Sir. Fränkensteen
Frankenstein:
the big clunky growling monster oaf right? Wrong. Frankenstein is one of the most misconstrued
literary works of all time. Just the
name “Frankenstein” rears images of a green-skinned, bolt-necked, clunking
monster. What most people don’t know is
that not only is Frankenstein the doctor who
created the monster, but that the monster himself is actually as eloquent as an
English professor, caring and sensitive in heart, and as fast and agile as
Spider-Man.
Merry
Shelley’s original science-fiction vision was of a doctor who set out to create
a physically and mentally advanced man: and succeeded. The poor monster is ridiculed by his own
creator and wanders from village to village, seeking friendship from anyone who
will not judge him by his grotesque appearance.
Modern comparisons would be such of Disney’s rendition of Quasimodo from
the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
The
original Frankenstein monster has
apparently been cursed throughout time in the eyes of the public. For reasons unknown, it appears that an
accurate depiction of the monster was never created in film. Ironically enough,
Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein and
Stuart Beattie’s I, Frankenstein actually
came the closest to pinpointing the original character…and of course even those
are extreme stretches.
HISHE
Studios have produced a line of artwork in like-mind set as my Sir. Frankesteen piece. HISHE (How It
Should Have Ended) make art by taking popular films and videogames, and making
parodies of them based on what may have happened if the audience had not
surrendered their disbelief to the story. The clips provoke the question: “yeah, why didn’t we think of that? That movie
makes no sense now.” A
prime example is demonstrated in HISHE’s adaptation of the Lord of the Rings
trilogy. In the adaptation, the Fellowship simply fly eagles to Mordor and drop
the One Ring in Mount Doom as they’re flying over it. The parody ends with the dialogue:
“Wow, this was a great idea! Imagine if we’d
walked the whole way.”
“Yeah, one of us might have died.”
All Lord of the Rings deep doctrine aside, HISHE has managed
to provoke in the common audience a question that surrenders our surrender of
disbelief; it calls on our flaws as consumers to question and call out the
authenticity of the film. Why didn’t
they ride the eagles? Tolkien explains this: Peter Jackson did not.
The monocle
and top hat were photo-shopped onto the famous lithograph of doctor
Frankenstein’s monster, in attempts to pay sympathetic homage to his
intellectual roots and philosophical heart: forever misrepresented to the
public since the original film adaptation in 1931. The snarky style of art was inspired by our
discussions of Duchamp’s L.H.O.O.Q. Hopefully
people will question this humorous image of mine and be led to an enlightenment
of the true origin of the character. Being my all time favorite novel, if ever
given the opportunity to make film adaptations, Merry Shelly’s Frankenstein: the Modern Day Prometheus
would be at the very top of my list.
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