Week 4: Frankenstein (1931)  

Frankenstein (1931) is a defined as a classic Hollywood Horror, Drama, Sci-Fi film which is suspense driven, thriller lead, with elements of murder and fear. Genres are what films are defined by and it describes the type of film, language of the film, style, sets audience expectations and has particular repetitions and commonalities which are evident in all films with the particular genre tag. Frankenstein is reminiscent of the period of time when it was produced during the 1930s, Frankenstein through the medium of horror, represents the American ideology and it’s fascinating relationship to Europe and the aspects of the dark, gloomy and unpredictable depression period through the films simplistic, dark and sharp mise-en-scene, settings filmed at night and references to deformity and imperfections. Frankenstein also introduces the human relationship to science and how humans construct monsters and that humans are monsters; this is achieved in the spiteful pitch folk scene. However in order for the audience to understand the monster there needs to be a human side demonstrated and sympathy shown towards Frankenstein. This occurs where Frankenstein interacts with the girl, he mirrors the girl and doesn’t understand the repercussions of his action. With time genre changes and in each film constitutes a key form of repetition and variation within popular cinema. With the direct camera introduction by Edward Van Sloan informs the audience of what the genre may be and encourages the audience to create their own expectations for the film.

Michael Serpell