In Shelley’s book, it isn’t stated that he stitched the body together from “spare parts” – Frankenstrein got his raw materuials from biological sources, but it’s sort of implied that he built his monster more “from scratch”.
Why was it changed? Maybe they thought it was too close to “playing God” to make everything up. Maybe they thought the notion of making everything was too hard for the audience to grasp, or that it was far too complex.
But re-animating a once-living body, I’m sure, was too close to religion for the movie companies. Frankenstein would be doing the same kind of re-animation that Jesus did. I’ll bet that scared the execs. They are careful to have Frankenstein say “That Body has Never Lived!” When he’s explaining his work.
Of course, to my mind resurrecting a previously non-existent person with the single brain of someone who had been alive (especially, as in YF, “Hans Delbruck: Scientist and Saint”) is almost indistinguishable from bringing that person back to life. But maybe it gave them an out.
Besides, if he doesn’t at least sew the body together, it seems as if Frankenstein hasn’t actually made anything.
A reanimated corpse would be insufficiently “different” for Mary Shelley’s purposes–it would look too much like an ordinary human being, and might have memories of its earlier existence, and Frankenstein wouldn’t be its “creator”, merely its reanimator.
As for explaining why Frankenstein couldn’t or didn’t do it, all she says is:
Of course, this doesn’t make a lick of sense–why would it be easier to animate a hodgepodge of body parts then to reanimate the dead? But it’s necessary to the story, and Shelley is more concerned with philosophy than scientific consistency.
After he decides to make a “gigantic” being, all I can find is this quote:
“The dissecting room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials…”
Whether that means materials for experimentation or materials for the creature itself, I’m not sure. Shelley seems to have left many such details out; maybe she considered them unimportant?
Heh.
I happen to be reading Frankenstein right now for school: we’ve only gotten about halfway through the book, but there have already been plenty of Young Frankenstein jokes.
Boris Karloff was only 5’11"? Seriously? Good Christ, the man knew how to act tall! That boggles my mind. I’m as tall as Boris Karloff! I’m as huge as Frankenstein’s Monster! Rrrruuaarrrr!wanders off in search of random windmills or power lines
Eeergh… you know that back when he was born, 5’11" wasn’t an only at all, right?
Damnit guys, just look at basketball statistics before you decide that anyone shorter than you and 100 years older is a dwarf!
