Frankenstein in Music

In my English106 class, we have learned about many examples of how Frankenstein is used in popular culture. Frankenstein is used in TV shows, other movies, commercials, advertisements, food, alcohol, and much more. However, the influence of Frankenstein in music is often overlooked. Many people just listen to songs and don’t really think about what they actually mean. We can dissect songs to figure out what message the songwriter is trying to convey.

The first song is a music video of the song “Frankenstein” by Willoughby. The video shows the monster as a hobo hopelessly wandering the streets with sack, and Frankenstein as a mad scientist. The video shows the song being sung by Frankenstein and it seems like he is singing to the monster who has run away. In the song, Frankenstein sings, “Maybe there’s ways to figure I could be true and I’m losing my love to you.” I believe the songwriters are trying to convey that Frankenstein is trying to be true to the monster and fulfill his duties toward him. There is a scene with Frankenstein throwing a baseball with the monster like a father and son. This is trying to show that no matter what you look like on the outside, its what is on the inside that counts.

The second video is a scene from Frankenstein’s wedding, in which the Arcade Fire song “My Body is a Cage,” is played in the background of the scene. The clip starts with Elizabeth, covered in blood, asking where Frankenstein is. When the monster turns around, she is stricken with fear and the Arcade Fire song begins to play in the background. One of the main versus says, “My body is a cage That keeps me from dancing with the one I love But my mind holds the key.” This verse explains how the monster feels. The monster is hideous and people automatically despise him for that, so his beautiful mind is trapped in this ugly cage. He hates that Frankenstein made him so ugly, causing him so much pain.  The monster kills Elizabeth so that Frankenstein can feel the pain that he has felt. When Frankenstein tries to kill his creature, the police shoot him. This causes great emotion to the monster since the one person who could help him has died. The lyrics “Set my spirit free” plays during this time. This emphasizes that the monster wishes to be set free, but his creator is now gone. The creatures hope to have his spirit set free is lost. The song played in the background worked very well because it describes the whole scene and sets the dark mood.

“Frankenstein’s Monster Song” by Dave Taviner is a song I found that is inspired by Frankenstein. The whole song is basically the story of Frankenstein and the people chasing the monster. It is a very interesting, weird song about people trying to destroy the monster. Frankenstein was used because it is such a popular topic. Almost everyone has at least heard of Frankenstein, so it is a very common topic to be used.

Argument Paper Quotes

Good versus evil is a universal idea that is used in many books, movies, and TV series. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, it is a very important concept. In Frankenstein, no character is all good or evil. Someone’s opinion of which character is the villain can be different depending on his or her arguments.  After reading the first five chapters of Frankenstein, there are many examples and quotes that could be used for the argument of who is the real evil.

In chapter one, Victor Frankenstein describes his childhood, parents, and growing up. Frankenstein’s ideas of a parents obligation toward their child is shown when he says, “I was their plaything and their idol, and something better – their child, the innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by Heaven, whom to bring up to good, and whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery, according as they fulfilled their duties toward me” (Shelley, 35). Basically, Frankenstein is saying that it is the parent’s duty to raise their child well and not abandon them. The parents brought the child into this world, so they are responsible if the child ends up happy or sad.

When Frankenstein is describing his reasons and thoughts about making his creature,  he states, “A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs” (55). By making this comment, Frankenstein is saying that his creature’s existence is because of him like a parent bringing a child into the world. Frankenstein is bringing the creature into the world, so he is basically its parent. Shown from the first quote, he believed that it was his parent’s duty to raise him to happiness. Being this creature’s parent, Frankenstein should owe the same duties to his creation that he believed his parents owed to him. As you will see, Frankenstein does not fulfill the duties he owes to his creature.

Directly after Frankenstein brings his creation to life, he describes his feelings and reactions. Frankenstein says, “Now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room” (58). Instead of endearing love that a father shows toward his child, Frankenstein shows hated and disgust toward his creation. The creature being ugly is the only reason Frankenstein gives for hating it. Frankenstein ran away from his duties as a father to his creation.

All of these quotes go together to show the progression of how Frankenstein failed in his duties as a parent toward the monster. He believed in the duties his parents had to him, but when it came time for him to take care of his creation, he neglected it. A baby can’t understand society or know right from wrong if it is never taught or raised properly. Similarly, the monster can’t know right from wrong if Frankenstein neglects his duties towards him. These reasons support that Victor Frankenstein is the real villain in the story.

Why Frankenstein?

