Wealth was an inferior object, but what glory would attend the discovery if I could banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!
so i've watched the new netflix adaptation of frankenstein (my all-time favorite novel).
it's underwhelming, mostly of because its degree of narrative freedom it took from the source material and its narrative angle.
here are the changes that i didn't like:
- elizabeth is victor's brother's fiance, which doesn't make sense. that familial and romantic bond between victor and elizabeth is only one-sided.
- there is no henry to balance the scientific prowess of victor. his complementary, perfect humanities friend is completely absent. there are no scenes of victor recovering from his trauma and traveling throughout europe with henry.
- victor's parents died before he even grew up, and william is not supposed to be a major character, or a grown up character at all.
- the villianousness of the creature isn't heightened; the ambivalence of victor's morality isn't emphasized. the creature is one-dimensionally good, while victor is one-dimensionally bad. this isn't the case in the original novel, which showcases how guillermo del toro doesn't want to understand and/or convey nuance. the creature is supposed to orchestrate the framing of william's murdur, letting victor's entire family to blame an innocent caretaker who did nothing wrong to be wrongly executed. THIS single event indicates the evilness and incredible intelligence of the creature.
- victor's lab is supposed to be in his college, not a million-dollar lab.
- elizabeth isn't supposed to fall in love with the creature.
- the building of the creature's female companion isn't there. the confrontation at the mountaintops isn't there.
- the creature lives at the end, which betrays the whole purpose of the story.
here are the changes i did like:
- good cinematography.
- good character and costume design for the creature.
this movie is written for everyone to have a taste of what a fraction of mary shelley's narrative genius is like, for modern audiences.
i'm not a modern audience because my first impression of frankenstein is the original novel. perhaps the reason why i find the latest adaptation insulting to me personally is because it largely stripped away the core of the story, which is a struggle that both victor and i both share. the original novel is a struggle of human ambition. the balance between altruistic discovery and personal glory. the decision between challenging the status quo vs being like everyone else.
victor is a lonely scientist (just like me but lonelier). and him being complemented and healed by henry and the love received from elizabeth isn't there at all in the movie. the story is supposed to be about his journey and the consequence of his discovery being personified into a literal creature. it's a film that constantly reminds me (and i hope it also reminds every pioneer within the biotech industry) the consequences of our actions. should we really focus on utilizing CRISPR and organoids for aging, or further class divisions through embryonic-level genetic engineering, injecting viruses into our spouses to modify their facial features, and developing assembloid level OI systems, where the boundary between conciousness and tool is most likely going to be absent?
there's a line there, and maybe by today's standard what we are aiming for with medicine and different therapies are setting us on a path that victor once walked on, just less consequential, we humans go to the extreme and give rise to new problems that were previously non-existent. think PSI, ASI, OI, etc.
victor's philosophical transformation is to be studied by everyone at frontier research of any field. as of today, my belief sits right at the middle of "ignorance is bliss" and "be men."
by today's standards, the bio/acc ppl are the frankenstein of today, as they are the radicals of the scientific community. and I surely hope the next frankenstein (by today's standards) doesn't complete his own journey, because the "monsters" they might create in real life, as we've seen from iterations of their precursors, are far from seeking pure vengeance and subsequently, self-destruction.
be like robert walton :)