I’m responding to this clip: It’s Alive! – Frankenstein (2/8) Movie CLIP (1931) HD.

The clip begins with Frankenstein asking his “audiences” to examine the lifelessness of his experimental subject as if he’s a grand magician that is going to pull a rabbit out of an empty hat. Then with a nod of one of his audiences’ head, and a roaring of the thunder, Frankenstein begins to perform his operation frenetically with his assistant. And after observing the fingers and hand movements of his “masterpiece,” Frankenstein begins to exclaim “IT’S ALIVE” in ecstasy several times and ends the clip with the line “NOW I KNOW HOW IT FEELS LIKE TO BE GOD!!!”

The settings: The roaring of the thunder and the flickering of the light throughout the clip certainly have added some dramatic elements to the scene. Just like in many other movies, thunder and lightning usually serve as forebodings of some catastrophes. In the book, we have “dreary night,” “the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out.” We can conclude that the setting in the clip is faithful to the text, which is gloomy and gruesome.

The audiences and the assistant: There are 3 audiences and one assistant in the clip, but we have only Frankenstein in his lab in the text! Which is quite a big difference. This change though, will be used to support an even bigger alternation between the clip and the book–the attitude of Frankenstein towards his creation

Frankenstein’s attitude: In the clip, Frankenstein feels pretty good about his “masterpiece.” In fact, he is proud of it. He feels so good about it that he has to invite some audiences into his laboratory to witness the operation. Yes, of course, what he has succeeded in doing is quite remarkable even in 2016, so it’s very understandable that he says: “NOW I KNOW HOW IT FEELS LIKE TO BE GOD.” In the text though, Frankenstein holds a very different attitude towards his work: 1. he works alone in his laboratory 2.he is a little bit scared of his own creation 3. he is a little disgusted by his own creation. Frankenstein is so agitated by his own work that he has to leave the laboratory to avoid looking at it again after seeing it moves for the first time, and stays away from it for the rest of the night. I think we can conclude that Frankenstein deems it as a “masterpiece” in the clip, and sees it as a failure in the text.

This book actually reminds me of a Japanese animation series that I watched when I was young. I didn’t watch a lot of cartoons but this series is my favorite. And here are the corresponding clips that I have thought of:

So in short, these two boys live in a world where alchemy is a real thing. Their mother died, they tried to get their mom back by using alchemy even when everybody in their world knows it is forbidden to create living organisms with alchemy. But of course, they do it anyway. And this is what they get.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEkfe2SIc-M

By Fanliang(Dave) Cen