Journal Article Analysis

Journal Article Analysis:
What’s in a Frame?: The Authorizing
Presence in James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein
By
Amy Waid

Journal Article Analysis:
What’s in a Frame?: The Authorizing
Presence in James Whale’s Bride of
Frankenstein
The journal article I chose to analyze involves an in depth analysis of Mary Shelley’s role in writing the novel Frankenstein and how she played into the making of the film Bride of Frankenstein helped to launch her authorship into the spotlight of the literary circles.
In 1818, when Mary Shelley wrote her first novel entitled Frankenstein, it was assumed by any reader that it was actually written by her husband Percy Shelley. It was not thought of in this era that a woman would be able to prose a work as fascinating as a character made entirely out of human parts stolen from graves. It takes one hundred years and several adaptations of the original text for Shelley to finally be recognized as the true author.
One of those adaptations, the original film adaptation of the novel, did nothing to hold true to the story line that Shelley put down. Instead of an articulate and philosophical creature Shelley envisioned, the film makers chose to make Frankenstein a “monster” that could barely walk or talk. This in its self made a mockery of the original text and set the image of Frankenstein forever as the adaptation played by Boris Karloff.
In order to redeem the original images put on paper by Shelley, filmmakers decided to make a sequel entitled “Bride of Frankenstein” which in the end will not only highlight the role Shelley played in penning the original text but also bring the characters back to the way they were intended. They accomplished this by embodying the author within the film, both as the narrator and the main character, the bride. The film opens with a pretty faithful account of the original story line told by Shelley and shows a significant non-participation from her husband, other than to encourage her to develop her story beyond the original few lines. He proclaims “I do think it’s a shame, Mary, to end your story quite so suddenly” to which she replies “That wasn’t the end at all”.
With those few lines, it helps to cement the fact that the novel was indeed written by Mary Shelley herself; but the film makers decided to take it one step further. In the casting for the movie, they decided to make the actress playing Shelley also play the role of the bride. They believed that in doing this, it shows that the bride is an extension of Shelley herself, a sort of inner reflection of the conflict inside of the woman. There have been many studies since the making of this film to try and rationalize how the Bride of Frankenstein is truly the result of the conflict between what a proper woman is supposed to be and what she actually wants to be.
I suppose that in order to factualize this theory, the author herself needs to be consulted. This of course is impossible, but for those that study both the original novel and its adaptations, parallels can be seen throughout giving the assumption of truth. Either way, within the second movie, it is established that the true author of the novel Frankenstein is indeed Mary Shelley.
References
ADAMS, A. (2009). What's in a Frame?: The Authorizing Presence in James Whale's
Bride of Frankenstein. Journal of Popular Culture, 42(3), 403-418. Retrieved Wednesday, July 01, 2009 from the Academic Search Premier database.