Postmodern- Monster Elements

YHWH Lover- 5th

 Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus : the 1818 Text. Internet Archive, 2013/archive.org/details/Frankenstein1818Edition/Frankenstein

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is about Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who becomes obsessed with creating life. He builds a creature from dead body parts and brings it to life, but is horrified by how it looks and runs away. The creature is left alone and rejected by everyone, even though he just wants love and connection. As he learns about the world, the creature becomes angry and hurt, eventually turning to revenge by hurting Victor’s loved ones.

The story explores big ideas like the dangers of trying to control nature and how people need to be accepted. It also shows postmodern themes, like fragmentation—Victor and the creature both feel broken and lost, unsure of who they really are. The creature is made of many different people’s parts, and his identity is never fully whole. The novel also plays with hyperreality, as Victor’s dream of creating a perfect being turns into a nightmare, blurring the line between what’s real and what’s imagined or hoped for. In the end, both Victor and the creature are trapped in a world of their own making, where reality feels twisted and sad.

This relates to Carlos Greaves' satirical short story "Sure, the Velociraptors Are Still on the Loose, but That's No Reason Not to Reopen Jurassic Park", because of the fragmentation of the story. Both the main characters are scrambling for anything that shows them compassion, searching for purpose, while the company in charge of Jurassic Park is searching for anything to get their park back to its former glory. This intense searching, reaching, hoping for anything shows the disappointment in the state that they are currently in, while hoping for something better, shows how fragmented both stories are.

The second source I used, “There, There” by Radiohead, also heavily touches on the aspect of being “lost.” I often mentioned in my blog about this poem how the character seems to be running away from something dark while running towards something light. I believe this character is searching for their purpose and avoiding some darker calling, either past mistakes or maybe some sort of anxiety or depression. I think this heavily relates to Frankenstein because the monster is searching for his humanity, while running from himself, and Victor is searching for his morals while running from the monster. This theme resonates between both stories and showcases the postmodern aspects hyperreality and fragmentation.

Finally, Frankenstein compares to “Humility” by Gorillaz through the pastiche and hyperreality elements.The song itself features an upbeat tune and hype style, but if you listen to the lyrics, It’s a very sad song. The author is talking about wanting to escape the world, and how he often is pretending he is fine. This is hyperreality, because we don’t know what is real, or what is faked. Lastly, the pastiche elements of the song, with the random elements of pop, jazz, funk, they all remind me of the drastic amounts of moral dilemma and dialogue we see from Victor and his monster.