Every now and then I want to write a bit about modern myths. Naturally modern is somewhat relative term, in this case we’ll be using the term modern to mean anything after the invention of the printing press. First up: Frankenstein.

Mary Shelley wrote this myth at the tender young age of 19. Part of what I find fascinating about the story is that Shelley deliberately crafted Frankenstein to be a story that deliberately communicated truth. The original subtitle of the story was “The Modern Prometheus”. Not to point out the obvious but Frankenstein is a cautionary tale of the effects of abusing the power of science. That’s quite a penetrating insight for someone who was only 19 years old, not to mention who was living at a time where science was decidedly less powerful than it is today (although it may be that in the mind of the average person the potential of science was far greater than what it has delivered).

Part of what defines a myth is its endurance. Frankenstein has been re-created, and re-told dozens of times. It was first committed to film in 1910 by Thomas Edison (a film that once was lost, but now is found), in 1931 James Whale filmed a version of Frankenstein that changed key elements of the story, Hammer Horror practically was founded on their production of The Curse of Frankenstein, Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein took aim and paid homage at the classic story, and of course you have various other references to it such as the Munsters, and FrankenBerry.

Creating a story with that kind of shelf life and popularity is what many if not all authors strive for. But why did this story become a myth while so many others have been forgotten? Part of it is just the sheer, raw, God-given talent of Shelley, but part of it has to do with her subject matter and themes. Shelley was living at a time when the perception of what could be accomplished in the area of science was seen as limitless, far more so than today. The world was being re-made in the image of man, the result being eventually the industrial revolution. Many traditions and old ways were being swept aside by advances and while many were the direct beneficiaries of those advances the kind of whole sale change being made brought a lot of uncertainty. Shelley tapped into that uncertainty with Frankenstein.

An interesting side note to all this is Shelley wrote Frankenstein on a visit to Lord Byron’s estate with some friends. One of those friends happened to include John William Polidori who wrote The Vampyre at the same time. This story set off the entire genre of romantic vampire fiction. So a chick writes a horror story about a re-constituted corpse running around killing people including his own creator, and a dude writes story about a sappy vampire. Whodathunkit.