Frankenstein's Monster: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

 

In the original 1818 book by [[Mary Shelley]], Victor Frankenstein creates the monster, then, repulsed by his creation, immediately throws it out. Later, it returns and demands that Victor make it a wife. He agrees, then reconsiders and destroys the half-completed bride. The monster retaliates [[Revenge by Proxy|by killing Victor's best friend and threatening to kill his wife, should he ever marry]]. Victor immediately [[Not Blood Siblings|marries his adoptive sister]], [[Kissing Cousins|who is also his cousin, Elizabeth]], who is promptly killed. Victor then chases the monster into the Arctic, where the weather kills him. The monster then goes off and kills himself (or at least he says that's what he's going to do).

* [[Torches and Pitchforks]] (The torch-wielding mob of peasants)

* Victor's death [[Hoist by His Own Petard|at the hands of his creation]].

* [[If I Can't Have You]]

* [[The Igor]]

* [[Kill It with Fire]]

* The "It's Alive!" quotation above.

* [[Haunted Castle]]

* [[Gone Horribly Wrong]]

* [[Überwald]] (arguably the film and its sequels codified the setting)

* [[Creating Life]]

 

In the early films, the monster is evil because a criminal or damaged brain was used. Modern films and TV series often revert to the original idea, depicting the monster as an [[Gentle Giant|innocent]] [[Tortured Abomination|trapped in a monstrous body]], [[Does Not Know His Own Strength|unaware of the damage he can do]], [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|rejected by a cruel world]]. When it starts out as an [[Evil Minions]], it often does a [[Heel Face Turn]].

 

Part of the classic [[Monster Mash]] with [[Dracula]], [[Mummy]], and the [[Wolf Man]]. Compare also with the [[Golem]].

 

== [[Advertising]] ==

* Frankenstein's monster has promoted

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLQumEsxD1w Doritos and Pepsi]

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZpLhP91hMk Reese's Peanut Butter Cups]

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS0XceWlGAs Twix]

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* There's a 1981 anime adaptation of Shelley's original novel. The monster never gets beyond inarticulate grunting, there's a poorly executed [[Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory|Christ metaphor]], and to cap it all off, the ending is pure [[Trauma Conga Line]] as {{spoiler|the monster, realizing that he's hurting people, throws himself off a cliff in front of the little girl he befriended. As she's mourning him, her father, one of the people who persecuted the monster, ''shoots himself''. Poor little girl.}} The best place to find this is the Anime Hell panel of several American conventions.

* [[Junji Ito]] has done a manga adaptation. With his signature artistic style, it's quite creepy and notable for following Shelly's original story very faithfully.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* Len Wein's ''Spawn of Frankenstein'' feature that ran as a back-up feature in ''[[The Phantom Stranger]]''.

* Pvt. Elliot "Lucky" Taylor of the ''[[Creature Commandos]]'' in [[The DCU]] - Lucky barely survived stepping on a mine. He was stitched back together against his will so he resembles the Frankenstein monster and has damaged vocal cords.

 

== [[Film]] ==

* There's a short story about a father who tries to recreate his son by taking back the body parts the boy donated after dying.

* ''[[Discworld]]'':

* Chopfyt in ''[[Land of Oz|The Tin Woodsman of Oz]]'' is arguably a Frankenstein's Monster, being constructed from the detached human bits of both the title character and the Tin Soldier.

* ''[[Fate/Apocrypha]]'' features a female version of Frankenstein's Monster, fully subject to the ''[[Fate/stay night|Fate]]'' universe's signature [[Artistic License]].

* {{spoiler|Agent Franks}} of ''[[Monster Hunter International]]'' is a body built by alchemist Conrad Dippel {{spoiler|which wound up becoming a host for a demon. Luckily for humanity this fallen angel [[Ascended Demon|is the one seeking redemption]]}}. He's super strong (a fist fight between him and a guy who wrestled a werewolf to death is one sided), nigh invulnerable, immune to infection by monsters, can be rebuilt if not totally destroyed and reasonably intelligent but his wisdom and charisma are '''terrible'''.

 

* ''[[The Munsters]]'' featured a [[Gentle Giant]] version as a [[Bumbling Dad]].

* ''[[Fantasy Island]]'': Anne Frankenstein appeared in one episode.

* The ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' episode "There's No Place Like Home" featured a lunatic who was convinced he could bring his older brother back by making him a new body, and exposing it to a tornado (the thing that killed his brother). ''Frankenstein'' is brought up by Reid when they finally discern the motive.

* The Frankenstein Monster is the [[Monster of the Week]] in the first [[Halloween Episode]] of ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]''.

 

== [[Music]] ==

* The definitive Frankenstinian pop song was, is, and will remain, Bobby "Boris" Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers immortal ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0thH3qnHTbI Monster Mash]''

* The [[Insane Clown Posse]] song ''Mad Professor'' features Jay creating Shaggy this way because he is lonely.

