The Bride of Frankenstein Essay

How can such disparate characters, that are even resentful towards one another, be so consubstantial? Though Victor and the monster do not share the same physical or social traits, they have many of the same personality traits. Victor and the monster are analogous with their desire for knowledge, relationships with nature, and with desires for family. The author uses complex diction, symbolism, and syntax to emphasize these similarities. Throughout the plot, these similarities become more apparent and as this occurs their relationship worsens.

The film Frankenstein in the 1930’s was criticized because of its many imperfections such as the reused settings, acting, and overall plot. The original film is under the genre of horror, however Mel Brooks (director) creates a parody that pokes fun of the cinematic and dramatic techniques. Young Frankenstein is a comedic parody that is enjoyable for an audience regardless of whether they have viewed the original or not.

Physically it is a very linear experience, and like this animation, “The Bride of Frankenstein” is quite linear as well, with one event happening after another, actions leading to consequences. Undertones of tragedy seep through the film: dark tones, high contrast, turbulent weather, aggressive mood. Unrest persists with few peaceful moments. It is a gothic horror, as it was created to be. There is much power within this simplicity. It welcomes interpretation.

We get a little bit of everything in this film such as creepy locations and camera angle that shows darkness to a shot or characters true feeling or intention. F.W.Murnau used a variety of ways to show the horror prospective in this film. in the beginning we see the husband meeting his lover in a dark and creepy moon lit swamp. In an edit sequence we get a trailing shot of the husband walking through the very dark and gloomy swap with a slouch posture and hands in his pockets, we also hear a very slow and creepy soundtrack playing in the background giving the audiences a chilling feels to it. Then we see that he walks out of the frame and the camera keeps going and stops on a shot of the city woman standing near some bushes with a very bright and high moon in the background. This is where we can draw a clear conclusion that the location is imposed on us to give a feeling of sadness or evil sin that they are about to commit in this isolated part of the farm. He uses high angles several time through the film as well to show the shadows of darkness on characters face and give them a monster like appearance. We see a perfect example of this in the shot of a close up of the husband face at a high angle and low light in the boat when he is about to stand up to kill his wife. We see the dark shadow in his face and his slouched Frankenstein posture as he moves his eye on his wife about to kill her. He used these cinematic techniques to show character emotions and implement the horror prospective in the film and these are clear reasons why some might say this is more horror than a classic love story of two

The creature of the novel Frankenstein is intelligent, naïve, powerful and frightening. He seeks vengeance, kills three people, and haunts his creator to the end of his (Frankenstein’s) days. Why? What inspired and what enraged the creature so much so that he felt this was the only path to pursue?

At the start of life, human beings are exposed to the outside world with an open and blank mind. A new born has no knowledge, no concerns or worries and it only seeks to fulfill its main necessities. Surrounded by the outside world one lives through many experiences where knowledge is accepted. Encountering other human beings reflects upon ones perception and brings about ones self decisions. Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein demonstrates characters that through an obsessive desire for more knowledge ruin their own lives. Victor Frankenstein is a scientist, who creates a monster to life through his extensive knowledge of science, but the creature he creates brings terrible demise and Victor loses everything that was once close to him. The

decided that wanted to create a being out of people that were already dead. He believed that he could bring people back from the grave. Playing with nature in such a way would make him play the role of God. With Victor Frankenstein feeling that he had no true friends, the only relief he had of expressing his feeling was through letters to Elizabeth.

The value of something depends entirely on each individual, as nobody can value something completely the same as somebody else. In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the author is able to portray how women are valued and the oppression of them through Mr. Frankenstein’s disgust to the “she monster” and treatment of other female characters throughout the novel.

Frankenstein deals with much. It has the obvious nightmarish terrors represented in the monster, terrifying in both sight and murderous actions. There however exists a subliminal context of horror within the narrative. The characters within the narrative reveal the moral shortcomings of humanity, and when stripped to its base constructs, amount to little more than what the monster becomes. It shows the psychological frailty of man, and when unhinged the dangers it is capable of.

“Horror and science fiction tend to present radically opposite interpretations of what may look like comparable situations.” (Kawin, 1981.) Bruce Kawin helps the reader to understand how a story in the genre of science fiction could be adapted, or bastardized if you like, into a horror. This is similar to the film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Both “Frankenstein” (1931) and “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935) portrayed characters and events differently than Shelley would have desired. Her novel had many deeper implications than the movie portrayed.

How can we think of Frankenstein and ignore the film classic of 1931? Yet the celebrated film does not follow the novel by Mary Shelley. Although the scene of a futuristic laboratory entrances movie audiences with the mad Dr. Frankenstein and his faithful assistant Igor, the scene is derived from twentieth century imaginations and interests, not the novel itself.

However, the mise-en-scene still maintains a level of realism, rather than being abstracted drawings brought to life. The home of Mary Shelley in the film’s opening is ornately decorated with antique furniture, candle sticks, chandeliers, and a large fireplace. This space, established by the narrative frame as a reality outside the Frankenstein story, is stylistically no different from the settings throughout the rest of the film.

In the silent era, most American horror movies were somewhat nervous efforts, more likely than not to have their supernatural elements explained away, and to be leavened still further by the insertion of the most painful kind of “comedy relief.” As far as actual screen horror went, the Germans expressed their films in their way; this would not change the way horror films were created until sound cinema. The year 1931 would prove to be a landmark in the history of screen horror. Horror films during this period reflected the need of the population for entertainment that bore little resemblance to their real-world circumstances. The viewer's favorite movies had highly fantastical creations and featuring supernatural creatures from 19th-century literature. Universal Pictures was undoubtedly the studio that most successfully tapped the audience’s desire for escapist horror during the period. There were successful horror films produced by other studios in the 1930s.

When watching a horror movies it's is easy to embody the fear felt by the characters included in the film but with a book there must be several of details added in order to employ the same feeling. At the time that Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein she had in mind to create the most horrific book among the group which accompanied her. To apply the same effect felt as we watch a horror movie now Mary Shelley including the technique's such a imagery, alliteration and

Why did I choose a passage from Frankenstein? It is a work which portrays a lot of themes, symbols, motifs and it is contextualized in a period with a lot of changes in the society. In this essay I will explore the many aspects of Frankenstein that influence in the society for its later staging of horror films.