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Final Exam
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's "Frankenstein"
The Beginning
Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, establishes a postmodern piece of literature during the romantic era that holds a story about a reanimated body created by a scientist that is horrified by his creation. Within the book, aspects of magical realism, temporal distortion, and maximalism peak through the text showing that this idea of reanimation is unlikely and just a well thought up story because it is fiction.
Frankie being Postmodernism!
Victor got out of his carriage to walk around in “The most violent storm” he had seen after arriving at the town where
William had died, and yet he “watched the tempest, so beautiful yet terrific” not knowing what was hiding in the forest since he was soaking in the sublimity. Victor is describing the storm as being so overpowering and forceful that the impact of nature has this beautiful aspect to it that most romantic authors used in this time period, but if you think about it, it's actually a very magical scene. The adjectives “violent” and “beautiful” are so contrasting and are not typically used in the same sentence, and yet both words can be used to describe nature so well. Postmodernists would label it as falling under magical realism since victor's life was so gloomy it just needed that magical touch of a crazy storm that just happened to summon his creation!
A link?
In the music video Humility by Gorillaz, this animated character, who is skating, is reaching out to the other REAL skater and they refuse… Isn't it weird? We are watching the music video believing that this is happening, but it's just a drawn in character after it was recorded. It does give a whimsical feeling to the video, but it's actually just Magical Realism. It starts in Venice beach, which is filled with crowds, homeless people, litter, tourists, and so on which makes it kind of basic, and yet, the artist made it feel alive!
Correlation
When talking about Shelley’s “Frankenstein’ and Gorillaz’s “Humility”, both share that magical realism postmodern quality. Why? Well, why are we supposed to believe that victor's creation just happened to be in that beautiful violent storm just like how we were supposed to believe that those animated characters actually interact with the real people? Were not forced to see it, it's just that both creators had fabricated that sensation and atmosphere that made us believe, especially with all the details.
Frankie being Postmodernism!
Victor had “worked hard for nearly two years” to finish his fancy science project of bringing a dead person back to life, but he “had deprived myself of rest and health.” After his success, all his hard work was not celebrated, but instead it was rejected. “breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” Victor was so caught up with wanting to get this jump on a revolutionary science discovery so much so, that his health, both mental and physical, declined. He spent years, years that he probably went a little insane in, to devote his life to bringing a person back to life. In the end, he didn't even appreciate his work, instead he was disgusted and shocked so he ran away. His friends and family were so worried for him that they tried to check up on him. This spiral into insanity gives a warping time sense and makes you feel like you're spiraling with him. The temporal distortion of both mentioning time and over describing his surrender to this mental illness cause the reader to become dizzy.
A link?
Now, for this one, you have to listen to the way Nnamdi sings Semantics. The different voices he uses when singing parts of the song, gives off the feeling that the narrator stays the same, and yet it's like switching back and forth to when he's on drugs and when he's clean. Even the lyrics don't follow a particular timeline. You can see when it's switching verses here in the song.
Correlation
Nnamdi and Mary Shelley use a disorganized timeline and unreliable narrators to cause this dizziness i described before. The reader is thrown for a loop when reading because they feel like they're falling into this insanity, whether it is practically on an acid trip or going through a mental disorder.
Frankie being Postmodernism!
Mary Shelley had been over descriptive when introducing Victor's creation talking about how “His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath” and “his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes”. She even goes on to describe how his teeth and eyes don't match because his eyes are the color of like a dusty brown and how it contrasts “his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.”. Adding so much detail is excessive and creates a complex touch to the work. Maximalism, in this instance, was used to scare us with this uncanny creature. We know that it was once part of humans, and was pieced together to be another human, but the decay described was too great to look normal.
A link?
In order to illustrate the trauma and fragility of young girls, the short story by Ry Book Suraski, Decortication of an Airplane(2022) uses postmodern maximalism to create extended metaphors and prevent understanding of the deep meaning of what our society exploits from underage girls. The large chunks of descriptive words make you uncomfortable with what's happening to this little girl.
Correlation
Do we just want the reader to be uncomfortable? All the adjectives and thought sausages cloud how the reader might interpret the text. We become uncomfortable with both stories describing this grotesque aspect of humans whether they are a live, or dead(or brought back to life). In both Frankenstein and Decortication of an airplane maximalism in describing words overpower the reader.
The End
In each link, there is a tie to Frankenstein, whether it be a supernatural aspect, the dizzy feeling of being sucked into the story, or the over-detailed pictures painted in our mind. Frankenstein couldn't be more postmodern because Mary Shelley was so ahead of her time. I mean who doesn't love a good monster story that makes you feel insane like this time period does.
Works Cited
Book, Ry. Decortication of an Airplane, Pank Magazine, 14 February 2022, www.pankmagazine.com/piece/decortication-of-an-airplane/.
Brown, Warwick. “Thinking What.” Giphy, 2023, giphy.com/gifs/warwickabrown-thinking-math-mathematics-xRq2Mo2yewajZLPmCt. Accessed 9 May 2024.
Gorillaz. “Humility.” YouTube, 31 May 2018, youtu.be/E5yFcdPAGv0?si=G6Nd2iNe7qp0fAmq. Accessed 8 May 2024.
Leach, Holly. “Highlights of Postmodernism.” Nerd Central, 3 May 2023, nerdcentralorg.files.wordpress.com/2024/05/highlights-of-postmodernism.pdf. Accessed 6 May 2024.
Nnamdi. “Semantics” Youtube, 3 April 2020, youtu.be/MSDiXzFjMTE?si=pNhUXeU2V5NZnZP3. Accessed 9 May 2024.
Shelley, Mary. “Frankenstein.” The Project Gutenberg. www.gutenberg.org/files/84/84-h/84-h.htm. Accessed 8 May 2024.