In the early 1970's, The Blaxploitation Horror Film captivated viewers nationwide. These films, charged with the social and political issues of their time, were created primarily to appeal to black moviegoers yet drew widely diverse audiences. The premise of these films seems simple enough: retell a classic horror movie monster story, but infuse it with black characters in a modern setting. African-American filmmaker William Crain's Blacula, released in 1972, is arguably one of the most successful Blaxploitation Horror Films of the decade, even spawning a sequel the following year. William Levi's Blackenstein was released shortly after Blacula in 1973, in an attempt to capitalize on the new found lucrative film movement of Blaxploitation Horror. Unfortunately, Blackenstein is largely regarded as a failure, both commercially and artistically.1 In my own viewings of both films, I found that, because Blacula was a better …show more content…
Though he was trained as a classical Shakespearean actor, Marshall's portrayal of the elegant killer is his most remembered role. It was even his idea to make the main character an African Prince. “He wanted to appeal to monied people, to putting an end to the further enslavement of African people. This was my concept.”, says Marshall, “And the producers fought that of course, because it was a little too political for them... But I kept pushing the issue.”2 Mr. Marshall wanted to provide young black viewers with the new experience of seeing a black man walking straight as a prince, the type of positive image that wasn't very common at the time. William Marshall goes on to say, “I think it proved itself to be just what I thought it would be. Something they enjoyed... They saw something they were responding to.”2 This characterization gave viewers an easy vehicle for the overall messages of the
Frankenstein is a horror movie that tells the story of Dr. Henry Frankenstein’s experiment. In search for the fame and glory of playing to be god, he reaches a point where he is able to revive dead people. In this version of Frankenstein’s monster we see a selfish and careless scientist that created a creature with his intelligence. The way the character is shown reflects how ambitious someone can be to reach to be known in the world. This movie makes the people who are watching to feel empathy on the poor creature. This poor creature that did not want to live in a life where everyone is going to hate him for having a horrible aspect and not following rules that he has no idea about.
Most Americans have some idea of who Frankenstein is, as a result of the many Frankenstein movies. Contrary to popular belief Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a scientist, not a monster. The "monster" is not the inarticulate, rage-driven criminal depicted in the 1994 film version of the novel. Shelley’s original Frankenstein was misrepresented by this Kenneth branagh film, most likely to send a different message to the movie audience than Shelley’s novel shows to its readers. The conflicting messages of technologies deserve being dependent on its creator (address by Shelley) and poetic justice, or triumph over evil (showed by the movie) is best represented by the scene immediately preceding Frankenstein’s monster’s death.
In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley intertwines an intricate web of allusions through her characters' insatiable desires for knowledge. Both the actions of Frankenstein, as well as his creature allude to John Milton?s epic poem Paradise Lost. The legendary Fall of Adam and Eve introduced the knowledge of good and evil into a previously immaculate world. In one split second sin was birthed, and the perfection of the earth was swept away, leaving anguish and iniquity in its ramification. The troubles of Victor Frankenstein began with his quest for knowledge, and, end where both pieces end: death.
James Whale's Frankenstein is a VERY loose adaptation of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel. The spirit of the film is preserved in its most basic sense, but the vast majority of the story has been entirely left out, which is unfortunate. The monster, for example, who possesses tremendous intellect in the novel and who goes on an epic quest seeking acceptance into the world in which he was created, has been reduced to little more than a lumbering klutz whose communication is limited to unearthly shrieks and grunts. Boris Karloff was understandably branded with the performance after the film was released, because it was undeniably a spectacular performance, but the monster's character was severely diminished from the novel.
In “The Wave”, Todd Strasser makes Christy Ross say “So how is your experiment going, Dr. Frankenstein? Have your monsters turned on you yet?” in order to relate his book to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.In fact, he specifically tries to tie Mr. Ross directly to Dr. Frankenstein through their actions toward their experiments. There are several reasons as to why Christy says this as well as several ways it relates to “The Wave”.
