Violence and Contemporary Literature

Paper Summary:

Through interpretation of the disturbing facts that exposure to media violence contributes to world violence, this paper develops a correlation between Frankenstein's ill-conceived creation and the mass murdering protagonists from Oliver Stone's 1994 film, "Natural Born Killers." The paper discusses Mary Shelley's classic gothic novel "Frankenstein" as an entry point into an examination of Stone's film. It shows the 1994 film as a cultural text reflecting the violent "media culture" in which the American nation was immersed in at that time (Rodney King, the L.A. Riots, the O.J. Simpson trial and others).

From the Paper:

"When Mary Shelley penned her classic tale about a visionary experiment gone horribly wrong she created Frankenstein, one of the most respected and revered novels in the history of western literature. This enigmatic author's choice to subtitle her work "The Modern Prometheus" alludes to the narrative's major theme. The inscription is a reference to the mythical Greek Titan who bestowed the gift of fire unto Mankind. Zeus, the undisputed King of the Titans, saw this as usurpation of Prometheus' authority and condemned him to eternal torture as retribution. This story mirrors the plight of Shelley's protagonist, Victor Frankenstein, to a large extent. Frankenstein was a dedicated and talented scientist who had studied this fledgling discipline since childhood. His life's grim ambition was to piece together a living, breathing creature from the remains of both humans and animals. The doctor toiled for years to create life from death and finally, one tempestuous night, he succeeded. Once his creature was brought into being however, it quickly became shunned by and alienated from the world around it. It lashed out violently at society, bringing about widespread death and destruction. Soon, the monster became fixated on its creator and followed Frankenstein to the ends of the earth hoping to bring about his demise."

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