Why use Frankenstein for an advertisement? When someone hears green skin, flat head, bolts in the neck, stitches, and large lumbering figure, they automatically think of Frankenstein’s monster. The image of Frankenstein is so unconsciously infused into our minds that we recognize it without even thinking about it. Frankenstein is so popular in today’s popular culture that even people who haven’t read the book or seen the movie recognize it immediately. This is why Frankenstein is such a good advertising scheme because almost everyone can relate to it.

Absolut vodka is a Swedish made, French owned vodka brand. Absolut ran an advertising campaign based that was inspired by Frankenstein. The Absolut Shelley advertisement had a bottle decorated like the Frankenstein monster. It had stitches and bolts in the neck of the bottle to make it look like it was stitched together just like the monster. The Absolut advertisement was a bottle that was wrapped up in cloth from top to bottom. The bottle represented when Frankenstein’s monster was wrapped up in cloth before it was brought to life. The Frankenstein monster was chosen for these ad campaigns because it gives an intriguing and interesting face to the alcohol. It plays on the fact that alcohol can be a monster, but it is trying to give it a cool image. Frankenstein is so popular and well liked that putting it on their advertisement, people notice it and can relate to something they like. I think the ad worked well because the bottles look so unique and cool that people will want to try their product.

The Osteo Bi-Flex advertisement uses a funny twist of the Frankenstein monster for their advertisement. The commercial uses the monster to explain how he used to be stiff and lumbering, but the Osteo Bi-Flex has helped his joints to move better. They use Frankenstein in this advertisement because everyone knows the monster as a stiff, lumbering character who can’t move well. The advertisement plays on this fact by showing a calmer and much more flexible monster after he has used their product. I believe this advertisement works very well because it is funny and you can’t help but to laugh. It plays on the humorous side instead of the scary side that most advertisements use.

 

Onion AV Club and Oh, The Horror review Summeries

In the Onion AV Club review, Keith Phipps argues that Frankenstein is one of the few films that has had such a huge impression in the past century. Phipps believes that Frankenstein’s monster is not just a movie monster, but a great movie icon. He points out how Boris Karloff’s portrayal of the monster has made such a huge impression, without even a word. According to Phipps, “With his dull eyes, flat head, working-man’s clothes, and bolt-adorned neck, the creature entered the public consciousness seemingly instantly and forever. You don’t have to have seen a film in which he appears to recognize him, but it’s a shame if you haven’t.” The essence of Phipps’s argument is that Frankenstein is so popular that even people who haven’t seen the movie automatically recognize the monster. Frankenstein is so immersed into today’s pop culture that people don’t need to have seen the movie to recognize the iconic image the monster has left behind. Phipps emphasizes that the best way to experience the movie is the Frankenstein DVD. He insists that with its cleaned up audio and restored print, it sounds and looks better than all previous versions.

The Oh, The Horror review showed how the author, Brett Gallman, was influenced at a young age by Frankenstein. Gallman describes how his father rented Frankenstein and watched it with him when he was very young. He claims that this started his love for horror movies. According to Gallman, “This film influenced my taste for years to come, as it proves that gore isn’t everything when it comes to horror; instead, atmosphere and tension can provide all the thrills and chills you need.” Gallman’s point is that today horror movies try to be scary by adding a lot of gore, but in Frankenstein they achieved everything a horror movie is meant to be, without all of the gore. The atmosphere and how they presented the movie provided the fear and chills of a great horror movie. This article hit home for me because I often watched movies with my dad, starting at a young age. It was with my dad that I watched my first war movie, and it started my love for classic war movies. The first war movie I remember watching with my father was The Patriot, and it left a lasting impact on me as one of my favorite movies. It spurred my enjoyment of these films which is why I think I enjoy movies like Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, Braveheart and many more. Every time I watch The Patriot it brings back memories of staying up late to watch movies with my dad.

“The Cemetery Skeleton” Summery

In “The Cemetery Skeleton” the author insists that the opening scene of Frankenstein (1931) has much more to it than most people would think. The first scene starts out on a graveyard with a funeral in process. The author describes how the camera passes the group of people at the burial ending lastly on the hooded skeleton. While many people would just assume the hooded, cloaked skeleton is just for scenery, he believes it has a meaning and a purpose. In the author’s view, “The cemetery skeleton is the first hint of frights to come.” The author’s point is that the skeleton is an omen that bad things will happen later in the movie. The author describes how the skeleton has long been a symbol for death throughout the ages. This shows that death will have a big part in the movie since it is shown right at the beginning.

