In the original film trilogy, he can eat and drink. It is unclear how much he needs to do so.
In the original novel, he barely needs any food or liquid to stay alive- or whatever he is.
Hell, if the reanimated slaves don’t eat and never die, screw working the regular slaves to death, just kill them right now, and reanimate them. Why waste money on food if you don’t have to?
One possibility that occurs to me is that if the process also works on animals - and logically it would - then you have an alternate source of raw material for “golems”. Except for the brain, but at least that seems to work on a one brain, one golem principle instead of needing multiple donors; and for simpler tasks you could use an animal brain or maybe even just a computer.
As technology advances you’d likely see reanimated flesh bits installed as components for more conventional technology. Imagine an “unmanned” tank for example controlled by an obedient reanimated brain and reanimated arms emplaced internally for tasks like reloading ammunition. Or a fighter jet controlled by the reanimated brain of a hawk, or powered exoskeletons that use reanimated muscle instead of mechanical power.
Simon Green also has zombie labor be an issue in one of his Hawk & Fisher books, including a terrorist necromancer who takes them over and sends them on a collective murderous rampage to make using them politically unacceptable.
Also, Frankenstein comes up repeatedly in his urban fantasy. Both his creations and their creations, who have their own subculture, and the man himself who has made himself immortal. Well, until his final “perfect” creation kills him, because of course that’s what would happen.
All tech develops.
It would start there, but not stay there, unless banned.
On that topic, Unions would get really, really militant.
Why not?
This made me genuinely laugh out loud. Bravo! Sarcasm is alive and well, living in the SDMB.
Martin also wrote the deeply disturbing story Meathouse Man, set in the same universe, which is about corpse brothels.
You know, I thought about drawing the parallel between real-world sexual exploitation by slavers and predictable consequences of corpse reanimation in the 1800s, but frankly I chickened out.
Thank you for your service.
That’s a really interesting point. A three way civic battle between slavery abolitionists pushing reanimation as a compromise solution, anti-resurrectionists pleading for dignity in death, and the amoral who aren’t particularly fussed about where their free labour comes from and just wish the first two would shut up.
Fair enough - I think we’re playing by movie rules.
Mods, can we cornfield this before someone Rule 34s it?
I shall have to read it. I used to have his short story collection Nightflyers. I loaned it to a friend who misunderstood and thought it was a gift. I didn’t have the heart to disillusion them. The only story I didn’t like in that book was Non Spoiler Weekend In A War Zone. It was well written but I had trouble accepting the premise.
ISTM that had Frankie technology worked, but was thereafter unable to be very much improved from back then to the e.g. 1940s, the current result would be …
Rudy Giuliani
I’ll be here all week. Tip well and try the veal.
I feel I’ve learned something about you today, Burp.
Too late.
I think if Dr. Frankenstein could prove he re-animated a corpse then rich people would figure out a way to have their brains transferred to new bodies before they died and the brain atrophied granting a way to extend their lives. That would be worth a fortune.
You said that was between us and your “gift” is in the mail. What more do you want from me? I’m only human!
Aren’t I?
Yeah, it really depends on the nature of the Frankies. How much of the original mind is retained?
At some point we enter Altered Carbon territory.
A bit off-topic, but is the film Frankenstein called “Doctor”? And is his name Victor, or Henry, as @MrAtoz mentioned above? In Mary Shelley’s novel, Victor Frankenstein is a student of “natural history” at the University of Ingolstadt, and not a doctor of any kind.
Get out…
He is Henry in the 1931 film. Also his assistant is named Fritz.
Brian