ENGLISH TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION NSW
ETA.18.05
STAGE 6 SYLLABUS Advanced MODULE A: Texts in Time: Blade Runner and Frankenstein. 2009-2012
FRANKENSTEIN
and
BLADE RUNNER
ELECTIVE: TEXTS IN TIME
TEXTS AND CONTEXTS
MODULE A: ADVANCED COURSE
Teaching notes prepared by
Melpomene Dixon BA Dip Ed
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ENGLISH TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION NSW
ETA.18.05
STAGE 6 SYLLABUS Advanced MODULE A: Texts in Time: Blade Runner and Frankenstein. 2009-2012
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SYLLABUS CONTEXT ................................................................................................... 3
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 5
Clarifying a Position ............................................................................................................................. 6
Science and Popular Culture ............................................................................................................... 6
FRANKENSTEIN: CONTEXT ......................................................................................... 8
The Author........................................................................................................................................... 8
Romanticism........................................................................................................................................ 8
Science................................................................................................................................................ 9
The Novel Form ................................................................................................................................. 11
Contemporary Reception ................................................................................................................... 11
FRANKENSTEIN: CLOSE STUDY OF TEXT .............................................................. 13
Re-reading the text ............................................................................................................................ 13
The Introduction................................................................................................................................. 15
Plot Summary .................................................................................................................................... 16
Characterisation................................................................................................................................. 16
Setting ............................................................................................................................................... 17
Structure ............................................................................................................................................ 17
Language and Style........................................................................................................................... 18
Extended Writing Task....................................................................................................................... 20
BLADE RUNNER: CONTEXT....................................................................................... 20
The Director....................................................................................................................................... 20
Postmodernism.................................................................................................................................. 20
Science.............................................................................................................................................. 21
Film Genre......................................................................................................................................... 23
Contemporary Reception ................................................................................................................... 24
BLADE RUNNER: CLOSE STUDY OF TEXT.............................................................. 24
Re-viewing the text ............................................................................................................................ 24
Introduction........................................................................................................................................ 25
Plot Quiz ............................................................................................................................................ 25
Characterisation................................................................................................................................. 26
Setting ............................................................................................................................................... 27
Structure ............................................................................................................................................ 28
Language and Style........................................................................................................................... 29
Extended Writing Task....................................................................................................................... 31
COMPARING FRANKENSTEIN AND BLADERUNNER ............................................. 32
Genre ................................................................................................................................................ 32
TEXTS IN TIME ............................................................................................................. 33
Texts in Context................................................................................................................................. 33
The Promethean Myth ....................................................................................................................... 35
Parental Responsibility ...................................................................................................................... 37
In Search of Humanity ....................................................................................................................... 39
Memories, Photos and the Human Element....................................................................................... 40
The Natural World and the Unnatural ................................................................................................ 41
‘Worldspace’ ...................................................................................................................................... 42
SUMMARY OF IDEAS IN THE TEXTS......................................................................... 44
EXAMINATION PREPARATION .................................................................................. 45
References ........................................................................................................................................ 46
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ENGLISH TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION NSW
ETA.18.05
STAGE 6 SYLLABUS Advanced MODULE A: Texts in Time: Blade Runner and Frankenstein. 2009-2012
SYLLABUS CONTEXT
Explore: to study in depth
in relation to context
keeping in mind how the
context influences the
composition and reception
of the text.
Each text promotes
particular values about a
society through their
content and form.
Comparative and critical
readings invite questioning
these values for different
contexts.
.
There can be more than
one purpose. Purpose can
be moral, didactic,
commercial, entertainment,
etc. Purpose is closely
linked to the desired
audience, the form and the
medium.
Analysis requires the close
attention to the detail of the
text’s form and content
especially as that affects
values and attitudes. The
events of the text must be
interpreted and evaluated to
show how the language is
used to reflect and generate
attitudes and values.
Comparison requires
finding the differences and
similarities between texts
Module A: Comparative Study of Texts and Context
This module requires students to compare texts in order to
explore them in relation to their contexts. It develops
students’ understanding of the effects of context and
questions of value.
Each elective in this module requires the study of groups of
texts which are to be selected from a prescribed text list.
These texts may be in different forms or media.
Students examine ways in which social, cultural and historical
context influences aspects of texts, or the ways in which
changes in context lead to changed values being reflected
in texts. This includes study and use of the language of
texts, consideration of purposes and audiences, and
analysis of the content, values and attitudes conveyed
through a range
Students develop a range of imaginative, interpretive and
analytical compositions that relate to the comparative study of
texts and context. These compositions may be realised in a
variety of forms and media
Stage 6 Syllabus English, © Board of Studies, NSW, 1999, p 51
The outcomes on which the student may be
assessed may be in any form and genre but
must relate to the relationship between texts
and context and must have or refer to an
element of comparison.
Context is the range of
personal, social, historical,
cultural and workplace
conditions in which a text is
responded to and
composed .
Composers and
consequently the texts they
write are affected by the
context in which they are
written just as responders
are affected by their own
contexts in the way they
receive a text .
Forms: genre and type of
text.
Media: the physical form of
the text eg film print
electronic. These are also
contexts which can affect
the text’s meaning
Language: techniques
used by the composer to
convey meaning. This can
refer to visual, spoken,
auditory and written
techniques. The techniques
must be linked to the effect
and the meaning.
MODULE A: Comparative Study of Texts and Context
Elective 2: Texts in Time
In this elective students compare how the treatment of similar content in a pair of texts composed in
different times and contexts may reflect changing values and perspectives. By considering the texts in
their contexts and comparing values, ideas and language forms and features, students come to a
heightened understanding of the meaning and significance of each text.
English Stage 6, Prescriptions: Area of Study Electives and Texts,
Higher School Certificate, 2009 and 2012. p 19 © Board of Studies, NSW 2007
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ENGLISH TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION NSW
ETA.18.05
STAGE 6 SYLLABUS Advanced MODULE A: Texts in Time: Blade Runner and Frankenstein. 2009-2012
Students will need to:
CONSIDER A PAIR OF TEXTS: Frankenstein and Blade Runner (Director’s Cut) in their
Treatment of similar content
What can be identified as common content or concepts in the two texts?
In different times and contexts
o What were the personal, social, historical, cultural and workplace conditions and
values at the time the text was composed and how do these affect the meaning
of the text?
o Is there evidence of changing values and perspectives and can these be
attributed to the different times and contexts?
By COMPARING
Values
o What does each text value? or
o What values are implied by each text?
o How do the values of each text shed light onto the values of the other?
Ideas
o What ideas is each text offering?
Language forms & features
o How does the composer use the techniques of the chosen form to impart the
values and ideas?
AND COMING TO A HEIGHTENED UNDERSTANDING OF EACH TEXT’S
Meaning
o Bearing in mind that meaning is not a fixed and final thing but a process through
which we come to an understanding of texts, how does each text affect how or
what the other text means to you?
o Having compared the content, the context, the values, the perspectives, the
ideas and the language of each text what can you take from each text about
how we live our lives and what we value?
Significance
o Significant texts usually have the power to AFFECT an audience or to change
ways of seeing the world as they deal with important and often innovative ideas
that are expressed in an interesting way. Having considered the contemporary
and subsequent reception of the text, what conclusions can you reach about
why the text is regarded as significant?
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ENGLISH TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION NSW
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STAGE 6 SYLLABUS Advanced MODULE A: Texts in Time: Blade Runner and Frankenstein. 2009-2012
INTRODUCTION
The two texts Frankenstein and Blade Runner may be divided by nearly 200 years, be
conveyed in different forms and develop their ideas in very different settings but there are
distinct similarities between them. I say similarities rather than connections because to use the
term ‘connection’ could be imply that the one is an adaptation of the other. As close as the
texts are in thinking, they should not be seen as representing a universal truth about the nature
of mankind but rather as texts that are products of their times, that capture the discourses of
the historical, social and political contexts in which each emerges.
Both texts are now regarded as classics and yet, interestingly, neither was highly acclaimed
with initial reviewers. Both texts have had extensive modification and editing by their
composers as they changed the focus through rewriting and re-filming in subsequent editions.
Both texts have influenced the creation of other texts, signalling that perhaps the early negative
reception may have been due to the fact that each text broke boundaries.
A note to students
The plethora of academic essays on each of the texts can appear at first to be helpful but it has
its disadvantages. You must be careful not to depend on other sources for knowledge. It states
clearly in the syllabus guidelines that the personal response is valued. This does not preclude
looking at other responses, but it does mean that whatever you discuss must emerge from your
own thorough knowledge of the book and film. Know the texts, know what happens and when it
happens, use supporting evidence from the text for any statements that you make. If you use
any ideas from other writers acknowledge these and only use that evidence that supports your
own views and the question you need to respond to. And remember, you are looking
considering each text in the light of the other so a commentary on only one text may lead you in
directions that are not necessarily relevant to this comparative study.
While there are many similarities between the texts, this unit is not about how the earlier
Frankenstein has been “adapted”. The unit is concerned to explore how the same concepts
are interpreted in different historical contexts. So the key question for you is: how does the
context affect the meaning.
Because there is more than one version of each text make sure you use the set text in your
discussion. For the film the Director’s Cut is the correct text, for the novel the Penguin Red
Classics series provides the standard text to be used. Using other people’s essays can lead to
the wrong edition being cited – and of course you lose than much valued ‘personal touch’.
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ENGLISH TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION NSW
ETA.18.05
STAGE 6 SYLLABUS Advanced MODULE A: Texts in Time: Blade Runner and Frankenstein. 2009-2012
CLARIFYING A POSITION
Activity: Do you agree or disagree?
All infertile couples should have the right to in vitro fertilisation
Stem cell research must be supported
Cloning will have dangerous consequences
Parents should take responsibility for their children
Lack of family love can lead to criminal behaviour
The thing that distinguishes humans from other creatures is emotions
Robots can be made to take on all human attributes
Science offers us a rational view of the world while horror texts manipulate our
emotions.
A genius does not have to answer to the world
Science and ethics are antithetical concepts
An appreciation of beauty is an intensely human experience
Man does not have the right to play god
The creation of life is a wonderful natural thing
All human beings have a right to have a family
Everyone should have access to transplants if they need them
Be prepared to explain your choices to the class.
Consider
What is ethics?
What is morality?
What role should each play in science?
Do Gothic texts ever consider ethics and science?
Research
Working in pairs, consider the ethics and morality of one of the following topics. Find
arguments for and against the topic:
In vitro fertilization
Robots
Stem cell research
Cloning
Transplants of live human organs
Now take on one of the roles below and present a case for your topic:
A minister of the church
A scientific researcher
An ethicist
A lawyer
A doctor
A parent of a child with a genetic disorder
An infertile couple
(DON’T assume that in vitro fertilization is different from the other topics. Historically in vitro
fertilisation faced the same arguments about the sanctity of life as the other topics!)
SCIENCE AND POPULAR CULTURE
Activity
a) Working in pairs or threes. Go to the video shop and borrow a science fiction movie. For
homework watch the movie and relate your class research to the movie. Present your
findings to the class. (eg I Robot; Artificial Intelligence; Alien; Jurassic Park; ET; Brazil;
Terminator )
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ENGLISH TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION NSW
ETA.18.05
STAGE 6 SYLLABUS Advanced MODULE A: Texts in Time: Blade Runner and Frankenstein. 2009-2012
What human desire does your movie tap into?
What scientific breakthrough is suggested by your movie?
What fear does the movie tap into?
How realistic is your movie scenario?
What is the message about science that is being transmitted to you?
Is science a positive or negative force in the film?
What do you think are the ethical questions which the film raises?
b) After listening to the presentations:
What is the attitude towards science in most popular culture texts?
Do the same activity with a science show such as Catalyst (on the ABC) or Life on Earth
and ask the same questions. Do you get the same answers? What is the difference?
c) Categorise the following scenarios as horror or science.
Scenario
A scientist constructs a human being from body parts collected in a graveyard
H/SF
A scientist transplants an organ from a dead body into a living one
A scientist uses the DNA of a heterosexual couple to create their own baby
A scientist grows embryos which are hatched in a laboratory
A scientist joins an egg with sperm in a glass petrie jar and places this in a
woman’s womb for incubation
A scientist takes the skin tissue from a human being and grows it so that it can
replace damaged skin on a human being
A human being created by a scientist from dead body parts is rejected by his
father the scientist and becomes a monster, killing those around him
A child is brought up in poverty and neglect, ignored by his parents and he
becomes a serial killer.
