#script analysis

[charmac]

I wrote about Charlie and Dennis' paralleled childhood sexual abuse, and how their opposing trauma responses keep them from seeing themselves while they stay stuck in their own cycles of abuse.

// The content under the read more is an in-depth script analysis highlighting and discussing childhood sexual abuse and trauma response. Please read with caution or scroll past this post if these topics are known to affect and/or trigger you. //

Because Sunny walks an extremely fine line between sensitive, if not traumatic, character work and dark comedy, I've found that, in reading the scripts, the trauma being written is always much more blatant. You have to work a little harder to pick up on the underlying intent when watching the episodes (though the more and more we learn about the characters, the more the intent becomes clear), but the scripted versions of these scenes are solid evidence that the clear intent of these storylines is to reveal that these characters have extremely repressed childhood trauma, in-turn explaining to the audience why they have such fucked-up ideas of (and relationships with) love and sex. To put it more blatantly: the purpose of giving and revealing the childhood trauma these characters have is purposeful (if not needed), explaining why they are the predators that they are, and allows us to at least understand where their often psychopathic actions and rationales come from.

The fact that Charlie and Dennis were both sexually abused as children is all but obvious to the audience (and every other member of the Gang), but the extent to which these plots are intended to act as character work as opposed cheap-shot rape jokes is often lost on the casual viewer. In my opinion, the disconnect is not for lack of clear intention in the writing, but by the nature of the show being what it is.

It’s very clearly still there, easy enough to catch if you’re standing more than ankle-deep in the waters, but because Sunny is a dark comedy, it’s unfortunately easy to uncomfortably laugh past a rape joke if you don’t care to look deeper than the surface. Taking a look at the scripts helps paint a clearer picture, making it easier to point out, walk through and explore the CSA lore developed for both Charlie and Dennis, how they parallel and oppose each other, and how this trauma relates to their own predatory behaviours. 

An obvious starting point is Charlie Got Molested, which is, on the surface, an episode in which we learn that Charlie wasn't molested. What is changed from the script to the episode is this first line from Charlie, right at the very end of the episode, on his family’s response to his alleged molestation:

(Charlie's aired line is instead "Now everybody thinks that I've been molested. So, in a way, my life is ruined.")

Whether written with a specific intent at the time or not, this episode sets the stage (literally, lol) for a later building 'reveal' that (1) Charlie was molested as a child, and (2) his Uncle Jack is very much a pedophile, not just a perv (which is hinted at in the actual episode, both in dialogue and visuals), because the next time the show features a plot with Charlie and molestation (Sweet Dee's Dating notwithstanding, though important to mention, as it’s further evidence of the idea that there was clearly a thread being woven early on), it’s via the form of a play.

Charlie wrote The Nightman Cometh as a play about love, which was turned into a 'legible' play by Artemis, in which the Gang all "misinterpreted" his original intent and believed it to be about a child being raped. Charlie gets mad, because he doesn't see it, doesn't believe it, and instead believes everyone is destroying his artistic vision by refusing to let this idea go.

The script for The Nightman Cometh (which, I’d like to point out, RCG chose to make publicly available to everyone) has an alternate ending to the rehearsal of the bed scene between The Boy and The Nightman:

(The aired version shows Charlie more-comedically angry at Mac and Dennis by raising his level of frustration, physically with his hands. The mention of the Nightman taking The Boy face-to-face is never addressed in the aired episode, yet it does take place that way in the actual play scene following the rehearsal featuring doggy-style humping.)

What's heavily implied in the episode (and basically explicitly stated in the script), is that the Gang are not misinterpreting Charlie's art; the play is quite literally built around the idea that a child is attempting to communicate his rape, and Dennis is telling him that’s what it is. Charlie can't accept that, because this is a play about his life, he believes he’s created a play about love, and he is the boy and he was not raped so it can't be rape.

(And, following this, the audience can put the two and two together: Charlie’s clearly repressed CSA and the fact that his Uncle is a pedophile. In every.single.physical.interaction Charlie and Uncle Jack have, in every appearance he makes following Season 4, the fact that Uncle Jack is the Nightman is clear.)

Rolling back a little, it’s interesting that Dennis is the one to be audibly confused by (and frustrated with) the fact that Charlie can't understand his play is a rape play, because it's so very obvious to Dennis. Yet, 7 years later, he's in Charlie's exact shoes.

