Lecture Notes #1 - "Frankenstein: Our Dark Mirror"

2/4/2025

Click the image above to listen to the NYPL podcast, "Frankenstein: Our Dark Mirror."

In this Primary Blog Post, please copy/paste the notes from your favorite chapter ONLY of the New York Public Library's podcast, Frankenstein: Our Dark Mirror. You may want to "flesh them out" (pun entirely intended) first, as your classmates will be reading and commenting on them this weekend.

Primary Blog Expectations (respond to the prompt above): 200-250 words, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the name you were assigned in class as your nom de plume and be sure to add word count. Due by 11:59pm Thurs night, Feb 6th!

Secondary Blog Response Expectations (read everyone's primary responses, select two that interest you, and respond to their ideas): 100-150 words EACH, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the name you were assigned in class as your nom de plume and be sure to add word count. Due by 11:59pm Friday night, Feb 7th!

Kei Okami

2/5/2025 10:07:02 am

I wonder if the setting that Mary had put herself in would have changed the way that she looked at her story for Frankenstein? If she hadn’t been indoors or isolated, the story would’ve never been created the way it was or never created at all. This isolation and potential depression she had put herself through combined made her thought process go to a major drop causing her to have nightmares the way she was. Not to mention the fact that she was rather pregnant or had a newborn causing major stress, especially since she had recently lost her first child and mother at a young age. The time period also played a major role since most of the writing during this time was very gothic.

Ida Augusta Keller

2/9/2025 09:21:52 pm

I believe that where Mary Shelly was during her process of making Frankenstein would’ve definitely impacted where this story would;ve been when finished. We even know that when she goes to later revision, she makes changes that her old teenage self would’ve kept, after maturing and growing into being a young woman, she has different experiences and views of the cards she has been dealt for in her life. Even the slightest change in her condition couldn’ve greatly impacted how she wrote frankenstein since she used everything in her life to create it, her husband's relationship with herself and their children, her miscarriages and pregnancy difficulties, her relationship with her father and stepmother, and even her own quilt from being the reason of her mothers premature death after her birth. (131)

Mary A. Alberston

2/5/2025 10:21:48 am

(Chapter 4) I really enjoyed learning about how monster theory almost plays a key role in understanding how we as humans create the monsters in our own life. This idea that the creatures we create for pure entertainment and this enjoyment we get from beings created and seeing our “fears drafted” really illustrates this idea of conquering various social issues no matter your opinion. I think Elizabeth Young really helped me understand that when you read a horror novel a lto of the “villains” or “Monsters are products of society and their twisted views. This idea has already been pushed throughout media a lot but you can see this even reflected in fairy tales or retellings of the tales of villains in disney novels. This perspective allows you to empathize and understand why a villain does what it does. Of course there are still characters who are just truly whatever “evil” might look like to you. But even understanding characters who are diabolical and their upbringing and understanding why they have the thought process they have makes a huge difference in humans ability to empathize. When you take a monster and are able to view it as both the victim and perpetrator you are able to look at different perspectives of cases such as the act of killing someone innocent through the eyes of both parties. How you chose to further interpret the creature is left up to your own morals and ethical beliefs which is what was being explained in chapter three.

Marie-Anne Lavoisier

2/5/2025 10:22:45 am

Chapter four, Confronting Our Monsters:
With all that’s going on with ICE and deportation, Trump refers to immigrants as “illegal aliens” and “criminals”. They are portrayed as monsters for infiltrating the states with their families. Trump saying that they have been stealing jobs and housing and money portrays them as creatures the American people should fear, when in reality they come to the states to seek refuge and a better future for those they care about. If a monster is willing to sacrifice their safety for their loved ones, then I too am a monster. It is in times like these that I wonder who is truly to fear. Human nature is terrifying in that way, the way we so quickly look for something to fear besides ourselves. We never want to fear what human nature is truly capable of, so we blame anything else without realizing that we are our own maker, and, our own monster.

Cornelia Clapp

2/9/2025 04:33:47 pm

I had the same idea when comparing the idea of monsters to a current event now. I feel that Trump is constantly trying to portray immigrants as "monsters" and tries to force this idea on everyone else by constantly trying to call out the bad they are doing when in reality he is just trying to instill fear upon Americans. I agree with the fact that we are all "monster makers" in this situation because we are constantly looking for something or someone to blame. I think this current event comparison is similar to the one they compared frankenstein to, of comparing the civil rights abuse to the "monster" creatures.

Maria Estrela

2/10/2025 08:47:06 am

I thought of the same ideas while listening to this chapter. I agree that we often blame other people instead of ourselves. Watching the videos of people being taken away bye ICE is frightening and is a valid connection to the creature being shunned. It's scary to see my people being shunned away only because they wanted a better life for themselves. I think this is a relevant and valid current event that can be related to the book. I also think the idea of "monster makers" makes sense in this situation because we have not tried to solve problems like employment. Instead we've decided to blame the Hispanic community, in return creating the agenda that they are monsters.

