Mary Shelley’s ‘Hideous Progeny:’ Readaptation and (Textual) Deformity in Two Recent Frankenstein Films

IF 0.1 4区 文学 0 LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS
P. Mitchell
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, I discuss two recent films, Frankenstein (Kevin Connor 2004) and Victor Frankenstein (Paul McGuigan 2015), in terms of how they represent disability for mainstream television and cinema spectators. Using a critical framework that blends disability and adaptation studies, I analyse both films from a ‘crip’ perspective – that is, by interpreting how they propagate or resist the able-bodied assumptions upon which many Frankenstein narratives are based. As screen readaptations, I explore how Connor’s Frankenstein and Victor Frankenstein reflexively engage with this historical legacy, whilst providing textually ‘deformed’ versions of the story for contemporary audiences. More specifically, my analysis illustrates how the visual depiction of the Creature in Connor’s Frankenstein serves to maintain a non-disabled gaze. Although the film subverts the typical conflation of a character’s atypical body with a malevolent disposition, it does not, in fact, disrupt the longstanding ableist paradigm that views disability as monstrous. In contrast, Victor Frankenstein, although witness to the visual erasure of Igor’s physical deformity from the cinema screen, nevertheless provides a critical exploration of the disabled individual’s social exclusion and oppression by foregrounding Igor’s subjective voice.
玛丽·雪莱的“丑陋的后代”:最近两部弗兰肯斯坦电影中的改编和(文本)畸形
摘要在这篇文章中,我讨论了最近的两部电影,《弗兰肯斯坦》(Kevin Connor,2004年)和《维克多·弗兰肯斯坦(Victor Frankenstein,Paul McGuigan,2015年),它们如何代表主流电视和电影观众的残疾。使用一个融合了残疾和改编研究的批判性框架,我从“crip”的角度分析了这两部电影——也就是说,通过解释它们如何传播或抵制许多弗兰肯斯坦叙事所基于的健全假设。作为屏幕改编,我探索了康纳的《弗兰肯斯坦》和维克多·弗兰肯斯坦是如何反射性地参与这一历史遗产的,同时为当代观众提供故事的文本“变形”版本。更具体地说,我的分析说明了康纳的《弗兰肯斯坦》中对生物的视觉描绘是如何保持非残疾凝视的。尽管这部电影颠覆了角色非典型身体与恶毒性格的典型融合,但事实上,它并没有破坏长期以来将残疾视为可怕的能人范式。相比之下,维克多·弗兰肯斯坦虽然见证了伊戈尔身体畸形从电影屏幕上被视觉抹去,但他通过突出伊戈尔的主观声音,对残疾人的社会排斥和压迫进行了批判性的探索。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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CiteScore
0.30
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2
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