There’s a reason the story of Frankenstein endures. Its examination of mankind’s hubris and inhumane scientific progress has only become more relevant since Mary Shelley’s time. The pursuit of “innovation at all costs” has led to new monsters, born from people who failed (or refused) to consider the consequences of their actions. So it’s no wonder that Victor Frankenstein in Guillermo del Toro’s Netflix adaptation feels so much like a modern day tech bro. He is practically their template.<\/p>\n
Squint a bit, and you can see Frankenstein\u2019s recklessness in Mark Zuckerberg ignoring Facebook\u2019s role in promoting the genocide in Myanmar<\/a>, with Elon Musk lying about Tesla\u2019s real self-driving capabilities<\/a> (potentially leading to several crashes), or Sam Altman\u2019s OpenAI building a hallucinating AI search engine trained on stolen content. Screw the consequences, they just want to shout \u201cit\u2019s alive!\u201d as their products go viral (and as their investors lap up the engagement).<\/p>\n Del Toro’s Frankenstein <\/em>is a remix of the major elements of the novel \u2014 there’s the doomed love story, the mad scientist driven by his ego and the sympathetic monster who demonstrates far more humanity than his creator \u2014 refashioned in the director’s opulent style. But it’s also clear from the film’s explosive opening, where an Arctic ship encounters Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) being chased by a seemingly unkillable Creature (Jacob Elordi), that del Toro isn’t shying away from his campier horror roots. Arms are torn off, gallons of blood are spilled. This Frankenstein contains multitudes.<\/p>\n Why did Victor Frankenstein go through hell to reanimate the dead? Because he could. In the novel and this film, the whole ordeal was always about bragging rights and demonstrating his greatness as a scientist. He didn\u2019t consider what he owed to the new life form, or the cruelty of bringing a being into the world with no companion. It didn\u2019t matter who he hurt. Sound familiar?<\/p>\n![\"Mia](\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/.8lufer7FFhPTtjF9MX9TQ--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTUwMA--\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/415_PF_20240617_40675_R.jpg\"\/)