The
monsters, as we learn in class, emerge from the specific cultural historical
contexts and this time, the Frankenstein’s monster also came up from some
aspects of race, class, and gender problems arising at that time. All creatures
in this world should be fairly treated and deserve recognition, and monsters
are not excluded. We have witnessed many cases in which monsters are the heroes
that save the world and yet human beings still alienates them just because of
their horrible appearance. The Frankenstein’s monster had the same fate that
really makes us think about race, class, and gender relations in the society nowadays.
From the
novel, we know that the Frankenstein’s monster is a guilty creation, but does
that guilt belong to the monster itself, or does it belong to the creator who has
granted the monster its life? Moreover, is the Frankenstein’s monster really
monstrous when “it” utterly wants the loves from all, especially from the
creator – Victor, and “it” also wants to give the love to the others? The
creator, Victor, abandoned his own creation no matter how many times the
monster tried to explain to him. This is the display of the class relation as
we see that Victor and his monster are obviously in different classes and the way he treats the monster is
unacceptable.
From the
film, we can see the moment that the Frankenstein’s monster saves the child
from drowning, the monster got shot and driven away by the child’s father. The monster’s
disgusting looks have frightened the man so that he misjudged the monster.
Then, is the Frankenstein’s monster really brutal or is it the discriminating
reactions coming from the others due to the monster’s appearance? The
treatments of racism also have the same nature. The people who gets
discriminated were judged by solely their appearance, and over all they never
got a chance to be listened to.
What class of people do think Frankenstein's monster was suppose to represent in the movie. I read back in Franco Moretti's Dialectic of Fear that,"terror is born precisely out of the terror of a split society and out of the desire to heal it". What do you is the political terror that is affecting society at the time and how do you think this film was trying to solve it? In your post you talked about racism and Frankenstein's green skin color. Do you think the director was trying to address the racism that was happening in the US? I don't believe so because he did not do a good job humanizing Frankenstein's monster so do you think it's possible its the opposite that the director was pushing for racism?
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