I will be responding to the second prompt, lets go for a ride shall we?
The constant confusion, who really is Frankenstein? Is it the creator? Is it the monster? Is it the angry mob with pitch forks!? Well for most people they think its the monster, and this name confusion is not reserved for just this book, people get the names of characters incorrect all the time! For instance, there is the wonderful video game, Zelda. Now if you ask anyone who has any appreciation for video games they will know that Zelda is the princess and LINK is the main character. The problem being that the game is named Zelda so naturally one would assume that the protagonist is, well, Zelda. And I think this may be one reason for why Frankenstein is oftentimes considered the name of the monster. The name of the novel is Frankenstein, so naturally that must be the name of the most memorable character of the story, and in many people's eyes the protagonist, the monster! Yet of course this is not the case.
Another reason I think that Frankenstein is the name attached to the monster is because simply put, people are lazy. When rattling off monsters names, most people want it to be precise, one word, simple. For example, Dracula is Dracula, not COUNT Dracula! Which is why I think that the name of so many monsters is just one word. Jason, Freddy, Wolfman, Godzilla, Big Foot, etc. This may be a bit of a weak argument, but a justifiable one none the less!
Now as for the appearance of Frankenstein's Monster. The classic square head and bolts out of the neck being the most recognizable interpretation of the monster, that is what people think of when they think of the monster. And reason being I think mainly is, tradition. That original film came out in 1931, when most of our grandparents were young children. Naturally they enjoyed the movie as did their parents and so when our parents were born it only makes sense that our grandparents showed it to them and then in turn our parents showed us. And since it was the first rendition of the movie all movies following used it as a sort of base point, something to go off of. Now no one really questions where this appearance of the monster came from or even questions it, because that is just simply how he looks.
The constant confusion, who really is Frankenstein? Is it the creator? Is it the monster? Is it the angry mob with pitch forks!? Well for most people they think its the monster, and this name confusion is not reserved for just this book, people get the names of characters incorrect all the time! For instance, there is the wonderful video game, Zelda. Now if you ask anyone who has any appreciation for video games they will know that Zelda is the princess and LINK is the main character. The problem being that the game is named Zelda so naturally one would assume that the protagonist is, well, Zelda. And I think this may be one reason for why Frankenstein is oftentimes considered the name of the monster. The name of the novel is Frankenstein, so naturally that must be the name of the most memorable character of the story, and in many people's eyes the protagonist, the monster! Yet of course this is not the case.
Another reason I think that Frankenstein is the name attached to the monster is because simply put, people are lazy. When rattling off monsters names, most people want it to be precise, one word, simple. For example, Dracula is Dracula, not COUNT Dracula! Which is why I think that the name of so many monsters is just one word. Jason, Freddy, Wolfman, Godzilla, Big Foot, etc. This may be a bit of a weak argument, but a justifiable one none the less!
Now as for the appearance of Frankenstein's Monster. The classic square head and bolts out of the neck being the most recognizable interpretation of the monster, that is what people think of when they think of the monster. And reason being I think mainly is, tradition. That original film came out in 1931, when most of our grandparents were young children. Naturally they enjoyed the movie as did their parents and so when our parents were born it only makes sense that our grandparents showed it to them and then in turn our parents showed us. And since it was the first rendition of the movie all movies following used it as a sort of base point, something to go off of. Now no one really questions where this appearance of the monster came from or even questions it, because that is just simply how he looks.
I totally agree with you about the idea of how usually people tying the name of the monster with the most memorable character of the films or media products. And I think that it is the simplest way that the producers make their films popular and mislead most the meanings of the monsters or the author’s ideas about their original monsters. They instead chose to popularize those monsters rather than their real meanings. In this case, as we all know the monstrous is not the Frankenstein’s monster itself but the creator – Victor, who granted somebody a life but then denied it.
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