BOOK 110: FRANKENSTEIN: MARY
SHELLEY
Frankenstein; or, The Modern
Prometheus, is a novel written by English author Mary Shelley about
eccentric scientist Victor
Frankenstein, who creates a grotesque creature
in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when
she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty. The first
edition was published anonymously in London in 1818. Shelley's name appears on
the second edition, published in France in 1823.
Science fiction author Isaac Asimov coined the
term Frankenstein
complex for the fear of robots.
Frankenstein or Franken- is sometimes
used as a prefix to imply artificial monstrosity as in "frankenfood",
a politically charged name for genetically
manipulated foodstuffs. The Franken- prefix can also mean anything
assembled haphazardly from originally disparate elements, especially if those
parts were previously discarded by others—for example, a car built from parts
salvaged from many other cars. For many years Eddie Van Halen played a
guitar built in such a manner which he called the "Frankenstrat".
In 1971, General Mills introduced
"Franken Berry",
a strawberry-flavored corn cereal whose mascot is a variation of the monster
from the 1931 movie.
"Frankenstein" is the
name of a character in the 1975 movie Death Race 2000 and its
2008 remake Death Race.
The first incarnation was portrayed by recently deceased veteran actor David Carradine and the
second by Jason Statham.
George A. Romero's 1985
film Day of the
Dead features a scientist conducting experiments on zombies
nicknamed "Frankenstein."
The hit song China in Your Hand by the
British rock band T'Pau
employs the story of Frankenstein, and Mary Shelley's writing of it, in its
role as a classic cautionary tale.
In David Brin's science
fiction novel Kiln People,
defective golems that become
autonomous are called "frankies".
Mewtwo of the Pokémon franchise has been
likened to Frankenstein's monster in regards to being born through an
artificial means and discontent with the fact.
Stitch, the main
protagonist of Disney's
Lilo & Stitch franchise,
was somewhat influenced by the monster, as he was created by a scientist from
miscellaneous alien DNA.
Unlike Shelley's monster, however, his intentions were initially evil until he
discovered an inner loneliness, causing him, and eventually his creator, to
turn from crime to justice. Throughout the franchise, Stitch also demonstrates
the monster's herculean
strength and childlike curiosity.
In season 3 of Beast Wars
Megatron
clones Dinobot,
making a Frankenstein's monster out of the clone by transmetallizing him with
the Transmetal
Driver and adding the half of Rampage's
mutant spark
he cut out earlier. The result was an extremely mutated Transmetal II
minion under the influence of his "half-brother's" evil.
In 2006, the book The 101 Most
Influential People Who Never Lived listed Dr. Frankenstein's Monster (sic) at
#6.
The California
Medical Association, in a rather humorous gesture, chose Halloween
2006 to announce that Dr. Richard Frankenstein had been elected president of
the organization.He had previously been president of the Orange County Medical
Association in 1995-1996.
Frankenstein is a character in the
Korean web-comic manhwa
Noblesse.
He, like that of the actual character Frankenstein, is a scientist, but the
similarities end there. Through his research he has gained immortality and
immense power. He now serves the most powerful of all vampires, the Noblesse.
Pop artist Eric Millikin created a
large mosaic portrait of Frankenstein's monster out of Halloween candy and
spiders as part of his "Totally Sweet" series in 2013.
The character Professor Franken
Stein from Soul Eater
is based loosely off Frankenstein's monster.


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