A psychologist helps program a robot to have the emotional reactions of
humans
A psychologist works with a violent child to help develop an acceptable level of
behaviour
A scientist works with twins separating them and inflicting experiments on one
child while the other is tested to see if he/she feels the twin’s sensations
A scientist experiments on the skin of humans testing how much can be
removed and how far it can be stretched to make lampshades
What criteria did you use to make your decision?
Is the decision so clear-cut?
Arguments about science and modern intervention in the body and in life have always faced
attacks because they can often be regarded as horror. When you study the two texts be aware
of the issues that face scientists in each day and age: what claims are being made about life
and the creation of life?
By the end of the unit you should be able to answer:
In what way do the modern ideas about scientific research reflect the concerns of the
Romantic period?
How do the different mediums available (novel and film) affect the way the readings are
offered?
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ENGLISH TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION NSW
ETA.18.05
STAGE 6 SYLLABUS Advanced MODULE A: Texts in Time: Blade Runner and Frankenstein. 2009-2012
FRANKENSTEIN: CONTEXT
THE AUTHOR
Mary Shelley’s Life 1797-1851
Mary Shelley (born Godwin) described herself as the daughter of two persons of distinguished
literary celebrity, Mary Wollestonecraft and William Godwin. Her mother, an early feminist
published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792, and her father was the author of An
Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793) among other texts. Both parents were concerned
with social justice and how individuals lived their lives in the world. They were concerned about
what was ethical and moral.
Mary Wollestonecraft died 11 days after her daughter’s birth but her influence on her daughter
can be seen in the independent way Mary Shelley lived her life and in the ideas of her novel
Frankenstein. Wollestonecraft already had an illegitimate child, Fanny, and believed in the
sexual freedom of women. Despite their opposition to the convention of marriage,
Wollestonecraft and Godwin had married to assure their child would be accepted into society.
Godwin brought up his daughter and her half sister, Fanny. He believed that the proper way to
learn was to read two or three books simultaneously and to this end provided them with access
to his extensive library and to the conversations of the creative intellectuals such as William
Wordsworth, Charles Lamb, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Hazlitt and others who were
invited to the house regularly. Mary read widely including books on science and wrote that as a
child she scribbled and my favourite pastime…was to write stories. She also kept a journal
discussing the books she read and her conversations – a valuable source of information about
her and the context in which she wrote. The close personal and intellectual relationship
between Mary and her father was resented by her stepmother, Mary Jane Clairmont, whom
Godwin married in 1801.
In November 1812, Mary met the wealthy Eton educated poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and his
wife, Harriet Westbrook Shelley. Shelley who had already published two Gothic romances,
Zastrozzi (1810) and St. Irvyne (1811), had fallen under the influence of Godwin. Godwin did
not approve of and tried to prevent the relationship that followed but on 28 July 1814, Mary
Godwin ran away with Shelley to France. Mary gave birth to four children, only one of whom
survived to adulthood. Her contact with death is often cited as an influence on her.
In the introduction to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein Mary Shelley wrote of the moment of
invention, when the story came to her mind. The book Frankenstein was a direct result of a
ghost story night with poets Byron and Shelley. Mary Shelley was so affected, trying to think of
a story which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature, and awaken thrilling horror
that she spent a restless night dreaming. In her dreams she saw the hideous phantasm of a
man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine show signs of life, and
stir with an uneasy, half vital motion. The story she wrote was not of impossible occurrence.
ROMANTICISM
The term Romanticism refers to a literary period from the late 18th Century to the early 19th
century. The Romantic writers were characterized by a focus on nature and the emotions with
a heightened aesthetic sensibility and a rejection of the ‘mechanical’ tendencies of classicism.
(For a thorough discussion of the way the term was adopted see the Introduction to
Romanticism: an anthology edited by Duncan Wu, Blackwell publishers).
Romantic writers also had a political purpose: to speak out for the underprivileged. The
Romantic period was a time of revolution. The French people had risen against their monarch
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ENGLISH TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION NSW
ETA.18.05
STAGE 6 SYLLABUS Advanced MODULE A: Texts in Time: Blade Runner and Frankenstein. 2009-2012
as had the Americans against British rule. The everyday person was held up as worthy of
consideration against the strictly held social divisions of the previous period. Writers such as
Rousseau and Edmund Burke wrote about the rights of the individual. This was echoed in the
word of the American Declaration of Independence drafted by Thomas Jefferson and others. A
significant feature of this period then can be seen to be the focus on the individual, an idea that
was first touted during the Renaissance.
Belief in the rights of individuals was not only experienced as a political statement but
influenced the creative writing of the period. For example, the poetry of the Romantics tried to
capture the nobility of the peasant who toiled in the fields, rather than venerating traditionally
great heroes. In so doing, they forged their own revolution against a convention of writing that
excluded the masses.
Characteristics of Romanticism include:
A sense of the sublime
The importance of nature
A belief in the creative genius
A return to the folk tales of the past (including Gothic)
A heightened emotional sensibility (including fear)
Famous British writers who were regarded as at the forefront of the Romantic movement
included: Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Keats, Byron and Shelley. Mary Shelley’s connection
to Shelley through marriage meant that she had an intimate acquaintance with the ideas he
professed. They also shared a friendship with Byron, one of the most popular writers of the
day.
SCIENCE
In her preface to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein Mary Shelley reports on the discussions that
Byron and P. B. Shelley had about the work of Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles
Darwin)
Many and long were the conversations between Lord Byron and Shelley, to which I was a
devout but nearly silent listener. During one of these, various philosophical doctrines were
discussed, and among others the nature of the principle of life, and whether there was any
probability of its ever being discovered and communicated. They talked of the experiments of
Dr Darwin, (I speak not of what the Doctor really did, or said that he did, but, as more to my
purpose, of what was then spoken of as having been done by him,) who preserved a piece of
vermicelli in a glass case, till by some extraordinary means it began to move with voluntary
motion. Not thus, after all, would life be given. Perhaps a corpse would be re-animated;
galvanism had given token of such things: perhaps the component parts of a creature might be
manufactured, brought together, and endured with vital warmth
(Re-animation = bring back to life
Galvanism = the act of bringing back life through the use of electricity
Vermicelli = thought to refer to vorticellae - misheard by Mary Shelley)
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ENGLISH TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION NSW
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STAGE 6 SYLLABUS Advanced MODULE A: Texts in Time: Blade Runner and Frankenstein. 2009-2012
Timeline of Attempts to Create Life
Science during Mary Shelley’s time
Science in the 20th and 21st centuries1
1738 - Jacques Vaucanson builds a
1938 - Cloning envisioned. Dr. Hans Spemann
mechanical duck that is “copied from
(Germany)
nature” (the first robot?). Experiments
1953 - Structure of DNA (deoxyribonucleic
were conducted into galvanization.
acid) discovered.
1774 - Pierre Jaquet-Droz in Switzerland 1970 - Dr. John B. Gurdon (U.K.) clones a
invents the lifelike Lady Musician whose
frog
eyes follow her fingers and who breathes
1978 - Birth of first child, conceived by in vitro
in time to the music to intimate emotion
1980 - U.S. Supreme Court rules that a
late 18th Century - Luigi Galvani tries to
genetically created new bacterium may
bring a frog back to life by passing
be patented.
electricity though the legs
1984 - Dr Willadsen (Denmark) clones a lamb
1802 – Erasmus Darwin writes The Temple of
from a developing sheep embryo cell..
Nature and describes vorticellae (the
1994 - Dr. First (U.S.) clones calves from
wheel animal) and how they keep alive
early embryo cells.
when appearing to all effects to be dead.
1995 - Drs. Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell
1803, January 22 - nephew of Galvani, Giovanni
(U.K.) create the world's first cloned
Aldini - experiment carried out in London
sheep, from embryo cells.
with a corpse of hanged murderer George
1996 - Dr. Ian Wilmut and his team clone the
Forster "the jaw began to quiver, the
world's the first sheep from adult cells,
adjoining muscles were horribly contorted,
DOLLY.
and the left eye actually opened The
1997 - A team led by Drs. Ian Wilmut and
climax of the performance came as Aldini
Keith Campbell (U.K.) create the first
probed Forster's rectum, causing his
sheep with human gene in every cell.
clenched fist to punch the air, as if in fury,
1999 - Dr. Gerald Schatten (U.S.) leads a
his legs to kick and his back to arch
team to create a clone (a rhesus
violently." He also applied the first electric
monkey) by embryo splitting.
shock to patients suffering depression
2000 - The first patents for cloning are given to
(melancholia)
the scientists who cloned Dolly
1803 - Sieur Robertson (in Paris) claims to be
2000 - Japanese scientists clone a baby bull
able to reproduce heads and horns of
from a bull clone itself
snails
2000 - Five piglets are cloned by a company
February 1803 - Galvani animates the
the eventually wants to reproduce
head of an ox
organs for humans.
1802 - Humphrey Davy writes A Discourse,
2001 - Scientists Massachusetts clone human
Introductory to a course of lectures on
embryos.
Chemistry and Chemical Philosophy
2001 - President Bush limits federally funded
(1812) in which he states a new influence
human embryonic stem cell research
has been discovered, which has enabled
2001 - cat cloned by a co. - wants business
man to produce from combinations of
reproducing pets.
dead matter effects which were formerly
2002 - California becomes the first U.S.
occasioned only by animal organs… the
state to approve a law legalizing the
man of science and the manufacturer are
therapeutic cloning of embryos.
daily becoming assimilated to each other2 2003 - Britain first country to issue research
1816 - Mary Shelley is reading Davey
licences for human embryonic cloning to
create stem cells. It specifies
therapeutic, not reproductive, cloning.
2004 - Britain announces the first embryonic
stem cell bank.
1
2
adapted from: Monster/Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Andrew Roberts Pandora’s Box, page 4, http://www.mdx.ac.uk/WWW/STUDY/SHE6.htm
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ENGLISH TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION NSW
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STAGE 6 SYLLABUS Advanced MODULE A: Texts in Time: Blade Runner and Frankenstein. 2009-2012
How would the events (in the first column) have influenced Mary?
Do you think that a knowledge of these experiments would change the way readers may
see a text such as Frankenstein which is about the re-creation of life from dead bodies?
Locate in the novel, the description of the experiments which Frankenstein conducted.
Do they reflect any of the scientific testing in the timeline?
What differences do you see between the attempts to replicate life in the 19th century and
those of the 20th and 21st centuries?
The right hand column includes legal and commercial aspects of genetic engineering.
Locate these and explain why they are relevant in a timeline on genetics. What change
might they indicate about the way we see scientific research nowadays?
Consider how the early creation of mechanical dolls in this timeline relate to the film
Blade Runner (you can also look at the article on page 22 to see how robotic research is
developing mechanical dolls with feelings)
What aspects of the research above are significant in Blade Runner?
Further Reading
If you are interested in finding out more about experiments to create life in Mary Shelley’s time
then look up the following websites:
https://eee.uci.edu/clients/bjbecker/NatureandArtifice/week6f.html for The Times reports
on experiments and pictures from the period (note the dates as you will see that these
experiments continued for some time through the 19th century after Frankenstein was
published).
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/frankenstein/frank_birth.html - brief survey of medical
influences on Mary Shelley
THE NOVEL FORM
The novel is a relatively new genre. While there were some stories written such as Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales and Boccaccio’s Decameron, as well as Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, the first
sustained exploration of character and related events was produced by Samuel Richardson in
1764 when he published the epistolary novel Pamela. The novel was written as a series of
letters designed to improve the skills of ladies in writing letters. From there followed a great
number of novels and the first official gothic novel published was The Castle of Otranto by
Walpole in 1764. Female writers followed with the most famous, Anne Radcliffe, writing The
Castles of Athin in 1789. In 1818 Frankenstein was first published anonymously.
Mary Shelley frames her book with a series of letters making it an epistolary novel. She deals
with a horrifying topic which produces fear and loathing in those who read it making it a gothic
text, but she also creates a new genre in that she does not follow the conventions of the gothic
novel. Her book was based on the science of the time and projections of what was believed to
be possible. In this way it foregrounds modern science fiction.
Activity 3
As you read Frankenstein list the features of Gothic that you locate and the features of science
fiction.
