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DelanieDooms123
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Frankenstein (1931)
Great Monster Flick
Fidelity is the central theme of the text of Frankenstein. There are many examples of other partners presented to us in the text. From the first, the inclination to view Henry's experiments as an excuse for sexual misconduct is implied; soon, it is outright stated. But Elizabeth is not exception, either--she has Victor, who clearly loves her.
This clear presentation of the notion of fidelity--or, primarily, the lack thereof--is soon elided. Henry is not cheating, at least not on Elizabeth, and no matter how much Victor may love her, he is rejected forcefully. Their mutual fidelity is assured--but the fear of it (the fear ultimately of transgression) is left to us. It appears again in the Monster. Instead of treating the world as God intends, Henry 'becomes God' and creates life of his own two hands.
What has essentially happened is namely this: the fear of infidelity in the marriage between Henry and Elizabeth, the prolongation of the Frankenstein familial line, and the peasant festivities that result from such a massive event, has been pushed out; it is not to be dealt with in the conscious mind, but it will come back again. The deviation that is implied behind infidelity--whether to God, a lover, or one's children--is put squarely on the Monster, who is simultaneously the victim of it and its consequences. Surely, he must show up again.
And it does. Elizabeth feels it most strongly, aware that something will--must--come between her and her lover. She fears it, and soon it is realized; the Monster appears again. But the Monster is chased down and executed by all the peasantry; the happily endowed couple will be married, etc., etc., the end. Emphasis is put particularly upon the group denouncing and destroying the Monster without looking particularly into why he exists or even his motives.
Which leads to the final point.
The Monster in the film is also misunderstood. From the first, he is treated poorly, even by those who seem to want to help; at least, by those who defend him, like Henry. This poor treatment seems the direct cause of the Monster's confusion--and the cause, more-or-less, of his violence. From that point, it is possible to draw a direct line from all the Monster's actions--his murder of the child, for instance--from his poor upbringing. A line, of course, even more clearly understood when we see that the actions of Henry are the cause behind it's creation. (One amazing scene near the end of the film, where Frankenstein and the Monster are fighting, we see the town burgermeister point to the murderer: he points, however, to Frankenstein and the Monster arm-in-arm.) The Monster, understood in this review as both a symbol of transgression itself and a victim thereof, is hence transformed into a remarkable symbol of the fear and secretiveness behind infidelity and it's remedies.
He is the elided illegitimate child made manifest, unable to be confronted, doomed to be destroyed.
Elizabeth and Victor are terribly acted. The set design is phenomenal, filled with little hints at personality described visually--filled equally with massive, campy stuff too. A great b-movie.
The Sign of Four (1923)
Thriller
The Sign of the Four, starring Eille Norwood as Holmes, is more of a thriller than a mystery story. There is a long chase scene at the end of the story, the reveal of what happened comes relatively early on, etc., etc.; however, we are given hints at what happened throughout the story (the yearly pearl suggests treasure, the murder suggests danger appertaining to this treasure, and the giving of some of it suggests a sympathetic party), so I would classify it as having something to do with mystery (luckily enough).
The film is perhaps dated by modern standards. Abdullah Kahn is played by Fred Raynham in Indian face, for example, and this cosplay of race is very noticeable.
In other ways, maybe the film would not be considered as 'dated'. Mary Morstan is eminently capable of taking care of herself. Indeed, Watson is saved by her when he is tortured, and, in return, he saves her from burning in the fire on the boat. Hence, she cannot be considered as a damsel in distress, whose entire power has been revoked from her to serve as choice meat to be saved by the hero and coveted by the villain; she is more human.
Thomas Sankara: The Upright Man (2006)
Great Documentary
Great film. Doesn't hide anything about Thomas Sankara's regime, whether good or bad. The documentary probably doesn't get everything (it is just about an hour long), and the editing cannot compare to modern quality, but it is well worth watching nonetheless.
Invisible Network of Kids (2008)
Enjoyable
I will tell you when a spoiler will happen.
I first heard about this show from Mr. Enter; and his video piqued my interests in the show, so I watched it's 26 episodes and here I am now.
This show is episodic. Each episode has the main villain Miss Macbeth forming a new scheme to capture, reveal, kill, hypnotize, and/or punish all the children at Pinkerton (the school in question) or just the Invisible Network of Kids (the poorly named group the protagonists make). Many of her plans come very close to succeeding, as in one episode (this is were a spoiler comes into play), she basically kills all but one member of I.N.K. However, she's bested by Vin easily.*
Each episode serves as a way to teach one of the members of I.N.K. a lesson in friendship, teamwork, etc. It comes out in a mixed back of results. Each episode also serves as a catalyst to learn more about a certain character's backstory. These also vary in quality. Continuing onward will evoke spoilers... be warned. One such arc is Trixie's parent-hating arc. This dislike of her parents comes out of nowhere, and is resolved by the ending. Vin's parent arc is in direct contrast. It does feel forced like Trixie's but I thought it worked better. It's basically that Vin is an orphan, and his parents might be secret agents. Although it's cliché and forced I still thought it worked decently. Anyway, I just wanted to highlight those.
The show has a multitude of varying episodes, and each, does take much from other mediums as well as it's own. The last few episodes really brought that thought down upon me. They used many references such as in the final episode the character known as Trixie says, "Elementary my dear Newton." This is in all regards a reference to Sherlock Holmes, and the episode was about a private detective investigating the school, so it works. Now, they don't always just reference, no, sometimes they use cliché's. An example would easily be the theater episode, but firstly I am obliged to say there will be a minimal spoiler ahead. In this the group try to preform Romeo and Juliet; it goes wrong, they wing in, and in the end they're play is a success. This is an overused plot, and I cannot condone it. It does help move the romance, or well, the implied romance along.*
Moving on, in the English dub many of the voice actors are terrible. Macbeth is probably the best of the voice actors whereas Trixie is probably the worst. Many of the actors are decent at speaking in general, but when they're supposed to sound surprised, astonished, or even just yelling they will nine times out of ten fail. However, the translation itself was decent enough to understand.
The animation is flash. It is watchable, but some angles are trash. To illustrate, if there was a table with stuff on it that table would be seen as if from above, but we would actually be looking at it from the side. The show's looks didn't deter me from watching.
My final thoughts are that this show was enjoyable. Macbeth is funny because of her voice actor, and for the strange reason that she has a musical number each episode*. Some characters such as Zero are interesting; overall it's an enjoyable show. I won't go into it with high expectations though. That's just my thought, goodbye.
Notes.
*I didn't want to make the first paragraph abhorrently long, so I'm continuing down here. The episode I mentioned is probably the worst in the series. It's about time travel, and as you can tell, it isn't done properly. I could point out many many flaws and paradoxes throughout the episode. If I were to watch the series again I would skip this one.
*Implied romance it between Vin and Zero.
*Spoiler, which does get explained by her love of music... and her old job as a children's singer.