Close Reading of Disability Representation in Bernard Rose’s Frankenstein

One scene that stands out in Bernard Rose’s 2015 film, Frankenstein, from the lens of disability studies is the one in which Elizabeth becomes the caregiver and mother figure to the creature. Throughout the scene, Elizabeth teaches the creature how to eat and drink, reassuring him with “it’s okay” and acting as a nurturing presence in his life. In this scene, the mothering of the creature by Elizabeth can be interpreted as a representation of the maternal instincts that are often associated with disability studies.

The creature’s early interactions depict him as someone with a disability, struggling to communicate effectively and becoming agitated easily. This depiction of disability is significant because it shows how individuals with disabilities are often marginalized or neglected by society, and how they may struggle to communicate their needs effectively. The maternal figure has traditionally been associated with nurturing and caring, which are traits that are often neglected or overlooked in discussions of disability. However, in this scene, the maternal figure is shown to be an integral part of the creature’s development and well-being. The mothering of the creature also echoes the way in which disabled individuals are often marginalized and relegated to the margins of society. Elizabeth’s role as a caregiver to the creature highlights the ways in which disabled individuals can be both stigmatized and nurtured and how their experiences can often be marginalized or neglected by society. The scene showcases the nurturing and caring traits that are often associated with disability studies and highlight the ways in which disabled individuals are often marginalized or neglected by society.

Kian Vaziri

Disabilities in Frankenstein

The 2015 movie “FRANKƐN5TƐ1N” by Bernard Rose addresses the issue of disabilities through using the lens of a modern-day adaptation of Mary Shelley’s timeless book “Frankenstein.” Adam, the human-like creature designed by Dr. Victoria Frankenstein, is the central focus of the movie. With Adam’s mental and physical ailments, as well as the societal discrimination and isolation he experiences, disability is reflected all throughout the movie.

The initial time Adam gets shown to society represents a moment that displays how the movie presents disability. People make fun of him and gawk at him as he goes through a crowded street; some even assault him. This image serves as a reminder of the bias and bad attitudes that people disabled people frequently face in society. In Chapter 12 of “How to Read a Film,” Parker talks about the significance of looking at how disabilities are portrayed in media outlets.  Adam’s differences are regarded by people around him in this point as inappropriate and weird,  which ends up resulting in his social discrimination. 

Also Adam’s actions and physical attributes in the movie aid in illustrating disabilities.  Adam is presented as being wounded, curled up and bigger and less poised than the ordinary individual.  Adam stands  out because of his physical quirks, which adds to the marginalization he experiences. As Adam tries to grasp both the reality of himself and what is happening around him, his mental state is additionally represented as distinct and strange.  This portrayal of impairment in the movie exposes how society commonly labels those who have impairments as odd.

In conclusion,  The flawed personality of Adam and his interactions with society in “FRANKƐN5TƐ1N” provide a fascinating representation of disabilities.  The film underlines the need for greater acceptance and inclusion of people who have impairments by revealing how disabled people are commonly ostracized and isolated from society as a whole.  The instance where Adam is first introduced to society can be especially effective in how it conveys the discrimination and negative views that people who are handicapped must deal with, and it offers a moving reflection on the need for more tolerance and acceptance of difference.

-Elie lopez

Disabilities in Frankenstein

In the 2015 film adaptation of Frankenstein, there is a scene where Eddie, a blind homeless man, accepts his disabilities despite the rest of society looking down on him. As the portrayal of the De Lacy father from the novel, while his disability doesn’t let him see the physical world , he can still view the world through his mind. His blindness allows him to see the world in a passionate point of view, giving his opinion of different people through touch and hearing. This allows him to start a relationship between him and Adam(the creature). And since he is seen as a African-American with a disability, this compares to Parker’s statement that people who are in disability studies “typically ignore black people with disabilities”(Parker 368). This displays ethnicity when it is not being compared to white people, and regarding black people as having gone through the same adventures as other people. This also shows the fear of disabilities in the movie itself. Eddie was the first person to show Adam love when he escapes the laboratory. Even though Eddie knows about the “suit found in the clinic bomb” which could’ve been a sign that he was risky to be around, he shrugs it off and says that he “fitted in one of those suits once or twice”. He is able to gain an understanding with Adam because he knows what it’s like to not be accepted by society. It becomes much clearer in the film when white people with privileges like police officers are judging Adam. People who don’t have certain abilities are cast aside by the people who have those abilities. This replicates the concern of gaining these disabilities when Parker mentions the “desire to suppress recognition of disability”(Parker 372). However, this makes a contradiction of if the creature is actually disabled or not. The scientists that created Adam leave him behind because of his defects. Even though Eddie tolerates his scars, it is left unclear of whether Adam’s psychological state may be called a disability. When Eddie realizes that Adam killed Wanda, he immediately hits Adam. Even though Adam didn’t mean to kill Wanda, he still has the mindset of a kid. The idea that Eddie’s blindness is a analogy for not having the sensitivity of Adam’s character is disrespectful. However, this refers to “the intent of writers who buy into or trade on those prejudices”(Parker 376). This shows that Eddie does see his own blindness as a problem and not a blessing. This energizes the fact that if Eddie didn’t have blindness, then he wouldn’t have been killed by Adam. As well as produce the idea of disabilities being a social construct.