Because in Dee Makes a Smut Film, Dennis' plot almost directly parallels Charlie’s from The Nightman Cometh:

Dennis wrote his Erotic Memoirs as a tale of his sexual conquests, the first of his encounters turned into a 'film' by Dee, in which Dee "misinterpreted" what happened between Dennis and the Librarian as him being raped as a teen. Dennis gets mad, because he doesn't see how it could possibly be rape, doesn't believe a guy can be raped, and instead believes Dee and Grieco are destroying his artistic vision by refusing to let the idea go.

(In the aired episode, Dennis does not avoid using the word rape, and instead insists you cannot rape a guy, and that he was willing.)

Just like Charlie, Dennis refuses to accept that the people who are acting out his writing at face-value are telling him straight up that it looks like, and most-likey is, rape. Dennis can't accept that, because this is a film about his life, it's about his first sexual conquest, and he is the boy and he was not raped so it can't be rape.

This goes one-step further when Dee airs the 'film' for the rest of the Gang:

(The aired version of the video does not show anything from filming, and only shows a slideshow of photos from when Dennis was a teen, overlay text claiming he was raped, and a photo of Klinsky repeating 'hoser' over and over.)

Dennis goes on a spiel and reiterates that he was not raped. The rest of the Gang are not convinced.

And at this point, Charlie and Dennis probably should relate to each other, or at the very least intentionally give each other a pass/miss whenever the topic of childhood sexual abuse emerges, but instead they continue to have no issue believing and pointing out that the other was raped while continuing to deny their own trauma. 

In PTSDee, this paralleled-refusal is made clear. Very clear. In the script, it's even clearer:

(In the aired scene, Dennis' line is clearly cut after he mentions Charlie's mom, and it picks up with Charlie's line at "the father thing")

They see it so clearly in each other, but don't see themselves mirrored—and there's no doubt that's intentional. Because while they were both sexually abused as children, their current relationships with love and sex (as portrayed from basically episode one) are opposing, and the circumstances of their individual rape and immediate repression are extremely illustrative as to why they behave the way they do:

Charlie's trauma response is typical of pre-pubescent, forced rape. Not mature enough to even recognise what happened to him (as Uncle Jack's abuse was likely his first exposure to sexual acts), he regresses and represses, subsequently developing a repulsion toward sex into his adult life (in Season 5, Mac and Charlie Write a Movie, there's a deleted scene that makes it evident that he's disgusted by and avoidant of sex decades later), and, clearly by the depictions in The Nightman Cometh play and the lyrics of Nightman in Sweet Dee’s Dating, believing that the harassment he faced was love. 

For the run of the show, Charlie’s interest in love and sex is almost exclusively highlighted by his relentless pursuit of the Waitress. In so far as the idea that every member of the Gang is a sexual predator, Charlie is depicted as a sexual harasser, unable to recognize that disinterest, avoidance, the word "no," and stalking that leads to legal action to restrain him from the person he's pursuing is inappropriate and predatory.

While his CSA results in a repulsion toward sex (in most instances), Charlie clearly associates the concept of love with the early harassment he faced, brought on him in his own home by a "loved one," he truly believes that his own relentless pursuit will end up buying him love. Charlie is stuck in an abstinent cycle (at least, until Dennis’ Double Life) of his own abuse.

Dennis' trauma response is typical of coercive rape and grooming. He was old enough to believe that sex is something that should be seen as cool, and therefore obsesses and brags about his experience(s), resulting in his hypersexuality. In Season 5, The D.E.N.N.I.S. System, it's firmly established that Dennis' pursuit of women is something outside of genuine attraction; in fact, it's almost devoid of it. Clearly by the plot of PTSDee, he sees a woman’s sexuality as a weapon he needs to fight against. 

For the run of the show, Dennis' interest in sex is deeply entwined with the fact that he gets off on having power over his "sexual conquests". In so far as the idea that every member of the Gang is a sexual predator, Dennis is depicted as a date rapist, having an aversion to recognising (if not an inability to understand) consent, he pursues sex exclusively for his own physical pleasure, with little care for the other party, getting off on the knowledge that he’s orchestrated the situation he’s in.

While his CSA results in an obsession with sex, Dennis clearly does not associate the concept of love with the act, truly believing that sex is used to overpower someone, most enjoyable when obtained via coercion, exactly as his virginity was taken from him. Dennis is stuck in a loveless cycle of his own abuse.

Charlie and Dennis meet after their own traumas; their clearly disordered relationships with love and sex is how they've always known the other to be. When there are hints of the other's abuse, they're able to easy recognise what it is, for they sense the paralleled familiarity of their own CSA—yet their polar opposite trauma responses result in an inability to reflect:

To Dennis, Charlie was clearly raped, and Charlie fears sex and Dennis loves sex, so he can't have been raped; To Charlie, Dennis was clearly raped, and Dennis doesn't pursue love and Charlie loves the Waitress, so he can't have been raped.

