Frankenstein and Humanity

The 1931 film adaptation of Frankenstein was a good attempt at horror if you consider the time period it was made. However, it is 2010, so now the movie can be looked at comically based on the production. For example, a scene at the beginning of the film has Fritz climbing a gallows pole to cut down a hangman. When it is time for him to jump down, the film cuts to Henry and you hear Fritz yell, "I'm coming down," then he suddenly appears. This scene generated a lot of laughter from the audience because it was so simple and corny.

Another problem was the censorship imposed on films during this time period. They were not allowed to show a lot of violence because of the production code of 1934. It is surprising that a scene was included where the creature throws the little girl into the lake where she drowns. Even by todays standards that scene would cause controversy. If you can look past the time period the film was made and the comical production value, the film actually conveys a very powerful message about life and death and what it means to be human.

The themes of what makes us human is important in the film. The characters fail to recognize the humanity of the creature several times. This ultimately leads to the creature going rogue and killing innocent people, before he is eventually killed as well. There are certain qualities that make us human, like being self aware and making choices instead of acting on instinct. Humans are given choices in life and can become any type of person they want, whereas animals are born with instincts that help them survive. Human beings also have morals, and we know that some things are wrong, like murder. The creature in Frankenstein possesses a lot of human qualities, but also lacks some. One example is when he throws the little girl in the water and kills her. It is obviously inhumane to do that, and it makes him look like a monster instead of a human. After he does it, he clearly shows remorse, which is indeed a human characteristic.

Overall, he creature in Frankenstein is more of a defective human. It is hard to classify him as strictly a monster or strictly a human. If the creature was nurtured more when it was first brought to life, it might have learned to control his anger. The fact that he had a defective brain probaly made it so he didn't know how to act under stress, so he just eliminated the source of the stress. In the case of Frankenstein, the source of his stress was the people who failed to recognize the human qualities in him, and called him a monster.

The Consequences of Technology

The articles written by McConnel and Healy, as well as Baudrilliard's theory on Simulacra and Simulation, all convey common themes in regard to technology and its consequences. They basically say that the inventor of a certain technology is incapable of seeing the undesired and negative consequences of the aformentioned technology.

I agree with these authors in that aspect of their theories. Healy mentions the Internet and cloning as two examples of incredible innovations in technology that have different scopes of negative consequences. In my opinion, the only negative consequence of the Internet is the amount of porno that is watched while using it. I'm sure the creators of the world wide web did not intend for seventy five percent of its users to be accessing the Internet for sexual reasons. Some may argue that it reduces the privacy of people, with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. In reality, if you think those sites invade your privacy, just don't use them!

The other technology Healy mentioned was cloning. This technology is highly controversial, although it is still in its early stages. The main problem here, as mentioned in the article, is the possibility of human cloning. The cloning of humans could bring all sorts of ethical and political problems. I personally think cloning should be aloud, as long as it is regulated and administered by the government. If human cloning happens successfully, doctors could harvest unlimited amounts of fresh and healthy organs to give to patients in need. An obvious undesired and negative consequence would be having someone like Hitler step forward and breed an army of superhumans to take over the world, but I think this is a little too "science fiction" to actually happen. I believe the only real negative and unforeseen consequence of cloning is from an ethical standpoint. McConnell also noted this by talking about Frankenstein creating life, which is basically the same thing as a scientist cloning a human. They are playing God. The ramifications of this could lead to world-wide fanatic religious wars.

In conclusion, pretty much anything we do can have unanticipated consequences, not just technology. I could wake up and decide to wear a t-shirt, and undesired and negative consequences could occur for the rest of my day because someone doesn't like the slogan on it. As long as technology is advancing, there will always be negative aspects, but there is also all the positive results. Without technology, infant mortality rates would still be high and I wouldn't be able to check on my girlfriend's Facebook whenever I think she's cheating! Just kidding. Basically, unless technology becomes so controlling that a cyborg is sent from the future to terminate us, I think technology's positive advancements outweigh the negative ones.