Translation Lost From The Novel To The Movies Essay, Research Paper

There are about 26 different editions of the novel of Frankenstein, and every movie that has been made based on the novel is different from the next. What you read in the novel is not necessarily what you see on the movie screen. There are a lot of good moments in the book that lost in the translation, of which I discuss below in greater detail.For viewers of the movies, the famous sentence ?It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils.? With a futuristic laboratory an eager assistant and onlookers is how the films interpretations distort the novel (Myth of modern Man, Pg. 2.) As readers of the novel know it doesn?t start with a dreary night in November, yet it starts with a series of letters by Captain Robert Walton. These letters are the ?framework? of the novel that set up the whole story. The beginning setting of the novel set in the Arctic Sea, which is totally left out of the movie depictions, for one reason or the other it would seem to be a perfect setting for Victor Frankenstein, a man coldly detached from society (Myth for Modern Man, Pg. 3.) Frankenstein?s research was not done in some fancy laboratory it was done in the little attic of his boarding house at school. Also Victor never shared his secrets with anyone, not his fellow students or his professors. He never had an assistant in the novel that helped him dig up body parts from graveyards (Myth for Modern Man, 3.) ?Only parts of the story are familiar to you, that?s because many parts of the novel aren?t even mentioned in the movies. Missing is the framework created by the opening letters, Victors status as a student (not a doctor), the isolation of the experiments, and the articulate creature that comes to life and seeks out his creator.? (Myth for Modern Man, Pg. 4) Transformed by drama and film into a mad scientist, the altruistic young student disappears for the sake of technical effects. Rather than the attic of a student boarding house where the student stealthily brings what he has robbed from the graveyards, the films often depict a large, elaborate laboratory with one faithful attendant. The 1931 film shows Frankenstein and his assistant waiting to rob a grave (Myth for Modern Man, Pg. 4.) After two years of tireless devotion the scientist?s pride and eager anticipation suffered a terrible blow. Frankenstein?s success produced horror, not joy. (Myth for Modern Man, Pg. 5) The film image of the creature as a silent, malevolent being distorts the story and its importance: a thoughtless young scientist creates a powerful object, yet provides no measures for guidance and control. Rather than accept his responsibility as creator, Victor rushed from the laboratory and shunned the creature. Victor never made an effort to help or teach the abandoned creature. After the silent being escapes into the night, Victor keeps the dreadful secret to himself. In fact, he carefully avoids telling anyone about the creature until after a series of deaths within his family circle. Only two people besides Victor ever hears from him about the creature: the Swiss official who cannot pursue the unknown murderer, and Captain Robert Walton (Myth of Modern Man, Pg. 5.) With in this article are many discrepancies between the novel written by Mary Shelley, and the man movies that have been made about Victor Frankenstein, and his monster, several of which I have discribed to you in the paragraphs above. It is a shame that what I precieve to be a good story has to be cut to pieces in its translation to movie screen. If you?re going to make a movie based on a book why not make it just as interesting as the book it was originated from. Would it not be easier than making up new ideas that aren?t as good as the original thoughts that created this novel in the first place. It would be nice for a change, I don?t think any movie ever made has been a direct translation of the book it came from.