More for the bookshelf:
The Cinematic Rebirths of Frankenstein: Universal, Hammer, and Beyond
by Caroline Joan (Kay) S. Picart
http://www.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=C3941C
Showcases the versatility of the Frankenstein myth as expressed in the horror genre and provides a sustained critical analysis of the story's evolution over many decades, many studios, and many different styles of filmmaking.
October 2001
Praeger
Pages: 240
Volumes: 1
Size: 6 1/8x9 1/4
Topics: Popular Culture/Film
Hardcover
978-0-275-97363-6
$84.00
Description
The Frankenstein narrative is one of cinema's most durable, and it is often utilized by the studio system and the most renegade independents alike to reveal our deepest aspirations and greatest anxieties. The films have concerned themselves with demarcations of gender, race, and technology, and this new study aims to critique the more traditional interpretations of both the narrative and its sustained popularity. From James Whale's Frankenstein (1931) through Kenneth Branagh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), the story remains a nuanced and ultimately ambivalent one and is discussed here in all of its myriad terms: aesthetic, cultural, psychological, and mythic.
Beginning with an examination of the narrative's origins in the myth of the birth of Dionysus from the thigh of Zeus, The Cinematic Rebirths of Frankenstein goes on to consider each of the film's many incarnations, from the Universal horror films of the thirties through the British Hammer series and beyond. Moving easily between the scholarly and the popular, the book employs both primary texts-including scripts, posters, and documentation of production histories-and a rigorous, scholarly examination of the many implications of this often-misunderstood subgenre of horror cinema.
Contents:
Preface
Introduction
Envisaging the Monstrous
The Universal Series
Beyond the Universal and Hammer Series
Mythic (Im)Mortality
BibliographyIndex
Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein was published in 1818 and, over 200 years later, still remains a profound influence on modern culture. Frankenstein and the Fantastic, an outreach effort of the Northeast Alliance for the Study of the Fantastic and the Fantastic Areas (Fantasy & Science Fiction and Monsters & the Monstrous) of the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association, is designed as a resource for celebrating the text and its legacy.
Celebrating in 2026: the 105th anniversary of the lost film Il Mostro di Frankenstein (1921); the 95th anniversary of Universal Studios’ Frankenstein (1931); the 60th anniversary of Dell Comics’ superhero version of Frankenstein (1966), Hanna Barbera’s television hero Frankenstein Jr, co-star of the series Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles (1966), and the films Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966) and The War of the Gargantuas (1966); the 55th anniversary of General Mills’ cereal mascot Franken Berry (1971); the 50th anniversary of the Saturday-morning television series Monster Squad (1976); the 45th anniversary of the anime film Kyofu Densetsu: Kaiki! Furankenshutain (1981); the 40th anniversary of Ken Russell’s film Gothic (1986) and Fred Saberhagen’s novel The Frankenstein Papers (1986); the 25th anniversary of Curtis Jobling’s picture book Frankenstein's Cat (2001); the 20th anniversary of Grant Morrision’s comic book series Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein (2006); the 15th anniversary of Nick Dear’s play Frankenstein (2011); the 10th anniversary of the Royal Ballet's production of Frankenstein (2016); and the release of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s film Bride! (2026).
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