#1910-40s hyperfixation

[harmonyofspring]

“obstinate, headstrong girl!”

intro post! 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

• elizabeth/lizzie | she/her | 18+

• history & lit student - lover of classics & period dramas!

• things i reblog are my favourite shows and/or inspirations for fics that i write (these will be tagged)

• i write fanfics and have done since 2018! some of the older ones i wish i could forget, but alas.

• my current favourite shows/films include; 1995 pride and prejudice / sas rogue heroes / ripper street / bbc sherlock / the hollow crown / dunkirk / 1917 / war & peace bbc / atonement / the imitation game / jane eyre 2011 / poldark / the white queen & princess / the spanish princess / becoming elizabeth / world on fire / jamaica inn 2014 / bridget jones / the outrun / about time / la bête

• i have also been making video edits since 2018, on various editing accounts that still exist somewhere in the internet ether!

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ships/characters i have written fics about:

- richard iii/anne neville (twq/the sunne in splendour) [5]

- elizabeth bennet/fitzwilliam darcy (largely 1995 version & book) [2]

- morwenna chynoweth/drake carne (poldark) [2]

- jane eyre/edward rochester [1]

- helen graham/gilbert markham (the tenant of wildfell hall) [1]

- sherlock holmes/molly hooper [1]

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random social medias:

letterboxd

spotify

pinterest

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tags for the blog below ⁀➴

[waateeystein]

Waateeystein's Ultimate Frankenstein Adaptation Review Masterpost

TL:DR

To appease my Frankenstein hyperfixation, I am attempting to watch as many adaptations of Mary Shelley’s novel as I possibly can. I created a grading criteria to rate each film/play/musical, and I am ranking my favorites in the name of science and obsession. All reviews will be posted to this blog and linked in the masterpost below for your viewing pleasure. 

[Last updated 7/30/2023]

Reviews [in chronological order]

[Scroll further for a detailed explanation of my review criteria and background on this project]

Frankenstein (1910) Score: 25/40

Frankenstein (1931) Score: 26/40

Background

In 2022 around Halloween-time, I started a twitter thread of mini reviews of a few Frankenstein movie/play adaptations. Because of school/work obligations (I’m a full time grad student and fall 2022 was my first of six semesters), I wasn’t able to get through as many adaptations as I had hoped to. This year I’ve decided to revisit my Frankenstein reviews, now on my new tumblr side-blog, with a better understanding of how much free time I have in grad school, and an ever-growing Frankenstein hyperfixation that simply won’t die (not that I want it to hehe.) This masterpost will compile my review criteria, and will have a complete list of what I’ve watched, what I plan to watch, and links to my reviews which will be on their own individual posts. This entire project is purely for my own personal enjoyment, and I absolutely do not expect anyone to agree with my opinions, but I also hope you all respect my opinions just as I would respect yours. I also hoped that I would do this during the month of October, but seeing my new scope, this will probably be an ongoing project that will start during the spooky season and go on indefinitely. To limit my scope, I will only be watching movies and plays or musicals that have been recorded and can be viewed/listened to. I’m sure there are a ton of great novels and short stories based upon the Frankenstein mythos, but for now I am sticking to visual media. I will gladly take suggestions of things to watch, I have a big list already but I will gladly add to it! The goal is NOT to create an objective list of which Frankenstein stories are the best and the worst, because it is simply impossible for me as one person to do so. The real goal of this project is to catalog my thoughts about Frankenstein adaptations in hopes of unpacking how different artists and groups approach the Frankenstein mythos, and for me to gain a better personal understanding of what I like best out of a Frankenstein story.

References

These are the wiki articles I am referencing for finding media to review:

Grading Criteria

Media will be graded on four categories:

Faithfulness to the Source Material

In the case of adapting a story from one medium to another, I think it is very silly to think that any adaptation should be 100% accurate to its source material. We are all familiar with the idea of "the movie is never as good as the book", and while I do mostly agree with that statement, I also believe it can be unfair to judge adaptations based entirely on if they are able to be a carbon copy recreation of the original (adaptations are meant to adapt after all). In the case of judging adaptations of Frankenstein, I judge this category in terms of how faithful an adaptation is to the themes, character motivations and general vibes of the original story, rather than if the adaptation can produce every single plot point and character of the original exactly as Shelley wrote. I also don't think an adaptation of Frankenstein is automatically bad if it is "unfaithful", but it is fun to see both how close or how far these adaptations get depending on what their intended artistic goal is. I can appreciate when an adaptation values accuracy to the source material, but also when it decides to go off the rails and tries something new or unexpected. Frankenstein adaptations give us both extremes and the goal of this category to appreciate the entire spectrum of book accuracy (or inaccuracy). Total Possible Category Score: 10 Points

Production Design

I include this category because I'm a scenographer by trade. I think design for film and theatre is incredibly important to a story, and I don’t see enough people talking about it in a genuinely informed way. That also being said, I'm a terrible judge of actors' performances beyond my own entertainment, which is why I am not including a performance category to mirror this design category (but I may still make comments here and there within other categories when I have something substantial to say.) Costume and scenic design are my bread and butter, but I also may occasionally include thoughts on other design areas too.  Total Possible Category Score: 10 Points

Entertainment Value

When all is said and done, entertainment value, in my opinion, may be the most important category in my review. A piece of Frankenstein media could be a 100% accurate visual recreation of the book, but if it's not entertaining or thought provoking, what was the point? How entertainment is judged will be different depending on many different factors, like genre, production time period, etc. And obviously this category is highly personal to my own tastes, my cup of tea may not be the same as yours. This may be the most important category, but it is also the most subjective. But as someone who makes a living in the entertainment industry, I’d like to think that I am generally a good judge of entertainment value. Total Possible Category Score: 10 Points

Bonus Points

These are a few low-scoring categories where an adaptation might get a few bonus points. Most of these have to do with accuracy to the source material, and what details might make an adaptation perfect in my eyes. There are a lot of adaptations that stray so greatly in genre from the original novel, that I might make a judgment call on whether or not to include this category on a case by case basis. In conclusion, these are some “just for funsies” points.  Character(s) included/mentioned (1 point each): - Robert Walton and/or Henry Clerval - The DeLacey Family - Justine Moritz - William and/or Ernest Frankenstein Victor(y) points (1 point each): - Is Victor aged 18-26 years old? - Is Victor a college dropout? - Does Victor have an accent that is not American or British? Miscellaneous (1 point each): - The setting is primarily in Switzerland. - There are homoerotic undertones. - The Creature has intelligence. Total Category Score: 10 Points

Total Possible Score: 40 Points

Congratulations if you made it this far! I hope you all stick around to hear my ramblings. Please feel free to share your thoughts on individual reviews or this project as a whole, I'm really looking forward to writing these reviews and sharing my love of Frankenstein with you all!