Check out my new post from the Out of the Encyclopedia of History segment from Mind of Sai Marie.
This time I talked about Percy, Mary, Lord Byron, and the history of #frankenstein along with the #Villadiadotiwager
#EncyclopediaPostContest
Which, btw, if you've not watched del Toro's masterpiece yet...DO, it's exquisite cinematography, and I promise, it's your next addiction if you love #gothicliterature
00:00Good evening, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Mind of Saemarie out of the Encyclopedia of History.
00:11This one is Monsters, Mirrors, and Mary Shelley, a gothic legacy inspired by the splendor of Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, which is absolutely amazing.
00:28So, this is where myth meets manuscript, and today we descend into the stormy summer of 1816, where ghost stories, volcanic ash, and radical love birthed one of literature's most enduring monsters and a feminist legacy misunderstood by many.
00:50Now, the Villa Diodati Wager, very infamous.
01:01In the summer of 1816, Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Byron were stranded at Villa Diodati near Lake Geneva due to the aftermath of Mount Tambora's eruption, which caused a year without summer.
01:19Byron proposed a challenge.
01:23Who could write the most terrifying ghost story?
01:26Mary, just 18, conceived Frankenstein or the modern Prometheus, a novel that would redefine gothic literature.
01:35Though Oscar Wilde wasn't a part of the circle, I feel that he's important to mention because his aesthetic and philosophical provocations echo the same libertine spirit of Byron and the Shelleys.
01:53So, this is just to let you guys see how patterns go with some of the gothic literary grades.
01:59That brings me to libertine love and literary lineage.
02:05Mary eloped with Percy Shelley, who was still married to Harriet Westbrook, a scandalous act that defied Victorian norms and embodied the radical ideals of her parents, Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and William Godwin, the political philosopher and novelist.
02:26Their union wasn't just romantic, it was revolutionary.
02:30Mary surrounded herself with writers, thinkers, provocateurs, crafting a life of intellectual and emotional intensity.
02:39However, she was one who really embodied feminism without misandry.
02:44Mary Shelley's feminism was rooted in humanism, not misandry.
02:48Her portrayal of Victor Frankenstein's hubris and the creature's suffering invites readers to reflect on the duality of human nature, not to vilify men, but to critique unchecked ambition and emotional neglect.
03:04Her work challenges the assumption that early feminists were anti-male.
03:08Instead, she interrogated power, responsibility, and empathy, themes that are still relevant today.
03:13So, the duality and darkness in gothic literature, Mary's Frankenstein and Robert Louis Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde both explore the monstrous within.
03:25Stevenson's wife supposedly criticized Jekyll and Hyde for romanticizing its horror and urged her husband to go into a deeper reflection on the internal moral decay that gothic fiction often dramatizes.
03:38So, these novels aren't just thrillers, they're psychological mirrors, revealing how repression and denial can manifest monstrosity.
03:49That brings me to del Toro's cinematic reverence.
03:53Guillermo del Toro is, out of this world, amazing, and his work is legacy.
04:00He is a legacy creator, and I think that that is an absolute at this point.
04:05His name belongs among the stars, among the best directors, that, especially when it comes to gothic cinematography, this man is impeccable at his art.
04:19So, Guillermo, his Frankenstein, del Toro's Frankenstein, plays homage to this legacy, embedding Percy Shelley's poetry and Lord Byron's quotes into its cinematic tapestry.
04:32Therefore, honoring and giving tribute to that original wager and the people that were there when it occurred.
04:41And it's just an amazing bit of lore to the background of writers.
04:47And, you know, del Toro's use of stage play symbolism, his literary iconography, and the gothic aesthetics underscore the timelessness of these themes and the women who shaped them.
04:59So, Mary Shelley didn't just birthed a monster, she birthed a movement.
05:05Her legacy, alongside Stevenson's wife's critique, remind us that gothic literature is more than horror.
05:11It's a reckoning. It's a mirror.
05:13It's a call to confront the shadows that we carry.
05:16And, you know, I just, I absolutely loved this movie.
05:23Of course, everyone who has followed my reviews or knows what a cinephile I am, you know, a total movie buff over here.
05:35I regularly review gothic films.
05:39That's, like, one of my favorites.
05:41I loved Nosferatu.
05:42I loved Mary Shelley's Frankenstein from the 90s with Robert De Niro as the creature and Helena Bonham Carter.
05:51I loved Bram Stoker's Dracula with Gary Olden and Wynonna Ryder.
05:58But anyways, these are just, like, this is my thing.
06:03So, with Frankenstein, I gave a five-star review and I said,
06:08I am in love with the cinematic glory that Guillermo del Toro has once again delivered to us
06:12in this delightful display of gothic elegance, gore, and scientific marvel
06:17as one of the best renditions and nods to Mary Shelley's creation that I have ever seen.
06:22And that's not something I say lightly.
06:25I am a hard-to-impress fan here, too, because I fell in love with the book as a child
06:29and was privileged to see the Robert De Niro version in theaters when it came out.
06:34Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is one of my favorite gothic films of all time to date.
06:40However, Guillermo is a genius, and I knew when I saw the trailer for this movie
06:44that it would deliver upon his grandness and do justice to Mary's story
06:48for this new addition for the current generation.
06:52And following some of the great gothic films that have come out in the last year,
06:56I definitely loved it.
06:58It served up a wonderful course post-Nosferatu and also Dracula, A Love Tale,
07:03which is also an amazing nod.
07:07Like I said, Bram Stoker's Dracula having been one of my top-tier favorites,
07:11but that one also holds up exquisitely.
07:13So, I highly recommend Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein
07:18to all of my gothic romantic enthusiasts who love the old classics and literature
07:22and obviously also Dracula, A Love Tale with Luc Besson.
07:27So, yeah, that's what I wanted to share
07:29with Out of the Encyclopedia of History with you all tonight.
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