Reflections of Science and Medicine in Two Frankenstein Adaptations: Frankenstein (Whale 1931) and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (Branagh 1994)

That the history of science and the genre of science fiction are complexly interwoven is illustrated by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a novel that primarily reflected contemporaneous scientific interest in the reanimation of corpses by galvanism. The science/science fiction relationship is further extended by analyzing the visual differences in two film adaptations of Shelley’s novel. The first, directed by James Whale, presents Shelley’s Creature as a robotic figure, suggesting automation as an influencing theme and electricity as a source of life. Contrastingly, the Creature of Kenneth Branagh’s 1994 adaptation is corporeal and abject. While neither version takes account of obvious medical implausibilities, each reveals how discourses of science and medical history have shifted since Shelley wrote her novel. This essay argues that the visual disparity between the two film adaptations in comparison to the source text not only discloses a visual chronicle of science but also a history of technological progress.