Gould Essay

I agree with Stephen Jay Gould in the article "The Monster's Human Nature". In this article, Gould talks about books that have been made into movies. He believes that the film makers distort the book into their vision. Gould says this began with the movie Frankenstein in 1931. I thought it was strange that the movie makers would go so far to change the story as to even change Victor Frankenstein's name to Henry. The movie did not only drift from the plot, but did not even maintain the same message as Mary Shelley had intended. Movie makers transformed the book into a horror film to grab the attention of viewers. Also the film directors 'dumbed down' the book for the film. Hollywood perceived their audience as stupid and they believed that they would not be able to handle the 'intellectual complexity' in Shelley's original storyline. This idea is also shown in movies that are based on books like in My Sisters Keeper where in the movie they completley changed the end of the book changing the story completly.

"Playing God"

The past few weeks we have been reading and discussing the novel "Jurassic Park" about an island containing genetically recreated dinosaurs. I found it interesting that the scientists in the book have the ability to 'play god' by being able to create anything they desire. This theme reminded me of Frankenstein because in both stories the scientists 'played god' by creating life from something that is not intended to still be living. I also found it interesting that not only could they create new species and bring back extinct species, but that they could also modify existing species. For example, in the novel they mentioned making a certain kind of trout lighter in color to make them easier to catch and gave them certain abilities so that they could swim upstream easier. But, like in Frankenstein, this ability did have its consequences. The fish, just like Hammond's elephant, had strange ailments and did not behave how it was expected. Because of this, I can assume that later in the book something similar will happen on the Island to the dinosaurs just like Ian Malcolm predicted with his chaos theory. The genetic engineering aspect of the book reminded me of this video from The Onion.

Young Frankenstein

This week in class we have been watching "Young Frankenstein", I thought that this movie was one of the funniest movies that I have seen. My favorite character was Igor who's strangely large eyes, moving hunchback, random appearances, and witty comments added even more humor to the movie. One of my favorite parts was when he was breaking into the brain depository and took the 'abby normal' brain since he smashed the other one because he was afraid of his own reflection in the mirror. I liked the fact that Mel Brooks was able to take such a dark, scary story and transform it into a hilarious movie. While many comedys made during the same time period as "Young Frankenstein" I do not find funny because there was a different type of humor then. The great thing about this movie, is that it will always be funny.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

I thought that the movie we watched in class "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" was entertaining, but not for reasons intended by the people who created the movie. The book was intended to have a dark tone scare people and the movie was supposed as well but I did not interpret the movie in that way. I thought the movie was entertaining because it was kind of stupid which made it funny. The first thing that I found humourous was that Dr. Frankenstein was not wearing a shirt in a good portion of the movie for absolutley no reason. I also found it strange and gross when the doctor first gave life to his monster and they were wrestling in the amniotic fluid. I found this part way too drawn out and completley unneccesary. I also found it funny when the monster ripped out Elisabeth's still beating heart and she fell to the ground catching on fire. After Victor revived her it was also funny that she caught on fire a second time, and that the whole house strangely exploded.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

I found the film "The Day the Earth Stood Still" to be a very good movie. The movie reminded me of "The Twilight Zone" with the spooky music, black and white picture, and the science fiction aspects. I also found the 'special effects' funny because they were so fake but it was still interesting to watch. My favorite character in the movie was Gort because of his incredible abilities of melting and tanks. Gort was capable of even destroying the world. I thought it was interesting that they actually made Lock Martin (a 7 foot 7 inch man) stand in the robot suit all day even though he repeatedly passed out from the heat. Another part of the film I found interesting was that everyone smoked. It seems so strange that the doctors in the film were smoking in the hospital. Finally, I thought the language used in the film was funny. One part that stood out to me was when Bobby called Klatu a "real screwball". This comment was intended as a compliment but to me, it doesnt really sound like something that someone would want to be called.

Atomic Cafe

I found the documentary "Atomic Cafe" to have sort of a dark humor. While nuclear war is not something that is considered funny, the way that scientists carried out experiments and the things people in the country were told were funny because of their ignorance. While watching the "Duck and Cover" clip, the fact that people believed that by simply ducking on the ground in a fetal position would protect them from the explosion and radiation was strange. I then realized that if I were living in that time period, it would be comforting to believe that there was something that could be done to protect myself when in reality there was not. I also found it interesting that in the video they were telling people about the dangers of the atomic bomb and to make sure to protect themselves in whatever way possible, but when the government was testing the bombs on soldiers, the generals told them there was no harm and that they had nothing to worry about. They even said that the atomic bomb is one of the most beautiful sights they will ever see. They put the soldiers in trenches dug out from the ground to give them some idea of safety but after the explosion, soldiers stepped out of the trenches and towards the explosion not worrying about radiation because they could not see it and they were told that it would not hurt them. It was strange to me that they said the radiation can only enter through the mouth, nose, and cuts because with more research we have found that this is not the case.