Frankenstein. When most people hear this word, they immediately think of Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, and an evil, scary looking monster. The film Van Helsing is usually not the first thing that comes to mind. Van Helsing is one of many films that takes up and remediates the original Frankenstein story and brings it to life using animation. The original story of Frankenstein says one thing and the film Van Helsing uses the original story of Frankenstein to create a much more complex story. The primary “thesis” of the film Van Helsing in its re-telling of the original Frankenstein story is to give Victor Frankenstein’s creation a more intricate purpose. His creation plays two completely different social roles in the original Frankenstein story and the film Van Helsing. However, the film Van Helsing also shows some similarities to the original Frankenstein story.
In the original Frankenstein story, Victor Frankenstein’s creation was only given life for one reason. Victor Frankenstein only wanted to prove that he could infuse life into an inanimate object using science. He believed that God was not the only one who could give life. His creation does not really have any other significant purpose in the original Frankenstein story. He is only viewed as a monster that does not belong in the world and is not needed for anything. However, the creation in the original Frankenstein story is actually more complicated – just not from Victor’s perspective. In the novel, the monster is very intelligent and insightful and he has feelings and emotions just like human beings. It is understandable why Victor cannot see that his creation is more complicated than he thinks. It seems that he is blinded by the monster’s physical appearance and he is too frightened of what he has created that he cannot see the positive things that have come out of his creation. He gave someone a chance to live. Victor should have taken advantage of what he had created and given the monster a chance, but instead he immediately looked down upon him and hated him just like everybody else. He should have gotten to know the monster and maybe he would have learned that he is a decent being. If Victor had just given his creation a chance and gotten to know him, maybe Victor and so many other people would not have seen him as a monster.
In the film Van Helsing, Victor Frankenstein’s creation is one of the main characters. He is actually named Frankenstein as opposed to Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, where he remains nameless and is only referred to as “the creation,” “the creature,” or “the monster.” Actually having a name sort of gives him a more human-like and less monstrous quality. This also sometimes helps people to realize that he really is not a monster and leads them feel sympathy towards him. However, his physical appearance in the movie is the typical physical appearance that most people think of when they hear the word Frankenstein. He is very large and looks like he has been put together with many different parts that do not belong together. He is quite scary looking to most people who see this movie. He is literate and is actually a very insightful and intelligent being just like in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. In the movie, anyone who sees Frankenstein automatically thinks he is a terrible monster, but all he really wants to do is be able to exist and not be looked down upon by everyone who sees him just because of what he looks like. He does not want to hurt anybody or cause any problems. He actually even saves a couple people’s lives in the movie. Unlike in Mary Shelley’s novel, he actually loves his creator, Victor Frankenstein, and is very upset when Dracula murders him. Frankenstein even calls Victor Frankenstein his father, which shows that he has a better relationship with Victor in the film, Van Helsing, than in the original Frankenstein story.
One specific scene in the film, Van Helsing, where the film gives Victor Frankenstein’s creation a more intricate purpose in its re-telling of the original Frankenstein story is when Anna Valerious and Van Helsing first discover Frankenstein in a dark cave. “The Frankenstein Monster!” Anna gasped when she spotted the large figure hiding in the darkness of the cave. “Monster! Who’s the monster here? I have done nothing wrong, yet you and your kind still wish me dead!” the creature replied. Frankenstein is hiding in this cave because he does not want to be found by Dracula and the other vampires. He is the key to his father’s machine – the same machine that had given him life – and the only one that can give lasting life to Dracula’s children. Frankenstein tells Anna and Van Helsing to kill him because he does not want to take part in giving life to Dracula’s children even though all he really wants to do is live. He really does have good intentions and does not act like an evil monster. He does not want to be responsible for giving life to so many monsters even though so many people consider him a monster. Frankenstein’s role in Van Helsing is so much more complex than the role he plays in the original Frankenstein story.
The material and medium specific characteristics of the film, Van Helsing, also help to give Victor Frankenstein’s creation a more intricate purpose in the film’s re-telling of the original Frankenstein story. The film brings the original Frankenstein story to life using animation just like how Victor Frankenstein brings his creation to life. The energy that Victor Frankenstein used to create Frankenstein and is needed to give Dracula’s children life is like how film uses energy to create what it does. Energy is needed to create the film, Van Helsing, which uses animation to bring the original Frankenstein story to life. Frankenstein’s energy is necessary to give life just like how energy is necessary to create films and bring novels like Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, to life. The entire film Van Helsing is also very dark with a lot of flashing lights and lightning just like many scenes in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. The film also shows Frankenstein in his typical, most common physical appearance, which helps bring his character to life.
One similarity to the original Frankenstein story that the film, Van Helsing, shows is that Victor Frankenstein’s creation actually has good intentions. In Van Helsing. In the original Frankenstein story, Victor’s creation goes to the wilderness and hides to take refuge from the people who flee in fear when they see him. He steals food from a cottage where a young man, a young woman, and an old man live. Watching these people fascinates him, but he soon learns that they are very upset about something. When he learns that they are upset because they are suffering from poverty, he feels terrible about what he has done and he tries to help them to make up for what he had done. He does not want to cause anyone any pain. He would not have stolen the food from them if he had known that it would cause them to suffer further. In Van Helsing, Victor’s creation wants to try to save the human race. He even hid in a cave and suffered by himself in order to stay away from the vampires who were going to use him in order to give life to their children and wipe out the human race. All Frankenstein wanted to do was live and not be seen as a monster, but he sacrificed his happiness to save other people – people who have caused him to suffer because they refuse to accept him because of his physical appearance. Clearly, Victor Frankenstein’s creation had good intentions in both the original Frankenstein story and Van Helsing and the film brings those good intentions to life.
There are many films that take up and remediate the original Frankenstein story. Van Helsing is a great film that gives a much more complex purpose to Victor Frankenstein’s creation and brings the original Frankenstein story to life using animation. It also shows some similarities between the original Frankenstein story and the film, Van Helsing. Is it possible that Mary Shelley’s original story of Frankenstein was created so that others would be able to use it to make creations of their own?
Works Cited
Van Helsing. Dir. Stephen Sommers. Universal Pictures, 2004. Film.
