Music Responses

The topic of today’s blog are the analysis of Frankenstein by Willoughby and My Body is a Cage by Arcade fire during the Frankenstein’s Wedding musical.

As far as songs go, I enjoyed Frankenstein even though the vocals are a bit strange. I’m not very good at analyzing lyrics, but I will try to anyway. When looking at the lyrics, I noticed just how little there actually is to this song. However, less can be more, especially in songs.  Watching the music video, the song is about a mad scientist is trying to find his creation. Then a flashback of them playing ball appears and the scientist takes his glasses off in a way that makes his eyes look very strange through the lens. This song doesn’t stick to the book that much since the creature never actually misses Frankenstein. The lyrics imply that he’s very confused and is missing his creation. I don’t believe the guitar solo has much of an impact of the actual message, but rather the mood of the song. It’s possible I may look up other songs by Willoughby after writing this.

The next song, My Body is a Cage by Arcade Fire, has a lot more lyrics to analyze. The chorus that keeps playing throughout the song “My body is a cage that keeps me, From dancing with the one I love, But my mind holds the key” means that he cannot truly express himself because of the body that he/she is in. This goes for Frankenstein entirely since he isn’t able to communicate with others without them trying to attack him or are just mortified of him. The rest of the song seems to be about not being able to communicate his/her feeling due to physical extremities. Using the song in Frankenstein’s Wedding was a very good idea since it goes with the mood of the play.

Frankenstein Quotes

We were asked to find quotes to use in our future paper, which consisted of finding good passages from our five chapters of reading and making sure they’re highlighted. This books if full of many good quotes to use and choosing the best can be difficult, especially since some may be overlooked. Here is what I have come across so far.

The first quote I came across happened in the letters during the beginning of the book. “…a being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature,” (Shelley 25) is a quote from the beginning of the book, so using it in my introduction would be a good idea. I could use it to help set an ominous mood during the beginning, later revealing that this was actually Frankenstein’s creature. When I bring up Frankenstein and his family life, the quote “For a long time I was their only care,” (Shelley 35) would be used to help explain how his family life effected the outcome of his creature. Another useful quote pertaining to Frankenstein’s home life is on page 40 “Ah! Cornelius Agrippa! My dear Victor, do not waste your time upon this; it is sad trash,” (Shelley). This quote is about Frankenstein’s relationship with his father more specifically, but can be made to relate how Frankenstein acts toward his creation. Discussing his passion toward life and death, the quote “No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world,”  on page 55 (Shelley) is a great addition to my future essay. It shows how his passion is relentless after his success and can possibly see himself as a god.

Frankenstein Advertising

The two Absolute Vodka pictures were somewhat humorous, as well as the Mint Vinetu ones. I’ve seen many pictures like the book ones before though, but these more focused on immersion in a book rather than humor. The “Son of Frankenstein” older photos were neat, but were probably much more impressive in the 1935 than it would be now. Today we have those life size Wall-E cutouts in movie theaters and other big posters. As for the Osteo Bi-Flex pills, I get it that the point is that the Monster moved very stiffly in the movie and now even he can relax due to these pills. When I wrote that sentence, I did not know there was a commercial to go with it. I find it interesting that I got the same exact message in several seconds for the poster, but it took 30 seconds of a commercial to explain the same message. I noticed in the Universal’s Exhibitor’s Campaign Book for Bride of Frankenstein advertisements that one of the boxes on the “Free Service to Patrons during run of Bride of Frankenstein”  booth says to “…smoke the scare away!” I sometimes forget that people used to be able to smoke in places. Ever since Indiana had the smoking ban, I’ve become accustomed to it. The comic looking Frankenstein promotional art is somewhat humorous since he looks nothing like that in the movie. The scientist upside down is interesting as well, to me he looks like he’s stabbing the monster with a fork laughing maniacally. The Frankenstein Sticker advertisement reminded me of those old propaganda posters during World War I and II because of the color scheme. The edits people make can be pretty funny as well with games like Team Fortress Two or Captain America. After looking through all of these photos, I noticed all of them use the well known Karloff appearance, which is internationally accepted now.

AV Club and Horror Review Summary and Response

Reading the AV Club review, I was surprised to find the special features reviewed. Typically when people buy DVDs and review them, only the feature film is mentioned. When I was a child, my family and I would always watch the special features, but lately I’ve forgotten about them or there just isn’t anything else but the main presentation. When I read “…but what really sets it apart are the extras,” I became much more interested since more and more movies are forgetting about extras.  The AV Club review is short, but it full of good information. After reading this review I concluded that this DVD is a worthy purchase for anyone interested in Frankenstein or its legacy.

The second review focuses much more on Frankenstein in general and the reviewer’s experience with horror films. Brett Gallman, the reviewer, expressed his views of the monsters as “immediately terrifying from the moment he enters the film.” I would have to disagree with him in this aspect, but that may because of desensitization from the Internet, movies, and games. Things that used to scare people years ago are no longer scary. Scarface was extremely controversial at the time it was released; however, compared to the movies released today, it’s rather tame. Brett said “The monster is ultimately more the victim rather than the villain of the film,” is a statement in which I share the same opinion. The monster was extremely mistreated by Doctor Frankenstein’s assistant as well as Doctor Frankenstein himself. Apparently it was unexpected for the monster to turn after such mistreatment. I personally compared it to a prisoner escaping from his captors. The monster had no previous experience with life and was brought into the world as an adult, which is rather hard to imagine doing. The reviewer brought up many good descriptive scenes as well as additional information about the film. This review was much more subjective, however it has much more thought than any other objective review.