Kusumoto Ine

2/5/2025 10:27:43 am

Chapter 3 Monsters Always Come Back
My favorite monster is the banshee and I think it reflects my own self of grief yearning for attention and pain in my own way. Banshees are known to be a haunting ghost that is well known for their wailing screams. I find this type of monster interesting because it is displaying their own pain onto other people to be understood. In a way thinking about this, it never goes away because even if time passes by, there will still be the thoughts, the pain and the memories that disturbs my own inner peace. I think that we love monsters so much because it represents something that is going on and the thrill of the monster itself without realizing that it IS in fact resembling an important theme. I also think that monster movies are supposed to teach an underlying lesson about life and society that not many people want to realize or take action on. Monsters come back because they are made of OUR fear of the real world things that are happening. They also come back because I believe in a way we are all monsters, it just varies on what KIND of monster someone represents socially.
The banshee may say that my fear is never letting go of the pain and the past. More simply, my own fear of the recurring pain coming back to haunt me again. It makes me think about Mary Shelly's own fear and how she might feel like shes her own wailing banshee especially considering all of her life and lost children.

Irma Goldberg

2/5/2025 10:50:17 am

Chapter Five-Frankenstein in the 21st Century
After listening to this last chapter I believe that the movie Frankenstein opens your eyes to a different perspective of things. Lavalle was so influenced by Frankenstein's work that he started to look at different aspects of the novel. The movie as a whole would definitely make you believe that Frankenstein is a monster for bringing the dead back to life, but when you see this and look at a real life situation many people would do the same if they could. One comparison he made was when he saw a mother lose her child and the mother was very heartbroken. He then wondered how much someone would go through to bring back someone from the dead or if they would do it. I think that the comparisons he makes does seem true. Many people would go through a lot to bring someone back from the dead. After considering the points that Lavalle makes during chapter five, I believe that Frankenstein did not make the “creature” to hurt other people. I believe that Frankenstein created the “creature” because he might’ve lost someone and wanted someone to replace them. Lavalle did see what someone would do to bring someone back to life.

Cornelia Clapp

2/9/2025 04:38:48 pm

I agree with the ideas you mentioned of is Frankenstein's actions were justified. I agree that when you think more about the actions of victor literally creating the creature and then turning his back on him when he needed a companion and help due to the hate he was receiving for simply being alive, his actions are justified. I also agree that his intentions weren't to create a monster but rather these were just results of his grief and longing to have someone back from the dead. I think the movie caused for frankenstein's backstory to get lost and he was just looked at as a monster but if people truly understood his backstory they have have more understanding of why he acted the way he did.

Huang Lu

2/5/2025 05:58:56 pm

Mary shelly’s Franstein can connect with our current rights of abuse because it shows how societal neglect and the creation of these “monsters” can be treated with injustice and inequality because of their differences. In Frankenstein, the “creature” is abandoned and rejected by people. Not because he was dangerous or evil, he just didn’t fit societal expectations. This can reflect on individuals today. Whether it be race, status etc, many people are dehumanized and blamed.
A modern example could be the stigma around mental health. Many struggle with mental illness and are misunderstood, or labeled as dangerous. They aren’t being offered support but looked down upon. Similar to Frankenstein’s creature, peoples mental health can lead to further struggles. The media portrays them as unstable and violent which is a reinforcing and harmful stereotype. Additionally AI continues to grow, making it more powerful. This results in fear over jobs and loss of control overall. Frankenstein serves as a reminder to take responsibility for what it creates and how it treats people with differences.

Emily Siedeberg

2/5/2025 08:44:30 pm

Chapter Two-I Bid My Hideous Progeny Go Forth and Prosper:

Books are often turned into movies or TV shows because it helps them reach more people and make money.

Positives:
More people learn about the story.
It can be updated to fit today’s world.
Visual effects make it exciting.

Negatives:
The story might change too much
Some deep meanings could get lost.
It may focus more on action than the real message.

