Introduction
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s gothic science fiction novel, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, conveys the ethical and moral responsibilities of facing the consequences of your actions in a world where truth is an unstable concept. Throughout the novel, Shelley constructs a world in which logic and reason have no limits, allowing Victor to defy the laws of human anatomy, as well as society, and blur the line that defines what is real and what is fiction. In the magical realism, fragmentation, and maximalism, Shelley hopes her audience will discover the necessity behind facing reality.
Magical Realism
Postmodern literature blends the mundane daily life and surreal aspects of fiction through the use of magical realism. By obscuring the line between reality and fiction, postmodern writers are able to create a world in which there is no rational, objective, or universal truth.
Victor's life becomes infested with magical realism after he defies science and reality by creating a new life form. Before he realizes the error of his ways, Victor seems to possess a godlike confidence, even going as far as to exclaim that, "A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me," (Shelley). Prior to this, Victor's life was boring, lonely, and miserable. Because of his intense fascination with science, Victor isolated himself from his family and friends and directed his sole focus towards creating his monster. Although his life was realistically quite depressing, the surreal excitement Victor got from pioneering a scientific discovery filled his life with magic and intrigue.
Connection to Postmodern Media: Gorillaz, "Humility"
In the Gorillaz song, “Humility,” the virtual band explores what it means to feel different from society. No piece of media combines magic and reality quite like the Gorillaz do in this music video. 2-D, the band’s cartoon-looking monkey vocalist and keyboard player, skates through the boardwalk in Los Angeles, California, ignoring the judgment and discomfort from those around him as he rides the high that this isolation brings him. While this euphoric feeling is great for a while, the other fictitious Gorillaz members hint that it is eventually necessary to pop the perfect bubble that surrounds you and experience what life has to offer: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
My Take – While the only visual connection the two works appear to have in common are the slightly monster-looking characters, I believe that the Gorillaz and Frankenstein's monster accomplished the same goal: proving that you have to face the real world eventually. Victor would have never understood the consequences of his actions until the havoc his monster inflicted stripped away his easy, secluded life, just like 2D was tripped out of his little bubble of isolation when he became too comfortable.
Fragmentation
Through the postmodern lens, fragmentation is the multiplication of narrators, perspectives, or takes within a story in order to convey the postmodernist skepticism towards one single, ultimate narrative. Postmodern writers believe that every interpretation of a text is unique and there is no one agreeable version when so many different minds ingest the same piece of literature.
Throughout Shelley's novel, Victor Frankenstein's narration is fragmented by the back-and-forth storytelling between him and his monster's perspectives. After refusing to make a companion for his monster to share its wretched life with, Victor finally realizes that his creation is more than a violent monster, stating, "How mutable are our feelings, and how strange is that clinging love we have of life even in the excess of misery!" (Shelley). The fragmented narration technique allows the audience to understand that this fictitious being is not simply a physical representation of disgust and misery, he has complex emotions and strives to be a part of humanity equally as much as the rest of us. While Victor can be viewed as the sad, sickened scientist who is tormented by his creation and faced unjust consequences for his actions, Frankenstein's monster can just as easily be understood as the wronged, abandoned creature who is being punished for simply existing, something he didn't even ask for.
Connection to Postmodern Media: Book Suraski, "Decortication of an Airplane"
“Decortication of an Airplane” is a short story written by Book Suraski that narrates a young girl’s experience while getting a massage as she struggles with feeling disconnected from her body. As the story progresses, he describes the painstaking and excruciating process of peeling apart the layers of the plane until it is nothing more than a hollow metal frame that crumbles after it is uncovered piece by piece, representing the young girl's rebirth. The story’s distortion unfolds as Suraski jumps between the perspectives of the girl and the masseuse. In the midst of this confusing and unimaginable story, one of the many messages I believe Suraski hopes to get across is that one should not be afraid to breach societal norms in order to become the truest version of yourself.
My Take – In both texts, the unreliable and back-and-forth narration distorts the true meaning of the story and pushes it further away from actuality. Throughout Frankenstein and "Decortication of an Airplane," the young girl and Frankenstein's monster experience a disconnection from reality as they both feel unfit in the prying, perfectionist eyes of society. Although Frankenstein's monster was never allowed to feel this relief, the girl's rebirth into her truest version establishes that it is only harmful to cower away from self-discovery and acceptance; life can only improve when you face this reality and disregard convention.
Maximalism
In postmodern writing, maximalism is a method of filling a work with great amounts of digression, reference, and elaboration of detail to an almost excessive amount. This "more is more" style device allows for the author to build the world surrounding their text to the utmost degree and completely submerge readers within the story.
Victor's monster begs him to create another being as wretched as him so that he has someone to spend eternity with, if he will not be able to experience life like the rest of society. However, when Victor does not indulge in his creation's fantasy and refuses to sympathize with a monster, his creation states, "I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other," (Shelley). The monster's entire personality appears to have maximalist characteristics, because he is devoted to giving 100% of himself, whether it be in a good or evil manner. This threat may seem terrifying, especially considering his past murderous tendencies, but it is really a cry of desperation.
Connection to Postmodern Media: E.E. Cummings, "[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]"
E.E. Cummings poem, “[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in],” explores what it feels like to be deeply in love with another person. In an almost concerningly stalker-like fashion, Cummings suggests that everything in life has become infused with deep, passionate, wild romance that is always with him. Cummings heavily utilizes a maximalist structure within his poem by comparing his lover to the tree of life, stating that the sun and moon bend at her will, and describing how she is his entire world. This essentially desperate yearning reveals itself as Cummings conveys nothing, not fate nor the world, could truly separate the two, as his life has become completely encapsulated by their love.
My Take – Both Cummings and Shelley created a character who has given everything to be who they are, albeit one has taken a slightly less psychotic path. Within both pieces of literature, these characters have expressed their deepest emotions and a desire to be heard that forces the audience to take an intimate look in their mind. By the elaboration of emotion to an excessive degree, it is clear that the authors have completely embraced the vulnerability that comes with being human, as well as the reality that not everything ends happily.
Conclusion
As the principles of reality and fiction blend within Mary Shelley's, Frankenstein, it is clear that the postmodern devices of magical realism, fragmentation, and maximalism shift the widely popularized message of the story. While it is definitely important to face the consequences of your actions and generally understand the overall responsibility that follows, these postmodern ideals place greater emphasis on facing reality. In a world where truth and life is subjective, it is necessary to open yourself to reality and take it all in, because the human experience continues to emphasize the complexity that accepting this beautifully wild reality brings.
Works Cited
Cratermania. “Happy Father's Day.” Giphy, 2015, giphy.com/gifs/happy-fathers-day-fathersday-YEL7FJP6ed008. Accessed 10 May 2024.
Cummings, Edward Estlin. "[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]." Poetry Foundation, poetryfoundation.org/poetrymaganize/poems/49493/i-carry-your-heart-with-mei-carry-it-in. Accessed 10 May 2024.
Gorillaz. “Humility.” YouTube, 31 May 2018, youtu.be/E5yFcdPAGv0?si=olaa23icN0OGFIq2. Accessed 10 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.
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus.” 1818. The Project Gutenberg eBook of Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 2 Dec. 2022, www.gutenberg.org/files/84/84-h/84-h.htm. Accessed 9 May 2024.
Suraski, Book. "Decortication of an Airplane." PANK Magazine, 14 Feb. 2022. https://pankmagazine.com/piece/decortication-of-an-airplane/. Accessed 10 May 2024.