Brides and Automata in The Frankenstein Chronicles

Federica Perazzini

doi:10.13125/2039-6597/6359

Federica Perazzini Sapienza, University of Rome

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13125/2039-6597/6359

Keywords: Adaptation, Frankenstein, Transmedia, Gender, Intersectionality

Abstract

This article offers an analysis of the television series The Frankenstein Chronicles (TFC), positioning it as a significant contribution to the neo-Victorian revival of the Frankenstein narrative within contemporary televisual seriality. By integrating historical and contemporary anxieties surrounding identity and mortality, TFC underscores the relationship between biotechnological advancements and shifting societal perceptions of life and death. Central to this exploration is the character of Esther Rose, a working-class Jewish seamstress who embodies the monstrous feminine archetype of the Bride of Frankenstein, reinterpreted through a postfeminist lens that highlights her intersectional trauma as a mourning mother. Esther’s narrative serves as a critique of the Victorian patriarchal association of femininity with artificiality, thus emphasizing the ethical dilemmas surrounding scientific progress within the context of capitalist extractivism and the mechanization of marginalized groups.

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Filmography

Bride of Frankenstein, The, Dir. James Whale, Universal Pictures, 1935.

Flesh for Frankenstein, Dir. Paul Morrissey, Compagnia Cinematografica Champion, 1973.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Dir. Kenneth Branagh, Tristar Picture, 1994.

S2:E1 - Prodigal Son. 2017 [TV series]. dir. Alex Gabassi. Written by Michael Robert Johnson. The Frankenstein Chronicles. UK: ITV Encore, 1 November.

S2:E2 - Not John Marlott. 2017 [TV series]. dir. Alex Gabassi. Written by Paul Tomalin. The Frankenstein Chronicles. UK: ITV Encore, 8 November..

S2:E3 - Seeing the Dead. 2017 [TV series]. dir. Alex Gabassi. Written by Noel Farragher and Paul Tomalin. The Frankenstein Chronicles. UK: ITV Encore, 15 November.

S2:E4 - Little Boy Lost. 2017 [TV series]. dir. Alex Gabassi. Written by Colin Carberry, Glenn Patterson and Michael Robert Johnson. The Frankenstein Chronicles. UK: ITV Encore, 22 November.

S2:E5 - The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. 2017 [TV series]. dir. Alex Gabassi. Written by Paul Tomalin. The Frankenstein Chronicles. UK: ITV Encore, 29 November.

S2:E6 - Bride of Frankenstein. 2017 [TV series]. dir. Alex Gabassi. Written by Michael Robert Johnson. The Frankenstein Chronicles. UK: ITV Encore, 6 December.