Differences And Similarities Between Frankenstein 1931 And 1994

“Comparison of themes from two movies”
Frankenstein 1931 and Frankenstein 1994 For my final essay I chose to compare main themes from movies Frankenstein, released in different periods. First one is from the year 1931 and the other one is from 1994. Both are based on Mary Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein or; The Modern Prometheus”, from 1818. The storyline is generally the same in both movies, but themes differ, due to different release periods. The story is about a scientist, dr. Frankenstein, who dreams of creating artificial life from dead tissue. The creature he creates becomes alive, but is not accepted neither from him, nor from the society, which leads it to become evil and dangerous. The two movies differently deal with the relationship
between the creature and the scientist, and also the creature is in my opinion differently portrayed in each movie, which effects the viewer and his or hers opinion and feelings towards it. In the centre is the idea of a gentle creature being mistaken for a monster. I will analyze different themes and also mention what is the role of science in the mentioned movies. I will begin with the movie from 1931.
The main theme is religion. In the beginning, the narrator introduces the theme of creation relating that Dr. Frankenstein wants to create a man after his own image. He wants to destroy and then recreate human life. He thinks he is God, and when the monster moves its hand, he says: “Now I know what it feels like to be God.” It is about god-like power and immortality. At the time when this movie was made, science was still seen by most of the American public as a dangerous philosophy rather than as a rational discipline. It was considered to be a defying divine provenance (mad scientists were always defying taboo areas – attempting to raise the dead, to prolong youth, and so on). In this version there is a wonderful sense of
innocence to the monster, a dumb brute with the heart of a child. It does not speak, think, or understand what is right and what is wrong, which makes his violent behavior easier to justify. The movie portrays a society with a rigid set of behavior, values and roles, such as when evil lurks, women hide, but men conquer over evil. In this version of the movie, relationship between the monster and its creator is not that explicit, whereas in the 1994 version, it is very vividly portrayed. I like the movie from 1994 better, because it explores character’s relationships.
There are two themes that I consider as worth mentioning. First is the monster’s pitiable and tormented existence, which is caused by Frankenstein’s disregard for the consequences of the things he does. Doctor cares only for himself, puts his experiments before his fiancé, and later when the monster kills her, he brings her back to life, regardless of her feelings on the matter. Second theme is a love theme between Elizabeth and Victor Frankenstein. His seemingly lunatic experiments turn out to be all for the sake of one belief which is that people deserve to live out their lives in the company of those they love. In this movie, the creature is treated like a person, not a monster. It is extremely intelligent and is fully aware of its cruelty. It turns to evil because of its complete rejection by society, not because of a defective brain like in the first movie. The creature only wants a friend, someone who would love it. For the sympathy of one living being it is prepared to make peace with all the rest. Doctor Frankenstein and his creation have an odd, sophisticated and complex relationship. The creature says: “You gave me these emotions, but you did not tell me how to use them.” That kind of dialogues and the way that the creature thinks made me feel sad and sorry for it. It wanted Frankenstein to be its father, to teach it how to live a life, but he did not do that. Towards the end the
creature wants to find its creator and kill him, but when they confront each other, it says right the opposite. It wants to know what kind of people it is made of. Good or bad? Who is he? But doctor does not know how to answer these questions. This film is very emotional, at least for me, because I felt sorry for the creature. I think that doctor’s creation is much more human than other people are, including the doctor. When doctor dies, the creature weeps at his bedside and says that he never gave it a name. This was again an emotional and sad scene.
Frankenstein is considered as horror, science fiction, some even say it is autobiography (Mary had a desire for a stable family, which is why many have stated that the novel is autobiographical in many aspects). With this movie, a new genre was introduced to the public, and people were terrified in a good way. Horror of the 1930s and 40s regarded science as something dangerous that could overturn the fragile balance of society and that the world was better off not knowing about these things. The story might have brought chills to the 19th century viewers, but it is pretty tame in the 21st. The ideas that the 1994 movie remake outs forward are not that radical anymore (it was not focused on the intense dark characters and intriguing story, but more on the production design, make-up and costumes), but still for me, this version of the movie was more catchy and compelling because of the emotions that it brings up inside of you, when you are watching it.