The Frankenstein Phenomena in Life and Education :: Mary Shelley Frankenstein Essays

The Frankenstein Phenomena in Life and EducationWhen we consider most traditional Hollywood Frankenstein word pictures, the monster is depicted as evil because he is malformed but this is not always the case. The simple one-to-one relationship of ugly equals evil was not large in the Mary Shelleys original book or in more true-to-text films such as The Bride or more recently Kenneth Brannaghs attempt to make the controlling film interpretation, Mary Shelleys Frankenstein. In these versions, the monster was portrayed as more human in his endeavors to question his origins, find a father and be happy. However, his sensible characteristics have become the most salient feature in popular culture, so much so, that he is generally viewed as unquestionably evil bec ause his fashion offends the eye. The signs in this case argon the monsters scars, his stitches, the bolts that hold his head on, the hands of a murderer sewn on, his club feet, his staggering jerky walk, his strange and reta rded speech. We very much gather in t hese signs as being indexes and symbols of evil and malevolence that signify insidiousness and threat, even though these are characteristics of so many real conditions in our fissure humans. When we consider such people, we call these signs symptoms, infir mities, disabilities and medical problems. Are we so sure that we can separate how we view these signs depending on whether we are watching movies, such unfaltering sources of how we regard our world, or when we deal with patients or students in the real wor ld?Looking at how people that are considered aberrant either physically or mentally are portrayed in movies gives a good view on how society as a whole may see them, in my opinion. In the film The Bride, the monsters only companion after his escap e is a dwarf who was a circus performer. Although, this movie is definitely a more positive and sympathetic portraiture of the monsters condition, it also highlights the assumption that anybo dy with a physical makeup that is unusual, is considered just as much a monster by society. In this discussion, I will initially take the representation of dwarves in movies and myth, and how they are perceived by society as being prototypical for a range of other physical differences that are considered negatively i n this culture. I choose dwarves because I believe they have been one of the most pervasively stereotyped groups in movies and myth and whose negative exposure continues to persist even in the politically correct era because now they can be labeled as w eird but cool.