Frankenstein, Frankenstein's Monster, and Frankenstein's Bisexuality
In movies, we see Victor Frankenstein as an evil, deranged doctor who strives to create the living from the dead. While that's partially true of the literary Victor Frankenstein, who is interested in alchemy and bringing the dead to life, he's not as crazed as the mad scientist we see in film. Frankenstein is your average college student, but with a very strange hobby. I found this character very endearing and relatable, as opposed to the evil genius he's typically depicted as. It feels like movie versions of Frankenstein tend to swap the narratives of its two main characters. In the novel, we sympathize with Frankenstein, whereas in the movies we're led to feel for Frankenstein's monster. Neither are bad, just different, and I like that.
An interesting difference between the novel and its adaptations is how the majority of the novel is dumped in favor of the creation of the monster. I never knew about Elizabeth, or Henry, or Victor's mother and father before reading the book, so I was shocked when reading through all of this backstory and build up that I never expected. Maybe film makers thought that Frankenstein didn't need a backstory, that the creation of the monster was horrifying enough. To me, Frankenstein's personal life grounded his character in reality. He has connections; he has friends, family, and loved ones.
Now let me rant a bit about how totally gay Henry is for Frankenstein. Listen, Henry fought with his father in order to go to the same college as Frankenstein, and then proceeded to nurse his good bro Victor for months when Victor was sick. Henry never gave up on his friendship with Frankenstein, even after he hadn't heard from Victor since he left for school, and that's some dope ass love right there. That's that good gay stuff I live for. Like, I expected Frankenstein and Elizabeth to get together because he completely fawns over her, but in all honesty the connection between Henry and Frankenstein felt way more tangible. Elizabeth is cool, but if Henry didn't die they totally would have gotten together. Case closed.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed the secret relationship between henry and victor. they spent more time together than Elizabeth was even mentioned. Interesting....
ReplyDelete"Dope ass love" might be my favorite phrase used in any context whatsoever. Dig the analysis of Frankenstein's sexuality. I hope you're gonna do a blog post on Interview with a Vampire; I feel like that's the kind of stuff you could really get into.
ReplyDeletey e s.
ReplyDeleteGreat title, and that last paragraph is a an interesting spin on the tale which I am 110% in support of!
Okay I vote this as the best blog post about Frankenstein ever purely because of that good gay stuff at the end there. I live for that too, though I didn't seem to pick up on it like you did, but now that it's been pointed out I'll never be able to unsee it, but I'm 100% okay with that. I should probably talk about the more serious portion of your post so... I agree with your statement that in the novel we are meant to empathize/sympathize with Frankenstein himself vs the monster we're usually pressured to feel for in the movie adaptations. I've read the novel a couple times now and each time I read it I feel worse for Frankenstein, especially because he didn't intend to create life just for it to be miserable, it just got away from him, literally and figuratively. Alright back to the gay thing now, good stuff, I like it, write more fun things like that... and some more introspective stuff too I guess if you have time, haha.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your analysis on the differences between movie Frankenstein and novel Frankenstein. These glaring differences also bothered me when I read Mary Shelley's novel. I wonder if we will ever get an answer as to why pop-culture's Frankenstein is so far from the novel.
ReplyDeleteI also appreciate your point on the relationship between Henry Clerval and Frankenstein. Can't help but agree that it was some "dope ass love right there."