The article continues to reveal the point of the skeleton being in the graveyard scene. The skeleton stands as a witness to the desecration that Dr. Frankenstein and Fritz do in digging up the coffin. The author notes that, “In a telling gesture, Colin Clive’s Frankenstein, concentrated on his urgent task, blithely throws a shovelful of graveyard dirt square into the skeleton’s face……As a symbolic gesture, it illustrates Frankenstein’s disrespect for Death itself.” Basically, the author is saying Dr. Frankenstein throwing the dirt on the skeleton is the start of his disrespect for death which is carried on throughout the film. Thus his mission to create life from death will ultimately end badly and continue his disrespect for death. When talking about Dr. Frankenstein throwing the dirt on the skeleton’s face, the author himself writes, “It’s a James Whale moment, of course, darkly humorous, but it is also a signal of Frankenstein’s maniacal focus on the job at hand, unconcerned with the consequences of his acts.” In making this comment, the author argues that Frankenstein is so focused with digging up the body for his experiments that he doesn’t even care about the consequences it could bring up in the future. Frankenstein is so consumed by his work that he isn’t concerned with what could happen if his monster is made, the same way he was unconcerned with throwing dirt straight in the face of death.

Summery of “Frankenstein (1931)” Review

The 1931 version of Frankenstein is a movie created by James Whale, which was based on Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. In the ClassicHorror.com review by Nate Yapp, he emphasizes the main point that it is James Whale’s 1931 adaptation of Frankenstein that has reached such a recognizable and famous state in today’s popular culture. Even though the movie was inspired by Mary Shelley’s novel, the appearance of Frankenstein’s Monster is very different from anything in the book, yet the 1931 picture of Frankenstein’s Monster is what almost everyone automatically thinks of when the topic of Frankenstein is at hand. This verifies how relevant Frankenstein is in our culture today even if people don’t always notice it.

I agree that Frankenstein has put a great influence on today’s culture. I believe the monster in the 1931 movie is the most recognized aspect about Frankenstein in general. If you say “Frankenstein”, most people will automatically think of the green skin, flat head with haircut to match, bolts in the neck, and the huge lumbering figure from the 1931 Frankenstein. Very few, if any other characters have had as wide of an impact as Frankenstein has throughout the world.

The author of the review asserts his view on the 1931 Frankenstein throughout the article. He believes that the entire film is first-rate and is a classic film at its finest. He insists that the mix between the monster’s design and how the actor played Frankenstein’s Monster is top-notch. Boris Karloff as the monster adds depth to what could have been a very boring, lumbering giant all without a word. The makeup and appearance of the monster has influenced almost every other work about Frankenstein since the movie. The image that Karloff as the monster leaves is vivid and unforgettable. Nate Yapp also reminds us how admirable the rest of the cast was in the movie. every scene and all of the actors and actresses come together to help create this movie that is now a classic.

I support the article’s view on how well Karloff played the monster without even having a line.  Every scene was everything it should be, even in the subtle moments such as when the monster is finally revealed. Even if the movie is different from the Mary Shelley novel, the 1931 Frankenstein had a huge impact in today’s society.

Remixes

The “Everything is a Remix 2″ video was very interesting and really got me thinking about how many productions in our culture are remixes. It was very surprising hearing about how much the Star Wars series was influenced and remixed from other past films because most of the films it was influenced by I had never seen, so it was very interesting and eye opening. I believe the idea of remixes and using ideas from other peoples work is not plagiarism. I believe many movie producers actually use ideas from other movies to pay respect to a film they really enjoyed, respected, or had a great influence on them. Also they  use the ideas because if they had worked well before, then why not use some small scenes or ideas to help improve their movie.
The video made me think about all of the movies, books, videos, and songs that I have seen that are remixes and it is surprising. Personally I think movies are the most most remixed media because almost every movie comes from a book, another movie, a TV show, or influenced by some other media. Some of my favorite movies that are remixes based on books are Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, And The Count of Monte Cristo. Although with every movie that is made from a book people have complaints, I feel as though these movies did a pretty good job and are my favorite book based movies. One thing I often dislike about movies made from books is when the producer changes key aspects of the story, and the movie is nothing like I expected. I am very much looking forward to The Hobbit which comes out at the end of the year. The Hobbit is a remix because it is based on the book The Hobbit.
Another type of movie remix is remakes. Many older movies are remade with more modern technology and better quality because the old movies are either not very good or producers think they can improve on the older versions with more modern and better movie making technology. Some examples of remade movies are Tron, True Grit, King Kong, and 3:10 to Yuma. The new version of 3:10 to Yuma made in 2007 is an example of a remake that worked out great. The remake is an incredible movie that used the story from the 1957 version, and it was a very successful remake that used modern video technology to improve on the original version.
Remixes are everywhere, and almost every piece of work is influenced by another whether you notice it or not. I look forward to trying to notice more remixes in the future and trying to figure out where movies and other media gets its inspiration from.