alive. Comparing to the novel by Shelley, Frankenstein was also very eager to experience that moment his creature survived the procedure. However, Frankenstein was horrified by the fact that his creature actually is alive. For example, he said “but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created”. This was different than the first clip where Frankenstein was enjoying process of his experiment and was screaming so excitingly about this creature. I think this is true that when we, human, create something that the world does not yet understand, we feel terrified because we don’t know how the world would react to these new creations or inventions.
Both of the movie clips diminish the theme of the novel greatly. In the novel, Frankenstein was purely terrified at his own work. As soon as the creature showed signs of life, he ran away in fright. He tried to not go to sleep but he was incredibly sleep deprived and he had bad dreams thereafter. The movie clips make Frankenstein seem like a mad scientist at work and showing other people his invention. But in the novel, he was alone and he hadn’t lost his mind yet. Frankenstein was terrified of his own shadow when he first made the creature. He was amazed and petrified at the same time. The movie clips make it seem as if he was proud of his invention and that isn’t what happened at all. Frankenstein didn’t even tell anyone about his invented creature for a very long time. The movies would have been more interesting if they stayed true to the novel. The movies clips will change the opinions of the audience based on what they have shown which is not what happened in the book.
These two clips show how the creature was born and it is different from the Shelly’s text. Frankenstein in the two clips looks very excited and intend on making the creature. And he is very happy that he created the monster. We can see how he was thrilled when the creature’s fingers were moving at the first clip. Also we can feel that when he looks at the creature’s face and keeps eye contact with him at the second clip. It might seem that Frankenstein is brimming with enthusiasm while he creates the monster. However, he was disgusted with the creature after he saw the dull yellow eye of the creature opened in the text. He thinks the creature’s face was hideous ugly and monstrous and feels that the birth of the creature is a catastrophe. Moreover, he said, “but not that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heat” and he rushed out of the room in the text. Therefore, we can see how regret Frankenstein that he makes the creature. This point is far apart from the clips. Although these two clips are pretty short, Frankenstein’s feeling towards the creature when he was born is the biggest difference.
These two clips show the creation of Frankenstein’s creature, which is perhaps one of the most important events in the novel. The way it is illustrated in these two clips ruins the theme of the novel. In these two clips we see that Frankenstein is so happy and excited about the creature he is about to create and he shows liveliness and thrill when the creature finally comes to life. However, in the novel Frankenstein had a completely different outlook. He was rather disgusted and hated what he created, because he was an ugly looking creature with a flat head and an ugly face and at that time all of his hard work just didn’t seem worth it. In one of the clips there happened to be an audience of 3 watching Frankenstein in the creation of his creature, but as shown in the novel, Frankenstein wanted to keep it as a secret for as long as possible because he really created a monster. Overall, the novel created a much different visualization of the creation of Frankenstein and the clips portrayed something rather made up since it didn’t correlate with what was written in the novel.
In this youtube videos and the book of Shelly’s about Frankenstein is have some differences. The videos shows how Frankenstein so much exited to create monster. The first video he so much happy and saying, ” It’s alive!” have so much interests and more exited about being creating the monster. There is so much differences from the book, when Frankenstein created the monster he was so much happy but after little while he wasn’t that much happy about creating the monster. Even the song of second video, is strong that shows Frankenstein is so much exited about creating the monster and keep repeating ” Live , Live “. That shows how much Frankenstein wants to create the monster. so much passion about creating that. Let’s go back to book, the book shows totally different reaction. How Frankenstein is creating that monster to not to feel alone but he realized that wasn’t helpful. He did not wanted to show what he created and keep it in secret. Overall novel and those two videos have differences and each of them shows differently reaction of Frankenstein.
Xingyu Zheng
In the novel, Frankenstein creates the Creature by himself, there is no one next to him. In the first video, there are three people around when the Creature is creating, and Frankenstein has an assistance. In the second video, it is closer to the novel, which there is only Frankenstein himself. In the novel, Frankenstein’s expression is mostly inside thinking. Shelley described many inner conflict for Frankenstein. As a reader, I can now that Frankenstein is happy that his creation is successfully, but he also feels unhappy with the appearance of the Creature. The Creature makes he has nightmare, and makes him run out his house just want to get away from the Creature. But in the video, it is hard to show the inner world of a character. Honestly, I like the first video, although I think the Frankenstein is too old, but the Frankenstein in this section show the changing of his feeling about the Creature. And the creature is more nature. In the second video, the Frankenstein is crazier than the first one, all I saw was the happiness and enjoy of his creature’s successful, maybe later he will show the fear. There is only two minutes for the second video, but all my focus is the arms of the Creature. The arms are so ridiculous, how does a crazy creator can keep his “artwork” like unorganized?
The film adaptations of the novel depict Frankenstein as very enthusiastic toward the creation of his creature. The film adaptations also dramatize the creation. In the first film, the creature’s birth is witnessed by three other people including Frankenstein. This was probably done in order to express the elation over such a dramatic event. In the second film, a lot of movement can be seen as well as lightning and sound effects. This over exaggeration is created to emphasize the excitement and enthusiasm Frankenstein has over his creation. However while both films depict an excitement over the creation of the monster. this is not the case in the novel. In the novel, Frankenstein is instead horrified over the monster he has created, to the point where he expresses regret as he glances over what he has done. These depictions are two opposites. They give a telling of two different stories. The climax of the story serves as a basis for where the story and theme of the story is going. The film adaptations show the story going toward a more optimistic approach, while the novel depicts the opposite of that. In my opinion, the novel does a better job of stressing the theme of the story. The immediate disgust and regret over creating the monster, emphasizes the story’s lesson of Victor’s guilt. The film’s adaptation, however give a very different feeling, diverting away from the story’s main theme. Although, the novel does a better job of depicting the theme of the story, the film’s depiction was unique in its own way and added its own touch, which made it interesting to watch.
Both these clips were different but the same. They both portrayed us the birth of the creature. In both the clips, he was relatively happy and excited about his creation. From the film, it seemed as if he was proud of creation. In the book he is ashamed of his creation, too the point were he leaves it. This I believe is the main difference between the two. The book better emphasizes the argument of the book, that being that Frankenstein was a bad disgraceful creature. But the point of a movie is to entertain. This is a prime example of how the book differs from the movie, or movies. This I believe is the main difference between the two(book, and movies)
These two clips from different adaptations of Frankenstein give very different reactions to the creation of the creature. In Mary Shelly’s text, Frankenstein realizes he created a monster when he sees the creature’s eyes open. He describes to the readers what he saw, “his yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same color as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shriveled complexion, and straight black lips” (30). While he worked hard for two years deprived of rest and health, Frankenstein is horrified when the creature awakens realizing that he has created this monster. “I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (30). Frankenstein runs away from it and leaves the creature by itself. In these two film adaptations, Frankenstein is thrilled and filled with joy when the creature moves its arms in the first clip and when the creature opens its eyes in the second. Frankenstein is ecstatically screaming “it’s alive!” in these clips. These interpretations diminish the theme of the novel.