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Del Toro never walks the easy path, always looking to challenge himself. Well, when it comes to Frankenstein, he makes the tough decision to deviate from Mary Shelley’s source material in order to make the titular character’s Creature more sympathetic. The move pays off in a big way, showing one of the world’s most important fictional monsters in an entirely new light. And whether del Toro means to or not, his movie opens the door to comparisons to another important sci-fi property.
Frankenstein’s Monster Is More Human Than Ever in Netflix’s Movie
Frankenstein gets the party started by making Oscar Isaac’s Victor Frankenstein out to be misunderstood. His dad doesn’t give his mom and him the time of day, and when he is around, he’s abusive. Victor tolerates it because he has his mom in his corner, but once she dies, he feels alone in the world. The only place he finds peace is when he’s studying the human body and thinking up ways to cheat death, not wanting anyone to suffer the same fate as him. By the time Victor is all grown up, he’s closer to his goal, though the scientific community doesn’t seem to care. Fortunately, a lifeline arrives in the form of Henrich Harlander, a wealthy man who shares Frankenstein’s negative feelings about death.
With Harlander’s resources, Frankenstein is able to gather everything he needs, including cadavers. The pieces fall into place after that, and on a particularly stormy night, the Creature is born. At first, Frankenstein wants to spend time with his creation, but that feeling quickly fades once he realizes he’s not learning as fast as he would like him to. Frankenstein goes from hero to villain in an instant, abusing the Creature and showing him the worst of humanity. But the Creature remains open to accepting people into his heart, learning how to read from an old man he meets and cares for. The lessons he learns from the man enable him to forgive Frankenstein for his transgressions and to begin truly living. Another sci-fi character could learn a thing or two from Jacob Elordi’s Creature.
