During this time of year, when our thoughts turn to the frightening and freakish, it’s hard to think of a more enduring character than Frankenstein’s monster. The first edition was published in 1818 and it still has cultural influence over two hundred years later. It’s a good bet that if you showed an illustration of Frankenstein’s monster, or more accurately Boris Karloff’s depiction of the monster, to a modern child they would exclaim, “It’s a Frankenstein!” Of course they could be forgiven for confusing the monster with its creator, but that’s some cultural staying power.
Frankenstein’s influence extends beyond the patriarch of the Munster family and a breakfast cereal mascot. The novel explores some heavy emotional and philosophical themes. Hubris, grief, mankind’s cruelty and the ethics of pursuing knowledge without regard to consequence. The shorthand of “created a monster” has come to represent unintended consequence. Speaking of unintended consequence, the world of nerd fandom has created its own monster. The fanboy culture is often exclusionary and misogynistic; a world Mary Shelley would have been very familiar with.
To the fan who may claim that women can’t write good science fiction, for example, it should be pointed out that many scholars consider Frankenstein to be the first horror novel and the first science fiction novel. Oh, and Mary Shelley was nineteen when she published Frankenstein. A teen girl created the monster you love.