Their reflections being mirrored causes them to harp on the other's trauma and keeps them from being able to truly recognise their own abuse. Call the other out and deny what’s shot back, stuff it down and continue spiralling in their own cycle of abuse.

[lucifers-version]

Lucifer's Speeches to Sam and Castiel in Abandon All Hope

Both of these speeches are so good and are revealing in how Lucifer not only sees himself but his relationship to these characters. As well as how he's leaving out key information in his story depending on how it suits him.

First he speaks with Castiel after trapping him in holy fire.

This is Lucifer's take on fallen angels. Rebellion = falling. Which is absolute and how heaven sees it. He sees a part of his much younger self in Cas, the beginnings of falling.

The emphasis in this speech is rebellion. The fact that Lucifer rebelled and was cast out. It lacks specificity, because the reason for rebelling is relevant for both angels. It's similar but Cas in this moment wouldn't see it this way so he leaves things vague.

And he's right. After Lucifer is locked back up Castiel does become the fallen angel and heaven's main target for YEARS.

The final part of this interaction always gets me because yes, Lucifer is the repeated death of Cas. Most importantly in Swan Song but later as well. This is where that was foretold.

Then he speaks to Sam during the grave ritual scene.

This is the speech where we get some detail. Still omitting a few key points, but this is where we actually get the sense that this was deeply hurtful to Lucifer. This is where he speaks about how close he was with his family and how personal this betrayal was.

I think the biggest line that we really don't appreciate until much later in the show is "All because I was different" Lucifer was different, he was the one God trusted with the mark to seal Amara and it changed him, and after that surely God and the others did look at him differently. They viewed him as a lost cause. Also the "I had a mind of my own" is interesting because it does make me wonder if that meant his mind couldn't be reset or fixed by god or the other angels, did they try?

The rest is a specific appeal to Sam's emotions, pulling on words he knows Sam will react to like "Freak" which he got from Sam in 5 x 03 when Sam confesses to him that he knows he's a freak, and he saw how upset Sam was about that term, so here he applies it to himself to strengthen the connection.

But we see he's very intentional with his use of words, telling the same story to a slightly different tune, all to make sure he is the most relatable and sympathetic to whomever he's speaking to.

With Cas it's words like "rebel" "cast out" "public enemy" With Sam it's words like "freak" "begged" "of my own" "different" "monster"

Then I think another key thing here is "who I loved" first of all, directly implies to Sam that he is capable of love. Which for angels is very different than the human concept. Second, past tense in reference to Michael.

In both speeches he uses his past to relate to the audience and then takes it a step further to imply that similarities in their stories mean they will share the same fate. "I rebelled, and was damned. So if you rebel they will damn you too" "I was called a monster by my brother and he turned on me, well your brother has called you a monster, so how long before he turns on you?"

Anyway just a look at how Lucifer uses words to very quickly relate and manipulate his audience to his purposes.

[twinsfawn]

saltburn review please ? it’s very important to me to know your thoughts

i’m so sorry i took forever to answer this, i wanted to really dive in and needed the time/headspace to do it in. it’s not the best movie i’ve ever seen by any means but there’s so many dynamics/themes/motifs that i can’t stop thinking about.

spoilers and me rambling endlessly under the cut

the relationship that has the most meat is obviously between oliver and felix. i’ve been ruminating on how love and hate are often not opposites but rather two ribbons dancing entwined with one another. both are an obsession. i can’t stop thinking about you. i loathe you. i wish you were dead. i can’t live without you. i need to be you, a part of you, inside you. i need to consume you. i can never get close enough. it infuriates me.

i want to fucking destroy you and then kiss and cradle every broken piece. i want to wear your skin. i have to get rid of you forever. i’ll never let you go.

there’s also obviously a possessiveness that oliver has over felix (as well as most of the other characters at saltburn). “i protected him” (you’re mine).

funnily enough, oliver is felix’s pet just as much as felix is oliver’s

more on oliver’s character in general: everyone is a pawn to him and fills some emotional/psychological/financial hole.

when his real self slips through there’s a sociopathic dominance

…..his need to make venetia and farleigh “behave”. his need to keep felix right where he wants him.

on venetia and oliver: obviously i love eroticism with a side of gore. vampiric and disturbingly intimate.

