A continuation 200 years in the making.

Before having ever read the novel I was under the belief that the monster associated with the name Frankenstein was indeed Frankenstein himself; although the movies never call the monster itself Frankenstein, it seems by leaving out so may details of the original story and advertisements showing the monster with “Frankenstein” typically written on it has caused a subconscious association between the two. It is interesting to see how the original book has been adapted and changed so many times in movies and side stories, at first a strong-willed monster that was self-educated and had noble aspirations to become a part of society, to an unintelligent creature who appears to only desire destruction. Typical Frankenstein monster movies revolve around a creature whose appearance strikes fear into those who behold him, although a switch from the original has been made a few times where children do not run in fear of him. One of the most interesting film adaptations of Frankenstein in my opinion was the movie “I, Frankenstein” from 2014. The film picks up where the book left off and we come to find out that the monster did not kill himself as he state he would and has been living in humanities shadows for some 200 years battling demons in a war between them and gargoyles who were created by an archangel. Here the monster is named Adam, he walks among humanity as he is of normal stature but a scarred appearance, has super human strength and possesses a slightly advantaged intelligence. Throughout the movie he battles the demons alongside the gargoyles and at the end earns the name of “Frankenstein,” his true name. This story is just another Hollywood action flick and much of the original story’s societal struggles are ignored in order to film more fighting but yet it is an interesting continuation of the story of the monster.

The argument can be made that Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein in this context, is the true monster so perhaps associating the “monster” with the name Frankenstein is not incorrect in itself. Victor created the monster, abandoned it, never warned his loved ones of the danger he had put them in, and many other things that classify Victor as the true monster of the story. The movie “I, Frankenstein” the name of Frankenstein is held in respect but only in the case of the monster itself. The gargoyles tell the monster that his true name is Frankenstein which poses an interesting question as to why his true name would be that of his creator? A more literal interpretation to the question could be simply that he would take the name of his creator as he has no family, no friends, no associates, or anyone he can relate to other than his creator.