A Look at the Film ‘Frankenstein’: The Story of Kindness Born from a Wounded Body
Art Service of Iran Book News Agency – Roya Salimi; Guillermo del Toro is one of those directors whose mental and creative world finds meaning through the creation of fantasy works. This characteristic has generally become a recurring motif in the main characters of his films: a monster or a superhuman character who, in relation to humanity, seeks a new meaning of life and existence. In films such as ‘The Shape of Water’, ‘The Devil’s Backbone’, ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’, and ‘Pinocchio’, he redefines a world where humans, amidst the fluctuations and complexities of their daily lives, sometimes distance themselves from humanity and its characteristics, by portraying a fantastic and non-human character that embodies prominent aspects of an innocent childhood world.
Poetic Adaptation
Del Toro’s latest work is a poetic and romantic adaptation of Mary Shelley’s prominent novel ‘Frankenstein’, written in 1818. His method of adaptation should be traced in his view of humanity and his definition of it from the perspective of a non-human, transcendental being. Like his other works, his Frankenstein, more than being terrifying and monstrous, is compassionate and seeks the ethical aspects of human life.
The character Victor creates, played by Oscar Isaac, summarizes his initial encounters with the surrounding world and his deep affection for Victor in the only word he has learned. He constantly calls Victor’s name, trying to communicate with the only human around him. But Victor, it seems, after the initial passion for creating a semi-human being subsided, is not thrilled by constantly hearing his name from the creature he created.
A deep fear engulfs his entire being, as if he had not considered the day his imagination would become reality. This is where the shift occurs. The story’s conflict reaches its peak. The monster becomes human, and the human becomes a monster. Perhaps it can be said that the creature Victor has longed to create for years is another side of the complex human world. It’s as if the created monster is not a dangerous being or a threat, but rather the manifestation of suppressed emotions and feelings that Victor has swallowed after his mother’s death.
Del Toro’s monster seeks connection and a peaceful coexistence alongside its kind. The point of convergence in his one-word communication with Victor is precisely this attempt at a human bond. The word is what connects the monster to its surroundings. His only tool for communication is the name of a creator who now intends to destroy him. This contradiction, as it progresses, intensifies the two opposing poles of the story. Before this, Victor’s earnest effort to defeat death and create an eternal being drove the drama, and after this astonishing creation, the monster’s entirely scarred and fragmented face appears as a hero seeking its role in the story.
However, unlike the novel, the film does not begin with Victor’s motivations, childhood, or his mother’s death. It starts with the creator’s struggle for life and the monster’s plea for death or for another of its kind. The visuals and mise-en-scène for the confrontation between creator and creature are striking and impactful. On a ship trapped in an ocean of ice, Victor appears weak and ill, while his creation stands tall and sturdy. Jacob Elordi plays a creature who, after enduring suffering and hardships, reveals his scarred face from beneath a mask. Contrary to audience expectations, he is neither frightening nor detestable. His innocence and pleading gaze elicit the audience’s sympathy from the very first shots.
Creation of an Angelic Monster
His fragile and scarred face is not beautiful, but he can be a lovable hero. A hero who, before his appearance, seemed like a terrifying monster that dozens of sailors on the ship could not defeat. Alongside his pitiable face and gaze, he is now someone who teaches kindness to his creator. Not only does he not wish for Victor’s death and destruction, but he tries, after narrating his hardships, to find a way to a better and more humane world.
This is where Del Toro’s favorite theme reveals itself: the display and creation of human and ethical values from the perspective and desire of the story’s angelic monster. This apparent contradiction and the character’s lofty human desires, within the drama, reveal a greater attention to these values, which the director believes have faded.
It is as if an ill-favored, kind-hearted monster is the very trigger that can guide humanity beyond its power-seeking and worthless desires to the true essence and nature of life. In a shot where this creature, after enduring many blows and bullets from the ship’s sailors, uses its superhuman strength to rescue their ice-bound ship and pave the way to their destination, it seems to have completed its manifesto and has no other demand from its creator. A creator who wished for his death, while the creature yearned for life and good living from him.
Here, the novel’s main philosophy regarding the creator-creature relationship and how the creature overcomes the creator becomes less prominent. Del Toro tries to extract his preferred ideas and meanings from Mary Shelley’s text and redefine them in the face of contemporary humanity grappling with artificial intelligence. A man-made monster, often considered the primary threat to human life, transforms into a benevolent reformer who defines life through helping and kindness to others and tries to live virtuously despite the difficult conditions of existence in this unequal world.
Another important and fundamental difference between the novel and the ‘Frankenstein’ film lies in the creation sequences, which Victor Frankenstein brings to fruition with relentless effort. The film showcases the creature’s step-by-step construction process. This is where the film transcends a mere visual recounting of Shelley’s story and makes it entirely cinematic. Del Toro’s preferred visuals and mise-en-scène, in their Gothic manifestation and splendor, affirm the directorial role in an adaptation.
After choosing the novel ‘Frankenstein’, perhaps the casting of Jacob Elordi in this role is the film’s trump card. However, even though he has created a sympathetic Frankenstein through his physique and performance, other minor characters who play important roles in both the film and the novel have been understated. Victor’s harsh and abrupt treatment from the very first moments of the monster’s appearance is not clarified.
The reason for Elizabeth’s inexplicable affection and admiration and her relationship with this creature, alongside her and her husband’s death, is questionable. It is as if Elizabeth is an external observer or an omniscient being who knew everything before it happened and can then, with complete composure, establish a romantic and emotional connection with an unseen and unknown monster. Furthermore, it seems Frankenstein also wants to prove and justify his actions to her. In addition, the shifting of several characters and their roles in the novel and the cinematic film provides a free and creative choice for implementing well-thought-out ideas into the cinematic expression of a classic and beloved novel.
