Mary Shelley's Frankenstein VS Kenneth Branagh's movie Frankenstein
I am composing this blog on the grounds of a task given by Dr. Heenaba Zala. CLICK HERE to view the task .
Today I am going to discuss about a very interesting novel of the goth icon ,Mary Shelley Yes, I'm talking about Frankenstein and the famous movie on Shelley's Frankenstein by Kenneth Branagh, starring Kenneth Branagh as Victor Frankenstein , Robert De Nero as Monster and Helena Bohman Carter as Elizabeth. Frankenstein is considered as one of the early example of science fiction.Mary Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley the writer of famous Gothic novel Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus wife of famous Romantic poet P.B. Shelley. Mary Shelley wrote her most iconic piece of literature when she was just 18 years old. Shelley's inspiration for Frankenstein came from a nightmare. According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Frankenstein is "the best known fiction of the Romantic Era" and is one of the earliest examples of science fiction in the history of storytelling, a topic that is up for debate by many readers throughout centuries.
Now about Kenneth Branagh ,the famous Irish born English actor, director and writer , he is master of film adaptations of Shakespearean plays.His famous movies are Hamlet(1996) , Much Ado About Nothing(1993), Frankenstein (1994)Henry V (1989) ,Othello (1995), As You Like It(2006), Thor (2011), and so on. H e is a genius , the mafia of classic movies.
TRAILER OF THE MOVIE FRANKENSTEIN (1994)BY KENNETH BRANGH:
PRE VIEWING TASK:
1] What is Gothic scientific fiction?
Gothic Science fiction is the sub- genre of science fiction . Gothic science fiction have the same atmospheric qualities of Gothic literature but does not dig into the depth of horror ,it takes typical elements of Gothic literature such as fear , horror, death and gloom, romance and explains them scientifically.
2] What is a frame narrative?
Frame Narrative is a literary technique were an introductory or main narrative sets the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of short stories.The frame story leads readers from a first story into one more other stories within in.
3] What is the point of view of the author?
It is very difficult to tell because including Shelley herself there are three more narrators in the novel , first one is the Captain Robert Walton who narrates the story of Victor Frankenstein to his sister Margret Saville , the second narrator is Victor Frankenstein who narrates his story to captain and the third one is the Monster ,who demands to be heard .
4] What are the viewpoints of different characters?
There are three main characters in the novel , each character has his own point of view or story to tell. Caption tells the story of Frankenstein to his sister then the point of view shifts to Victor ,who tells about his life and how he came to be wandering in the Arctic then the point of view shifts to Monster .
5] Do you have confusion about the title of the novel ?
yes i do have confusion about the title of the novel because in the novel the Monster calls Victor his father ,so when we heard the name Frankenstein we can't be sure about which Frankenstein is the story about .
6] Who do you think is the real monster , the Creator or the Creation ?
According to my point of view Victor is the monster because when he saw the Monster his creation which went horribly wrong rather than destroying him he ran away and the Monster escaped from there and because of the rejection from the society again and again because of his abnormal look the Monster becomes rebellion and vows to take revenge and kills so any people who were dear to Victor.
7] What is "Tabula Rasa "?
According to Merriam Webster dictionary the definition of Tabula Rasa is that the mind in its hypothetical , primary blank or empty state before receiving outside impressions .
8] What is the significance of the subtitle " Modern Prometheus"?
The word Modern Prometheus brings the story of ancient Promethean myth in our minds. The story of Prometheus is similar to the story of Frankenstein . Prometheus makes man as in the first man out of clay and then makes the big mistake of stealing fire from God so that man can survive.same way Victor creates a man which is kind of questioning the God's power and the creation ,his experiment goes wrong and the abnormal and horrifying Monster was created by him, thus the subtitle 'Modern Prometheus" is significant to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
9] Do you think Mary Shelley's Frankenstein stands on the brick of revolutionary changes?
Yes , i do think that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein stands on the brick of revolutionary changes .Many critics read the novel as a critical response to the Scientific Revolution .
WHILE WATCHING THE MOVIE:
1] How is the beginning and the end of the movie?
The movie begin with the narration in the voice of Shelly:
" I busied myself to think of a story which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature and awaken thrilling horror; one to make the reader dread to look around , to curdle the blood and quicken the beating of the heart"
which gives us some idea about the movie that movie contains horror and fear. And the end of the movie makes us emotional ,especially the Monster tells the people of the ship that ,"He was my father".
2] Do you feel the effect of horror in the movie?
Yes , i did feel the effect of horror when i saw the monster and the dead bodies and the way Victor (Kenneth Branagh ) was cutting and stitching the dead bodies during his experiments .
3] What do you think about the character of Monster in the movie?
The character of Monster in the movie which was played by Robert De Nero evokes horror, disgust and sometimes pity also. when he was beaten by Felix he becomes sad and he cries this scene evokes sympathy and pity for him . While he kills Elizabeth it evokes great horror.
4] What do you think about the conversation between Victor and Monster ?
At first when the Monster attacks Victor from behind it makes us like he is going to kill him but instead of killing him he pushed Victor into the ice cave . From the conversation of the Victor and Monster we come to know about Monsters desire for a partner like a normal human being and also when we see Victors expressions we find pity and we feel sorry for both of them.
5] Do you think that some scenes are omitted or replaced by other scene? How is the effect of these changes ?Do you think the director has used appropriate symbols in the movie?
Yes, some scenes are changed in the movie like in the novel Felix was not married and living with his father De Lacy and sister Agatha while in the movie it is shown that Felix is married and has two children. The Monster secretly learns english while Felix was teaching his French lover Safie English while in the movie it is shawn in the Monster learns English while the wife of Fexil was teaching their kids.YES, the director used the appropriate symbol in the movie such as Light, Book, Cross of Jesus.
POST VIEWING TASKS :
1] What is the difference between movie and the novel?
Kenneth Branagh made some changes in the movie but all over the movie is as interesting as the novel.
2] Does the movie help you to understand narrative structure of the novel?
Yes , when i first read the novel i had some questions and doubts .i was little confused about the characters and the settings of the novel but after watching the movie all doubts got clear .
3] Do you think the movie is helpful to understand the viewpoint of different characters ?
Absolutely , there are three narrators in the novel ,Victor who narrates his story to Captain who narrates Victor's story to his sister Margret Saville and the Monster whose story we come to know about from Victor .so through movie we can understand the viewpoints of different characters very clearly .
4] What do you think about the creation of lady monster in the novel and Elizabeth's look of monster in the movie?
While we read a novel we create our own kind of imaginative scenes in our minds but when we see the movie we get a more clear picture of our own imaginative scene or character which helps us to understand the novel more clearly.The look of Elizabeth in the movie evokes horror and pity .
5] Think about Victor's acceptance of Elizabeth and rejection of the Monster.
We have seen in the movie in also in the novel that Victor was truly and passionately in love with Elizabeth and from the begging when he saw Monster for the first time he got frightened and deserted him .We know that when we love someone truly the height, wight , color does not matter . so because of his passionate love for her, he accepts the abnormal looking Elizabeth while on the other hand deserted the Monster.
6] Do you think the director is faithful to the novel?
I can't say that the director is completely faithful to the movie because he made some changes in the movie.
THANK YOU...