-Kyle Erickson

Eddie’s Blindness – Frankenstein 2015 Analysis

By Jorge Mazariegos Jr

Robert Dale Parker describes disability studies as a lense to adress the distinct conditions of a limited population. He explains that the political activism side of the topic “sought to replace the medical model of disability with a social model.” Which, if I may add, is absurd. Parker firther notes that the argument essentially follows a principle of blaming society rather than the individual for inconveniences, saying “if you can’t get up stairs, we should blame the social and architectual systems… If we change the system, then you can get where the stairs go just fine.” I suppose the reference is a ramp and elevators, though elevators are convenient for anyone. Some scholars, he adds, even equate the stigmas against people with disabilities to those against queer and minority groups. Parker also uncludes significant numbers, stating that the the UK and US both show about 19% of the population is disabled, 6% of whom are children and 70% of whom are 80 years and older, which could deem the criticism invalid. There could also be some bias in the critical community. Parker cites a film that people reference for disability studies, stating that “responses to the film have focused on [the woman’s] disability and overlooked [the man’s] disability. He comments that the criticism often is a weight on their shoulders, a danger that they could overcompensate for, replacing one stereotype with another. As an example of the application of disability studies, Parker presents the precense of closed blinds in Moby-Dick. Parker states that the closed blinds “suggest [Ahab’s] limited vision of the world around him.” He also comments Ahab’s leg and how it is representative of his limited mobility, which “reveals his abstinate inflexibility.” That is to say, that disability studies does not always aim to interpret a woman stepping on a rock and being hurt as the embodiment of people who cannot walk and therefore the story is reveals the hatred that society holds toward disabled people, 70% of whom are 80 years or older. Sometimes, disability studies interprets a disability in a character as representative of a characteristic of their personality.

Bernard Rose’s 2015 film adaptation of Frankenstein follows the story of Adam, a fully grown man with the intelligance and insticts of a newborn that Victor Frankenstein and his wife, Marie, reannimated in their experients of creating life. While the film is not perfect, with inconsistencies in Adam’s intelligence as narrator and his present state, the film depicts Eddie, Adam’s only friend, and his disability as a blind man well. Examining the scene of the Eddie’s introduction, Adam, having just woken up after the police shot him, finds shelter under an overpass where a blind man plays and sings blues with his guitar. As Adam approaches to listen to the music, Eddie asks for his name and reaches to feel Adam when he doens’t respond. Realizing that Adam is wearing a straitjacket, a suit that restricts the arms of its wearer to prevent harm to his or herself or others. Eddie says, “I’ve been fitted for one of these suits once or twice in my life.” At this point, Eddie is presented as a well meaning, non-cognitively deficient person who’s disability has lead to misfortune as a homeless man. However, Eddie’s willingness to help Adam, knowing that he is wearing such a suit, is telling of his choice of judgment; character. This is also reflected by Eddie’s blindness. The creature, unresponsive to Eddie’s questions, reaches for Eddie’s glasses and takes them off, revealing Eddie’s unfortunate circumstances. “You can’t talk,” he says. “Well, I can’t see. It don’t matter. It seemed to me that you needed a friend.” Eddie’s blindness reveals his judgement for character over all. Knowing that Adam was wearing a straitsuit and realising that he cannot speak, Eddie accepts Adam and offers his friendship because Adam has not presente any harm, merely curiosity. Ultimately, it is Eddie’s disability as a blind man that reveals to the reader his pure nature, reserving negative judgements and instead preferring the observation of character to determine his judgements.