CONTEMPORARY RECEPTION
Contemporary reviewers of Frankenstein were shocked by the story and commented also on
the poor quality of the writing and yet the book has endured and become a classic. Mary
Shelley’s name does not appear in the 1818 edition. Because her husband, the famous poet,
Percy Bysshe Shelley, wrote the preface and it was dedicated to Godwin there were some who
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ENGLISH TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION NSW
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STAGE 6 SYLLABUS Advanced MODULE A: Texts in Time: Blade Runner and Frankenstein. 2009-2012
thought it may have been the work of Shelley. It was regarded as too shocking for a woman to
write.
Extracts from Contemporary Reviews of Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus (1818)
Review One
Such is a sketch of this singular performance, in which there is much power and beauty, both
of thought and expression, though, in many parts, the execution is imperfect, and bearing the
marks of an unpractised hand. It is one of those works, however, which, when we have read,
we do not well see why it should have been written;--for a jeu d'esprit it is somewhat too long,
grave, and laborious, … We are accustomed, happily, to look upon the creation of a living and
intelligent being as a work that is fitted only to inspire a religious emotion, and there is an
impropriety, to say no worse, in placing it in any other light.
The Edinburgh Magazine and Literary Miscellany: A New Series of "The Scots Magazine" 2 (March 1818): 249-253.
Review Two
But success in this point is still subordinate to the author's principal object, which is less to
produce an effect by means of the marvels of the narrations, than to open new trains and
channels of thought, by placing men in supposed situations of an extraordinary and
preternatural character, and then describing the mode of feeling and conduct which they are
most likely to adopt.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 2 (20 March/1 April 1818): 613-620. Written by Walter Scott
Review Three
We need scarcely say, that these volumes have neither principle, object, nor moral; the horror
which abounds in them is too grotesque and bizarre ever to approach near the sublime, and
when we did not hurry over the pages in disgust, we sometimes paused to laugh outright; and
yet we suspect, that the diseased and wandering imagination, which has stepped out of all
legitimate bounds, to frame these disjointed combinations and unnatural adventures, might be
disciplined into something better. … but it is a sort of absurdity that approaches so often the
confines of what is wicked and immoral, that we dare hardly trust ourselves to bestow even this
qualified praise. The writer of it is, we understand, a female; … but if our authoress can forget
the gentleness of her sex, it is no reason why we should; and we shall therefore dismiss the
novel without further comment.
The British Critic n.s.,9 (April 1818) 432-438.
Review Four
The main idea on which the story of Frankenstein rests, undoubtedly affords scope for the
display of imagination and fancy, as well as knowledge of the human heart; and the
anonymous author has not wholly neglected the opportunities which it presented to him: but
the work seems to have been written in great haste, and on a very crude and ill-digested plan;
and the detail is, in consequence, frequently filled with the most gross and obvious
inconsistencies.
The Literary Panorama and National Register, n.s., 8 (1 June 1818); 411-414.
Review Five
But when we have thus admitted that Frankenstein has passages which appal the mind and
make the flesh creep, we have given it all the praise (if praise it can be called) which we dare
to bestow. Our taste and our judgement alike revolt at this kind of writing, and the greater the
ability with which it may be executed the worse it is -- it inculcates no lesson of conduct,
manners, or morality; it cannot mend, and will not even amuse its readers, unless their taste
have been deplorably vitiated -- it fatigues the feelings without interesting the understanding…
The Quarterly Review, 18 (January 1818): 379-385.
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Activity
Working in groups
Locate and copy the positive comments in each of the extracts above
Locate and copy the negative comments
What is being criticised? Is it the ideas or the writing or both or neither?
From these comments what would you have estimated the book’s success rate to have
been?
Why do you think it continues to be published?
Further reading and discussion
For the full version of the contemporary reviews of Frankenstein look up:
http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/chronologies/mschronology/reviews.html
Look at what each reviewer valued and what they did not.
Look at the quotes from the novel chosen by the reviewers to see which sections stood
out for them.
Why were these sections important?
What do the reviewers’ comments imply about the values of the society?
What insights do these reviews give about the lack of popularity of Frankenstein?
FRANKENSTEIN: CLOSE STUDY OF TEXT
The story of Frankenstein was written in response to a request from Byron for a ghost story
from each of his companions at Lake Como. Mary Shelley had trouble composing her story but
after listening while “various philosophical doctrines were discussed, and among others the
nature of the principle of life, and whether there was any probability of its ever being
discovered and communicated” including the experiments of Dr Darwin she found her sleep
interrupted by “imagination, unbidden, unpossessed” guiding her through “successive images
that arose … with a vividness far beyond the usual bounds of reverie”. 3 While in this dream
she saw the story that would become Frankenstein.
The story begins with the letters of a ship’s captain to his sister. He eventually narrates the
story told to him by a man who they saved from the ice. This is the story of Frankenstein.
Frankenstein grew up in happy family with a brother and an adopted sister, Elizabeth. He was
a good scholar and went to the University of Ingolstadt to study science. While there he
became fascinated and obsessed by the idea of being the first to discover the secret of
creating life. When he did create his being he was repelled by the physical ugliness of the
creature and ran away, allowing the poor creature to make his own way in the world without a
father to guide him. The consequences are devastating for Frankenstein who fails to accept
responsibility and faces the murders of his family by his creation.
The book draws significantly on Romantic ideas about the sublime and creativity. Its very
inception in a dream echoes the Romantic notion of the power of the imagination.
RE-READING THE TEXT
It should be assumed that students in the Advanced course have read the text before coming
to class and have developed some personal response to it. They need to be made aware of
the fact that when we read texts we are positioned to a particular understanding of the world
and what is valued. They also need to understand that values in a written text emerge through
3
From the Preface written by Mary Shelley to the 1851 edition of the book. In Shelley, Frankenstein, Cambridge literature, edited
by D. Stevens
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the words. Techniques such as dialogue, descriptions, statements, imagery, allusions and
many others are available to the writer for conveying ideas and themes.
As the work of close study progresses in class, students should use their reading journal to
note references and consider the following:
Thematic concerns
Notes and personal comments
Dreams and their significance
Creativity
Women and their role as nurturers and creators
of life (a feminist reading would look at the way
Frankenstein tries to usurp the role of women
and is punished)
Obsession (it is often said that Mary Shelley’s
book – especially the later 1834 edition- is a
response to the obsessive state that captured
Shelley during his creative periods.)
Science and its role at the time
Physiognomy – one of the beliefs of the period
was in physiognomy: that you could tell a
man’s character from his face. This is clearly
present in Dracula by which time this notion
was popular. Is this relevant in this text?
A strong tenet in Romanticism was the
insistence on the purity of man in a state of
innocence. All men were born with the capacity
for good but forces around them produced evil.
Consider the creation of the monster. How is
this belief reflected in the monster?
Consider the subplot of the Turk. What
prejudices about the Muslim religion emerge
through these scenes?
Literature and its influence – what books does
the monster read? Do research on the writers
and the texts mentioned. How does the
monster react to these texts?
From his reading the monster learnt of “the
division of property, of immense wealth and
squalid poverty; of rank, descent and noble
blood”. In a Marxist analysis, the critic looks at
the marginalised in the text, especially those
disempowered by lack of wealth. What would
you focus on to produce a Marxist analysis of
this text?
The role of psychology in the text. How relevant
is Godwin’s idea about the creation of the
criminal mind. Why does the monster become
a Monster?
The sublime in nature is always present.
Locate some significant scenes. What role
does the scenic play in this text?
Read carefully the entreaties of the monster.
What important claim is he making about life?
Their notes and references will provide the basis for an extended essay at the end of the novel
study.
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THE INTRODUCTION
Tracing the opening quotation:
Did I ask thee Maker from my clay
To mould Me man? Did I solicit thee
From darkness to promote me? Paradise Lost (X 743-5)
In this quotation Adam is addressing his God ( his maker). The quote Mary Shelley uses is
written by Milton who wrote Paradise Lost (1667) and Paradise Regained (1671). Paradise
Lost is a book length poem about the Fall of Man.
What is Adam asking?
What is the Darkness to which he is referring?
How are we expected to feel about God from this passage?
What does this quotation suggest about Mary Shelley’s monster?
Would this quotation be appropriate for Blade Runner? Why/why not?
In Chapter 15 of Frankenstein, the monster reads Paradise Lost which “excited different and
far deeper emotions”:
It moved every feeling of wonder and awe that the picture of an omnipotent God
warring with his creatures was capable of exciting. …Like Adam, I was apparently
united by no link to any other being in existence: but his state was far different from
mine in every respect. He had come forth from God’s hands a perfect creature, happy
and prosperous, guided by the especial care of his Creator …but I was wretched,
helpless and alone. Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my
condition, for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of
envy rose in me.”
How is the monster similar to Satan?
In what way(s) is the monster different?
What makes him wretched?
Introductions to novels are always important. In the introduction the author sets up what is to
come, establishes a sense of character and introduces a complication.
There are four letters sent by Walton to his sister, the fourth letter written over a few days.
Consider what is revealed about Walton in each letter.
What are his aims?
What does he value? (Consider education, solitude, obsession and dreams).
Trace the religious references and determine what they add to the text.
How does he react to Victor Frankenstein?
In letter 1 he refers to Homer and Shakespeare, in letter 2 he refers to Coleridge’s Rime
of the Ancient Mariner. What is the relevance of these references? What do they reveal
about Walton?
In letter 4 what is it that alerts Victor Frankenstein to his similarity to Walton when he
says: “Do you share my madness?”
The letters may seem a distraction from the main plot but they serve to foreground many
important ideas and to show that what Frankenstein did was not an isolated act. Summarise
what these letters reveal about creative genius and the desire for glory. Consider these ideas
when you are watching Blade Runner.
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PLOT SUMMARY
A simple way of covering the novel in one lesson is through the Instant Book. Aside from
providing a quick summary, it allows those students who have not finished to at least know
what happens in the end so they can participate in activities. Allocate a chapter to each student
and the task of summarising the content of that chapter in less than 2 minutes. Have each
student present their summary orally and add it to a Word file to be distributed for class use.
Each student then becomes the class’s expert on at least 1 chapter and will be able to respond
to questions about that section whenever they arise during the unit.
In pairs students use the collected summary to
Identify the important events in the novel
Find a key quotation from each important scene
Represent the novel as a plot graph charting initial incident (orientation), rise of
suspense, complications/ crises, climax, denouement or resolution.
Graphs are then shared with the class and compared.
CHARACTERISATION
Working in groups students take one character each and build up a character profile
considering the following:
Characters are revealed in their descriptions and the clothing they wear. Initial
descriptions can change as the character faces challenges or grows
Characters are revealed by the setting they are in and their reaction to different settings
Characters can be understood by looking at their relationship with others.
Characters are revealed in what others say about them.
Characters are revealed by their own thoughts.
Characters can be revealed by their actions
Characters can be revealed from what they read
Characters can be revealed through their choice of words.
Look at the characters of: Walton, Victor Frankenstein, Clerval, Elizabeth, Victor’s parents, the
monster in the light of each of the above.
Often characters are constructed to represent a particular type of person or an idea. In this
novel one of the key ideas is obsession – consider how the characters of Walton, Victor
Frankenstein and Clerval serve to illustrate aspects of this idea.
Compare Victor Frankenstein’s relationship to his parents with his relationship to his creation.
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SETTING
This novel covers many different settings and each setting is important in the text. Complete
this table.
Setting
Description
Effect on Character or Plot
Home in Geneva
University of
Ingolstadt
The ship
The de Lacey’s
cottage in Germany
England
The mountains near
home
This novel is very much an international novel. Victor’s family travels to many different places
before they settle. Victor himself is always on the move. The de Lacey family has connections
to Turkey through Safie. Consider the type of world they inhabit. Are there any barriers? (This
could be an interesting point of comparison with Blade Runner.) What do we do when all
earthly places have been found? Where does the spirit of adventure and enquiry take us?
STRUCTURE
Frankenstein can be seen as a series of concentric circles or as parallel plots. The outer circle
which frames the novel is composed of the letters of Walton, an adventurous sea captain trying
to forge a way to the North Pole which had not yet been reached in Mary Shelley’s time. He is
writing to his sister about the events of the voyage and meeting a most peculiar man whose
story he shares with her.
The next circle is the story of Dr Frankenstein who is found wandering in the cold oceans and
is taken on board, He is so alarmed at the reflection of himself that he sees in Walton that he
delivers his own personal story as a cautionary tale about what happens to those who are
obsessed with achieving glory and reject all companionship.