also loved the weird dynamic of control regarding venetia eating, again as if she were oliver’s pet

on felix and venetia: there are DEFINITELY little glimpses of incestuous undertones which were very interesting. they’re attached at the hip. matching tattoos. sharing clothes. venetia sits in her brother’s lap despite them both being adults. venetia seducing all of oliver’s closest friends and him being disturbed by it

…venetia’s shock and horror at finding oliver is wearing felix’s aftershave right after they bury him but also being intoxicated by the twisted perversion

more on venetia: i really liked her character as a whole and the actress’ portrayal of her was enthralling. she’s truly a cold blooded ghost, and a snake at times

finally here’s some miscellaneous sections of the script that i really liked

[nowmemoriees]

their breath catches.

[waateeystein]

Analyzing Nick Dear's Frankenstein (and why we should move on to better play adaptations)

Alrighty y'all, its the long-awaited Nick Dear Frankenstein analysis post! This post is focusing specifically on Dear's characterization of the Creature, and why it negatively affects the play overall (plus some adaption theory added in for funsies). For additional context, I am an MFA candidate studying theatre, and I did this research and the accompanying slides for a project in my graduate-level theatrical criticism class. Basically this post is the text version of that presentation, with some of the slides included, and the fluff trimmed. There is a fair bit of academic jargon in here, but I tried to make it as accessible as possible!

And with all of that out of the way, the Nick Dear Frankenstein deep dive is under the cut! (And citations at the end.)

CW: Discussions of violence and SA.

Before I get into the script itself (which if you are interested in reading it, a PDF version is easily found on google), I want to introduce a fun adaptation theory which is specific to studying Frankenstein, called "Frankenstein Complex Theory." This theory comes from Dennis R. Cutchins and Dennis R. Perry in the introduction section to "Adapting Frankenstein: The Monster's Eternal Lives in Popular Culture." (A fantastic read that I recommend to anyone if your school or local library has it in circulation.) This introduction introduces the "complex" theory, as well as some really awesome ideas that get used and referenced by all of the authors included in the book.

Basically Cutchins and Perry assert that traditional adaptation theory is simple not enough to properly study Frankenstein and it's innumerable adaptations. One might also assert that Frankenstein itself is an adaptation, Mary Shelley published multiple editions of her story, and one could argue that the original story is an adaptation of other stories like "Paradise Lost." Linda Hutcheon, another academic in the field of adaptation studies who also wrote a fantastic book (cited at the end), talks about this idea of "palimpsestuous Intertextuality." I want to first argue here that the original text of Frankenstein and its adaptations (the "myth" of Frankenstein) are palimpsestuous.

And when I say the "myth" of Frankenstein is "palimpsestuous," its basically just saying that the "myth" (tall green guy with bolts in his neck who is mostly non-verbal, going around killing people mostly without rhyme or reason) is the predominate cultural narrative of Frankenstein's monster, rather than how he actually is in the book. All of the cultural ideas of what Frankenstein's monster is are this giant network which interweaves with itself, references and builds off itself, and constantly creates new things from these connections. The book and it's adaptations are not in hierarchy, one is not implicitly better or more important than another, they all work together to create our cultural narrative of Frankenstein's monster. Thus, palimpsestuous Intertextuality.

But what is this "Complex" theory I mentioned earlier, and what does it have to do with Nick Dear? Well, here is a helpful diagram!

Essentially, every piece of Frankenstein media every created, including Mary Shelley's original novel, are all part of the "Frankenstein Network." The complex, however, is personal, it includes anything from that network that you have personally consumed. Some people have a wider complex than others, but nonetheless, most of us have some kind of Frankenstein Complex (if you're this far in the post I'm assuming you have one lol.) I think Cutchins and Perry really popped off when they created this theory, its a fantastic way of studying/teaching adaptation.

But onto Nick Dear. Why did I just spend so much time covering adaptation theory and teaching you all a bunch of academic jargon? Well firstly, I spent a lot of time on that research for class and I wanted to share. But secondly and more importantly, my thesis for this entire post is that Nick Dear, whose goal with his play was to create an adaptation which humanized the Creature and sticks very close to the novel, created something that was unintentionally more a product of his personal complex and the palimpsestuous "myth" of Frankenstein's monster. He wrote a play that deeply mischaracterizes the Creature, and in turn uses violence and SA for shock value rather than substance.

And maybe this is a bold claim, but I think comparing the plot of the novel (from the creature's point of view) and the plot of Dear's play is a good place to start. And for your visual reference, I created a plot diagram for both so that we can compare the two side-by-side. (Thanks Freytag lol.)