Many times throughout history, one person has tried to prove themselves better than God or nature. Nature, however, always prevails in the end. The Romantics of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries believed that nature was a glorious and powerful force that was one with God, and emphasized this point in their works. Two such romantics were the couple Percy and Mary Shelley, who through their works Ozymandias and Frankenstein, showed the disastrous consequences defying nature could have. Both authors had experienced loss; the loss of some of their children and later Mary’s loss of Percy in a boating accident. These experiences showed them how powerful nature was, and how pointless it was to defy it. Both Mary and Percy’s belief in this showed through in their writing. So, despite how different Frankenstein and Ozymandias seem at first, both works reveal a common lesson: One should never believe themselves to be above nature, and if one does it will never end well.
Since the beginning of time man has been infatuated with the idea of pushing the human body to its limits. The Guinness Book of World Records, the Olympics, the Space program, and more are all dedicated to celebrating Humans that push these boundaries. In the age of technology and scientific advancement ideas that once seemed like science fiction are now a reality. In order to push these constraints to human evolution, ethics and morals have been pushed aside. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, plays God by bringing his creature to life. When Frankenstein realizes the full extent to what he’s done, he abandons the monster. The monster then seeking revenge, killing all who Victor cares for. In Ishiguro’s Never Let
As time goes on, many things tend to change, and then they begin to inherit completely different images. Over the years, the character, created by Dr. Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s famous novel, has changed dramatically. The monster, regularly called “Frankenstein,” has been featured in numerous films, such as Frankenweenie and Edward Scissorhands. Although, the characters in today’s pop culture and the monster in the well-known 1800’s novel have similarities, they are actually very different. The many similarities and differences range from the character’s physical traits and psychological traits, the character’s persona, and the character’s place in the Gothic style.
Universal’s classic monsters we know today are Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula, The Wolf Man, and The Mummy. These four iconic monsters have changed the industry and keep changing it with the never-ending releases of newer adaptations. However, The Mummy differed greatly from the other monsters due to its story and how it was projected.
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein and the monster that he creates are very similar. For example, Victor creates the monster to be like himself. Another similarity is that the anger of both Victor and the monster is brought about by society. One more parallel between Victor and the monster is that they both became recluses. These traits that Victor and the monster possess show that they are very similar.
Frankenstein and Paradise Lost Striking similarities between a duo of novels are not unusual. The novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly, deals with a scientist named Victor Frankenstein who embodies a creature, who eventually wreaks havoc on his life. The novel Lost Paradise, by John Milton, exposes the cruelty of Christianity or the Christian God within the characters God, Satan, Adam, and Eve. Victor Frankenstein and God have many similarities, as they are both creators of incarnations. Victor's creature, known as the monster, shows striking similarities with Satan and Adam.
Frankenstein is a fictional story written by Mary Shelly. It was later adapted into a movie version directed by James Whales. There are more differences than similarities between the book and the movie. This is because, the movie is mainly based on the 1920’s play, other than the original Mary Shelly’s book Frankenstein. A text has to be altered in one way or the other while making a movie due to a number of obvious factors. A lot of details from the book were missing in the movie, but the changes made by Whales were effective as they made the movie interesting, and successful.
More than a bit of irony figures in these films. Blaxploitation might as easily and accurately describe the cruel injustice of slavery, or, for that matter, much of the historical sojourn of black folk in America.
Caliban represent The Monster of the film and we can see that both of them are untamed forces. Prospero tries to control him, however he can't. Toward the end, Caliban declines to serve Prospero and plots his death, assaulting him for his savagery, much the same as The Monster of the Id. Both the Monster and Caliban are natural forces, bowed on obliteration, however both experience resistance. Prospero prevails with regards to utilizing his magic against Caliban, however Morbius doesn't prevail with regards to utilizing his technology against The
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are two horrific tales of science gone terribly wrong. Shelley?s novel eloquently tells the story of a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who creates a living monster out of decomposed body parts, while Stevenson?s novel describes the account of one, Henry Jekyll, who creates a potion to bring out the pure evil side to himself. Although the two scientists differ in their initial response and action to their creations, there are strong similarities between their raging curiosity to surpass human limitation, as well as their lack of responsibility concerning their actions. These similarities raise an awareness of human limitation in the realm of science: the further the two scientists go in their experiments, the more trouble and pain they cause to themselves and to others.