The 19th century reader of the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley was treated to a tale of fantastic proportions. A story of a monster that was created from parts of corpses and could be brought to life would have been an extremely scary story. They would not know if the creation of a monster in this way was really a scientific possibility.

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The 21st century audience however, now knows that this is not scientifically possible. The fear that was struck in the hearts of the 19th century reader by this monster is now gone. With this in mind the story of Frankenstein now has to be altered to conjure the same fear in our current society of that which existed in the hearts of the original audience.

In Hollywood’s remakes of the original novel the monster is not the same monster as was in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Hollywood has used aesthetics, science and dehumanization of the monster to turn the story of Frankenstein into movies that would reflect our current society. This essay will strive to draw connections from the original text, empirical research and Hollywood’s modern day film remakes of Frankenstein to demonstrate how the monster has been changed and turned into a monster that our society can understand.

While the creature appeared on film as early as 1910 in an Edison short, most of the conventions of future Frankenstein films would be established by James Whale in the first feature adaptation of Shelley’s novel. Frankenstein (1931) introduced conventions only hinted at in the original work or not present at all. First, the physical terrain of Frankenstein’s laboratory is visualized concretely by Whale.

Frankenstein’s method of reanimation is also made specific as he becomes a master surgeon who stitches dead bodies together and then electrifies them, using lightning as his source, recalling the Promethean allusion of the original. Whale also created the look of the creature. Mary Shelley chose to rely on the reader’s imagination and the other characters’ terrified reactions to the monster to carry the effect.

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