Frankenstein is such a fixture of popular culture. Growing up, I thought that I “got” Frankenstein because I had seen Mel Brook’s Young Frankenstein and The Munsters. It wasn’t something that I was interested in beyond that.
Then in 2017, San Francisco Ballet premiered a new, full-length story ballet, Frankenstein. It was a wonderful production and offered a different take on Dr. Frankenstein’s creature than what I was used to seeing. This creature was cunning and lonely – he was seeking out his creator who had abandoned him. We left the theater that evening with my carrying on and on about how that was “great art!” The performance was nuanced and interesting and it did a great job of telling the story efficiently. Because every element of the production supported the story; and because it was evocative rather than pedantic (that is one of my pet peeves in story ballets).
When the 2018 season was announced, and Frankenstein was coming back, I was thrilled! I decided that I wanted to read the actual book before I saw the ballet again and I loved it. I really loved the depth of the actual source material. The “daemon” (Mary Shelley’s word) was really kind of a super hero (my analogy) – he was unusually strong and all of that, but he was also exceptionally intelligent. He didn’t want to be a scary monster, he wanted to be loved by his creator. He didn’t know how to speak when he was “born” but learned how and educated himself. When the “creature” finally confronts his creator, he is eloquent and thoughtful in expressing his anguish and desires. Mary Shelly’s daemon is not the Dr. Frankenstein’s monster of popular culture and it’s too bad that this distorted interpretation has become so ubiquitous because the original is so much more interesting.
But friends, it is no coincidence that San Francisco Ballet was producing a brand-new, full-length story ballet based on Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus (the official title). It just so happens that 2018 is the 200th Anniversary of the book’s publication! That seemed google worthy and guess what, there are a lot of folks out there making a big deal about it.
Frankenreads is an international celebration organized by the Keats-Shelley Association of America. They have 628 partner organizations (mostly universities) in 43 countries to hold a series of events and initiatives in honor of the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The signature event of the initiative is an international series of readings of the full text of the novel on Halloween 2018 (today!) including one at the Library of Congress.
That’s fun, but I still have to go to the store to buy candy for the trick-or-treaters, so probably will have to skip it.
On Lit Hub, I found out where the Frankenstein of our popular culture originated: In 1823, Richard Brinsley Peake produced a theatrical adaptation called Presumption! or, The Fate of Frankenstein. Mary Shelley attended the premiere and let’s just say that she wasn’t impressed. The theatrical adaptation took many liberties that are commonplace today: Peake reimagined the monster as mute and gave Victor the now legendary line, “it lives!” As these amendments were repeated in many subsequent adaptations, they became accepted as “authentic” elements of the Frankenstein story. I’m really disappointed in you, Richard Brinsley Peake.
If you want to get spooky on Halloween you could watch Penny Dreadful. It has Frankenstein’s monster in it that is truer to Shelley’s monster.