 

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==

* Abra Cadaver from ''[[The Wizard of Id]]''.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* In the role-playing game ''[[Promethean: The Created]]'', artificial lifeforms made from corpses are called Prometheans, after the Titan who gave mankind the gift of fire; their goal, and thus the player's goal, is [[To Become Human]]—a possible (but exceedingly hard) task. One Lineage is called the Frankensteins, and the first of their number is explicitly identified as Victor Frankenstein's monster (aka. Adam Frankenstein, aka. [[Epileptic Trees|the corebook's narrator 'Mr. Verney']]) (which still exists in this world).

** This is all derived straight from the original novel, to boot - the alternate title to Shelley's classic is ''The Modern Prometheus''.

** Actually, Flesh Golems are near mindless, so they don't fit this trope as well as one would think. A closer fit would be the Blasphemes, stitched together undead with full sentience.

** In the setting ''[[Masque of the Red Death]]'' the actual monster of Frankenstein is used as one of many villains.

* A throwaway line in the corebook for ''[[Don't Rest Your Head]]'' indicates that the original has become one of the Nightmares.

* In ''[[Halt Evil Doer]]'', Frankenstein's Monster serves as a [[Public Domain Character]] [[Captain Ersatz]] of the [[Incredible Hulk]] ... with Victor as a sort of evil Bruce Banner.

 

== [[Theatre]] ==

* There is also a musical adaptation of ''[[Young Frankenstein]]''.

 

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* Arisen from ''[[Allods Online]]''. Corpses reanimated by inserting cyborg implants in them (their arms from slightly above the elbows down to the hands, their legs from slightly above their knees down to the feet and possibly the head too since they use a mask (and there must be a way to carry their soul in a dead corpse, as they have presumably still have the soul of the person the corpse belonged to). These aren't outright evil (apart from the Tep), as they basically have human souls, but on dead + cyborg bodies.

* ''Frankenstein: Through The Eyes Of The Monster'', a first person adventure game that puts you in the shoes of the monster itself.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' has the entire class of artificial people made by [[Mad Scientist]]s sometimes from scratch or corpses and sometimes by modifying normal humans and/or other animals, called "constructs", with most of them having at least a passing, and sometimes a very close, resemblance to the original Frankenstein's creation.

** The two constructs that raised Agatha were named Adam and Lilith Clay (in reality, {{spoiler|Punch and Judy}}). (In case you don't get it, in some versions of the creation myth, Lilith was the first wife of created-out-of-''clay'' Adam, deposed because she preferred the female superior position. It seems that "Lilith" in this case refers to Lilith being the equal of her husband rather than submissive as Eve was).

** Krosp, a [[Talking Animal|talking cat]] with the brain of a general... or most of it, anyway.

** Klaus Wulfenbach himself has [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20041206 a lot of nasty stitches]. Implied to have been both brought back after being messed up and heavily modified (nearly impossible to kill or incapacitate, [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070119 superhumanly] [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110525 strong]).

* In [http://www.flashbackuniverse.com/ the Flashback Universe], the monster's "son," Victor, is part of the League of Monsters. {{spoiler|And the monster himself ended up becoming Paladin, an [[Alternate Company Equivalent]] of Captain America. No, really.}}

* [[Sociopathic Hero]] Unity from ''[[Skin Horse]]''.

* In ''[[Bibliography (web comic)|Bibliography]]'', one of the five Main Chapters is mentioned in passing to be the Frankenstein Codex, in charge of surgeries at St. Jerome's hospital.

* One of the main characters of ''[[Frankie and Stein]]'' is one of these, created by the other.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[Johnny Bravo]]'' fell for a [[Bride of Frankenstein]]-esque female in "Frankenbravo". By the end of the episode he's a Frankenstein monster too.

* ''[[Alvin and The Chipmunks]] Meet Frankenstein''. A Universal Studios-style theme park hires Dr. Frankenstein to up the scare factor in their horror show, not realizing that he's brought real body parts to decorate. He immediately creates the monster, which breaks loose and runs away. He scares the Chipmunks at first, but then Theodore realizes he wasn't attacking and teaches him to be a good friend. Once they convince everyone else and teach him to talk, he's given a job at the park, and we last see him happily driving a tour trolley.

* ''[[Mary Shelley's Frankenhole]]'' has one that's fairly close to the book's version (not the [[Boris Karloff]] one though, as many characters point out). He's more like a mopey teenager than a monster though.

* ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' fell into the [[I Am Not Shazam]] predicament when a father had to deal with his daughter being in a relationship with Frankenstein. The father finally comes to terms with the pairing until he realizes she married Franken''stein'' and chased after the monster because he's Jewish.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Undead Index]]

[[Category:Older Than Radio]]

[[Category:Medical Horror]]

[[Category:Index of Fictional Creatures]]

[[Category:Public Domain Character]]

[[Category:Gothic Horror Tropes]]