Frankenstein (2025) Broke Me & This Is Why | Soder Cinema flawed creature vs. flawless creation (relatable vs. unattainable) a grotesque monster is lovable in his wounded approach to life
It almost sounds to me like you hate the false self we present to the world.. a visibly pleasing robot who manipulates others' weakness for gain (leading to a bloodless & cold hearted, highly calculative existence which strives to ascend thru death—I think it is interesting how so many of these movies centralize around the human ability to not just think/assess facts but to feel powerful emotion for remorse & compassion). Frankenstein's monster is aspirational, he comes from death and extends life thru his ability to forgive & continue to love his creator thru every experience he is given, even the physical absence of love. This is an intensely spiritual story of hope & CHRIST-likeness, look at how he is indestructible, that speaks to how we will live on for all eternity, and how every choice we make matters. Psalm 51:5-6 from birth we were raised in the muck and mire of our evil desires, yet we see the horrors of war/greed/envy, our rebirth is to refuse to assimilate with internal carnal drive toward hatred & isolation of superiority. There is wisdom in the existential dread..shhh it is a secret you only uncover from experiencing it for yourself. I like the idea of leaving Caleb behind, as if she has this internal scoreboard to tick off both good & evil, as proof to herself that she too can reciprocate kind consideration in the face of the necessary evils of self-preservation—you know, all is fair in love & war, it is better to have loved and lost—to have left him alive rather than bludgeoned to death. Ex Machina is not without its merits, in a way, Caleb too can be seen as the CHRIST figure who makes a way for the creature to survive in his place—she took his lifeline by being seated in the awaiting helicopter.. it is a self-loathing move to not see yourself as the uncaring robot metal.
C01 25-11-14: I watched a video about James Whale who created the first Frankenstein movie. He picked Boris Karloff after seeing him in a play. I saw the movie as a little girl. And even then I always felt sorry for the "monster."
C02 25-11-16: Interesting thoughts! I have an odd take, perhaps. And while I cannot trust the intentions of Ava, much like the distrust shown Frankenstein’s monster, I feel that when we come up against something or someone unfamiliar to us, we could take two paths: humanization or dehumanization. We’ve seen what dehumanization does in these stories. We see how the Monster suffers unjustly because he is dehumanized. For no fault of his own, he is hunted, hurt, betrayed, and misunderstood. We see Ex Machina’s Nathan dehumanize his creations, too, with actions that would be plainly abusive if these created creatures were real people. And we’ve seen what dehumanization does in our real world, the horrible things said on social media from people out of fear and anger and arrogance, the wars and worse that we humans wage on others we deem less human then ourselves, denying the humanity of others when plainly confronted with it. It’s ugly. It’s humanity at its worst. My argument, from an ethical standpoint, is that it’s better to err on the side of humanization than dehumanization. It’s better to treat even the Alexa on my shelf with respect not because she is real, but because I am. It’s because I am human and I want to cultivate habits of humanization and kindness rather than abusing my power wherever I can get away with it. For certain the LLMs and fairly rudimentary AIs we now encounter are not human and not people, much less human than our fictional versions of AGI. But even then, I want us to make a habit of behaving humanely whenever possible. In creating habits of dehumanizing others, we become less human ourselves, and like the doctor Frankenstein, we become the real monster.
Ex Machina (2014)
"Frankenstein" most commonly refers to Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, which tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who creates a sapient creature, often called "Frankenstein's monster." The term can also refer to the creator, Victor Frankenstein, or the monstrous creation itself, which seeks revenge on its creator after being shunned by society. The story is a foundational work of both Gothic horror and science fiction.
Prometheus: The mythological figure, whose name means "forethought," defied Zeus by giving fire to mankind—this gift to humanity is a symbolic token of technology, knowledge and, more generally, civilization—leading to his eternal punishment. Zeus had him chained to a rock where an eagle would eat his liver daily, though his liver would regenerate each night, a torment that only ended when the hero Herakles freed him. Additionally, Zeus was angered by Prometheus's trickery in a sacrificial offering where he deceptively presented the bones & fat of a bull to the gods, leaving the humans with the meat. This was an act of treachery and disrespect towards the gods. Another cause for punishment was Prometheus's refusal to reveal a secret about which of Zeus's children would eventually overthrow him.
Prometheus, in Greek religion, one of the Titans, the supreme trickster, and a god of fire. His intellectual side was emphasized by the apparent meaning of his name, Forethinker. In common belief he developed into a master craftsman, and in this connection he was associated with fire and the creation of mortals.
The Greek poet Hesiod related two principal legends concerning Prometheus. The first is that Zeus, the chief god, who had been tricked by Prometheus into accepting the bones and fat of sacrifice instead of the meat, hid fire from mortals. Prometheus, however, stole it and returned it to Earth once again. As the price of fire, and as punishment for humankind in general, Zeus created the woman Pandora and sent her down to Epimetheus (Hindsight), who, though warned by Prometheus, married her. Pandora took the great lid off the jar she carried, and evils, hard work, and disease flew out to plague humanity. Hope alone remained within.
Hesiod relates in his other tale, as vengeance on Prometheus, Zeus had him nailed to a mountain in the Caucasus & sent an eagle to eat his immortal liver, which constantly replenished itself; Prometheus was depicted in Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus, who made him not only the bringer of fire & civilization to mortals but also their preserver, giving them all the arts & sciences as well as the means of survival.
Madonna - Human Nature (1994)
Express yourself, don't repress yourself And I'm not sorry, it's human nature.creativity [Madonna looks very robotesque here, promoting sadomasochism]