By Teagan Martin
Frankenstein is a popular, well-known gothic story created by Mary Shelley. It was originally made for a writing contest that she and a few other fellow writers did in 1818. The story is about a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who tries to reanimate a human-like creature however he becomes scared of his own murderous creation.
The first movie adaption was made in 1931 directed by James Whale. In the movie, it follows Victor as well as an assistant named Fritz as they reanimate a living being made of collected body parts. The creature became dangerous after being mistreated by Fritz and escaped.
As of early 2026 there are around 460 Frankenstein movies, shorts, and TV series. There are obviously many differences between the original book and the different movies, having an assistant, changing the story so Victor’s a victim, ect. But why are there so many adaptations of one simple book?
Frankenstein can relate to modern life in many ways. One is with newer technology. According to the article Why Are Frankenstein Riffs and Adaptations So Popular Right Now?, “In 1818, the idea of reanimating a corpse was a symbol of humanity trespassing into terrain it dared not enter.” This can refer to the surgance of AI’s like Chat GPT, Sora AI, Perplexity and more. It shows the dangers of things that maybe we don’t fully understand but still seek out.
In the book, Victor himself doesn’t even fully understand the concept of resurrection yet he still partakes in it and still brings his creature back to life. People nowadays don’t know the full extent of AI. We still don’t fully know what it’s capable of, we don’t know what it can do, we don’t know what it will do in the future.
The story can also relate to mental health. In the article The real monster of ‘Frankenstein” is not who you think, the author says “As an adolescent, Victor loses his mother to scarlet fever, causing a psychological wound. Still, he is unable to process this trauma, and he avoids his grief and goes away to college immediately.”
Another article (Coping With Mental Health Issues:Frankenstein’s Monster) says “He is desperate for a place in the world, but cannot find it anywhere he goes. The more the Monster is rejected and persecuted, the more his hope is consumed by desolation and rage.”
It can also represent mental health because of the traumas the two main characters have to go through. Victor loses not only his mother but also his father, brother, best friend and his wife before he eventually dies. Victor shows many symptoms of depression and OCD.
Victor dealt with so much trauma and he tried to recreate a living being shortly after his mother died. He was trying to recreate the life that was once there and was horrified when he failed. He was obsessed with his creation and reanimating it and was so disappointed when he failed.
People can relate to the monster though too. The monster tries to make himself more human to fit in, He learns english, he secretly helps with chores, he tries to be nice. However the people don’t want his help, they only want to fear and disregard him.
Many people can relate to feeling like a patchwork being, a person that isn’t fully a person. Many people with different mental health disorders don’t fully relate to other people. They feel as if they’re putting on a mask when they do something as simple as buying a snack from a store.
The story of Frankenstein is one that means something to many different people whether the AI scare or, more prominent, mental health worries. Probably the best quote for the subject of mental health from Frankenstein is from Guillmero Del Toro’s 2025 adaptation, “I am obscene to you but to myself, I simply am.” It shows that even the most normal or most odd of people can be hated, it just depends on the perspective.
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