Frankenstein and Disability Studies

For this week’s blog post (4/19), students will examine how disability is represented in Bernard Rose’s 2015 film, FRANKƐN5TƐ1N. Provide a close reading of a particular scene in the film from the lens of disability studies, as discussed in the Parker reading assigned for this Thursday. To help students generate ideas for this assignment, please feel to draw upon and elaborate one of the student Top Hat comments below.

Please publish this blog post by 12:30pm Thursday 4/19 under the category “Frankenstein and Disability.” Remember to include specific tags and write your full name. 

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Student responses to the film (from lecture on 4/18/23):

1. In this film version, emphasis is given to the different beginning of life given to the creature in contrast to Shelley’s original text. Adam, or the Creature, awakes to his mother who holds him affectionately. Unlike Victor, the scientists here are aware of his infantile state and treat him with more care. The male scientist or “Dad” to Adam still holds similarities to Victor, where both him and his partner are more self-centered in their own achievements, especially when they exclaim “he’s alive”. As Adam begins to decay, it suggests that regardless of the Creature’s different start to life, he still suffers the same fate.

2. The main takeaway from this scene is that it diverges from the novel in several ways. In Victor’s lab, there is organic life present without any tools or instruments, in contrast to the film where machines and instruments abound. The Creature’s initial design aligns more closely with the novel as a beautiful human. However, there are similarities with the first lines of the Creature’s story in the novel, as it relates to Victor, but in the film, the mother (not named Victor) is the main source of the Creature’s development. Themes of breast-feeding and penetration through injections by male scientists create a claustrophobic and personal connection between the Creature and the mother. The Creature is initially accepted but later abandoned as it begins to decompose and no longer look human, echoing events recounted from its perspective. In the film, multiple scientists are involved, but the Creature’s pale skin and “beautiful” appearance resemble the novel, as does its initial baby-like state of learning. The film’s bright colors contrast with the novel’s dark and gloomy tone. Finally, a connection is made towards the end when a scientist attempts to strangle the Creature, in contrast to the novel where the Creature is the one doing the strangling.

3. Doctor Frankenstein is goal driven to discover life for himself, but refuses to accept his responsibility (ie: only treating the creature as a lab rat, not wanting to share his discoveries to the public, refusing to acknowledge its clearly concious state as its body starts failing), embodiment of the EGO. Woman doctor possible embodiment of ID, empathetic, self aware of actions, voice of reason (possibly holds back due to position in the doctors life and power as a woman). other doctor guy super ego (?), loves and is in awe with the creature despite his immense involvement and maltreatment he causes on the creature.

4. The scene we just watched showed Elizabeth in a more prominent role as a caregiver/mother to the creature. She seems to be the only one who nurtures him and treats him like a person till his “death” because she tries to stop Victor into killing him but is pushed aside. She treats him like a newborn baby and tries to teach him how to eat and drink. She would constantly reassure him with the words “It’s okay” and the creature has now acknowledged her as a mother.

5. The first thing that I noticed was the phrase “He’s alive” which references the Frankenstein film of 1931. Furthermore, a key difference I noticed was that the film included a nurturing adult, in this case a mother figure. Additionally, a key difference was that the creators in the film treated the creature as a newborn and unlike Victor Frankenstein in the novel, did not immediately abandon his creation. However, the rejection still occurred despite the fact that it did not happen immediately after his birth. Rather, the creators waited for the creature, or as he was named “Adam” in the film, to prove his worth. His worth being his ability to maintain his beauty.

6. Unlike the other movies and the novel, this creature depicted as Frankenstein does not have obvious stitched together limbs. This creature in the movie also whimpers instead of groaning like the one in the novel. They creature in this movie seems to be more loved and perceived as beautiful and amazing in comparison to the wretchedness and disgust Victor and the people had for the creature in the novel. Water seems to be a recurrent theme as nourishment yet in the novel, water is described as inevitable destruction. As the creature reaches out for his caretakers, the female doctor and Victor, these doctors proceed to hug and caress him in comfort while Victor neglects and abandons the creature in Mary Shelley’s novel.

