Even though I liked the book, the reactions to and of the monster in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein really angered me. Why would Frankenstein be unhappy with his creation? He worked very hard on it. Plus, there is no possible way everyone would have the initial instinct to just kill or run away from the monster. He's just a large, gross looking man. Realistically, people would just think he was strangely really sick or something. They probably wouldn't think he was an evil creature sent from hell to kill them all. Not only am I unhappy about the other people's reactions, but I am also unhappy with the monster's reaction. It makes no sense why he would just want to kill others just because he thinks it's wrong. I believe Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands has a more realistic take on Shelley's Frankenstein.
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First of all, I don't understand why Frankenstein would be so proud of his creation one minute and then hate it the next after he brings him to life. He talks about how beautiful his creation is right before he brings him to life, and when he suddenly does, he's like "Eww. Gross. Nevermind. It's hideous." Does the monster all of a sudden become ugly when he comes to life? Does he have hideous facial expressions or something? I mean, he probably looks the same as he did when he was dead. Also, why is Frankenstein just now realizing what he is doing is wrong? Right when he brings the monster to life? Is he one of those artists who work so hard on their masterpiece and then finish it and look at it again and are like "Eww. Gross. It's horrible." even though everyone is saying how nice it looks? Seriously, Frankenstein. Seriously. He may just realize what he is doing is wrong, because he has a sudden moment of realization, like when you make a sandwich, but then remember you just ate an our ago, but you still made the sandwich and don't know what to do with it and you regret making the sandwich. I don't know. If I worked really hard on something, I would be proud of it. If I work really hard on an essay and am proud of it when it's finished and I show it to someone else to read and they say it's horrible, then I completely don't understand at all. My work is my baby and I should be proud of it, despite what others think. The inventor in Edward Scissorhands doesn't react like Frankenstein at all. He's proud of his creation after he creates him. He doesn't run away, he raises him like a child. He works really hard on finishing his hands, but then, unfortunately, dies. He loves his creation until his last breath, unlike Frankenstein. I don't think Frankenstein realizes his creation has feelings too. He should of thought about it before he made him, and ran away and hurt its feelings.
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Not only am I angry at Frankenstein, but I am also angry at everyone who has ever seen the monster. Everyone is scared of him. Everyone either wants to run away from him or kill him. I don't understand that. If I saw a ridiculously tall and morbid looking guy, I would just assume that he's a seriously ill tall guy who needs some help. That's exactly how Dianne Wiest, the mother and saleswoman, reacts when she first sees the scar-faced young man named Edward who has scissors for hands. She takes him home and treats him like one of her own sons. Her family and her neighbors (except for that crazy paranoid everything-is-Satan lady) are weary at first, but then they begin to like him, because of the art he makes with his scissor hands. If Frankenstein's monster could show how his amazing ability, his strength, can help others, then he might be able to get people to like him. He tries to do this while collecting wood for Felix, but he remained anonymous. If he wrote him a letter saying "I'm a hideous monster, but I'm friendly and nonthreatening. I was the one who collects the wood for you every morning." then maybe he would get the family to like him. I think he completely approaches it all wrong. He should know that they would never leave their blind father alone for so long. What was the monster thinking?
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Lastly, I would like to talk about how Frankenstein's monster all of a sudden starts killing people. When he's reading about violence in his books, he thinks about how horrible it is, but after Felix beats him up, he all of a sudden hates human kind and wants to kill everyone. He shouldn't be judgmental and decide all human kind is horrible. He just encountered a few bad eggs in his life. There is probably someone out there who wouldn't judge him. I think he starts acting like a monster, because everyone assumes he's a monster. In Psychology, it's called "Observer-Expectancy Effect." It's where the subject behaves a certain way because the observer unknowingly influences the subject to behave that way. This can be seen with Justin Bieber. Everyone hated him and believed he was an arrogant a**hole when he first became famous, even though it wasn't true, and now, after a few years of being hated so much, he is actually an arrogant a**hole. I believe this is what happens to Frankenstein's monster in the novel. Fortunately, for Edward, almost everyone likes him, except for that one crazy lady and Kim's boyfriend, Jim. No one starts questioning Edward until he is talked in to breaking into a house and the rumor Joyce spreads around about him raping her and then everyone starts believing he's dangerous when he pushes Kevin out of a car's way to save him and accidentally scratches his arm. Everyone turns on him and calls him dangerous. I believe people reacted more strongly to Edward than they would have to a normal person. A normal person would have been shunned, but Edward is chased back to his old house, but things only started going down hill for him, because other people are jealous vengeful freaks. If he saved Kevin's life without the break in and the rape rumor, people would believe Edward is heroic, but since Jim is a drunk jealous boyfriend and Joyce can't handle rejection, people started questioning him. Edward wasn't hit by the "Observer-Expectancy Effect," he was hit by others' Fundamental Attribution Error, over-exaggerating small things other people do.
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Even though Frankenstein's monster and Edward behave in different ways, they still are hated because other people are judgmental and can't simply listen and understand other people's point of view. People judge and that influences other people's behavior and their own behavior. Even though Frankenstein and Edward Scissorhands are very different stories, they still speak the same moral: Judging others is wrong. This is something everyone needs to learn, even when not in monster-related situations. Judging people on looks or misunderstandings can lead others down a terrible path. They can end up wanting revenge or they can end up being sad and lonely for the rest of their lives. Everyone deserves to be happy. Before one needs to make a decision, one needs to understand before they act.
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