{"id":50964,"date":"2016-11-30T08:49:43","date_gmt":"2016-11-30T16:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com\/news\/?p=50964"},"modified":"2019-08-28T12:55:33","modified_gmt":"2019-08-28T19:55:33","slug":"the-many-faces-of-frankensteins-monster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com\/news\/the-many-faces-of-frankensteins-monster\/","title":{"rendered":"The Many Faces of Frankenstein\u2019s Monster"},"content":{"rendered":"

He\u2019s green and lumbering and he’s not the Hulk. He’s Frankenstein\u2019s Monster<\/a>, though he often goes by his maker\u2019s name. And while he\u2019s one of the Halloween season\u2019s most recognizable icons, he\u2019s worn more faces than you might realize.<\/p>\n

Seeing Shelley\u2019s Unseen Creature<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mary Shelley\u2019s Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus<\/em>, published in 1818, offers surprisingly few specifics about the Creature\u2019s appearance.<\/p>\n

Overly ambitious scientist Victor Frankenstein sees its \u201cdull yellow eye\u201d open when he animates \u201cthe lifeless thing.\u201d He mentions that its long, \u201clustrous\u201d black hair and pearly white teeth contrast with its \u201cshriveled complexion and straight black lips.\u201d But Victor is too shocked by what he has made to look on it for long: \u201cI had selected his features as beautiful\u2026 [but now] breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, generations of makeup artists and actors have freely shown us their versions of what Victor couldn\u2019t bear to behold. From the novel\u2019s first stage adaptation in 1823, the Monster has taken a multitude of forms.<\/p>\n

The 2015 movie Victor <\/em>Frankenstein, for instance, gave him a name – \u201cPrometheus,\u201d evoking the original novel\u2019s subtitle – and envisioned him as a bald, bare-chested, barely clothed brute, his muscular frame streaked with scars and studded with metal, broken shackles on his wrists and ankles. Critics and audiences weren\u2019t kind to the film overall, but its Monster<\/a> was a triumph of practical movie magic and a memorable modern take on the character.<\/p>\n

\"Victor<\/p>\n

Pierce and Karloff\u2019s Classic Creature<\/strong><\/p>\n

Actor Boris Karloff and makeup artist Jack Pierce created the Monster<\/a> by which all others have been and forever will be judged for director James Whale\u2019s 1931 Frankenstein<\/em>, the second of Universal Studios\u2019 immortal monster movies. The flat head (with hinges to suggest Dr. Frankenstein opened and closed it \u201clike a pot lid,\u201d said Pierce, when adding the brain), the protruding brow, the sunken cheeks (created by removing Karloff\u2019s dental bridge), the bolt-pierced neck – Pierce\u2019s work seamlessly accented Karloff\u2019s naturally striking features, and seared itself into moviegoers\u2019 memories. Karloff\u2019s performance, which still inspires both dread and empathy in viewers, completed the illusion. \u201cIt\u2019s alive\u2026 It\u2019s alive,\u201d indeed!<\/p>\n

\"Universal<\/p>\n

The Monster and His Mate<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Shelley\u2019s novel, the Creature threatens Victor with calamity when the scientist refuses to create a companion for him: \u201cShall each man\u2026 find a wife for his bosom, and each beast has his mate, and I be alone?… Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful. I will watch you with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting with its venom. Man, you shall repent of the injuries you inflict.\u201d Victor begins but ultimately abandons his manufacture of a mate, provoking the Monster\u2019s wrath.<\/p>\n

But In 1935\u2019s Bride of Frankenstein<\/em><\/a>, again directed by Whale, Frankenstein finishes a bride for his Creature. Actress Elsa Lanchester spends only about four minutes onscreen as the Bride, but what an indelible impression she makes, aided by more meticulous work from Jack Pierce. Lanchester once told an interviewer, \u201cFor a whole hour he would draw two lines of glue, put a red line down the middle, then start making up the white edges of the scar\u2026 After the scar came the eyebrows and the hair\u2026 they placed a cage on my head and combed my own hair over that cage. Then they put the gray-streak hairpieces in afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bride<\/p>\n

Lanchester sells the look with her rigid, rapid head movements and, of course, her piercing scream when the Bride\u2019s intended \u201cgroom\u201d attempts to touch her. The Bride\u2019s image<\/a> every bit as iconic as the Monster\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"Bride<\/p>\n

It\u2019s even inspired some ghoulish glamour art! This statue, based on illustrator Ted Hammond\u2019s work and sculpted by Barsom Manashian<\/a>, is proof of the continuing spell of fear and fascination the Bride can cast!<\/p>\n

\"Death<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Christopher Lee and The Curse of Frankenstein<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1957, Hammer Studios in England released The Curse of Frankenstein<\/em>, the first of its eventual seven films focused on the Frankenstein myth. Curse <\/em>starred two thespians who would become especially well known to science fiction and fantasy fans: Peter Cushing as Victor Frankenstein<\/a>, and Christopher Lee as his Monster<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Hammer<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Hammer<\/p>\n

Cushing played Frankenstein more than once, but Curse<\/em> marked Lee\u2019s only outing as the Creature. In 2014, Time magazine called it \u201cone of his scariest performances, aided by facial makeup that, with its open wounds and mismatched eyes, transforms Lee into one of the most hideous-looking Frankenstein monsters ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Monster that Mary Shelley unleashed into the world almost two centuries ago continues to stalk us, and we willingly invite it to. As long as its story and the questions that story raises – about the nature and meaning of life, the promise and perils of science, and the responsibility living beings bear to each other – intrigue us, Frankenstein\u2019s Monster<\/a> will continue to wear new faces.<\/p>\n

\"Stitchenstein<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favorite version of Frankenstein\u2019s Monster, and why? Let\u2019s talk in the comment section below!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He\u2019s green and lumbering and he’s not the Hulk. He’s Frankenstein\u2019s Monster, though he often goes by his maker\u2019s name. And while he\u2019s one of the Halloween season\u2019s most recognizable icons, he\u2019s worn more faces than you might realize. Seeing Shelley\u2019s Unseen Creature Mary Shelley\u2019s Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus, published in 1818, offers surprisingly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":50973,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[158,11,108],"tags":[371,1094,512,1061,4775,256,2141,702,1746],"yst_prominent_words":[8639,15176,37649,7891,37651,37647,9819,37645,9953,6936,37648,37652,6082,13691,32259,9818,37650,21326,37646,13452],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50964"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50964"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65765,"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50964\/revisions\/65765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50964"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=50964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}