7. His first few interactions when he is “alive” imitates one who expresses a neuro-disability from birth. Through his inability to speak instead as he mumbles or grunts and as he gets agitated very easily, he becomes a replica of a person who struggles with neuro disabilities. Also I noticed, the monster immediately gained a sense of safety between whom he references as “mom” and later begins to develop a sexual attraction to her.

8. What really stood out for me was how beautifully he was presented as. he was angelic almost and was treated like a child with nurture and care. The tension that was experienced was the unsureness from everyone including the creature itself. The motherhood that was represented in the film was outstanding and proves to be the creatures drive throughout it constantly looking back at the ID card. What was significantly missing was the hatred and anger and disgust that was greatly represented in the book it was all missing. He needed someone to lean on and trust which was the woman who took care of him. He did not trust the man as much as the woman who he called Mom. It could be a representative of the Oedipus Complex representing the instant want and need for the motherly love rather than the fatherly love and attention. Although he did not prove to hate him due to the fact that he showed emotion when he hurt him accidentally. I cant help but notice the “Dad” gave up so quickly and the love that was so present vanished in a matter of seconds with the first error.

9. The events are similar to the first lines of the creature’s story when he relates it to Victor. Though the differences include Victor, more specifically a male scientist, isn’t the main source for the creature’s development, but the mother (who is not named Victor). There are themes of breast-feeding between the creature and the mother, but also themes of penetration to the body with the male scientists injecting needles to the creature, its close-ups creating a more claustrophobic feeling to the scenes. These close-ups also build a sense of personal connection between the creature and the mother. It’s interesting also that the creature was at first accepted, until it began to decompose and no longer look human, leading to trying to “abort” (or kill) the creature. We also see these events recounted in how the creature, who appears exactly like a human, experiences it. And the creature was nurtured where it was eventually abandoned later on.

10. I noticed that right as he comes alive, he is not rejected unlike the creature in the novel. Moreover, he is treated much like a patient in a psych ward. It seems like the creature in the film has the mind of a baby, as he does not seem to know what anything is and does not know how to speak. The creature seems to see the female scientist like his mother, and this becomes apparent when he takes her keycard with her picture on it.

Disillusion

Bianca Lopez Munoz

–October 7, 2000–

Becoming a new parent is anxiety filling but exciting for many. For Victoria, it was no different.

–I’ve always wanted to be a mother. My anticipation and fascination with motherhood started when I was a child. I would pretend to change doll’s diapers and feed them with a bottle. I’d even take them for a stroll on a miniature stroller. My own mother has an album of childhood drawings, many of them include me holding a child in a bundle. I also collected random items from my own room like toys and blankets for my own future child–which I still have. In retrospect, my preparation at such a young age for becoming a mother seems a bit excessive but I believe it’s a testament to how badly I want this and how driven I am to raising a child. Though this pregnancy has been quite uncomfortable and filled with restless nights, I’m happy and extremely grateful for it since it’s common for the women in my family to have problems conceiving. I often daydream about what my life will be life postpartum. At the beginning, the diapers, the feedings, the sleepless nights. But later, being there for their first words, hopefully mom–Their first step, their first haircut, their first day at school, their first winter and snowball fight, their first academic and sports awards, their first time at disneyland, their wedding, my future grandchildren. I can’t wait! I’ve often been told that I will be an amazing mother, and though I am a bit nervous, I believe them. This is what I was made to do. This is such a blessing for me, and my family.  My dad hopes my child inherits his athleticism since he was once a star athlete in his younger years. I hope they have my mother’s warm brown eyes, maybe they’ll even get her green thumb.. I’m due in about a month and a half, everything is going according to the birth plan and we are ready to receive this beautiful blessing into the world and our lives.

–March 18, 2019–

Adam can’t help but notice that  something is wrong.

