Landscape and Geography in Frankenstein and Its Adaptations

In reading Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, one of the first things brought to the attention of readers is the vivid scenery. The novel opens on the frozen expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, shrouded in mystery and unexplored wonder. As Dr. Frankenstein begins telling his story, we’re brought to the beautiful lakeside city of Geneva, and the dark and foggy streets of Ingolstadt. Further along, we’re taken to the incredible Swiss Alps, and even inside an ice cave.

As the environment and nature itself begins to play an increasingly important role in the story, Shelley does a fantastic job of providing readers with a surreal and gorgeous backdrop. While the novel allows readers to paint these pictures in their head, a film version would certainly excite any ambitious cinematographer. The story is ripe for a breathtaking cinematic adaptation, and I feel no Frankenstein movie has seized the opportunity yet.

The 1931 adaptation is incredibly bleak. Admittedly, it was created in the infancy of cinema itself, but the settings in that first movie are very underwhelming. Not only are many of the crucial settings completely abandoned, but the ones that are retained aren’t done justice.

The 1994 adaptation goes much further in its attempts to paint the full picture. It features Frankenstein’s lab in a surreal and eccentric way, just like readers imagined it. It includes the Alps and the ice cave. It showcases the streets of Ingolstadt, and the city of Geneva. However, I still feel that it was done in a very underwhelming way. Shelley’s novel gives potential filmmakers an enormous canvas, and yet the closest we’ve gotten to a masterpiece was a 1994 finger painting (at least from a cinematography standpoint).

Given the novel’s reliance on scenery and nature, especially in regards to the soul of the Monster, no adaptation of Frankenstein will be complete until directors stop overlooking what an important part scenery plays in the story. It’s 2014. I think it’s time someone gave us a beautiful and accurate adaptation of Shelley’s Frankenstein.