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> Frankenstein stories Funnily enough, this idea -- the meme of "Frankenstein" being about the perils of science or technology -- is totally at odds with the b

> Frankenstein stories Funnily enough, this idea -- the meme of "Frankenstein" being about the perils of science or technology -- is totally at odds with the book itself. Popular culture has obviously not had much contact with the original text. In the book, Frankenstein's monster was the good guy -- he was clever, sensitive and persecuted for his humanity. The lesson of the book was about the judgemental inhumanity of society, not the danger of progress. It warns against the fear of the unknown -- the opposite of the popular understanding. It's nothing at all like Terminator.

majos 8y ago
The real-world popular mistaken impression of Frankenstein's monster ("an abomination!") is the same as the in-novel popular mistaken impression of Frankenstein's monster. This is a neat trick.
jsjohnst 8y ago
I would venture to guess that less than 1% of folks here even, let alone in popular culture as a whole, have read the original version at an age old enough to actually understand the message it conveys, if at all.
dragonwriter 8y ago
> the meme of "Frankenstein" being about the perils of science or technology -- is totally at odds with the book itself. But not with many of the movies based (loosely) on the book, which is probably where the popular perception of “Frankenstein” and the usage at issue come from. OTOH, I think a good argument can be made that, whether or not it was Shelley's intent (though I think it very clearly is part of that intent), the book itself is a powerful message about the perils of science and technology, specifically, the perils when science and technology, no matter how moral the application would be in the ideal context, outpace the what society is prepared to deal with. It is exactly, that is, about the dangers of technological action from an ivory tower that doesn't consider the real context in which the action takes place. > It warns against the fear of the unknown It does, but it warns just as much about disregarding the existence of such fear and, by extension, other aspects of the existing society which would turn your neat technical innovation into a catalyst of horrors.
darren_ 8y ago
> In the book, Frankenstein's monster was the good guy -- he was clever, sensitive and persecuted for his humanity Er, no he wasn't (the good guy. he was clever etc). He wasn't a villain, per se, but he spends most of the book stalking and threatening Frankenstein so that he'll make a wife for him, and then proceeds to murder Frankenstein's beloved when he doesn't (after, you know, killing a bunch of other people). I'll grant that the monster had a genuine grievance, but he's in no way the good guy. And he's not persecuted for his humanity, either, he's quite literally persecuted for his obvious inhumanity - the whole sequence where he meets the family with the blind grandfather (father?) is explicitly about that. It's also quite a lot like terminator insofar as there's a superhuman unstoppable obsessed force that will never stop chasing you.
- throw20180804 8y ago
  Abe Chutiye book toh padh le .... Bhosadbillu maa ke laude bhen chod teri maa ki chut madarchod bhenchod teri maa ka lund gaandu bhosdike

majos 8y ago

The real-world popular mistaken impression of Frankenstein's monster ("an abomination!") is the same as the in-novel popular mistaken impression of Frankenstein's monster. This is a neat trick.

jsjohnst 8y ago

I would venture to guess that less than 1% of folks here even, let alone in popular culture as a whole, have read the original version at an age old enough to actually understand the message it conveys, if at all.

dragonwriter 8y ago

> the meme of "Frankenstein" being about the perils of science or technology -- is totally at odds with the book itself. But not with many of the movies based (loosely) on the book, which is probably where the popular perception of “Frankenstein” and the usage at issue come from. OTOH, I think a good argument can be made that, whether or not it was Shelley's intent (though I think it very clearly is part of that intent), the book itself is a powerful message about the perils of science and technology, specifically, the perils when science and technology, no matter how moral the application would be in the ideal context, outpace the what society is prepared to deal with. It is exactly, that is, about the dangers of technological action from an ivory tower that doesn't consider the real context in which the action takes place. > It warns against the fear of the unknown It does, but it warns just as much about disregarding the existence of such fear and, by extension, other aspects of the existing society which would turn your neat technical innovation into a catalyst of horrors.

darren_ 8y ago

> In the book, Frankenstein's monster was the good guy -- he was clever, sensitive and persecuted for his humanity Er, no he wasn't (the good guy. he was clever etc). He wasn't a villain, per se, but he spends most of the book stalking and threatening Frankenstein so that he'll make a wife for him, and then proceeds to murder Frankenstein's beloved when he doesn't (after, you know, killing a bunch of other people). I'll grant that the monster had a genuine grievance, but he's in no way the good guy. And he's not persecuted for his humanity, either, he's quite literally persecuted for his obvious inhumanity - the whole sequence where he meets the family with the blind grandfather (father?) is explicitly about that. It's also quite a lot like terminator insofar as there's a superhuman unstoppable obsessed force that will never stop chasing you.

throw20180804 8y ago
Abe Chutiye book toh padh le .... Bhosadbillu maa ke laude bhen chod teri maa ki chut madarchod bhenchod teri maa ka lund gaandu bhosdike