The inner circle is the story of the monster, who remains unnamed and who articulately
explains his suffering to Frankenstein and pleads for Frankenstein’s attention to his needs. He
is central to the novel as an illustration of the results of obsession. Walton is at the beginning of
his undertaking, still filled with the possibility of glory, Victor has completed his undertaking and
is facing the consequences of what he has done and the monster is the “loathsome” terrifying
outcome of Victor’s work.
Each story is narrated in the first person but there are more voices that emerge in the letters of
Elizabeth and Frankenstein’s father.
Activity
Draw a diagrammatic representation of the structure of the novel
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LANGUAGE AND STYLE
Mood
Consider how words work to contribute to mood, atmosphere and suspense.
The class should nominate a number of key suspenseful scenes.
Each group is given one of these and asked to develop language analysis questions to draw
out the
contribution of mood and atmosphere to the creation of suspense
gothic elements
importance to the plot or ideas of the novel.
These questions can then be given to another group to answer and a third group to mark and
add comments.
Point of View
This is a story where point of view is changed continuously. Chapter experts each respond to
the following questions for their chapter.
.
Whose points of view do we hear from?
How is this achieved?
Students form groups according to the point of view in their chapter and aggregate information
and ideas for presentation to the class.
Group activity
What is the effect of the different voices?
Do the ideas or the language change in any way to signal a different point of view? If so,
how?
Groups should present their findings to the class for comparison and refinement.
Techniques
Novels convey their meaning through language - that is the choice and arrangement of words –
so it is important to locate the techniques employed AND to connect the techniques with the
process of meaning.
Students should choose a section of the novel (or return to their own chapter) to gather
information for the following question and the table below.
How does the use of a particular technique convey charcterisation/ ideas/ mood/ or any other
effect?
Technique
Examples
Effect
First person
narration
Letters
Dialogue
Rhetorical
questions
Sublime
descriptions
Religious allusions
Ch5
Ch10
Gothic references
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Metaphors
Dreams
Repetition of the
word “loathing”
Absence of a
name for the
monster
Pathetic fallacy
Literary Allusions
Mary Shelley’s audience would have been well read and conscious of the texts and myths to
which she referred. Consider each of the following literary allusions in Frankenstein and think
of how her audience would have been influenced by these ideas.
To complete the table, students should
locate the references,
research them to explain what they mean in the context and
explain how Shelley positions the audience to a particular set of beliefs, attitudes and
values.
Allusion
and page reference
Milton’s Paradise
Lost
Epigram & Ch 15
Promethean myth –
creation – fire
Ch 16 , 23 etc
The rime of the
Ancient Mariner
Letter 2, Ch 5
PB Shelley’s poem
Mutability Ch 10
Brief explanation
Positioning of readers
Sorrows of Werther
Ch 15
Plutarch
Ch 15
Volney’s Ruins of
Empires
Wordsworth’s
Tintern Abbey
Ch 18
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Using the information in the table, write a paragraph explaining how allusions affect the
meaning of the text, Frankenstein.
EXTENDED WRITING TASK
In class, discuss the thematic concerns that have been noted through the close study of
Frankenstein.
Use these discussions and your own notes and comments to develop a thesis and write a well
structured essay, defending your ideas on the question:
Why do you think Frankenstein has become such an important reference in the modern
world?
BLADE RUNNER: CONTEXT
THE DIRECTOR
In an interview Ridley Scott replied in the following way to what features of his life influenced
the making of the film Blade Runner
I went to art school in west Hartlepool in the north of England, alongside the Durham
steel mills and the Imperial Chemical Industries plant. The air smelled like toast. Toast
is quite nice, but when you realize it's steel, and it's probably particles, it's not very
good. Crossing the footbridge at night, you'd be walking above the steel mill, crossing
through the smoke, dirt, and crap, looking down into the fire. Later, I spent a little time in
New York, which always seemed to be a city on overload, and Hong Kong at the time it
was wonderfully medieval — pre-skyscraper, when the harbor was filled with junks.
When it came to deciding whether to go Hispanic or Asian for what seems to be the
majority culture on the streets in San Angeles, I opted for Asian. And I felt I knew what it
would be like to ride in a spinner. In the years when I was doing a lot of TV
commercials, once a month I'd fly into New York. I'd get off the plane at JFK and take a
helicopter, which cost $20, to the top of the Pan American building. Winter or summer,
high wind or balmy evening — it was hairy. I did that for almost two years. Then, one
stormy winter evening, a chopper nearly missed the top of the building because of the
wind gusts. It perched perilously on the edge, and they nearly lost it.
” “Q&A: Ridley Scott has finally created the Blade Runner he always imagined” by Ted Greenadol, 26.09 07 ,
in Wired Magazine Issue 15.10, www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/magazine/1510/ff_bladerunner?currentPage=all
In this response Ridley Scott perceives that his life had an impact on his film. What
events /images does he recollect that are relevant in the film?
Read the rest of the interview above to find out:
What films he made before Blade Runner
What problems he had making the film
Find other interviews with Ridley Scott to see what he says about the film and why he made it.
POSTMODERNISM
Scott Ridley’s film Blade Runner was released in 1982, post World War II, Post Cold War and
the holocaust, a period of rapid development in science and communication technology, and
commercialism. It coincided with the phenomena of economic rationalism and globalization
(often seen as American corporate imperialism), the rise of Asian involvement with Western
nations and increasing concerns about the environment.
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Socially it was a time that saw the rise of feminism, Black Rights, Grey Power, Gay Power
leading in general to a change of social attitudes towards marginalized groups. The media
became more and more powerful.
Medically it was a time of phenomenal change: from IVF to genetic research to DNA and stem
cell research. Transplants of human organs became accepted though the implications of
selling these has become an ethical minefield. At each stage of medical advance there has
been an accompanying debate, an underlying anxiety about the ethical and moral implications
of these actions, not necessarily but often using religious arguments. The media has been the
prominent force in convincing people of the necessity of such programs as IVF.
In Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, a techno-thriller set in the permanent twilight of Los
Angeles in 2019, an owl perches in the main offices of the Tyrell Corporation, creators
of the cyborgs that have set the story in motion. In a nice visual allusion, this owl takes
flight through the penthouse suite, passing in front of a wall of plate glass windows,
behind which a brilliant orange sun is setting. Since its first release in 1982, Blade
Runner has been taken by critics as a vision of a particular historical epoch, the period
many people today are calling postmodernism. Its portrait of ecological disaster and
urban overcrowding, of a visual and aural landscape saturated with advertising, of a
polyglot population immersed in a Babel of competing cultures, of decadence and
homelessness, of technological achievement and social decay, has appeared to many
people as prescient. By bringing Mary Shelley's story of the creation of an artificial
human into the era of genetic engineering and new reproductive technologies, the film
succeeded in crystallizing some of the fears, uncertainties, and desires that surround
the coming of the postmodern. Curiously, this updated story is a better replication of
the original than any of the adaptations that gesture toward the period of the novel,
including Kenneth Branagh's recent version, which pledges fidelity in its very title, Mary
Shelley's Frankenstein (1994).
Excerpt from the opening pages of - Jay Clayton, “Concealed Circuits: Frankenstein's Monster, the Medusa, and the
Cyborg,” Raritan 15 (1996): 53-69:0
What are the features of postmodernism in the film, according to this extract?
SCIENCE
The timeline on page 10 offers an overview of scientific concerns in the 20th century and some
exercises of comparison with Frankenstein.
Robotics
Consider also these recent articles about science in our present world and answer the
questions that follow:
EXTRACT ONE
Richard Watson in Future Files states:
The more technology becomes embedded in our lives the more we will run away from it
By the year 2050 there will be two highly intelligent species on earth: genetically pure humans
and technologically aided hybrid humans (naturals versus enhanced).
Your toothbrush will be able to analyse your breath detect a disease and alert a doctor
We will move a cursor across a screen with our thoughts and exchange messages
telepathically.
Are we making history in the making? Richard Neville Review in Australian Literary Review September 5. 2007
Think of any other possible results of technology.
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Compose your own creative piece using an idea about the future and present this to the
class
Extract TWO
Gonsalves, 35…uses neuroscientific and affective computing research, which explores the
possibility of linking machines with emotion, to investigate the production of emotionally
responsive videos…
She attempted to capture her own emotions, making short films and editing them while in a
heightened state such as when she was angry or sad.
“… I was asking if we display our emotions would it create more intimate relationships?”
..That led to her working with neuroscientists…
In November Sydney based artist Boyle will join artificial intelligence specialist Lijin Aryananda.
In Zurich for six months. Boyle is an expert in karakuri ningyo traditional Japanese mechanical
dolls, and her sojourn in Switzerland will bring together two complementary traditionsmechanical dolls and clockwork – combined with some of the world’s most advanced robotics.
Going where no man has gone before - The Australian Friday September 7, 2007
Why is an artist being used to help develop robots?
Find your own articles on scientific/medical research and the accompanying debates
Even though these are recent articles and the film is relatively old, they emerge from the same
context and concerns about science. What events in the film can you link to these ideas?
Environment
Ridley Scott created his film against different concerns about nature to Shelley’s time. In the
early 1800s, worldwide there were moves to declare national park areas so that all could enjoy
the wilderness. This was very much in keeping with Romantic concepts about the power of
nature to furnish the senses. But there was also a sense that nature was replenishable. Nature
was referred to as Mother Nature, in acknowledgement of the nurturing nature of the
landscape. Discussions on nature used the female pronoun “she” and “her” so the
personification of nature was reinforced.
There was a greater consciousness of the vulnerability of nature in the twentieth century. In
1964 the status of national parks was assured in America through the Wilderness Act which
paradoxically also drew attention to the existence of destructive forces of development,
pollution, corporate misuse and other environmental enemies. Since then activists have been
fighting against: land clearing, damming, water pollution, nuclear disaster and in defence of
endangered species, as well as other perceived environmental threats. In 1986 there was a
nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, and in 1989 the Exxon Valdez disaster reminded the world of
the fragility of the environment and its vulnerability against human error. There were constant
scientific predictions of the destruction of the world and also a search in the skies for other
worlds. Global corporations became strong influences on an economy but also exploited third
world countries. This is the context of the world that Ridley Scott inhabited.
How have environmental disasters of the twentieth century such as Exxon Valdez and
Chernobyl affected world perception about the environment?
Look closely at the environment depicted in the film. Work in groups and list ten features
of the world that Ridley Scott depicts – what is the effect of the camera angles he uses
when depicting the landscape?
What impact do you think the environmental issues of the late 20th century disasters had
on the environment created in the film?
What is the significance of the pyramid? Look at the way it is decorated externally; look at
the inner rooms. What is each aspiring to?
Activity
Construct a comparative table summarizing the information offered in on the contexts of Blade
Runner and Frankenstein.
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FILM GENRE
Now, the film is not really about that at all, it's simply leveraging that possibility into one
of those detective film-noir kinds of stories. People were familiar with that kind of
character, but not with the world I was cooking up. I wanted to call it San Angeles, and
somebody said, "I don't get it." I said, "You know, San Francisco and Los Angeles….
Well, people want a comfortable preconception about what they're seeing. It's a bit like
20 years of Westerns and, now, 45 years of cop movies. People are comfortable with
the roles. Even though every nook and cranny has been explored, they'll still sit through
endless variations on cops and bad guys, right? In this instance, I was doing a cop and
a different bad guy. And to justify the creation of the bad guy, i.e., replication, it had to
be in the future.
“Q&A: Ridley Scott has finally created the Blade Runner he always imagined” by Ted Greenadol, 26.09 07 , in Wired
Magazine Issue 15.10, www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/magazine/15-10/ff_bladerunner?currentPage=all
The quote above is an explanation offered by Ridley Scott on why he used the genres he used.
Blade Runner has been described as a hybrid of romance, Gothic thriller, film noir, crime and
science fiction genres.
The film noir was a genre popular in America during and after World War II. Just like science
fiction films about invasion by aliens, it captured a sense of the anxiety of the period, of the
suspicion and the insecurities that abounded. Shadows, dark lighting, smoky rooms all served
to create a mood of fear and the unknown. Much of the visual effects came from German
Expressionism and such films as Cabinet of Dr Caligari from earlier decades.
