"However, I found almost all of the changes to Victor Frankenstein’s character to do very little in serving the plot or its themes." I have to agree, I found the changes to the structure of the film lost the subtleties Mary wove so deliciously into the novel. Perhaps a sign of that times, that larger audiences must be fed the undertones and can no longer be relied upon to uncover them for themselves.
An interesting take on the new Frankenstein film. I see what you mean about Victor’s lack of nuance. My suspicion is that the character suffers in that respect from del Toro’s intention to identify Victor and God (but really a demiurge), and so is boxed in to Mean Something.
yes! del toro also has that really clear motif throughout his work of empathising or even seeing oneself in the monsters of his film, so it felt almost too easy to love the creature and “side” with him. that friction from the novel was lost there :,)
Yes, I think that’s right. I imagine attempting to side with Victor would (at least, certainly should) make a viewer feel somewhat wicked.
I think there’s a modern cultural tendency to reduce “monster” to a (repressive) label in a kind of nominalist way. I often find messy and ambiguous monsters more aesthetically and even ethically compelling - you could make the argument that the faun in Pan’s labyrinth is actually wicked, and so it gives you more to contemplate. But with Victor, it’s so clear - just…stop being obviously horrible.
at least in the novel, i started out seeing a lot of myself in victor. he’s young, ambitious, comes from a loving household. the tragedy lies in him taking his hubris too far, and having every damn opportunity to course correct and just not doing it.
i don’t recall exactly how he responds or if he feels guilt afterwards in the novel, but his greatest sins are cowardice and ego (which are relatively easy to empathise with), rather than just being a dick and beating his own creation because he’s too busy lusting after his brother’s girl like a spoiled child, always reaching for something out of grip.
ugh i could go on forever about this film :( i rewatched in the hopes of being able to love it for its own merits rather than based on the novel, and it didn’t really work. last act has some insanely captivating moments though (wedding confrontation to elizabeth dying)
I enjoyed the film. But with my philosophic background, it sort of scratched all the right itches, so to speak, to pick a fight. I really like del Toro as a director, and he often provides me a good mixture of things to simply enjoy and things to nitpick and argue with. It’s also prompted me to reread the novel, as it’s been at least seven or eight years.
Mia Goth is one of my favorite actresses, so I wasn’t surprised that she was so compelling. The Ti West trilogy (which are among my favorite films) really allowed her to shine
mia goth was fantastic, and i adored jacob elordi as the creature! del toro’s visuals and overall design philosophy are quite unmatched :)
but a friend and i recently re-watched “crimson peak”, and that really highlighted the difference between that film (which i think does just the right amount of everything, it’s very satisfying) vs “frankenstein” (which dropped some stitches imo) *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ
"However, I found almost all of the changes to Victor Frankenstein’s character to do very little in serving the plot or its themes." I have to agree, I found the changes to the structure of the film lost the subtleties Mary wove so deliciously into the novel. Perhaps a sign of that times, that larger audiences must be fed the undertones and can no longer be relied upon to uncover them for themselves.
An interesting take on the new Frankenstein film. I see what you mean about Victor’s lack of nuance. My suspicion is that the character suffers in that respect from del Toro’s intention to identify Victor and God (but really a demiurge), and so is boxed in to Mean Something.
yes! del toro also has that really clear motif throughout his work of empathising or even seeing oneself in the monsters of his film, so it felt almost too easy to love the creature and “side” with him. that friction from the novel was lost there :,)
Yes, I think that’s right. I imagine attempting to side with Victor would (at least, certainly should) make a viewer feel somewhat wicked.
I think there’s a modern cultural tendency to reduce “monster” to a (repressive) label in a kind of nominalist way. I often find messy and ambiguous monsters more aesthetically and even ethically compelling - you could make the argument that the faun in Pan’s labyrinth is actually wicked, and so it gives you more to contemplate. But with Victor, it’s so clear - just…stop being obviously horrible.
at least in the novel, i started out seeing a lot of myself in victor. he’s young, ambitious, comes from a loving household. the tragedy lies in him taking his hubris too far, and having every damn opportunity to course correct and just not doing it.
i don’t recall exactly how he responds or if he feels guilt afterwards in the novel, but his greatest sins are cowardice and ego (which are relatively easy to empathise with), rather than just being a dick and beating his own creation because he’s too busy lusting after his brother’s girl like a spoiled child, always reaching for something out of grip.
ugh i could go on forever about this film :( i rewatched in the hopes of being able to love it for its own merits rather than based on the novel, and it didn’t really work. last act has some insanely captivating moments though (wedding confrontation to elizabeth dying)
I enjoyed the film. But with my philosophic background, it sort of scratched all the right itches, so to speak, to pick a fight. I really like del Toro as a director, and he often provides me a good mixture of things to simply enjoy and things to nitpick and argue with. It’s also prompted me to reread the novel, as it’s been at least seven or eight years.
Mia Goth is one of my favorite actresses, so I wasn’t surprised that she was so compelling. The Ti West trilogy (which are among my favorite films) really allowed her to shine
mia goth was fantastic, and i adored jacob elordi as the creature! del toro’s visuals and overall design philosophy are quite unmatched :)
but a friend and i recently re-watched “crimson peak”, and that really highlighted the difference between that film (which i think does just the right amount of everything, it’s very satisfying) vs “frankenstein” (which dropped some stitches imo) *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ
Wonderful 🖤