Ida Augusta Keller

2/9/2025 09:26:29 pm

I agree with your positives and negatives, however I like the idea of how a positive of novels being adapted is that you can see how they are in present day society. With some novels being made decades or centuries ago, just reading them alone seems like a riddle, but trying to find the message or how it can relate to us today is an even harder challenge. However with some adaptations they make it easier for the viewers to connect to the characters in the novel, sure it may not be exactly like how it was in the novel, but it helps the viewers have a better grasp an understanding what the author was trying to portray to their audience in their time, which we tend to miss with older novels. (132)

Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Bobrinskaya

2/6/2025 06:32:09 pm

Chapter 4 --- confronting Our Monsters
- The 1930s in America saw an increase in lynchings of Black men.
- There was a significant protest against lynching from Black activists and White allies during this time.
- The speaker speculates that a film could be interpreted as an allegory of lynching, despite race not being mentioned.
- The monster, played by Boris Karloff, might represent a sympathetic victim of a lynch mob.
- The speaker reflects on historical responses to Nat Turner’s revolt in 1831.
- Nat Turner was an enslaved individual who rebelled against his White master in Southampton County, Virginia.
- His revolt resulted in the deaths of many and led to his capture after several weeks.
- Turner was tried, convicted, and executed, causing widespread news coverage and anxiety among slaveholders.
- The event sparked debates about slavery and potential revolt.
- Politician Thomas Dew defended slavery in response to the Nat Turner story.
- Dew referenced Mary Shelley’s "Frankenstein" in relation to slavery and race relations in America.
- He claimed that dealing with a Black person required acknowledging their physical strength but alleged intellectual inferiority, comparing them to a "creature resembling the splendid fiction of a recent romance."
- The story is ever changing representing multiple stories across time including ones today and from that time period
221

Jantina Tammes

2/6/2025 08:44:04 pm

Chapter 5- Frankenstein in the 21st Century
After reading this chapter I think what he said actually makes sense when you pay attention. Looking at it now, monsters are literally like humans just in different ways that are portrayed as scary. I’ll use what he said about Frankenstein having daddy issues and that's the reason he acts the way he does. For example, constantly trying to find someone and never being satisfied with things. I connect that with people in real life who don’t have one of their parents in their life. As much as I want to say it doesn’t affect people, I have to agree that it does. The people I see that don't have one of their parents present usually have some type of issue with loving someone the right way or connecting with someone on a romantic or even sometimes a friendship level. They feel neglected and abandoned and I feel like Frankenstein can definitely connect with that. In both Frankenstein and real people they lack that trust and love from the parent who isn’t present & they lack the teaching the need from that parent that isn't present that the present parent can’t give.

torine torines

2/6/2025 09:31:51 pm

chapter 3- I think that we love monsters so much because people like to see characters deal with issues bigger than their own in real life and root for the character the way that they hope people would root for them. My favorite types of monster are zombies. I like seeing how different writers interpret them and how the characters in the story deal with them and survive. I think that zombies can represent my fear of lacking individuality. I believe that there is not a single interpretation of zombies where they do anything in a few numbers. The whole reason they are scary is because they are mindless flesh-eating hoards of hundreds of monsters that overpower people, I think that people fear that in their everyday life they are moving mindlessly and following wherever the crowd goes.

Maria Estrela

2/10/2025 08:54:26 am

I think this was a really interesting connection to the book. I have always loved zombie shows and movies growing up. I also liked the idea that they were always interpreted differently. In some movies they are slow and stupid. In others they have more power and intelligence allowing them to move faster and more efficiently. I think this is what makes these adaptations so interesting. But it never made me think about the impact and connections of human nature. Seeing the relation to people being mindless and following a crowd was really eye opening. I think this was a cool connection to zombie nature and actually makes a lot of sense.

Cornelia Clapp

2/9/2025 04:27:51 pm

Chapter Two-I Bid My Hideous Progeny Go Forth and Prosper
Literature being turned into TV/Film frequently occurs because by producing the literature in a visual aspect it typically grows much more attention and can help the work be understood in a different light through things being played out for viewers.

Positives -
- Being able to see the work visually can lead to a deeper understanding for a more broad audience because many people will watch films regardless of if they have read the book or not
- It can increase popularity which can bring more people's attention allowing for the message of the work to be spread wider, with more people watching and understanding the authors theme gets to more people
- By having a visual representation you can add more emotions and introduce ideas in a different sense.

Negatives -
- There are many complex literary devices that can be used and interpreted in ways that a film cannot provide viewers with so the films may lack some of the depth
- Like in frankenstein sometimes the story can be altered and meanings can be lost because films are attracted to a different audience
- There is more thinking that comes with books because of the fact that some things are left for you to interpret whereas in a film everything is displayed to you

Ida Augusta Keller

2/9/2025 09:15:12 pm

Chapter 5 - Frankenstein In the 21st century

The influences that Frankenstein had on Lavalle’s work was to show how the political; aspect in Frankenstein were still apparent in today’s culture, with how a mother would do anything to bring her son back, and the rage of wanting to hurt those who caused her son to die in the first place, similar to how the monster feels towards the challenges and issues he faces in the novel towards his creator and those around him. Although Mary Shelly may have not been writing Frankenstein for the exact issues we may see today, there are connections between the two, with how women still face issues today, racial issues in today's worlds, and even political issues with elections and how much power and decisions those elected can do and get away with. An event from Frankenstein that we could connect to a current event would be how when a tyranny loses their power, the people under them don’t just die or fall with them, they experience freedom of their own and explore what they want. This can be compared to how the monster doesn’t die when his creator dies but instead is left with the notion that he goes out to tell his story to others who may care to listen to him and live out his life the way he wants to, not the way his creator may have wanted him to live his life.