Some of the features of film noir are:
Location and visual effects:
Expressionistic lighting: eg dark rooms with light slicing through venetian blinds or
struggling through fans
Unusual camera angles that show the vulnerability of the characters
Silences broken by garbage bin lids, swishing of the fan or subdued voices
Spiraling smoke
Dark alleyways, backstreets, narrow apartment building corridors and gloomy offices
Skewed camera angles- disorienting visuals
Jazz tunes
Characters
Dried out detective who has seen it all and has a cynical view of life- misogynistic antiheroes
Two types of female : in the worthy traditional supportive role or femme fatale, leading
the anti-hero into a spider’s trap
Mood and ideas
Criminal violent
Moral conflict
Sense of hopelessness
Melancholic
Alienation from environment and from people
Bleakness
Disillusionment
Weary of fighting evil
The most famous of film noir are the Raymond Chandler inspired films where the detective
delivers dreary monotonous monologue. The 1982 edition of Blade Runner included a voice
over which was removed in the director’s cut for a more subtle effect.
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Scott also refers to Westerns where good and bad are in conflict. Research: What are
some of the features of Westerns that are relevant to this film?
Locate elements of film noir in the film and explain how it affects meaning.
What features of Gothic film are there in this film?
CONTEMPORARY RECEPTION
Blade Runner failed to take out any Oscar Awards in 1982. It was a box office failure. Even
before its release it had a chequered existence. Film studios demanded a voice-over in a film
noir style. They also wanted an upbeat ending to thwart what they perceived as an overly
negative film. They failed to gauge the impact of the film fully. Twenty years on there are
dedicated internet sites to the film: blog sites, interviews, connections, readings and reviews for
Blade Runner.
When the film continued to resonate with audiences a director’s cut version was released in
1992. This time the voice-over was missing; certain scenes which had been cut were
resurrected and the ambiguity of Deckard was clarified with subtle but clear messages that he
was a replicant himself.
Discussion
Listen to Ridley Scott’s discussion on The Ultimate Edition DVD tracing the decision making
process of the film
How important is the audience reception of a text?
Should decisions be made according to the box office or does this compromise the integrity of
the text?
BLADE RUNNER: CLOSE STUDY OF TEXT
Deckard, a blade runner, is entrusted with the task of bringing in six rebel replicants. The world
they live in is an environmental disaster where the skies are taken over by toxic fumes and air
vehicles that manoeuvre through projected advertisements. The rebels are artificially created the latest batch of robots designed to enhance the lifestyle of humans on new colonies off the
earth but they are so intelligent that they have demanded to return to the earth and claim their
place. They are however unable to fulfil their lifespan because of a failsafe measure that has
been installed in them.
RE-VIEWING THE TEXT
As the work of close study progresses in class, students should use their viewing journal to
note references and consider the following:
Thematic concerns
Notes and personal comments
The impact of family
The importance of memory
The ethics and morality of science and
commerce
The acceptance of difference/the other
The role of women
The responsibility of humans to the
environment and to all life forms
What is natural?
Parental responsibility
Good and evil
Creativity
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INTRODUCTION
The film starts near the end of the quest. The viewer is filled in on the background with the text
incorporated in the opening titles:
Early in the 21st Century, THE TYRELL
CORPORATION advanced Robot evolution
into the NEXUS phase - a being virtually
identical to a human - known as a Replicant.
The NEXUS 6 Replicants were superior
in strength and agility, and at least equal
in intelligence, to the genetic engineers
who created them.
Replicants were used Off-world as
slave labor, in the hazardous exploration and
colonization of other planets.
After a bloody mutiny by a NEXUS 6
combat team in an Off-world colony,
Replicants were declared illegal
on earth - under penalty of death.
Special police squads - BLADE RUNNER
UNITS - had orders to shoot to kill, upon
detection, any trespassing Replicant.
This was not called execution.
It was called retirement.
In this exposition, we learn the date, 2019, the place, earth, and what has happened, that rebel
replicants have returned to earth and have to be hunted. These replicants have used their
artificially created free will to determine their destiny. Interestingly their name Nexus means a
bond, a link, a connected group and yet they are regarded as the “other”. Their intelligence is
mentioned but their use is to be slaves and they are expected to accept their status as slaves.
PLOT QUIZ
1. What does blade runner refer to?
2. Who represents the father in Blade
Runner?
3. Where does he live?
4. What are the replicants designed for?
5. Why are they being eradicated?
6. What failsafe measure has been added
to them?
7. What distinguishes replicants from
humans?
8. Why is Rachael so remarkable?
9. Who has to go back for his photos?
10. What do photos signify in the story?
11. Who makes origami figures? Why and
where?
12. What memories does Rachael have?
13. What memories does Deckard have?
14. What does he see in Leon’s photos that
alerts him to another replicant?
15. What is that makes Sebastian feel at home
with the replicants?
16. What poem does Roy quote when he goes
to see the eyemaker? Why is this relevant?
17. Why does Tyrell call Roy the prodigal son?
What is the significance of the reference?
18. What does Roy ask for?
19. How does he get to see Tyrell?
20. What are Roy’s last words?
21. What are the clues that Deckard may be a
replicant himself?
22. What animals are associated with each of
the replicants?
23. What are the features of the world of 2019?
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Activity: In groups
1. List the principal events in each plot (see structure).
2. Just like a novel the plot can be graphed. Locate on a graph the orientation (establishing
shot) the complication/conflict and trace the storyline to its climax and resolution.
3. Examine a key scene in each plot and analyse/ evaluate the effectiveness of the
techniques used by the composer to heighten the main points in that scene
4. Examine the ways in which the three plots are brought together/ integrated
Compare your findings with the rest of the class.
CHARACTERISATION
In a novel, characters can be revealed
• in their appearance and the clothing they wear
• by the setting they are in and their reaction to different settings
• by looking at their relationship with others.
• in what others say about them.
• by their own thoughts.
• by their actions
• from what they read
• through their choice of words.
As well as the above we have additional resources for the revelation of character in film.
Characters are revealed by
their position in the composition
the objects that surround them
the lighting that surrounds them
the colours associated with them
the music that accompanies them
the camera angles.
Activity
This may be completed as a group task per character and the results shared with the class.
1. Construct a character sketch of the following characters: Deckard, Roy, Elden Tyrell,
Rachel, Pris and Sebastian in the light of each of the above.
Many of the characters are associated with an animal which becomes a motif in the film.
2. Locate the place in the film where the animal motif appears and explain its significance
in terms of what it reveals about the character.
Character
Animal
Leon
Tortoise
Zhora (Murder kick
Snake
Significance
squad)
Pris (Pleasure model)
Raccoon
Roy Batty (Combat
Wolf and dove
model)
Rachael
Owl
Deckard
Unicorn
3. What does this reveal about replicants?
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Inclusion of animals invites a discussion on the discourses that surround animals. Dogs are
“man’s best friend” and “you can always tell the type of person someone is from how they treat
their animals’. In this film, animals are still being exploited by humans who keep them in cages
and who use them for commercial purposes. The replicants are the ones who are associated
with animals and yet one of the main questions in the film concerns the nature of humanity. If
animals are indicative of a type of humanity then it is clear that in this world human beings
have lost their humanity. The event of Roy Batty’s death is symbolically marked by the flight of
a dove, whose purity and connection to the spirit elevates Roy to the status of a human being
with a soul. Ultimately, in a world that is dominated by corporate greed, it is the artificial
humans with their connection to animals who retain the qualities traditionally associated with
humanity.
For this module you need to consider how this relates to Frankenstein. Nature and what is
natural are predominant considerations in Frankenstein but animals are absent for the most
part.
SETTING
Our next vision is an aerial view of an urban wilderness, over which Satanic mills loom (Blake’s
writing provides an appropriate analogy here as Blake is later quoted in the film). Towers belch
fires into the night sky and illuminate the dreary world below. This view gives some insight into
why men are seeking colonies off the earth. The fires are reflected in a close up of an eye
which we seem to enter as the film’s action begins.
Setting
Description
Effect on Character or Plot
(with camera angles)
Exterior: Urban
landscape form
above
Exterior: Street
scene
Interior:
interrogation centre
Exterior: Tyrell
corporation
Interior: Tyrell
corporation
Interior: Deckard’s
place
Interior: Leon’s
place
Sebastian’s place
Tyrell’s bedroom
Look closely at one of the scenes and describe the mise-en-scene. (Appendix 2 )
Contrast these settings to settings in Frankenstein, considering the physical differences
and how they affect people.
Consider: Would humans or replicants be more likely to ‘belong’ in a world where the
natural is so absent?
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Here are two examples of ways of writing about the setting of the film and analysing how
Ridley Scott has created the context. Note how the discussion includes close details and
integrates examination of techniques such as camera angles and sound in a fluent way that
captures a sense of the text.
Example One
The opening wide shot, of Los Angeles 2019, frames a vast, drab landscape, cluttered
with dilapidated buildings, seedy bars, and squalid strip shops, and intended as a
composite of Los Angeles and San Francisco. An oppressive atmosphere is created by
images of burning fires, lurid neon signs and giant electronic advertising posters against
a colour palette of black and brown, devoid of natural colour. People of Asian
appearance crowd the screen and animals and plants are absent. Drenching acid rain,
alluding to Ray Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains”, suggests that nuclear war has
ravaged the earth. Overhead, in the congested airways, a blimp advertises a new life in
the ‘off-world colonies’. The camera pushes in, forcing us into this unnatural place.
The huge bulk of the Tyrell building is filmed from a low camera angle, its powerful
pyramidal structure emphasised by the pattern of strong vertical and horizontal lines to
flatten the street stalls below into insignificance. The production design’s use of
retrofitting, of thick corrugated pipes snaking around the exteriors of buildings, adds a
surreal effect. On his first appearance the motionless Deckard is isolated and excluded
by the camera placement, obscured by moving passers-by in the foreground.
Jeanette Heys, Daily Telegraph HSC English Study Guide, 2005
Example Two
The Tyrell Corporation, residence and business place of Eldon Tyrell, the Godlike
scientific “genius” behind the creation of the replicants, occupies a space central to
Blade Runner’s narrative as well as this analysis. From the very outset of the film, in
which we see an extreme long shot overlooking the futuristic cityscape of Los
Angeles— defined by massive techno-towers and near perpetual twilight, interrupted
only by violent lightening strikes and fiery explosions resulting in stunning plumes of
flame—the camera visually guides us towards the grandiose Mayan-style pyramid
structures that are the headquarters of the Tyrell Corporation. The slow-moving journey
over the cityscape is never comfortable, and the ominous non-diegetic music makes
matters all the more disconcerting. Throughout the movement, there are several cuts to
an extreme close up of an eye, in which we see the fireballs of this horrific worldspace
vividly reflected in the iris. The flames become the sensorial experience through which
the eye relates to its physical environment, and because the eye is never associated
with a specific character, it easily becomes our eye. Experience becomes something
which must be negotiated via a non-natural, technologically overdetermined
worldspace, whereby we are alienated by the extreme lack of anything familiar. The
characters in Frankenstein are able to articulate their experience through the spatial
surround of Nature, whereas Blade Runner is completely devoid of Nature.
Evan L. Wendel, “Worldspace in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner:
From Romantic Nature to Artificiality”, mETAphor, Issue 2, 2008
STRUCTURE
Blade Runner is a film with multiple plots.
All three significant plots are connected by Deckard the blade runner:
Plot One: The detective story: Deckard, a blade runner is asked to complete the
retirement of six rogue replicants who have returned to earth from the colonies.
Plot Two: The rebellion: Six rebel replicants have escaped from the colonies to earth
where they are seeking their Maker, Elden Tyrell, owner of the Tyrell corporation which
specializes in creating the ultimate in artificial life. They have been equipped with a
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failsafe four year life span which they want to exceed because they have tasted life and
want more.
Plot Three: The romance: Deckard meets and grows close to the latest in the replicants,
Rachael, a sensitive woman, who is not aware of her artificial status.
LANGUAGE AND STYLE
Films convey their meaning through spoken, visual and musical language so it is important to
locate the techniques employed AND to connect the techniques with the creation of meaning.
How does the use of a particular technique add to the mood/characterisation/ideas/ effect?
As a scaffolding activity in preparation for this sections students students should complete the
following table while watching key scenes closely,.
Some examples have been suggested.
• The Voight-Kampff empathy test on Leon
• Deckard’s pursuit and killing of Zhora
• Tyrell’s rejection of Roy’s demand for more life
• The scene where Roy weeps over Pris’s body.
