Photo Credit to Netflix
The most recent film adaptation of “Frankenstein” was recently released on October 17th on Netflix. Directed by Guiellmo del Toro, this version of Mary Shelly’s classic features various iconic actors like Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth and Oscar Issac. The cinematography, costumes and color symbolism add to the story and make it unique from the original story. This adaptation sets the bar high for future gothic horror films.
“Frankenstein” tells the story of an inventor, Victor Frankenstein, and his descent into madness after making The Creature, also known as Frankenstein’s Monster. The movie is split into four parts: present day, the prologue, the story from Victor’s point of view and the story from The Creature’s point of view. The prologue details Victor’s early life, and his family struggles and how they tie into his character choices later in the film. The story from Victor and The Creature’s perspective shows how The Creature’s birth was affected by Victor, and vice versa.
A prevalent example of color symbolism in “Frankenstein” is how red costumes, sets and creative choices represent death. The first example is Victor’s mother, Caroline, who dies during childbirth in the beginning of the film. However, before her death, she is only seen wearing blood red dresses, including a red veil over her face. Throughout her short lived part of the movie, she is always wearing the veil, or the camera is angled so they can’t see her face. This symbolizes how her death was overshadowing her character the duration of time she is alive during the film. During her funeral, Victor wears a red handkerchief around his neck, made of the same fabric from his late mothers veil. Similarly, the same red ruffles appear on his mother’s coffin, and on his sister-in-law, Elizabeth’s, bonnet.. This red theme plays into Elizabeth’s character, when she wears her signature red cross necklace, which stands out against her white wedding dress.
This connection is no accident, and the parallels between Elizabeth and Caroline grow even after their deaths. To accentuate the parallels between Caroline and Elizabeth, they are both played by the same actress, Mia Goth. Victor’s father, Leopold is blamed for Caroline’s death. Even though he was a wealthy doctor, he didn’t save Caroline from death because he envied Victor’s relationship with her. This storyline reappears when Victor shoots Elizabeth, after he has realized that The Creature has fallen in love with her. Victor shadows his father in this scene, killing the first person who showed The Creature compassion.
In the beginning of The Creature’s life, he is scared of the sunlight and has to learn the ways of human life. At first, Victor is eager to teach him but he soon grows annoyed with The Creature’s underdeveloped understanding of humanity. He first tries to teach him that sunlight is nothing to be afraid of, and that it gives him life. However, right after doing so, he locks him in the basement with no light. This factor comes back around in the very end of the movie, where after all the pain from being abandoned is resolved, The Creature is seen walking into the sunlight, stating his new life free from the literal and metaphorical darkness Victor forced him into.
Elizabeth’s personality and interests are further shown through her costumes and color palettes. In comparison to the dreary and gloomy imagery of the movie, her ballgowns all feature colorful, feminine designs. Costume designer Kate Hawley expresses that it was her goal to avoid the grey and browns that were unique to the time period. In her first appearance, she wears a dark blue gown, complete with a feathered headpiece and a scarab beetle necklace, which is from the Tiffany & Co archives. Elizabeth mentions later her obsession with beetles, butterflies and other insects. This small detail is further displayed through her wardrobe. Further in the film, she wears a silk green dress, with iridescent layering, again resembling a scarab beetle. The final and arguably most iconic outfit Elizabeth wears is her wedding dress. The dress echoes the gothic and medieval styles of the time, and also mimics the similarities with the wedding dress from the 1935 “Bride of Frankenstein”. This dress represents the care and grace that Elizabeth shows The Creature throughout the film. Which soon is destroyed when Victor shoots her.
At the film’s climax, Victor has frequent nightmarish visions of a red demon, surrounded by fire. Like his late mother, the demon is surrounded by the red veils that she used to wear. These visions push Victor to insanity, with which he decides his creation was a mistake, deciding to burn down the castle with The Creature inside. After watching the castle where he created a new life burst into flames, he has a moment of reminiscing the paternal feelings he has for The Creature. Because of this, he decides to try and go back to save it. However, he is too late. The castle explodes, blasting Victor back to the front yard, causing him to lose his leg. Little does Victor know, The Creature had escaped as well and is starting a life of his own, with plans of righteous revenge.
Aside from red, the film features green as another dominant color palette. Perhaps it’s alluding to the signature green color of the original Frankenstein’s skin.
When Victor sets up the machinery to electrocute his creation to life, an eerily green storm cloud passes over his castle, aligning with the creation of his monster. This cloud returns when The Creature reunites with Victor, signifying that he is at his strongest. However, this is misleading to The Creature’s nature.
After escaping from the castle, he explores the woods surrounding his old prison. Surrounded by the lush green moss in the woods, there is a scene where he approaches a deer, and instead of showing hostility, he feeds it berries. Even in a new world, he shows compassion towards wildlife even though all he knows is pain from his time with Victor. This green motif continues later in the film, where he meets a blind old man who he takes care of, in exchange for shelter. Before the blind man’s family knows about The Creature, they refer to him as a “Spirit of the Forest.” The Creature, now able to speak and think for himself, explains how he is at peace with the world.
However, this soon changes when wild wolves kill the old man and his livestock. The comforting green color palette quickly changes to harsh bright white snow, symbolizing rebirth but also The Creature’s resentment towards the life he was forced into. Once again, The Creature is alone and the only person able to give him compassion and companionship is dead. However, when he reunites with Victor, and eventually forgives him, the white hues change from being harsh to symbolizing a new beginning.
