Comparison of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein to Today's Mass Media - Research Paper

Introduction

Mary Shelley's novel, 'Frankenstein' is a novel thought of as both horror and science fiction. Although the reader is more than likely worried and disturbed by the occurrences, Victor Frankenstein's monster is not born by magic or the supernatural but by scientific means. The very core of the tale is the extremely bitter relationship between Victor Frankenstein and his creation. Victor creates the monster but is afraid of it after doing so. He does not want to test the creatures good or evil. The popularity of 'Frankenstein' and its various adaptations has been going on for about 20 decades. The 'creature' has procreated numerous spin-offs, extending from debates on the threats of science disrupting nature to graphic narratives. And with that comes the image, continuously replicated in every scope, from horror films to mealtime mueslis, of a green-skinned, flat-heat, complaining, bumbling giant with locks in his neck. The current media has greatly related its concepts from Marry Shelly's novel. The paper compares Mary Shelly's 'Frankenstein' to today's mass media.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Mary Shelley's novel exposes the dark side of brilliance. The novel has held a place in the popular mass media for 200 years. A person's most original and influential creation, left unregulated by morality and accountability, can become highly destructive. Brilliance without maturity can result in a disaster, Victor Frankenstein learns to connect some of the most mysterious forces of the universe-he is, as the novel's subtitle propose, the Modern Prometheus-yet he never thinks or learns to regulate the extreme outcomes of his brilliance and the repercussions is calamitous for him and for those about whom he cares most. Mass media can be in danger of becoming the Frankenstein's monster in these modern times. Intelligent individuals have generated influential tools that allow the society to do things unimagined even some decades ago. Based on the novel, it clear that this era has ushered the beginning of a new and better age through the creation of new forces whose destructive influence is leaving people diminished and unable to make wise decisions (Denson, 534).

Definitely, like Victor in 'Frankenstein,' the current society is enthralled by the amazing abilities that have arisen in this brave new digital world. Through creative ways in the mass media, people access more information at reduced costs unlike during creation of the monster in Shelly's novel. People can also talk to anyone about almost anything. When Shelly first published 'Frankenstein' in 1818, it is uncertain she could have forecasted the huge media impact this narrative of science would ultimately have on every media from films to children toys exhibitions. Frankenstein, the forename of the genius, not the creature he formed, though the re-energized corpse inclines to get recognized by the name-has become such a great media icon that it makes impeccable sense for most mass media to devote exhibits to the creature's lasting popularity. The creature's prominence continues to fascinate the audience (Freeman, 1). Shelly's novel has not been out of publication since 1818, and her fictitious novel continues to pop up in almost every mass media and from television to the internet.

Frankenstein may have accomplished far greater spectators by the 1930s when film viewers got to observe Boris Karloff in his occupation-defining cast as the giant. As clearly noted, the film was not entirely faithful to Shelly's narrative, which was not a narrative of horror but a gothic drama. The inventor Victor Frankenstein forms a man sewed from the corpses of others, yet his monster becomes quite complex, intelligent and even gruesome. However, the creature image remained relevant. Hollywood produced scores of Frankenstein flicks; some were thought to be more frightening than the first one, while others were meant for satire. Scientifically generated creatures on the loose and getting into trouble-are still being utilized in various forms today and in such different media like Walt Disney's 2002 animated movie, 'Lilo & Stitch' (Stilgoe, 1).

Productions have been made of Frankenstein since before the period of the film camera. An original cinema performance was initiated in 1823. From then, many stage adaptations of Frankenstein have been authored and performed all over the world. Frankenstein has been adapted for television as well. In the 1960s, Fred Gwynne performed as Herman Munster in the sitcom 'Frankenstein' presented as an 'ordinary' family man with a day job. The mythical horror icon, Boris Karloff created Frankenstein in his movies like 'Frankenstein' in 1931 and 'Bride of Frankenstein' in 1935. Films like I, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Hotel Transylvania, and the very comical Young Frankenstein have all been part of the Frankenstein juggernaut in the last five decades (Denson, 540).

Many books, narratives, and poems have borrowed the concept of 'science gone wrong' and transformed it into contemporary fables. Evidently, the caption of Frankenstein is 'The Modern Prometheus'. Prometheus provided fire from the Greek gods to the humankind and was 'gifted by having his liver removed from his body every day by a giant bird. The envisioned message was that individuals should not interfere with the natural order, whether it is fire or recreating the corpse. Frankenstein has been revised into numerous forms including kids' animation accounts, graphic novels and contemporary adaptations of the narrative. Some examples of Frankenstein-related printed scripts for children entail 'Frank N' Goat: A Tale of Freakish Friendship' by Jessica Watts and 'Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich' by Adam Rex. 'The Frankenstein Series' by Dean Koontz is an adult printed source focusing on the theme of recreating or creating something that ought not to be restored.