• The scene where Deckard is saved by the replicant, Roy
Technique
Sound
Examples
Effect
Non diegetic
jazz track
diegetic
Lighting Hazy
Camera
High angle
Overhead
Aerial
Low angle
Close up
Editing
Mise en
scene
Mood
Mood is a very important element of this film and is created from the beginning through sound,
camera, editing and lighting.
What is the predominant mood in the film? How does this mood develop the themes of
the film?
How do sound, lighting and camera work together add to mood?
Identify a striking example of sound, camera, editing and lighting ( one example for each)
and explain how these work to create mood
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Point of View
Cameras like novels often position us to see through someone’s eyes or they can capture an
omniscient author position. Discuss how we are positioned to see the film.
Consider the opening shot and the point of view that is established- describe how the
camera does this.
Does the point of view change?
Deckard is the main character- are we seeing through his eyes?
How does the camera work to position us?
Describe a particular scene where point of view is created.
Allusion in Blade Runner
Allusions in Blade Runner are to visual as well as to literary texts. In the earlier section on
genre the allusions to the film noir traditions are clear. There are, however, other allusions.
Read the examples of allusions given below and complete the spaces wherever necessary:
Literary Allusion
Fiery the angels fell: deep thunder rolled around their shores, burning with the fires of
Quote:
When:
Who says it:
To whom:
Source:
Orc
Roy goes to Chew the eyemaker to get into contact with his maker
Roy Batty
Chew, the eyemaker
William Blake’s: “America: A Prophecy”, 1793 William Blake is a poet and illustrator of
the Romantic period. From an early age he had visions of angels. In this poem he
celebrates the conflict against British rule by the Americans. He was a supporter of the
French and American revolutions, believing in the freedom of everyday people to stand
for their rights.
Fiery the angels rose and as they rose deep thunder roll’d/ Around their shores
indignant burning with the fires of Orc
Original
words:
What it
shows about
character
Why it is
said:
Consider in your response the greatness that Blake must have envisioned for America in the
late eighteenth century. Compare this to the situation depicted in the film. Consider that here is
a new “race” fighting for the right to live longer, pleading to their father for mercy, just as the
American nation rose against their “father” nation. Why make this statement here, with the
eyemaker?
Biblical Allusion
Quote:
You’re the prodigal son. You’re quite a prize
When:
Who says it:
To whom:
Source:
Original :
Why it is said:
Christian Allusion
Image:
Roy thrusts a nail through his hand so that the pain reminds him of life
When:
Original
Why the is image
used:
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Philosophical allusion
Quote:
When:
Who says it:
To whom:
Source:
Descartes
Original
I think, therefore I am
words:
Why it is
said:
Intertextuality
Perhaps the strongest intertextual reference is to Frankenstein but Blade Runner creates its
own meaning relevant to its own context. Other intertextual references include to Paradise
Lost, the Promethean myth, and to the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.
EXTENDED WRITING TASK
In class, discuss the thematic concerns that have been noted through the close study of Blade
Runner.
Use these discussions and your own notes and comments to develop a thesis and write a well
structured essay, defending your ideas on the question:
Why do you think Blade Runner has become a culturally significant text?
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COMPARING FRANKENSTEIN AND BLADERUNNER
GENRE
Gothic or Science Fiction?
Stevens in The Gothic Tradition lists these characteristics of the Gothic:
A fascination for the past
A liking for the strangely eccentric, the supernatural, the magical, and the sublime
sometimes subtly intermingled with the realistic
Psychological insights, especially through sexuality, through (at best) fascinating and
intricate characterization, or (at worst) stereotypical caricatures
Representation and simulation of fear, horror, the macabre and the sinister, within the
context of a general focus on the emotional rather than the rational
Frequently exotic settings and locations, although this tendency may be contrasted to a
more ‘domestic’ gothic tradition, especially found amongst American texts
Plots within plots, often with multiple narrators, and other stylistic characteristics such as the
use of ‘ tableaux’ and overt symbolism
Consider each point in relation to Frankenstein and then Blade Runner.
Mary Shelley’s readers were well acquainted with the Gothic especially through the work of
Anne Radcliffe. These stories were very formulaic and included the following: Try to complete
the table and locate examples in each text.
Conventions of Gothic
Frankenstein
Blade Runner
Setting
A ruin,
A castle far away from
mankind,
Perched on a hillside,
A madhouse,
Dreams,
Night
Themes
About the psyche
Reacting against
oppression
Evil versus good
Attraction to the dark side
and temptation
Where the spirit world has
power
The presentation of the
unpresentable
Characters
A sensitive heroine/
impetuous lover
A persecuted maiden
The supernatural
A hero/heroine who can
resist evil
A man of science
A mad person
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Science fiction deals with:
The fear/uncertainty of the possible
The opposition of technology/new knowledge to religion
The nature of humanity (measuring this against science)
Warnings about reliance on technology
Conventions of Sci Fi
Frankenstein
Blade Runner
Setting
The science lab
The ordinary world ( serves as
contrast or place under attack)
Other worlds/planets
Difficult to find places, away
from civilisation
Characters
The mad scientist
The everyday people
The artifical life/ a new invention
The sceptics
Themes
Humanity is under attack
Religion is under attack
Nostalgia for the past
Science as antithetical to
goodness
The natural is overwhelmed by
the unnatural
Write a paragraph explaining why Frankenstein or Blade runner can be regarded as Gothic
texts or science fiction.
TEXTS IN TIME
This section will build on the previous sections focusing on the relationship between the two
texts. The exercises and examples will give ways of understanding how each text is a product
of its own context – as texts in different times.
TEXTS IN CONTEXT
Text A
If the power of reflecting on the past, and darting the keen eye of contemplation into futurity, be
the privilege of man, it must be granted that some people enjoy this prerogative in a very
limited degree. Every thing new appears to them wrong; and not be able to distinguish the
possible from the monstrous, they fear where no fear should find a place, running from the light
of reason, as if it were a firebrand.
Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of he Rights of Women, 1792, quoted by Jay Clayton in
Frankenstein’s Futurity: Replicants and Robots, in Cambridge Companion to Mary Shelley.
Text B
By bringing Mary Shelley's story of the creation of an artificial human into the era of genetic
engineering and new reproductive technologies, the film succeeded in crystallizing some of the
fears, uncertainties, and desires that surround the coming of the postmodern. Curiously, this
updated story is a better replication of the original than any of the adaptations that gesture
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toward the period of the novel, including Kenneth Branagh's recent version, which pledges
fidelity in its very title, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994).
Jay Clayton, "Concealed Circuits: Frankenstein's Monster, the Medusa, and the Cyborg," Raritan 15 (1996): 53-69:0
Text C
…while deeply conscious of Frankenstein, Blade Runner evokes the earlier text not with the
intention of adapting it but rather of re-engaging with the issues it raises in a new and altered
cultural context: at the end of the industrial age and the beginning of the computer era. Back at
the beginning of industrial modernism Mary Shelley interrogated the Promethean character of
human potentiality with an ambivalent spirit of celebration and apprehension… celebrating the
overreaching spirit of the creative imagination in Victor’s daring, at the same time pondering
the cost of such arrogance in a world that had not yet had to deal on a mass scale with the
effects of industrialization and technologisation
…In Blade Runner the society it depicts is the questionable effect of two centuries of industry,
technology and moral indifference
… what gives each of these texts its power is the way the creators have anchored their vision
in the social and cultural realities of their time. …Frankenstein takes the idea of the creative
arrogance of the Romantic imagination and the amorality of industrialised technology as its
point of departure for fashioning a Gothic world in which creation turns on its creator in revenge
for the indifference of its monumental egocentricity. In a similar way Blade Runner takes 1980s
globalisation as its point of departure for imagining a dystopic future … we soon realise that the
human propensity for irrational hatred and violence remains.
David Kelly, “Sympathy for the Double: Replication from Frankenstein to BladeRunner”
New Directions, English Association, University of Sydney edited by R. Madeleine.
Consider carefully what each of the above says.
What statement is being made about texts in contexts?
What feature of each context is being foregrounded in the discussion?
A critical view
The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk. Hegel, 1821
…
Blade Runner conveys the advent of a new age by the paradoxical means of marking its end.
The flight of the owl is one of many apocalyptic touches that define for the viewer the limits of a
period, the far end of an epoch just now getting underway. Hegel's words from my epigraph
refer to the wisdom that comes only with hindsight, the retrospective understanding available at
the end of an epoch. But the film's use of the owl is not exhausted by this insight. …
The owl has spread its wings, though. What has the power to deconstruct so evocative an
image? A monster, of course. But at first the viewer is unaware that a monster has entered
the scene. As the bird settles serenely back onto another perch, a handsomely dressed
woman strides into the room, introducing herself with a question: "Do you like our owl?"
Deckard, a police officer played by Harrison Ford, has come to Tyrell to examine one of its new
generations of cyborgs. "It's artificial?" he replies. Still advancing, the woman answers, "Of
course it is." The camera lingers on her face, forging a link between owl and woman. The
implication that both are equally artificial flickers to consciousness before being submerged in a
more powerfully sexual suggestion--that both are property, objects to be bought and sold.
"Must be expensive," Deckard comments, the innuendo audible in his voice. The camera
remains focused on the woman's face. "Very," she replies, then adds, as if to underline the
association, "I'm Rachel."
The image of the owl is destabilized in at least three ways-- as artificial creature, as commodity,
and as woman--which in the film's terms turn out to be the same way, as monster.
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Excerpt from the opening pages of - Jay Clayton, "Concealed Circuits: Frankenstein's Monster, the Medusa, and the Cyborg,"
Raritan 15 (1996): 53-69
1. What does the owl represent according to this extract from Clayton’s article?
2. Note the inclusion of references to the techniques in the film (in bold). What techniques
are referred to and how do they work to position us to a point of view?
Note the detail with which the critic describes the text, explains its meaning and then
connects it to the concept.
3. What does this mean: Blade Runner conveys the advent of a new age by the
paradoxical means of marking its end?
4. Explain in your own words the meaning of the owl.
THE PROMETHEAN MYTH
Mary Shelley’s subtitle, The Modern Prometheus not only makes clear the relationship
between the novel Frankenstein and the ancient myth of Prometheus, but draws our attention
to the fact that she is looking at the enactment of the myth in a different context. Ridley Scott’s
film extends the myth to yet another context: the postmodern.
Timeline of changes of the Promethean myth
Ancient Greek myth – Prometheus (pyrphoros =carrier of fire) fools the gods into eating
bones at a feast and then steals fire from the gods for mankind. In retaliation, Zeus, the king of
the gods, releases Pandora’s box of woe on mankind and imprisons Prometheus on a rock to
have his liver forever eaten by an eagle.
Less known version of Prometheus- adopted by Romans - Prometheus (plasticator =
creator) recreated mankind by giving life to a clay figure.
Aeschylus play - Prometheus Unbound - The ancient Greek playwright, Aeschylus writes a
play about Prometheus from which only fragments exist but he focuses on how Prometheus’
release from his eternal suffering and his return to mankind.
2nd-3rd century Prometheus – merging of the two versions of the myth ( Prometheus as
creator and Prometheus as suffering champion of mankind) that the fire brings life to mankind.
Renaissance – Shakespeare refers to “that Promethean heat” in Othello
Prometheus becomes a metaphor for the creative artist
1816 – Byron writes the poem Prometheus and the play Manfred about Prometheus
The Tree of Knowledge is not that of Life.
Philosophy and science, and the springs
Of wonder, and the wisdom of the world,
I have essay'd, and in my mind there is
A power to make these subject to itself-But they avail not:
( 1.1.12)
1818: Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus – Mary Shelley writes her book in which Dr
Frankenstein acts like Prometheus in trying to steal the secret of life from God and as a
consequence he is punished by the monster who stalks him and his family eternally.
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Prometheus Unbound by Percy Shelley -1820 – Shelley takes liberties with Aeschylus’ ideas
and focuses on the results of Prometheus release. He is influenced by Milton’s depiction of
Adam and of Satan in Paradise Lost.
1831 the second edition of Frankenstein is published with changes
1982 Blade Runner - how does Blade Runner follow the Promethean myth? Look for the
Greek references in the setting as well as ideas that emerge.
Each of the above texts builds on ideas that have come before and creates its own new text.
The Preface to the 1818 edition of the novel, Frankenstein, was written by Percy Shelley and
acknowledged influences such as The Iliad, Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Midsummer
Night’s Dream and especially Milton’s Paradise Lost.
Intertextuality
Percy Shelley, wrote about the act of imitation in the Preface to his play Prometheus Unbound.
