Available online
Description
This programme presents a deliberately wide range of views about the importance and possible meanings of the creature in Mary Shelley's novel. The programme begins by identifying the mythic status ...that the word 'Frankenstein' seems to have acquired in contemporary western culture, then goes on to cover the following areas: the connection between the science and the story of Frankenstein; the idea of birth and the relationship between parents and children; issues of responsibility; the degree to which 'a look', a visible sign of otherness, creates social exclusion (or not); a specifically gendered reading of the text; readings of Frankenstein historically (as a debate on Rousseau's ideas of the 'Noble Savage', a metaphor for the French Revolution, Eve's narrative etc); the decision to create, then destroy the 'Creature'. The programme ends by sampling the participants' evident delight and particular interest in the ways the novel and its characters and ideas have been transformed since it was originally written.
This programme presents a deliberately wide range of views about the importance and possible meanings of the creature in Mary Shelley's novel. The programme begins by identifying the mythic status ...that the word 'Frankenstein' seems to have acquired in contemporary western culture, then goes on to cover the following areas: the connection between the science and the story of Frankenstein; the idea of birth and the relationship between parents and children; issues of responsibility; the degree to which 'a look', a visible sign of otherness, creates social exclusion (or not); a specifically gendered reading of the text; readings of Frankenstein historically (as a debate on Rousseau's ideas of the 'Noble Savage', a metaphor for the French Revolution, Eve's narrative etc); the decision to create, then destroy the 'Creature'. The programme ends by sampling the participants' evident delight and particular interest in the ways the novel and its characters and ideas have been transformed since it was originally written.
| Module code and title: | A210, Approaching literature |
|---|---|
| Item code: | A210; 01 |
| First transmission date: | 21-02-1996 |
| Published: | 1996 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:49:02 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Tony Coe |
| Contributors: | Forrest Ackerman; Brad Linaweaver; Stephen Regan |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Frankenstein; Gothic & Romanticism; Science fiction; Simulations |
| Subject terms: | Literature and technology; Monsters in literature; Myth in literature |
| Master spool number: | DOU8235 |
| Production number: | FOUA466A |
| Videofinder number: | 5145 |
| Available to public: | no |
