After finishing the second volume of Gris Grimsly’s
Frankenstein, I started watching the first season of the new HBO
show Westworld. Without spoiling too much, Westworld is
based on a 1973 movie of the same name where a western-style
amusement park filled with humanoid robots begins to experience
“malfunctions”. Many modern science fiction stories, including
Westworld, barrow heavily from Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein.
Frankenstein established two major themes which have been
retold countless times; Those being “creation as the
monster” and the “creator as the monster”.
Stories of imperfect creations going awry go back to ancient creation
mythology. In Judeo-Christian mythology, Adam and Eve were banished
from the Garden of Eden for their sinful nature. On page 101 of
Grimsly’s Frankenstein, you can even see Frankenstein’s
monster reading John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Like Adam,
Frankenstein’s monster was created with flaws which resulted in
evil behavior. In order for this theme to work, the actions of the
creation must be unexpected to the creator like how Frankenstein had
no idea his creature would end up murdering people, and the hero in
this story must vanquish the corrupt creation. Other movies, like
Terminator and The Matrix, are also examples of this theme. In those
movies, artificial intelligence originally created by humans rebel
against their makers and its the job of the protagonist to find a way
to stop it.
I have only seen the first episode of Westworld, but I can
tell they are focusing on the latter theme. Westworld is a place
which allows you to live out your western fantasies. If you want to
be a rancher for a day, you can do that. If you want to be a sheriff
for a day, you can do that. If you want to rape, pillage, and murder
every one in town, you can do that. Everything is allowed with the
excuse that nothing is real. All the characters in this amusement
park are automatons and are reset, memories completely wiped out, at
the end of the day. Things begin to get interesting when the robots
begin to become aware of their reality. In this story, the creators
are the monsters as they use their creation for mere pleasure and
vicious satisfaction. While watching, I found it hard to not
sympathize with the automatons as they often seemed more human than
the actual humans.
When I first read Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, I had an
easier time sympathizing and finding humanity in Frankenstein’s
monster than in Frankenstein himself. Grimsly’s art from chapters 3
to 5 only made it easier to see the humanity in the monster. What I
enjoy most about the Frankenstein story is how it explores both the
“creation as the monster” and the “creator as the
monster” themes. I think Victor is the true monster of the story.
He created life to satisfy his own desires without taking into
account the implications of such an act, similar to the designers of
Westworld. What do you think? Who is the real monster? The creation
or the creator?
Sources:
Grimly, Gris. Gris Grimly's Frankenstein. New York: Balzer & Bray, 2013. Print.
https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1382798290i/6204317._SY540_.jpg
http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/articles/arts/television/2016/09/160928_TV_Westworld-01.jpg.CROP.promo-xlarge2.jpg
http://www.joblo.com/newsimages1/westworld-hbo-1.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ct8464GWgAAWNE_.jpg
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ReplyDeleteRafael, I think that the connection between Westworld and Gris Grimly’s Frankenstein is rather interesting. Although the two stories revolve around different ideologies, they both center around similar themes about monsters and humanity. What is somewhat interesting to note about Westworld is that the “hosts” have been constantly updated and changed over the park’s history. From what the characters of the show have explained, the early models of the hosts were more robotic and clearly inhuman, something that the creators were not happy with. However, the consistent developments and adjustments that have been enforced enabled the creators of the park to enhance the guest experience. Victor Frankenstein, on the other hand, did not have the opportunity to return back to his creative process once the monster was born. As a result of his actions, though, I agree that Victor should be viewed as the true monster in the story. Nevertheless, Victor may not be examined as such if he possessed the chance to modify his creation. Victor only had one occasion to bring life to his creature, which seemed to surprise him more than anything when the experiment became a reality. As opposed to Westworld, once Frankenstein’s monster was generated, there was no chance to review the construction of the monster and influence his appearance and actions.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of Frankenstein's monster, I think sympathizing with him is so easy due to his childlike demeanor. It is hard to find a child monstrous, because they don't know any better. They can certainly be vicious and cruel, but they don't possess the same moral fiber that we do as adults - let alone the comprehension of what that means. So, I find judging them in the extreme difficult to do. Additionally, the monster's cruel acts were only done in retaliation to previous harm. On the other hand, Victor's a fully grown man of upper-class society. He should know better. Of course, I wouldn't judge Victor for failing to consider all of the consequences of creating his monster, because humans rarely do. I will, however, judge him for failing to own up to those consequences. So, between the two of them, I would judge Victor to be more monstrous, although I think he's more of a coward than anything else.
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