He made a conscious decision to alter the story, seeing Prometheus as a fallen angel,
influenced by Milton’s depiction of Satan (consider this also in your analysis of Blade Runner).
He doesn’t apologise for changes he has made but sees these as part of a writer’s craft to
create a text that reflects its own contemporary concerns:
As to imitation, poetry is a mimetic art. It creates, but it creates by combination and
representation. Poetical abstractions are beautiful and new, not because the portions of
which they are composed had no previous existence in the mind of man or in nature,
but because the whole produced by their combination has some intelligible and
beautiful analogy with those sources of emotion and thought, and with the
contemporary condition of them…(a poet must not) exclude from his contemplation the
beautiful which exists in the writings of a great contemporary. … A poet is the
combined product of such internal powers as modify the nature of others; and of
such external influences as excite and sustain these powers; he is not one, but
both. Every man’s mind is, in this respect, modified by all the objects of nature and art;
by every word and every suggestion which he ever admitted to act upon his
consciousness; it is the mirror upon which all forms are reflected, and in which they
compose one form. …
My friends say my Prometheus is too wild, ideal, and perplexed with imagery. It may be
so. It has no resemblance to the Greek drama. It is original; and cost me severe mental
labor. Authors, like mothers, prefer the children who have given them most trouble.
Preface to “Prometheus Unbound” by Percy Shelley1820
One of the features of postmodern texts is pastiche which refers to the combination of
seemingly dissimilar objects and texts. Many conservative modern critics react negatively to
the alteration of texts wishing to see them as ‘original’ and without alteration.
DISCUSSION: After reading the extract above, how do you think Mary Shelley or Percy
Shelley would have reacted to any 20th century alteration of Frankenstein to create a more
contemporary text?
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PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY
Frankenstein
Do your duty towards me, and I will do mine towards you and the rest of mankind.
When faced by his Father, the monster reminds Frankenstein of his duty as a father with these
words. The parent/child relationship is seen as a reciprocal one. Good conduct from the father
leads to good conduct from the child. This idea was very much part of Mary Shelley’s world
view. Both her parents had very strong social sensibilities and had written about the
responsibility of the state to the people and the parent to the child. Her father William Godwin
was conscious of the importance of upbringing in the development of good human beings
when he wrote:
What is born into the world is an unfinished sketch, without character or decisive feature
impressed upon it. There is for the most part no essential difference between the child
of the lord and of the porter. ..Various external accidents, unlimited as to the period of
their commencement, modify in different ways the elements of the animal frame.
Everything in the universe is linked and united together. 4
Mary Shelley’s mother voiced her concerns about upbringing even more explicitly, declaring
that: A great proportion of the misery that wanders in hideous forms around the world is
allowed to rise from the negligence of parents.5
Frankenstein’s nameless creature looks like a monster and acts like a monster but doesn’t
always speak like a monster. Frankenstein creates a monster whose appearance is so
frightening that he runs from his own creation. From there follows a sorry tale of an abandoned
“child” who wanders the countryside, seeking companionship and love. This “child” has within
him the capacity to learn and is able to miraculously read about the world from the greatest of
texts, from Milton to Werther and others. Unfortunately his appearance frightens others just as
it did his creator; alone and deserted he turns on his maker’s family and sets out to destroy all
that Frankenstein loves. Murder and violence confirm Frankenstein’s belief that he has created
a monster and yet the reality is that Frankenstein has to accept responsibility for his actions.
Look at the following quotes about family from Frankenstein.
Locate who says each
Consider what ideas each quote develops about the parent and the child.
Compose a response to this statement, using the quotes and any other evidence you locate:
Ultimately Frankenstein is about the responsibility of the parent to the child
Elizabeth’s father exerted himself to obtain the liberty of his country . He became the victim of its
weakness – obsession leading to the breakdown of a family (Chapter one)
My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence. …when I mingled with
other families I distinctly discerned how peculiarly fortunate my lot was and gratitude assisted the
development of filial love. (Chapter two)
A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would
owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should
deserve theirs.(Chapter 4)
How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such
infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected
his features as beautiful. Beautiful!--Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of
4
Godwin, W. The characters of men originate in their external circumstances, Political Justice, 1793
5
Wollestonecroft, M. A Vindciation of the Rights of Women, Chapter XII Duty to Parents
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muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly
whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that
seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled
complexion and straight black lips. (Chapter 5)
You, my creator, abhor me; what hope can I gather from your fellow-creatures, who owe me
nothing? they spurn and hate me. ( Chapter 10)
For the first time, also, I felt what the duties of a creator towards his creature were, and that I ought
to render him happy before I complained of his wickedness (Chapter 10)
I heard of the difference of sexes; and the birth and growth of children; how the father doted on the
smiles of the infant, and the lively sallies of the older child; how all the life and cares of the mother
were wrapped up in the precious charge; how the mind of youth expanded and gained knowledge;
of brother, sister, and all the various relationships which bind one human being to another in
mutual bonds. (Chapter 13)
Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence; but his state was far
different from mine in every other respect. He had come forth from the hands of God a perfect
creature, happy and prosperous, guarded by the especial care of his Creator; he was allowed to
converse with, and acquire knowledge from, beings of a superior nature: but I was wretched,
helpless, and alone as the fitter emblem of my condition; for often, like him, when I viewed the
bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me.
God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of
yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to
admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred. (Chapter 15)
Consider also the role of other parents in the text: Safie’s and Justine’s parents; Frankenstein’s
mother; the woodcutter.
Blade Runner
In Blade Runner there are two parallel plots. Deckard, a blade runner, is searching for missing
replicants who have to be retired before they wreak havoc and destruction on the world. Their
maker, Eldon Tyrell, has placed in them a failsafe measure of a shorter life span. The second
plot centres on Roy Batty, a combat model replicant who is searching for his maker. He has
grown to love life so much that he wants Tyrell to correct the tragedy of his short life.
Unlike Frankenstein’s monster he is attractive, blonde and blue eyed, physically perfectly
formed, very much the Aryan ideal aspired to by Hitler, and yet he is still despised.
Watch the scene in the Tyrell Corporation when Batty approaches Eldon Tyrell.
Add film directions to the script below as you watch and consider how the techniques
reinforce the ideas.
Describe the setting. Why is the action in a papal bedroom?
Why is Tyrell wearing papal robes?
SCRIPT
FILM DIRECTIONS
(camera. lighting, editing,
music, mise en scene)
How do the film directions
reinforce the words and create
ideas?
Tyrell : Can the maker
repair what he makes?
…A coding sequence
cannot be revised……
He kills his maker close up - his face is
filled with remorse and
pain -
Choir voices -Shot of skylight with
star; light beams on Roy; soft fade
into next scene.
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Both Frankenstein and Blade Runner make Biblical allusions at the moment of the
request. Why is this?
Compare the attitudes of each father to the son
What is the meaning of Roy’s reference to the god of biomechanics?
In what way does the different context of each text influence meaning in these scenes
from novel and film?
Consider also:
How does Leon react to questions about his mother?
How does Rachael remember her mother?
Mothers of the monsters are obvious by their absence in both texts: what conclusions
can you draw from this omission?
IN SEARCH OF HUMANITY
William Godwin, Mary Shelley’s father wrote:
Man is in truth a miracle. The human mind is a creature of celestial origin, shut up and
confined in a wall of flesh. We feel a kind of proud impatience of the degradation to
which we are condemned. We beat ourselves to pieces against the wires of our cage,
and long to escape, to shoot through the elements, and be as free to change at any
instant the place where we dwell, as to change the subject to which our thoughts are
applied. …6
To be human is not necessarily to have humanity. Humanity suggests something elevated from
the everyday human acts of living, eating and breathing. Humanity involves a spiritual, moral
and ethical dimension that separates man from animal.
In a novel the sense of humanity emerges through the descriptions of the setting and the
character, the words the characters speak, their actions and the reactions of those around
them. In a film humanity can be suggested by the same elements as the novel but rather than
words the filmmaker uses lighting, setting, camerawork and editing to influence the audience.
Consider:
How are Godwin’s sentiments about humankind illustrated in Frankenstein and Blade Runner?
Look at the following quotations and analyse them to determine the way humanity has been
interpreted in each text. You may find it helpful to prepare your material in a table such as the
one below.
Their declarations:
Frankenstein’s monster
Technique
Effect
I shall no longer see the
sun or stars, or feel the
winds play on my cheeks.
….The light of that
conflagration will fade
away; my ashes will be
swept into the sea by the
winds (Chapter 24)
6
Godwin, W. Essay V Of the rebelliousness of man, Political Justice, 1793
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Roy Batty
Techniques
Effect
I've seen things you
people wouldn't believe.
Attack ships on fire off the
shoulder of Orion………All
those moments will be lost
in time like tears in rain.
Time to die.
The film’s theme of dehumanisation has also been sharpened… Deckard, the replicant hunting
cop is himself a replicant. Mr Scott confirmed this, “yes he’s a replicant. He was always a
replicant.”…
This may disappoint some viewers. Deckard is the film’s one person with a conscience. If he is a
replicant, it means that there no more decent human beings.
Cult classic restored again, Fred Kaplan, New York Times, Sept 30, 2007
If we read the novel closely and look at the entreaties of the monster, Frankenstein alerts us to the
possibility that men do not always have the capacity for humanity. The monster’s argument is not
only central to the book physically but it is also central to the ideas of the book. The monster
reminds us - in a beautiful natural alpine environment - that because we create the monsters of the
world, we are also responsible for them. Blade Runner further develops this idea by presenting us
with a world which is the consequence of lack of responsibility. It is a monstrous world of fires and
acid rain, filled with dehumanized buildings where even the skies are inhabited by machines. The
humans who inhabit the streets lack any sense of community or connection; even the animals
have disappeared due to the selfishness of man. This world is the consequence of an obsessive
corporate culture that forgets about the human and uses science to its own ends. Elden Tyrell tells
us that: “Commerce is our goal here at Tyrell. More human than human is our motto.” Tyrell
regards his replicants “like any other machine; they’re either a benefit or a hazard. “ He illustrates
a lack of humanity in his inability to extend human fellowship to his creations. Blade Runner can in
this way be seen as the natural progression of the ideas presented in Frankenstein.
Write a paragraph responding to this question:
Can the monster become more human than the humans?
Write an essay responding to this question:
How does the context of each text affects the way it explores the concept of humanity?
MEMORIES, PHOTOS AND THE HUMAN ELEMENT
Frankenstein
Six years had elapsed, passed as a dream but for one indelible trace, and I stood in the same
place where I had last embraced my father before my departure for Ingolstadt. Beloved and
venerable parent. he still remained to me. I gazed on the picture of my mother which stood over
the mantelpiece. It was a historical subject, painted by my father’s desire, and represented
Caroline Beaufort in an agony of despair, kneeling by the coffin of her dead father. Her garb was
rustic an her cheek pale, but there was an air of dignity and beauty that hardly permitted the
sentiment of pity. Below this picture was a miniature of William, and my tears flowed as I looked
upon it. (Chapter 7)
As I fixed my eyes on the child, I saw something glittering on his breast; it was a portrait of a lovely
woman. In spite of my malignity it softened and attracted me. For a few moments I gazed with
delight on her dark eyes, fringed by lashes and her lovely lips; but presently my rage returned; I
remembered that I was forever deprived of the delights that such beautiful creatures could bestow.
(Chapter 16)
But where were my fiends and relations? No father had watched my infant days, no mother had
blessed me with smiles and caresses; … from my earliest remembrance I had been as I then was
in height and proportion…What was I? (Chapter 13)
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Blade Runner
Tyrell: We began to recognize in them strange obsessions. After all they are emotionally
inexperienced with only a few years in which to store up the experiences which you and I take for
granted. If we give them the past we create a cushion or pillow for their emotions and
consequently we can control them better.
Deckard: Memories. You're talking about memories.
.
Roy to Leon: Did you get your precious photos?
Rachael: You think I’m a replicant don’ you?
Deckard: Hah
Rachael: Look it’s me with my mother
Deckard: Yeah remember when you were six? You and your brother snuck into an empty
basement window…you remember the spider that lived in a bush outside your window?...
Implants, those aren’t your memories There somebody else’s.
The extracts above both express sentiments that grow out of memory stimulated by a picture of
a loved one and yet one is spoken by Frankenstein and the other by his monster. It seems
therefore that the power to be moved by the memories evoked by a picture is a human trait that
can be shared by the monstrous creation.
