When you see Boris Karloff with bolts sticking out of his neck, and plates holding his forehead in place, and this is the only vision you have of Frankenstein (the story), it is no surprise that the name sticks in your mind as attached to the monster. When the movie's sequel, Bride of Frankenstein, is about building a mate for the monster, the public can be excused a bit more. The monster does not have a name (let's call him "Steve")
So then why did Steve become slow and stupid instead of quick mentally and physically? Perhaps the horror would have been a bit too horrifying. Having something both more intelligent and stronger than us is horrifying - we are the smart ones, dammit! Humans! Me! - and to have that intelligent being be our own creation is Blasphemous. There is no way that we have the ability to create life, BUT IF WE DID, it would be stupid life, that we could think circles around.
I can't wait to talk Robots in the context of Steve.
https://xkcd.com/1589/
So then why did Steve become slow and stupid instead of quick mentally and physically? Perhaps the horror would have been a bit too horrifying. Having something both more intelligent and stronger than us is horrifying - we are the smart ones, dammit! Humans! Me! - and to have that intelligent being be our own creation is Blasphemous. There is no way that we have the ability to create life, BUT IF WE DID, it would be stupid life, that we could think circles around.
I can't wait to talk Robots in the context of Steve.
https://xkcd.com/1589/
This is a great thought! However, I feel like this may only apply to people around the times of when Mary Shelley wrote this book. I feel like people in those times took monster stories a lot more seriously than now because they couldn't contact people as easily, and they didn't have the internet. With the internet and just a more general sense of science nowadays, people can easily look up whether or not something is real. There is also a lot more common sense when it comes to monster stories now that makes these monsters a lot more imaginary. Take for example the first time the war of the worlds was broadcast on the radio. People were freaking out because many thought it was really happening. If this same radio broadcast happened today, people could easily search this up on the internet to find out if it's real or not. So basically what I'm getting at is that people today probably wouldn't find a smart Steve a horrifying thing, because they know Steve is an imaginary being.
ReplyDelete