Summary of Classic-Horror’s Review of Frankenstein

There are few things that more people know about than Frankenstein. The trademark skin, neck bolts, flat head, and demeanor are all very recognizable to anyone who has ever heard anything about Frankenstein. However, those feature were never mentioned in the book, but rather was thought up by James Whale for his classic film.

In the opening, the audience is warned that this movie is extremely horrific in its nature. In this time period though, this movie would be considered extremely tame. Today’s movies are pushing the envelope of what they can get in movie theaters just like Frankenstein had done (not to say that this hadn’t happened before Frankenstein as well).

The rest of the story is the story we’ve known for such a long time. A crazed man with his hunchback assistant that wants to reanimate dead tissue to create a new living person. This ends up going awry as the assistant steals an “abnormal” brain to be put inside the monster. His personality seems to be the one of a child that is given enormous strength.

I personally agree with the review of Frankenstein where he says that Mae Clark (Elizabeth in the movie) didn’t do that good of job with her impending doom monologue. However, she wasn’t that bad for most of the movie, it was just that one scene that stood out.

Despite that one scene, Frankenstein is a great film where every scene is a masterpiece. None of the movie ever seemed to have filler albeit it was a rather short film. There has not been a more trademark film when it comes to the horror genre. The website this summary review is from is meant to review Frankenstein as it is one of the greatest horror stories of all time.

 

P.S. I’m glad they added in the line “Now I know what it feels like to be God!” back into the movie.

Remixes

Whenever I hear the word “remix,” the first thing that comes to mind, sadly, are those bad Sprite commercials where they remixed the flavor of Sprite. Remixes can bring up as much bad as they can good, so since I’m allowed to do this type of informal writing. I am writing separate paragraphs about each one.

Remixes can be very entertaining and just as good as the original. I believe Adventure Time and the Regular Show are almost remixed from early 90′s children’s cartoons such as Rocko’s Modern Life. Both Adventure Time and the Regular Show are both supposedly “children’s” cartoons, but often contain adult humor in the form on an innuendo. Tom Brier is a name I often search on YouTube to watch his videos, he is an “blind” ragtime pianist. That means he has music put in front of him that has never heard, then he plays along with it, throwing in his own ragtime theme into it. Lately he’s been playing random video game music that his fans suggested and it’s all been very good. In class we said that Disney really hasn’t had any original ideas, that makes me wonder whether Hayao Miyazaki’s films are unoriginal since Studio Ghibli is internationally owned by Disney (as in Disney is responsible for the international distribution of their films).

When it comes to remixes, nearly anyone can do it, which really makes going through YouTube a hassle. Never before has there been a dubstep remix of nearly every song imaginable and they’re all just terrible in my opinion. Then there are genuinely funny or entertaining ones such as a Biggie Smalls and Thomas the Tank Engine mashup or Quad City DJ and anything imaginable remix, however this paragraph isn’t to talk about those. Other non-Internet examples of bad remixes would be the last two Transformers movies (not the first new one), any CoD game (they have all essentially been remixes since #4), and Miley Cyrus’s rendition of Smells Like Teen Spirit.

 

 

Introduction to me

Well I’m supposed to write about myself, so I’ll just name a few things that I have in my dorm that could be considered out of the ordinary.

• Giant Steak Costume
• Large Printout of Gabe Newell
• Dreamcast
• Juggling Balls
• Asian candies provided by roommate
• Whiteboard
• Two printers stacked on one another
• White mug with a candid picture of someone’s kid in a football uniform (I got it from a thrift store)
• Terra-Cotta warrior statue

I do not discriminate against particular mediums so I’ll watch, listen, or play anything at least once. Eating is one of my favorite things, I’m always willing to try things that other people find gross. Hummus is one of my favorite foods because it goes on nearly everything. I’m not sure as to what else to put, so here is a bulleted list of random facts about myself.

• I want a Corgi when I get a house of my own.
• If I’m not good at programming, I don’t know what I’ll be majoring in.
• Space Cowboys are my favorite setting for any show or movie.
• Functionality > Fashion in my opinion.
• I try to eat as healthy as possible.
• I enjoy Adventure Time and the Regular Show.
• All of my immediate family have moved away from Indiana.
• I was a shift manager at a local Jimmy Johns in Fort Wayne.
• I drink my coffee black and tea with no sugar.
• I enjoy making “make-shift” contraptions out everyday household objects.
• Three friends and I are going to get our own four person cottage for next school year.
• On a Pale Horse is one of my favorite books.
• I fractured my scaphoid last semester and I just recently got out of the cast.

Well, that’s all the random personal information I can think of about myself for now. Hopefully you will enjoy learning about Trevor II in this classroom throughout the semester.