Elden Tyrell takes this understanding further and incorporates it into the creation of his
replicants. He realises the danger of lack of attachment, and endeavours to create a “cushion
or pillow for their emotions”. Emotions become a force for control of the replicant and in the end
it is this emotional knowledge that leads Roy to save Deckard. Modern science provides a
context of technology for creating these memory implants
Writing:
Write an essay in response to the following question:
How does context affect the way image and memory are explored in each text?
THE NATURAL WORLD AND THE UNNATURAL
Mary Shelley and the sublime
Mary Shelley grew up at a time when nature was being lauded by the Romantics. Landscapes
had the capacity to fill the senses with wonder, with awe. There was a consciousness of the
greatness of nature against the smallness of man.
"The passion caused by the great and sublime in nature . . . is Astonishment; and
astonishment is that state of the soul, in which all its motions are suspended, with some degree
of horror. In this case the mind is so entirely filled with its object, that it cannot entertain any
other."
Edmund Burke Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful
in Wu, Romanticism, Blackwell Publishers
The sublime refers to the effect of nature on the human - the beauty or terror of the scene
creates a sense of awe in the observer. This power of nature to transport the senses was
therefore manifested not only as a positive force but also as fear. Mary Shelley prefaces many
of her chapters with an exploration of the scene as an immense and overwhelming presence.
It seems quite appropriate then that the beautiful regions of the alps where Frankenstein walks
to relieve himself of the pain of all the tragedies that have befallen him, is also the place where
he comes upon his creation. In this way the sublime can be enacted as the full range of
emotions.
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Look at the following extracts and answer the questions that follow.
Extract One - Chapter 7
From: I quitted my seat, and walked on, although the darkness and storm increased every minute,
To: Alas! I had turned loose into the world a depraved wretch, whose delight was in carnage and
misery; had he not murdered my brother?
Extract Two - Chapter 9
From: I completed the first part of my journey on horseback I afterwards hired a mule
To: But it was augmented and rendered sublime by the mighty Alps, whose white and shining
pyramids and domes towered above all, as belonging to another earth, the habitations of
another race of beings.
Extract Three - Chapter 10
From: I spent the following day roaming through the valley. I stood beside the sources of the
Arveiron,
To:I suddenly beheld the figure of a man, at some distance, advancing towards me with
superhuman speed. He bounded over the crevices in the ice, among which I had…
1. Find 5 adjectives used to describe each scene and determine whether they carry positive
or negative connotations
2. Find emotive words. Locate the exact element of the scene that causes this emotion
(cause and effect)
3. Find references to the senses. Which sense is most prominent?
4. How does imagery of light and dark work in the text? What connotations does this binary
opposition hold?
5. Find ten poetic figures of speech such as metaphors, personification and similes and
explain how each works in the extracts.
6. Pathetic fallacy is a term coined by Ruskin who criticized the way nature was personified
as if having emotions. This connection with feelings (pathos) was a fallacy
(misunderstanding). An example would be when Autumn is represented as a woman. Find
an example of the use of a pathetic fallacy and explain its function in the text.
7. Find references to a sense of God. What role does God have in each scene?
8. Find any Gothic references and determine their role in this part of the text. What would
Gothic references have suggested to Shelley’s contemporary audience?
9. What has happened before the extract? What happens after the extract? In what way is
this extract pivotal to the action?
10. What is the mood of each extract. How is this mood created?
11. How could you show the sense of sublime in an urban modern setting? Look carefully at
Blade Runner and identify relevant scenes of the sublime. Write a creative paragraph
describing a setting in Blade Runner as if it were in a novel.
‘WORLDSPACE’
The following extracts give an idea of how to write a comparison of the “worldspace” in each of
the texts.
1. Highlight all the words referring to techniques.
The Tyrell Corporation, residence and business place of Eldon Tyrell, the Godlike scientific
“genius” behind the creation of the replicants, occupies a space central to Blade Runner’s
narrative as well as this analysis. From the very outset of the film, in which we see an extreme
long shot overlooking the futuristic cityscape of Los Angeles— defined by massive techno-towers
and near perpetual twilight, interrupted only by violent lightening strikes and fiery explosions
resulting in stunning plumes of flame—the camera visually guides us towards the grandiose
Mayan-style pyramid structures that are the headquarters of the Tyrell Corporation. The slowmoving journey over the cityscape is never comfortable, and the ominous non-diegetic music
makes matters all the more disconcerting. Throughout the movement, there are several cuts to an
extreme close up of an eye, in which we see the fireballs of this horrific worldspace vividly
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reflected in the iris. The flames become the sensorial experience through which the eye relates to
its physical environment, and because the eye is never associated with a specific character, it
easily becomes our eye. Experience becomes something which must be negotiated via a nonnatural, technologically overdetermined worldspace, whereby we are alienated by the extreme lack
of anything familiar. The characters in Frankenstein are able to articulate their experience through
the spatial surround of Nature, whereas Blade Runner is completely devoid of Nature….
2. Find the topic sentence of the following paragraph
3. Highlight all the points of comparison
4. In a table of two columns, list each point made next to the evidence given for each point
What is especially interesting here are the noticeable differences between the two mountains, that
is, Mont Blanc and the Tyrell Corporation. In Frankenstein, Victor reaches the village of Chamonix
and later wanders the valley below Mont Blanc, and states that these “sublime and magnificent
scenes afforded me the greatest consolation that I was capable of receiving.” He elaborates
further, saying: “They congregated round me; the unstained snowy mountain-top, the glittering
pinnacle, the pine woods, and ragged bare ravine; the eagle soaring amidst the clouds—they all
gathered round me, and bade me be at peace” (Shelley, 91-92). Any such peace, articulated
through Romantic language evoking Nature is simply not possible in Blade Runner. Unlike Mont
Blanc, and the valley below it, the Tyrell Corporation does not exhibit the illusive, indefinable
beauty of sublime Nature, but rather embodies a synthetic artificiality—it is a structure which is
both mathematically and mechanically defined because it is, like almost everything else in Blade
Runner, a manmade creation.
From : Evan L. Wendel : Worldspace in MaryShelley’s Frankenstein and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner:
From Romantic Nature to artificiality. ( In mETAphor, Issue 2, 2008)
5. Using this passage for reference, how does each composer capture a sense of the
sublime while using such different media for transmission of meaning?
6. How different is the postmodern sublime to the Romantic sublime? (in other words how
does the context affect the way the sublime is viewed?)
Locate evidence from each text to complete this grid
World
Frankenstein
Blade Runner
Interior World
Exterior World
Celestial World
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Extended Writing
• Write a paragraph explaining how Shelley’s references to the sublime extend her ideas.
• Write a comparison of use of the sublime in Blade Runner and Frankenstein
• Write an imaginative piece of work about a time when you felt a sense of the sublime
when faced by nature
• Write an imaginative piece of work using a modern urban scene to create a sense of
the sublime
Essay Topic:
How has the context of each of the composers (Mary Shelley and Ridley Scott) affected the
representation of their respective worlds and the place of nature and the natural in these
worlds?
SUMMARY OF IDEAS IN THE TEXTS
Students should organise their summaries that highlight the comparisons between these texts
to understand their differences in context.
One possible form could be:
Similar content
Different times and contexts
Eg
Science
Creation
Creativity
Humanity
Sublime
Father/son
relationship
Creation of monsters
Solitude
etc
Eg
1816
Romanticism
Novel
Beginning of
science
Experiments
into
galvanism
Industrial
revolution
etc
Eg
Late 19..
Postmodernism
Film
Corporate
science
In vitro
fertilization/
transplants
Technological
revolution
etc
Reflecting changing
values and perspectives
Eg
About science
About creating new life
About the creative genius
About humanity
About the sublime
About parental
relationships
About monsters
etc
Another is:
Context
Frankenstein
Blade Runner
Science –
developments
and ideas
about
Ideas about
parental
responsibility
Ideas about
creativity
Ideas about
the individual
Other ideas
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EXAMINATION PREPARATION
Return to the rubric
Once the texts have been studied and comparisons drawn it is important to return to the rubric.
Students should read the rubric again to make sure they are able to answer any of the
questions raised by the rubric statements.
Anticipate the question
Working in groups students should analyse the requirements of the rubric, considering what
might be necessary in an examination. Examination questions should reflect the statements of
the rubric. With this in mind students should devise five question that bring together both texts
and the elements of the rubric. Students should list these questions and as a group rank them
as most likely to least likely explaining their choices. Suggestions can be made to refine the
questions.
Practise writing
These questions can form the basis of class practice or a student’s own program of study.
Answer the question
Any answer MUST respond directly to the set question. It’s important to know when to leave
out information if it isn’t relevant to the question.
Know the texts
Knowing the texts is essential but only that knowledge which is relevant should be used and
care has to be taken not to tell the story. A way of avoiding recount is by organising the essay
under paragraphs that refer to ideas rather than following the novel or film from beginning to
end.
Use evidence from the texts
All statements must be supported by evidence from BOTH texts. This evidence should be
balanced between paraphrase and direct quotation.
Use quotations
Quotations add evidence but must not be too long – the essence of the quotation should be
located and only this should be used in an examination essay. Focusing on the essentials of
the quotation allows the student to develop their own explanation and illustrate understanding
and personal engagement with the text. Placing the quotation first changes the focus of the
sentence and implies that the student is jumping from quotation to quotation. Making a
statement about the topic and then using the quotation to illustrate this, foregrounds the idea.
Quotations should become part of the sentence as much as possible rather than inserted.
Refer to techniques
Understanding HOW the author and director have created meaning is important but this
information must SUPPORT any answer and not DRIVE it. There are samples in this unit of
good paragraphs where the techniques offer valid justification of how meaning is created,
without becoming a list of techniques disconnected from overall meaning.
Write a balanced essay
There are two texts to write about so there should be as much as possible an equal time spent
on each. There are two ways of constructing the essay: under ideas that emerge from the
question (comparing the elements of each text under these ideas) or dealing with one text then
the other. If the second option is taken there must be space given to the comparison of the two
texts. Both methods work.
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REFERENCES
Becker, B., 2006 Nature and artifice: animation. Sighted 2.10.2007
https://eee.uci.edu/clients/bjbecker/NatureandArtifice/week6f.html
Clayton,J. 1996 Concealed Circuits: Frankenstein's Monster, the Medusa, and the Cyborg,
Raritan 15 (1996): 53-69:0
Clayton, J. 2003 Frankenstein’s Futurity: Replicants and Robots, Cambridge Companion to
Mary Shelley, ed by E. Schor, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
English Stage 6, Prescriptions: Area of Study Electives and Texts,
Higher School Certificate, 2009 and 2012. p 19 © Board of Studies, NSW 2007
Fraistat, N. Jones, S. Stahm C. (editors) 2006 Romantic Circles University of Maryland
Sighted 2.10.2007 http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/chronologies/mschronology/reviews.html
Godwin, W.1793, Political Justice,
http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/godwin/PJfrontpiece.html
Going where no man has gone before - The Australian Friday September 7, 2007
Greenadol, T. “Q&A: Ridley Scott has finally created the Blade Runner he always imagined”
26.09 07 , in Wired Magazine Issue 15.10,
www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/magazine/15-10/ff_bladerunner?currentPage=all
Heys, J 2005 Daily Telegraph HSC English Study Guide,
Higson, R. 2007 Going where no man has gone before . The Australian, Friday Sept 7, 2007
Hogle, J.E. (ed) 2002 Gothic Fiction Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
Joseph , M.K. Introduction to Mary Shelley Frankenstein, The World’s Classics, 1969, OUP:
Oxford
Kaplan, F. 2007, Cult classic restored again, New York Times, Sept 30, 2007
Kelly, D. 2008 Sympathy for the Double: Replication from Frankenstein to BladeRunner,
New Directions, English Association, University of Sydney edited by R. Madeleine: Sydney
Monster/Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Myrone M. (ed) 2006 The Gothic Reader Tate: London
National Library of Medicine, 2002 Frankenstein: Penetrating the secrets of nature Sighted
2.10.2007 http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/frankenstein/frank_birth.html
Neville, R., 2007 Are we history in the making? Australian Literary Review, The Australian
September 5, 2007
Roberts, A. Pandora’s Box: The Gift of Science A Middlesex University Resource Sighted 3/
10/ 2007 http://www.mdx.ac.uk/WWW/STUDY/SHE6.htm
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ENGLISH TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION NSW
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