–I love my mom very much. She is very beutiful, I really like her blueberry colored eyes and her smile makes me happy so I try to be good all the time but she only smiles sometimes. Everyday she feeds me, usually corn flakes, soup, and other stuff, but my favorite is chicken nuggets and ketchup to dip them in. My mom usually sits with me and helps me eat and I have tried to dip my chicken nuggets in ketchup on my own in the past but I made a mess each time and she got mad so I don’t do it anymore. Everyday she asks me what shirt I want to wear for school and everyday I say the green one with the red stripe. She almost never lets me wear that shirt and I always fight her over it because I know what I want to wear, why doesn’t she let me? But I always just let it go because I don’t want to make her mad. I also don’t like it when she changes my diaper or makes me get in the bath, I’d rather be on my wheelchair where I can push my buttons with my fingers and move around the house. I haven’t been on the second floor of my house since I was little and I’ve been telling my mom for years that we should get an elevator like the one at my school but she says that it’s too expensive. That’s okay though because the first floor has everything I need, but I would like to explore the upstairs. A couple months ago I needed my mom to change my diaper ASAP so I went to find her in the kitchen where she was sitting at the table with a bunch of white papers. I tried to get her attention by calling out but she ignored me. I tried tapping the diaper image on my computer a couple times, but it wasn’t working, and so I started moving the papers around and that’s when she got mad. Today she didn’t take me to school. She says we are going to my favorite park, the one with a lot of dogs. We drove for a really really long time and we didn’t go to the park I liked but that’s okay because she let me wear the green shirt with the red stripe today. I had never been to this park but there were a lot of kids playing around and one lady had a dog. When we got here she said she needed to get something from the car and she came back with my backpack. I don’t see how I need my backpack since I am not at school. As she set down my backpack on my lap she just stared at me. She usually never looks at me in the eyes so I think I did something wrong. Maybe she is still angry about me moving the papers. She then told me she was going to find the restroom at the park and she left me near the slides. It’s getting kind of dark and she isn’t back yet. I hope she found the bathroom.

Review: This short story is told from the perspectives of an expecting mother, and that child’s perspective nineteen years after his birth. The mother, Victoria, is obviously really excited about becoming a mom and has all these plans and expectations about what her child will do and what her child will look like. The first part is meant to make Victoria seem hopeful but naive. The second part is meant to not only show the perspective of Adam, Victoria’s child, but also serves to almost destroy all of the expectations that Victoria has about motherhood and her child in the first part of the story. Adam is a differently abled nineteen year old man who is non-verbal, gets around on an electric wheelchair, and depends on Victoria for most things. I definitely wanted Adam to have a personality and I hope a did a good job to not reducing him to his ableness which is what often happens to the differently abled in real life. This whole story is meant to resemble two small sections of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Firstly, the part where Victor is in the process of creating the creature and has all these expectations of greatness and beauty for his creation. The second part is meant to emulate the perspective of the creature after Victor abandoned it but I put more of a focus on the part leading up to the abandonment since Adam had already formed an attachment to his mother, something the creature in Frankenstein was unable to do with Victor. Like Victor, Victoria has all these expectations for Adam, and when they weren’t met, it caused a lot of frustration, confusion, disillusionment, and anger towards herself and Adam. The creature in Frankenstein is aware of the world around him and the way others interact with him and this is the part I wanted to focus on with Adam though, the only interaction with others is with his mother. Victoria eventually abandons Adam at the park because of the white papers, which were bills including a bunch of Adam’s medical bills. The abandonment of children and adults with disabilities is very common in society and disability studies is a contemporary issue. I chose this form of creative writing because I thought is was best to not only show the two perspectives but to also tell a thought provoking realistic story.

 

Normal and Abnormal Norms

Somehow, by wanting to produce a more perfect human being, Victor and Elizabeth are admitting to disabilities of their own. A creature impervious to pain and is virtually indestructible by medical and other violent means would be a triumph to the Frankensteins–if Adam were more conventionally attractive and had a nuero-typical consciousness.

This comment offers up an interesting perspective on disability studies and Frankenstein, as it looks at looks at disabilities in a way I had not thought about before. Instead of viewing disabilities as people who need to be constantly cared for, this comment proposes that by wanting to create the perfect life-form, the Frankensteins, and by extension Victor in Shelly’s novel,  are displaying human disabilities by not possessing the strength and finesse they hope their creature would. People who are disabled are only labeled as such due to society’s perception of “normal” and “abnormal”. If there was a society made up of life-forms similar to the creature with the same capabilities, a new perception of “normal” would be established, thus leaving human beings as representing the new threshold for “abnormal.” Overall, this comment further establishes the social construct of “normal” and “abnormal,” and how easily these perceptions can change due to lack or gain of superior abilities.

–Jose Ramirez