athorfin

Important quotes

athorfin — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:24:20 +0000

In this blog I will analyze some important quotes in the beginning of Mary Shelley’s novel. In chapter II, Dr. Frankenstein admits ”Wealth was an inferior object; but what glory will attend the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!” (Shelley 42). In these intense and emotional words, Frankenstein confesses to Walton of his motive in such an experiment. He, like every other human being, desires to be remembered, to have his name go down in History. This motive is what made him insanely obsessed, not speak to his family for two years, and become a mad scientist.

He goes on to say in chapter IV ”…I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter” (53). He thinks after succeeding in such a wonderful and noble as creating life he could be God. He believes that his experiment could bring back the dead and that humans would not have to fear death any longer. However, the Dr.’s experiment eventually turns out to be a disaster; the creature is brought back completely different and homicidal, whereas it is said that God never makes mistakes. In the next chapter the Dr. cries out “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form?” (58) He is disgusted with his creation, he created a monster not a human being. He was so involved with how to accomplish the experiment that he didn’t seem to realize that the “monster” was completely hideous. The Dr. judges the creature by basing everything on his appearance not giving any chance to allow the creature to speak because he becomes fearful of the “thing”.

Frankensteinulicious

athorfin — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 07:50:15 +0000

After viewing all the ads influenced by Frankenstein on the blog Frankensteinia, I was inspired to make up my own ad campaign. I realized a lot of commercials used “Frankenstein” for humor rather than horror and not every commercial was just focused on the monster, but also the Bride of Frankenstein. So after understanding what stuck out the most from the ads and which ads grabbed my attention the most I took those details and this is what I came up with: Ladies, do you ever get tired of reapplying your makeup or fixing it when it smears? Do you want the thin dark eyebrows, the bold classic red lipstick, or the long sexy eye lashes like the one and only Bride of Frankenstein? Well no need to fear, Frankensteinulicious is here. You will look better than you have ever looked before. All the fellas will be dying to meet you. Frankensteinulicious is makeup that lasts up to a month without smearing or clogging your pours. Only our makeup remover solution, included in the package, can be used to take off the makeup. Once you buy this product you will be attached and there is no turning back. Think of all the time you will save when you can wake up in the morning or the dead of night and still look fabulous. Getting ready has never been this easy. You won’t be disappointed this cosmetic discovery is breakthrough and has never been thought of before. Plus if you call in the next 10 minutes we will also throw in our one of a kind hair highlighting bleach, so you can get that streak of white hair that you have always wanted. Frankensteinulicious, the makeup remover, and the highlighting bleach, all this for just $14.95. Just pick up that phone and call 1-800-MON-STER. Don’t hesitate this is a once in a life time deal.

Defining Horror

athorfin — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 21:24:19 +0000

After watching the film and reading many reviews on it, such as Oh, the Horror and avclub, I also believe the 1931 Frankenstein is a “true definition of classic horror”. This film had the right mood, setting, and characters to make it unforgettable. Brett Gallman, the author of Oh, the Horror review, points out that this Frankenstein movie was able to accomplish a dark and intense atmosphere with only “moody silence”. Forget about music making movies seem more scary, you know when the film is a true horror when it scares people with silence. Keith Phipps, author of the avclub review, believes “with his dull eyes, flat head, working-man’s clothes, and bolt-adorned neck, the creature entered the public consciousness seemingly instantly and forever.” Even with all the other and recent remakes and remixes of Frankenstein, we all have the 1931 film to thank for introducing the monster’s famous appearance. Mary Shelley never fully described the monster in her novel, so the director James Whale of the 1931 film basically had to imagine the appearance from scratch. According to Gallman, the audience seems to sympathize with the creature when they realize he “doesn’t know any better.” In other words, Gallman believes that the monster is more of the victim than the antagonist. In the scene with the little girl the viewer can clearly see the similarities between the monster and the child and not many horror films seem to lack an antagonist. Phipps also agrees with the idea that Frankenstein’s creature was victimized when he writes, the monster is “instantly sympathetic to anyone who’s ever felt like a misfit.” This film has become classic and luckily technology has advanced so much that we have been able to retouch the film so that we can watch it on our DVD players with great clarity and sound.

The Skeleton of “Death”

athorfin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:39:18 +0000

The opening scene in a film is comparable to the first sentence in a book, it introduces the mood and is the first impression the audience receives. In the Frankenstein Blog called The Cemetery Skeleton, the blogger brings “us”, the viewers, into a closer look at the opening scene in the 1931 Frankenstein. He mentions a very important prop from the graveyard scene, the skeleton located in the background. This dark figure of death is obviously placed in the scene to further establish the eerie feeling the audience receives from the cemetery. However, this particular skeleton is, as said in the blog, “an ancient and enduring symbol of death.” The camera angles seem to never neglect “Death” in the scenes of the movie, this is because this particular feature is both symbolizing and foreshadowing. The blogger believes that this prop “is the first hint of frights to come”. The Frankenstienia blogger also claims Dr. Frankenstein carelessly shovels dirt “into the skeleton’s face”, which James Whale must have intended in order to symbolize the “dark humor” he wanted for his film and “Dr. Frankenstein’s disrespect for Death itself.” I was influenced by just the presence of the figure. This one prop seemed to do a lot for a single set, and according to the blog it might have been the same skeleton used in “1935 sequel, Bride of Frankenstien”.

