The Afterlife of Frankenstein

The Frankenstein myth has produced every bunk 2,600 pieces of derivative work and 100 films. Post-publication it was critiqued but not heavily. William Godwin, an old radical, was dedicatee on the anonymously create work and so association with him garnered rejections from conservative publications. There were questions over aspects of the novel reflecting preoccupations and values of the time. It was praised in some essays. All in kind showed some lever initi tot every(prenominal)yy.Lawrence published his work and gained notoriety. Through being or fear of being associated with his work Mary Shelley revised her work n 1831 where se removed signs of his ideas. The initial stage appeargond in 1823, Presumption, making three key changes from the novel Frankensteins religious remorse, the monster being mute and a humorous servant called Fritz. It is a warning(a) reading followed by The Demon of Switzerland. Before her birth changes had been made, she had lost control over her ow n plot.Her edits were damage limitation. Conservative writers were interpreting it however they wanted intentional their readers agreed. She cut what The Quarterly wanted removed from Lawrences work.The novel is the first in the mad-scientist genre. Victor has now become more corrupt. The creature is more sensationalised and dehumanised. Playwrights recognised problems in translating the play. The internal reasonings of Victor and the monster were cut. Waltons framing narrative couldnt be portrayed. The story became more visual. The monster became the star with more visual violence. There were in any case comic versions. The plays stay a lot truer to the genuine than most of the films.Silent films found it hard to translate the story onto screen. Thomas Edisons company created the first film version. jam Whale arguably changed the story the most so far, basing his version on Peggy Webleys play. His monster supersedes all others. He introduces the image of Dr. Frankenstein, the I gor character, and the sensational creation scene which is rarely mentioned in the text. Victor is an arrogant grown man and not an unknowing y byh. Whales sequel Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and later sequels Son of Frankenstein (1939), and Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) all continued the general piece of sensationalism, horror, and exaggeration, with the newly-dubbed Dr. Frankenstein and his parallels growing more and more sinister. (Tourney)Later films became more diverted from the original importation. He is a sexual pervert, a necrophiliac, opens up transsexual debate, bringing the snap back to the scientist, but not as the scientist of the original text. These films show us about its nature and how the populace views of science have evolved. How time changes our ideas and priorities to garner meaning from the text.Frankenstein has become a doting father in The Munsters, moved to television, become a household icon, As one of the famous Universal Monsters his recogniseable i mage has been transferred to all sorts of merchandise. He has appeared in comics and games and been referenced in music.The mad scientist trope has become familiar in science fiction. The name Frankenstein has spawned words, Frankensteinian and Franken- prefix can indicate something assembled out of parts or scientifically modified. He is a prominent figure at Halloween and other tropes such as creations falling out of ones control and changeover through assembling parts are apparent in various mediums. Questions of Science are still resonant. How far should we go?This afterlife raises interesting questions over the nature of adaptation. In an age where most of us are exposed to images of the monster before ever reading the original text, how then does that affect our own interpretations of the myth?Questions arise over meaning through adaptation, but that is its nature. It is by definition of the Oxford English Dictionary The action or process of adapting, fitting, or fit one thi ng to another. The medium has an effect on the message but so does the time period.Cinema is visual and the story has to be modified to befit this, but elements are also foregrounded or hyperbolised if they work well on screen. The adapter(s) interpret the original in a certain way and critics can also play a hand in this by influencing them also, emphasising certain ideas that the adapter may want to portray at the expense of others.My view is that a texts original meaning can never be fully understood and in an adaptation carries less importance because adaptations, like originals, are a reflection of their place in time. By reading a story we allow it to take shape within our minds, conceptualising it and instantly creating our own reproduction of it. Frankenstein means something different to everyone, all are reproductions. Criticism can alter that meaning and history can foreground certain ideas for it is always evolving. Interpretation is never static. We are the monster, he evolves with us.Adaptations are an amalgamation of views. A singular vision constructed through the collective consciousness, through the many people working on them, the critics that influenced them, society that imparte values onto them, the media and government that re-order their priorities. By its nature adaptation can never stay true to the original and that is a good thing. Were it even possible, would films be as interesting to us if it followed Shelleys text word for word and faithfully recreated all events? What is more interesting to us as students of literature is context. The context of a novel or a play or a film are the same, A text or interpretation gains meaning through where it lives historically.