Expository Essay on the Significance of Choices Made by the Director of the Film Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

You will write an essay on this prompt in-class on Tuesday (December 4).

Choose from the following choices made by Kenneth Branagh, the direct of the film Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and in a well-developed essay explain its thematic significance.

Thematic significance is the significance to the meaning of the film (or the ideas in the film or the purpose of the film), as opposed to dramatic significance which is the significance to the characters experiencing the film’s drama. So you’ll have to decide something about the meaning, ideas, and/or purpose of the film and then explain how the specific choice contributes that meaning, those ideas, and/or that purpose.

Here are some choices Branagh made in the film…

• the use of red, white, and dark colors
• the use of ice and fire
• the choice of how to depict Victor creating the monster (it’s symbolic, remember!)
• the choice to expand Waldman’s role
• the choice to change Henry Clerval’s character
• the choice to change the way Caroline dies
• the choice to change what happens after Victor promises to make the monster a companion
• the choice to include the sources of the bodies and brains for Victor’s creations
• the choice to alter the depiction of the De Lacey family
• [a choice you come up with on your own]

Here are some possible themes of the film…

• the power of extreme passionate emotion
• the dangers of pushing the boundaries of scientific exploration
• the perversion of nature by science and technology
• the struggle between competing passions (passion for a person versus scientific passion)
• the search for true companionship
• the struggle between living to be happy and living to be great
• the responsibilities of a nurturer (parent, creator, teacher)
• the sacrifices of a nurturer (parent, creator, teacher)
• the difficulty of overcoming prejudice
• [something else you come up with on your own]