The acting in the opening scene was also rather impressive. You see two opposite attitudes from each group of people, the mourners who were slowly paying their respect to the loved one that passed compared to Fritz and Frankenstein who were anxious and impatient to, as the blogger describes, liberate “the fresh corpse from its all too brief interment.” It was apparent that both Fritz and Frankenstein were up to something mischievous by hiding in a graveyard with huge grins on their faces. This contrast brings the audience to question both the sanity and motive of Dr. Frankenstein.

Frankenstein (1931)

athorfin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:33:46 +0000

Now that I’ve finished watching the classic 1931 Frankenstein film I feel like I understand a little more about its influence on popular culture. The classic-horror review of the movie by Nate Yapp states that the idea began with Mary Shelley’s novel but this particular monster became famous from the director James Whale. I haven’t read the renowned novel yet to completely agree with Nate Yapp’s conclusion, but he does support his opinion well in many ways. Yapp mentions that a ”flat-top head, a pair of bolts in the neck, and a skin tone ranging from gray to green – show that to anybody, and they’ll say ‘Frankenstein.’” This description is what is portrayed in Whale’s film and is what many people believe the monster looks like because Mary Shelley never really gave a full description. For a long time, I also believed Frankenstein was the green monster with bolts sticking out of it’s neck. Yapp’s position seems pretty positive towards the movie in the beginning and ending of his review, but his opinion becomes a little negative towards the film in the middle. He mentions that the climax, which of course is a really important part in any story, was too subtle and that some of the characters are unnecessary or just “acceptable”. After Nate states his negative review of the movie he then goes on to mention that “This is Classic Horror at its most classic.” and that this is a “phenomenon that sprang from a single film.” To me such a quick transition between these views comes off a little confusing to the reader. Other than some of the confusion from Nate Yapp’s writing, he brings up a lot of good points and knows mostly what he is talking about. To me a lot of the events in the movie were not surprising because there are many stories that have been told over and over about Frankenstein and his creature, however, I wasn’t expecting the “happy” ending in this particular film. I don’t know exactly how Mary Shelley ends her book but I always pictured there to be more terror and something bad to happen to Dr. Frankenstein.

Remixes

athorfin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:00:09 +0000

After watching the video on remixes in class I am constantly thinking about the connections, remakes, and the inspiration that helped draw the ideas of a film, play, song, or book. I was shocked when I heard how many movies helped inspire many of the scenes in Star Wars.

I believe remakes are extremely hard to accomplish, especially for movies that are so loved. The classic film Footloose was just recently remade and personally I don’t think it was successful. Pink Panther was another great comedy classic and even though Steven Martin is a good actor the new Pink Panther doesn’t quite reach expectations. I believe a remake should be just as good or even better than the original otherwise it is just a slap in the face. Examples of good remakes would be Hairspray and King Kong. I’ve watched the original film, the play, and the current movie of Hairspray. The old version of Hairspray was strange and ridiculous which gave it a humorous edge but I felt that the recent version was more successful because: 1.) it was a musical and I love musicals, 2.) it had better humor, 3.) it had great actors like John Travolta and Queen Latifah, and 4.) it made the message behind the movie stronger. As we mentioned in class King Kong is another example of a great remake. The 1933 King Kong is of course a classic however I can easily say that the 2005 version was equally as good. One director had the imagination and the other had the technology and effects.

Across the Universe is another remix that comes to mind however instead of taking an old film and redoing it, Across the Universe is a movie that bases a story famous Beatles songs and pieces of their lives. I’ve heard of books into movies and TV shows into movies but it is rare to see a movie that is based on songs. When I first saw the movie I was expecting something completely different and so I had mixed feelings about it but after seeing it the second time it became an amazing movie to me and I was able to appreciate the creativity and thought put into it.

A Brief Summary of my Life

athorfin — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:38:35 +0000

My name is Alexandra Thorfinnson. I am a Freshman majoring in Visual Communications Design, also known as Graphic Design, and minoring in Chinese. Growing up I lived in a city called Rancho Santa Margarita (R.S.M.), CA which is located an hour away from L.A., 20 minutes from the beach, and half an hour away from Disneyland. I have two older silblings Gary, age 25, and Nichole, age 20. My brother is out of college and living with friends in R.S.M. and my sister is studying music at San Francisco State University. I have two dogs, Riley and Lilah, and I absolutely love and miss them both. I’ve never lived in Chicago but I am a Bears fan. I love to laugh, and when I am with my friends we can’t stop. I don’t like to watch the news but I stay updated with current events by watching Saturday Night Live. My Dad is a chemical engineer working for Cytec, which makes composite materials for all kinds of aircrafts. When I was 14 my family moved to Shanghai, China because of my Dad’s job. I loved the life I had in California and so I wasn’t too happy with this sudden change. This was the first move I ever had to deal with and it was also my first time over seas. But moving to China ended up becoming the best thing that ever happened to me. My sister and I had to attend Shanghai American School, or for short SAS. I joined SAS second semester of my freshman year. It took me awhile to get settled in, but I eventually fell in love with Shanghai. I’ve made friends from all over the world, I received a much better education, I traveled more, I experienced an entire different culture, I know a little Chinese, and I became more involved in school. Now, of course, I’m at Purdue and am glad because it has met all the expectations I imagined college to be like.