Pedaços costurados em 100 anos: como a obra Frankenstein é representada em dois séculos

Abstract

The present work consists of an analysis of the book Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, published in 1818 by Mary Shelley and revised by her in 1831; and the film Frankenstein, directed by James Whale in 1931 for Universal Studios, adapting Shelley's work for the cinema. It aims to analyze the temporalities manifested in both works, the themes explored, and the factors present at the beginning of the 20th century and in the entertainment industry that led the adaptation to be so different from the original work. Mary Shelley wrote a work strongly influenced by the intellectual discussions of the 19th century regarding the principle of life, giving rise to the famous monster created by Victor Frankenstein, which embodies a message about creation, rejection, and the possible horrors of science. In contrast, the 1931 film does not follow many of the themes present in the book, reinterpreting some events of the work for reasons such as censorship, cinematic language, and the target audience. The horror genre was still developing in the film industry at the beginning of the 20th century, especially in the United States, although many individuals inside and outside the country still considered them as works of bad taste either for moral reasons or due to traumas still present as a consequence of World War I, despite the popularity that the genre eventually attracted. This research was structured with a view to bringing historiography closer to the process of writing fiction, considering the subjectivity and intentionality with which the historian documents events. Therefore, the aim was to explore, through the lens of fiction, how certain concepts came to be portrayed in each century, within their respective eras. The methodology employed involves bibliographic and documentary research, using the book and film as a starting point for the analysis of their historical contexts. Along four chapters, the original work, the adaptation, and their respective historical contexts will be explored, lastly commenting on the possibilities of analyzing fiction in historiography and what works of fiction can reveal to the historian about their historical contexts, both in terms of factual events and the attitudes and opinions of people within those contexts.