We went to see the new Frankenstein movie today. It’s about that time of year for horror movies, Fall in full swing. We’ve been watching a lot of movies in general lately, as the weather gets cozier and curling up with a warm blanket seems more appealing than venturing outside. I’m ready for it, summer is exhausting to me with its pressures to go outside when I can only really muster to energy to go out sometimes. The movie was very good and very moving. I cried during the scene when Frankenstein tries to kill his own creation, setting the castle on fire and abandoning his creature to a painful death. How awfully sad, and more than that, how horrifying, the idea of such a parent. Who, faced with disappointment at his own creation, seeks to undo what he has done, with no thought or compassion for the poor miserable living being he has forced into existence? I myself am an unwanted child. The story of Frankenstein has always spoken to me on a deep level, because I know I was an accident, not actively wanted, merely tolerated. I don’t really believe I was “raised” in the sense that other people were raised. I just lived in my parents house, ate the food that was there (usually something like a frozen TV dinner, cereal, or something else they didn’t have to cook for me, or paid for school lunch with the dollar and quarter provided to me by my father - his parenting was quite the laziest kind and that’s sort of how he lives his life - can I throw money at it? Money replaces effort.) I never felt very wanted, I grew up with a very painful sense of my own burdensome existence, as if I had entered a room I hadn’t been welcomed in, but no one was going to kick me out. Being an accident, an unwanted child, is the worst curse you could ever bestow upon a person. I firmly believe that all the evil in the world stems from this. It is why I am such a firm advocate for abortion rights and adoption. One should only become a parent if they actively want to be, and there seem to be plenty of people out there who DO actively want that, I have seen them and met them and heard them speak about it. So why on earth should there be any reason for anyone to create life that they do not want? In Victor Frankenstein’s case it’s almost worse. He does actively want to create a being, but he wants to for fairly selfish reasons. He wants to prove he can. He also wants to defeat death, because his mother died, which traumatized him, and he made it his life’s mission to solve this problem he felt his doctor father hadn’t been able to. All goals which in theory seem noble, or at least understandable. But they are all also selfish reasons. He doesn’t want to bring this creature to life because he feels for the men who died, the ones who provided the body parts. He discards human beings as flesh and meat. The creature, once created, does interest him and he treats it like a child, even though it is a grown man who towers over him with a huge body. He tries to teach it how to walk properly and speak. But he also chains the creature up in the basement. The creature is obviously very attached to him - the same way we learn our attachment styles from our parents. It’s heart wrenching to see the creature repeat his creator’s name “Victor” as the only word he can say, and try to follow him when he leaves him alone. The anxious attachment is evident. Then he begins to abuse his creation, getting more and more frustrated by what he sees as a lack of intelligence in the creature. It won’t say any more words, and Frankenstein seems to get increasingly agitated and annoyed by his own creature repeating his name. I can imagine this is similar to how parents must feel when they hear, “Mom, mom, mom, mom, mommy, mom mom” or dad in the same way. But most parents don’t give up on parenthood just because of the difficulties or frustrations, at least mature parents don’t. But those who are emotionally immature (like my parents, and Dr. Frankenstein) cannot seem to deal with the frustration properly, or manage their own annoyance. As he abuses his creature more and more, physically hurting him out of frustrating and trying to make him do what he wants, the creature becomes violent. An understandable response. But Frankenstein of course, instead blames the creature. How much that resonated with me as well. Your own creator fails you. Hurts you. Does not treat you the way they should. Then, when you inevitably end up with your own faults because of this, they try to tell you that your character is flawed. That YOU are flawed. You're currently a free subscriber to Letters from the Mire. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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Sunday, October 26, 2025
Frankenstein
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