In the Halloween period, very few people can resist the huge, frightening character like Frankenstein. Due to that, individuals have been depicting Frankenstein every Halloween for numerous years. Even if a person has not read the novel, he or she is likely to have intrinsic fears of unidentified creatures. If Dr. Frankenstein names his formation a demonical corpse, that makes it prime costume material. Some famous songs depicting the monster have been sung during the Halloween party. Some songs like 'Teenage Frankenstein' by Alice Cooper in 1986, 'Monster Mash' by Boris Pickett in 1963 and 'Over at the Frankenstein Place' by Richard O'Brien for the Rocky Horror Picture Presentation in 1975. There are too many Frankensteins depicted by the mass media. Shelly's novel was quickly adapted for the stage production. In 1823, it was already adapted in the 'Presumption.' The actor, T.P. Cooke performed the creature in this 1823 state edition of Frankenstein. He used make-up that portrayed him with a shrunken appearance, lips straightforward and gloomy and a terrible, frightening grin (Fisch, 68).

The history of bioethics illustrates the people are slow to identify ethical transgressions in science. Some scientists have suggested that the top-most inspiration on accountable scientific practice is not legal guidelines or teaching but counselors. In Shelly's novel, Victor has a mentor, Professor Waldman, an advocate for the techniques of contemporary science but soon highlights alone. In the movies, Victor has accomplices -initially Fritz and then Igor- who provide a voice to the procedure of creation. In the novel, Victor is alone, and his experiments are partially illustrated. In the film, 'Young Frankenstein' by Mel Brooks, the director humanizes the relationship between Victor and his creation. In 2012, Bruno Latour, a French Philosopher authored that the actual example of Frankenstein was that the people would prevent the formation of creatures but that people should love their creatures. Latour indicated that people needed to love their monsters (Frayling, 156).

The distinctions of Shelly's novel were highly explained in the formation of a myth. Victor Frankenstein, the sophisticated, tortured intellectual, became a wrathful genius. His monster went from a French-speaking, poesy reading autodidact to a mumbling, grating murderer. Through paintings, prints, photography, and ephemera, various artists trace the creature's visual evolution. The novel's stormy genesis is almost as prominent as the monster's lighting-charged birth. Today, influences of Frankenstein are apparent in I, Robot, in the ways people react when the supremacy of the invented becomes superior to the brains behind it. In some movies, people are portrayed as giants, whether during their activities or through the ideas of different beings in such images, the audience finds issues evident in society.

Frankenstein influences science narrative movies in which people are portrayed as giants, and 'creatures' are regarded as more gentle beings. The audience can see Frankenstein's sway in I, Robot, once the influence of the creation become bigger than the creator. In the 'I, Robot,' Dr. Alfred Lanning integrates the United States Robotics company almost alone. Nevertheless, the workstation to the whole operation, a Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence System, becomes self-conscious and eventually turns all of Lanning's conception upon him. Lanning produces robots on the grounds of the three laws; one, a robot must not injure a human being or through indecision, permit some human to come to harm; secondly, a robot must submit to the guidelines given to them by human beings except when those guidelines infringe the initial law and lastly, a robot is expected to safeguard its animation unless that infringes the initial and second law. The issues highlighted in the I, Robot show the influence that Frankenstein has in the film media (Stilgoe, 1).

Shelly's Frankenstein has remained influential, but the pitiful story of the creature has remained the basis of most pop culture concepts. The myth of the monster made by man has for a long time become the formula to illustrate the social and political dilemma. The title of the first and most prominent play became the one-word summary of the narration and its message; 'Presumption.' 'In almost every age of the world, woman's curiosity has been leveled by man's presumption.' These were the opening words of the stage performance. In years that followed after the publication of Shelly's novel, Frankenstein's narrative was common knowledge in Europe and the U.S. The story is considered as the first myth in the modern age. At the start of the 20th century, there was no clear way to depict the monster in the popular culture (Allen, 80). Shelly had kept the description of the creature to a minimum.

Television has also seen more than its fair share of Frankenstein's creatures. In the 'Weird Science' and 'The Munsters' are some of the television shows that have depicted Frankenstein's creature version. Frankenstein's creature is also portrayed in novels and comics. Authors like Dean Koontz created an entire series of books which bring the Frankenstein narrative to modern day New Orleans. All kinds of narratives draw their subjects from Shelly's novel. Even scientific works of authors like of authors like Isaac Asimov, Philip Dick, and Arthur C. Clark are basing their storyline from the Victorian age narrative of a creature turning on its creator. Novels have characters like Hal, '2001; A Space Odyssey' and Roy from 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' who are seamless depictions of how creatures turn on their creators. Frankenstein's creature has appeared in all kinds of comic books and has a series film known as 'Frankenstein; Agent of S.H.A.D.E.' Frankenstein's creature is also depicted in music like 'Jesus Frankenstein' by Rob Zombie'Another Saturday Night' by Sam Cooke; 'Science ; Fiction Double Feature' by Rocky...