Maria Estrela

2/10/2025 08:37:00 am

I do believe Frankenstein influenced Lavalle into making his comic after seeing a Black woman crying over her son being shot. The creature's loneliness and anger towards humans in the book inspired him. He makes a connection of this anger to a Black woman’s rage in this society. I think it’s a valid connection and shows how hard it must be to be in that position. The creature is often judged for his anger towards humans. It allows us to see him as a true monster. But we don't take account for the people who deserve to be angry in this society. A woman lost her son at the hands of another person. She has every right to be angry at the people responsible and the society that failed her and her son. But some people begin to see these situations differently, blaming the mother. I think this connection was important and gave the creature's emotions more validity. It showed that he had every right to feel the way he did. Just as the mother deserved to feel the way she did. With the creature's actions it brings the question of whether or not his reaction to these emotions were valid. But I think when you have such strong feelings of anger and resentment you begin to act in ways you normally would not. That's how we are as humans because of how flawed we are. It is the same for the creature. Even if he was made to be perfect, he is not. Nothing in this world can ever fully be perfect and that is why the creature was shunned.
word count: 271

Teresa Ratto

2/10/2025 09:07:27 am

Chapter Three-Monsters Always Come Back

My favorite monster is maleficent even though she wasn’t actually a monster because she was just the villain of the story who was told wrongly told or by an unreliable narrator. She was seen as this evil woman even though in the movie she was only evil because Aurora’s dad had cut her wings and she had the right to become a monster because a person who betrayed her had his happy ending through her sadness and pain. It was not right to take out on Aurora but it was the one thing Stefan cared about other than power. All the pain caused her to change into this very evil person but she had every right to become the villain because no villain is born evil. They are made, and sometimes we can’t know who the hero or the villain is because it is all through perspectives. How do we know who the villain or the hero is if all it matters is who is telling the story? We might be the villains of someone's story without even knowing it but all that matters is that we did something to them that they consider we are the villain.

Clotilde Tambroni link

2/18/2025 11:33:11 am

I agree with this statement because I believe villains are created not just made that way. Maleficent is a perfect example of this; she was betrayed and villainized for lashing out after being hurt first similar to the creature who fell in love then had it stripped away from him because of Frankenstein's fears causing him to turn against everyone. I think the concept of being a villain is necessarily based off of perspective and narration. This is because different versions of a story can be conveyed depending on who you ask or what is presented to you. For example,in the creature and or outcast eyes society is the real villain. But to society and readers they are the monster.

Marianna Paulucci

2/12/2025 08:47:10 am

People love monsters so much because it's out of the ordinary. These are things that wont happen and people love to see that type of stuff. It fascinates them because they are mostly made from some scientific thing that usually won't happen. Monsters allow people to be creative and use their imagination for anything they want to create. They can see monsters as the villain or the hero depending on what they decide to do. There is no right answer when it comes to monsters and that makes people fascinated by them. Many of the time monsters are muscular and attractive which makes them even more fascinating because watching them in film makes everyone go crazy. This allows people to be able to romanticize things that would not be normal outside of the realm you're in. They also show change in science as we develop more technology. It gives people an idea of what can happen through science but many believe it wont so they rely on this imagination. As technology has developed monster have became more real or "human looking" like which makes them more desirable to those who watch them in movies or shows. The idea of this technology being developed plays along with the idea of the monsters being desires.

Word Count:213

Clotilde Tambroni link

2/18/2025 11:13:44 am

"The Making of the monster"
In this chapter it opens by drawing parallels between Mary Shelley's original narrative and today's scientific pursuits which allows for the conflict between ambition and ethical responsibility to be highlighted. The host dives into Shelley's personal life and suggests her experiences are what influenced the novel's themes of isolation and burden of creation. A recurring motif show is the "dark mirror" a metaphor for how our greatest achievements can also reveal our deepest flaws and fears. This narrative challenges the responsibilities of modern creators in a world where progress can sometimes come with a price.There is a very strong emphasis on the idea that both the creator and creation are tapped by societal expectations and personal isolation. This chapter resonated with me because it not only provided historical context for Shelley's work but also connected those timeless themes to contemporary issues. The discussion about the ethics of creation and the personal cost of innovation really made me reflect on our current technology today. I appreciate how the podcasts smoothly connect literary analysis with modern societal commentary which allow for the themes of Frankenstein to feel as urgent today as they were in the 19th century.

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Lecture Notes #1 - "Frankenstein: Our Dark Mirror"

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