Comparing Frankenstein And Poor Things

2005 Words9 Pages

Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein and Tony McNamara’s film Poor Things provide opposite narratives that reveal the profound influence of appearance on the assessment and development of character. Frankenstein follows the story of Victor Frankenstein, who defies the laws of nature and brings to life a man built from dead body parts. Though the creature is inherently good, his horrifying presentation causes Victor and society to reject him and categorize him as sinister. After repeatedly receiving hatred from the world, the creature conforms to the evil persona they accuse him of. Poor Things, a film inspired by Frankenstein, answers the question: What if the creature was beautiful? Like Victor, Godwin brings to life a dead woman named Bella. This creature, however, is …show more content…

Godwin’s correction of her pronunciation instead of her behavior implies that what Bella had done was a moral thing. It is the injured Max’s response, especially, that ties the situation together: They dismiss Bella’s actions because of their infatuation with her beauty. His hesitation, before declaring her as “stunning” is a portrayal of that infatuation as rather than focusing on his bleeding nose, he focuses on her. In “The Impact of Physical Attractiveness on Achievement and Psychological Well-Being” (1987), researchers Debra Umberson and Michael Hughes define the common relationship between attractiveness and assessment of behavior: “Assuming that individuals do status generalize on the basis of attractiveness, the lives of attractive persons [...] are characterized by more opportunities to perform, more performances made, and more positive evaluations by others” (Umberson and Hughes 230). It is not explicitly attractiveness that leads others to excuse actions, but the fact that attractive people are seen in a positive