Proppingupthemythos
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Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus
🕑 Added 2025-01-25 16:51:36 +0000 UTCMy wife snapped this photo of me in what has accidentally become our Frankenstein corner of the living room. I had Bernie Wrightson sign these two Frankenstein prints for her at the Lovecraft Film Festival about twenty years back. Our cat Fritz is named after Dwight Frye's character in the 1931 film.
I think the 1931 film and its sequel are classics, but poor adaptations of the novel. I will be curious to see Guillermo del Toro's version, but honestly I'm not sure Mary Shelley's novel is truly adaptable. Having said that, I think Penny Dreadful gave it a pretty thorough treatment.
I have always sympathized with the monsters in horror stories. Not slashers or serial killers, but the Grendels and Gill Men, the King Kongs and Golems. Hell, even poor Leatherface gets a little sympathy: these blasted teenagers keep breaking into his house! The downside of this is that I am often broken-hearted by the finale of these films. When the monster is cruelly dispatched and the normal folks are rejoicing. I think that is why The Shape of Water worked so well for me. Despite GDT's sentimentality, he delivers a triumphant sendoff for his monster.
To tie it back to Lovecraft, I have to admit that the Dunwich Horror leaves me feeling great pity for the Whateley twins. The Horror in particular has a tragic arc, and those final words give me chills. I know Lovecraft sided with Armitage, but I think he put far more of himself into the antagonists...
Thanks for reading, and remember to hug your Horror.
Comments
Christian Matzke
Hello! You should be able to write me here, otherwise please use proppingupthemythos@gmail.com
James
Hello, I just found out about your project which looks exciting but I am unfamiliar with Patreon, I have a couple questions before I start backing it (mostly logistical) is there some sort of way to DM?
Christian Matzke
I absolutely agree!
Miss Larissa
I sometimes wonder whether HPL consciously wanted to sympathize with the intellectual investigator, but could not admit to himself that he deeply identified with the monster in his tales.
Christian Matzke
The Whateley's were absolutely up to no good, but I still empathize with the abandonment and confusion of the twin after Wilbur's death. There was no place for him, and a sad and lonely death was inevitable. Of course the alternative would be the twins succeeding in clearing the Earth of human life and bringing back the Old Ones, so that's only a happy ending for them.
Jason Sulwer
Interesting take on the Whateleys; perhaps what little 'human' in them was unfortunate but hardly anything significant - Wilbur wanted to 'clear off the Earth' and his twin was a ravenously devouring monster eating whomever crossed his(its?) path, leaving behind even less than his brother when destroyed by Armitage. Clive Barker's Cabal (and movie adaptation Nightbreed) leans more into 'sympathetic monsters'; the monsters are the heroes and the humans are...well, the 'monsters' actually. (there was a 'forward' of Barker stating something like this on an old VHS of Nightbreed). Lastly, I agree and pity Kong the most. Denham was the real monster in King Kong.
