The Gay Legacy of Frankenste - OUT FRONT

Contents:

• THE GAY LEGACY OF FRANKENSTE
• GAY FRANKENSTE’S HALLO-WEENIER STUMED BALLS.
• JAM WHALE: FRANKENSTE’S GAY FATHER

THE GAY LEGACY OF FRANKENSTE

However, at the same time, the breaks om the tradns ced a rponse reactn favor of more tradnal social rol other areas, such as the refutatn of male sexual relatnships to the extent that one uld be sentenced to ath for participatg the act of homosexualy. Rerds show that while there no functng laws agast sodomy per se existed durg Shelley’s wrg of the novel, other laws applied agast exprsns of homosexualy and there a strong adverse public reactn agast homosexualy occurred the early 1800s.

“In 1810, when thirty homosexuals were arrted a raid on the Whe Swan, Vere St., London, those discharged for want of evince were so roughly handled by the crowd as to be danger of their liv” (The Morng Chronicle, 1810). Throughout the novel, Shelley explor the social abhorrence toward homosexualy by uchg the more socially acceptable terms of the growg mache age.

Rather than beg ncerned wh the ‘natural’ orr of the world and the advancement of society, Frankenste, like the homosexual element of Bra, ncerned self wh ‘unnatural’ male love. Unnatural as a Metaphor for Homosexualy From the begng of his tn, Victor Frankenste purposefully and tentnally turned his back on the natural world as a way of ncentratg on disverg the secret of brgg life to animate material. Concln While numero readgs are possible of Shelley’s novel, is unniable that one of the many issu she ncerned herself wh was the issue of homosexualy and s effects on society.

GAY FRANKENSTE’S HALLO-WEENIER STUMED BALLS.

Invtigatns to her personal life suggt Shelley perhaps also found herself tryg to pe wh homosexual tennci her lover and future hband while ntemplatg the credible dynamics of life and ath havg jt lost one child and the procs of producg another.

It is th not surprisg that she should envisn the product of a homosexual relatnship, s nature, and s effect upon the world, particularly given world events occurrg at that time. Through the character of Victor Frankenste, Shelley vtigat the stctive forc of homosexualy as the product of his passn wanrs the earth search of a ‘normal’ life n never have.

More about Frankenste Although hidn wh a discsn of the technologil advanc of science, Shelley clus small tails to help illtrate the homosexual bent of the novel, such as the se of Clerval and Frankenste’s ep attachment to this male character and the killg of the female characters as a means of keepg the story uched wh the male sphere. Watchg Bri of Frankenste today, is hard to image that 1935 dienc failed to see the obv: that this was the work of an unashamed gay filmmaker.

JAM WHALE: FRANKENSTE’S GAY FATHER

Yet there’s somethg about this story of unhallowed arts that mak darkly ronant for queer artists beyond any other you’re gay and grow up feelg like a hio misf, fully nsc that some believe your sir to be wicked and want to kill you for them, intifyg wh the Monster is hardly a stretch: A misunrstood beast fds solace the solu of the woods, but seems to endlsly face the wrath of the torch-bearg, small-md habants the world beyond. ) More recently, on televisn, “Penny Dreadful” (2014) and “The Cleveland Show” (2011) have starred gay versns of Frankenste or his Monster.

“Frankenste, ” Boris Karloff, 1931, via Everett CollectnHOMOEROTIC SUBTEXT was hntg “Frankenste” way before “Gods and Monsters, ” though: Boris Karloff’s fond nickname for his favore role was “the ar old monster.