2011 06 10 Science Based Australian Fiction Anthology Call for Submissions

Waldman is always attempting to have Frankenstein end his experiments and destroy his creation, which Waldman sees only as a monster and nothing else. Thus, there is some implied debate about the role and limits of science in society but it is hardly fleshed out in the film. Since, at the end of the feature and unlike the book, the creature does not cause the death of Dr. Frankenstein, the modern Prometheus aspects of the tale are undercut.

As to the theme of man’s inhumanity to deformity and the effects on the victim, that is undercut by the placement of a criminal brain into the creature’s body and the fact that the monster’s murderous demeanor is caused more by the torture done by Fritz than by his own deformity. The one scene that begins to 12 Classic Horror Films and the Literature, that Inspired them to explore the issue of the monster’s true character, the encounter with Maria at the lake, while memorable and effective, is so short in duration and is so out of place with the rest of the film (even in its setting, which is just about the only scene shot outdoors in the film) that it is not sufficient to address this important theme from the book.

That would have to wait until the sequel, Bride of Frankenstein (1935). With the publication of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley brought a new expression into the English language a Frankenstein monster, i.e., a creation or discovery that brings about the creator’s ruin.