The first thing we can notice about comparing the overall plot structure is that they are indeed, very similar. And this tends to be most people's reactions to seeing this play. That compared to most other Frankenstein media, it is super faithful to the book in terms of setting and characters and hitting important plot points. And I too want to praise Dear for that. I think he was extremely smart about what characters he chose to cut or combine, and the plot points he chose to include. I also personally love that despite the cutting of Walton's character, Victor and the Creature still visit the arctic at the end of the play. Dear made so many great choices with his play, but ends up squandering it his mischaracterization of the Creature.

But how is he mischaracterizing the Creature? Well first, lets look at how Shelley characterizes him in the book, specifically in terms of violence. I argue, that anytime the Creature kills someone in the book, it is a mostly equal/proportionate reaction to the violence done against him. His first murder his killing William, and the subsequent execution of Justine after he frames her for William's murder. All of this comes after Victor's initial rejection of the Creature, and rejection by multiple villages, the DeLacey's and the young drowning girl and her father. Killing William and Justine was his first retribution after all of the rejection and violence against him, which was initiated by Victor creating him and rejecting him in the first place. And this is his only planned revenge at that point, his next move was demanding that Victor create a female creature for him, with the plan to flee and live a peaceful life in South America (whether he actually meant what he said is up to interpretation.) His next murders only come after Victor destroys the unfished female creature. This is when the Creature kills Henry and then Elizabeth. Elizabeth (and arguably Henry) are Victor's partners, and the people he most personally loves. Killing them is direct retribution for Victor destroying the female Creature, who was supposed to be (at least from the Creature's perspective) the Creature's romantic partner. All of the Creature's direct murders are direct mirrors to Victor's transgressions against the Creature. William is killed for the initial rejection and subsequent exiling from society, Henry and Elizabeth are killed for the destruction of his future romantic partner.

Dear takes a different approach in adapting these murders. In his play, the Creature's first murder is not William, but is actually the DeLacey's. After being personally tutored by Father DeLacey for a significant amount of time, the eventual and fated meeting with Felix and Agatha arrives and the creature is rejected by them. Instead of going straight to Geneva, as he does in the novel, he first sets fire to the DeLacey's cabin, killing the entire family inside. To me, this feels like the first instance of spectacle and shock over actual substance. In both Shelley's novel and Dear's play, as the creature learns about humanity and war, he clearly has a distaste for violence and killing. And because of this, I don't understand why the Creature has such an extreme reaction to the DeLacey's, especially in this version where Father DeLacey shows him so much direct kindness, and it is Felix and Agatha specifically who reject him. Why would the Creature decide to kill them all? If Dear wanted to add additional deaths, why not just kill Felix and Agatha and spare Father DeLacey because of his previous kindness? This violence, to me, feels undeserved and does not mirror the violence done against him by this family. From a staging perspective, the visual of the house burning is actually a very impressive collaboration between the set and lighting designers on the giant stage of the National Theatre. But I question why this moment needs to be here, when the rest of the play and it's staging in the premier production already has so much beauty and shock and spectacle. This is also the first moment where I find the Creature unsympathetic, because this action seems overly extreme as a response.

After this moment, the murder of William is different but not too dissimilar in tone to the novel. At it's heart, it is still the Creature's first direct revenge against Victor. After this, our next big departure from the novel is when the female creature is fully brought to life, different to the novel where she is never fully given life. Victor killing her after she has been able to briefly live is a more extreme measure on Victor's part too, which by my own argument, may warrant a more extreme reaction from the Creature. And to be absolutely clear, Victor simply kills/dismantles her, and nothing more. As for the creature's reaction, Henry is a cut character in this adaptation, so we obviously don't see his death. Instead, the Creature kills Elizabeth, but in this version, not only does the creature kill her, he also r*pes her. This is my biggest point of contention with the play. To me, the subtext in Dear's version is that the Creature views both Elizabeth and the Female Creature as some kind of property, and when his property (the female Creature) is taken away by Victor, he takes Victor's property (Elizabeth) away too. Right before her death in the play, the Creature and Elizabeth actually have a really touching conversation, and they seem to genuinely bond. And so when the Creature eventually kills her afterwards, him r*ping her comes completely out of left field. The only explanation to me, is that despite empathizing with her, the Creature ultimately still views her as Victor's property, and needed to take her away from Victor in a way that was more than just taking her life from him. And honestly, it's a really gross interpretation of these characters. And I want to be very clear that I know depiction is not endorsement, and that I also believe there is a time and a place for depicting SA on stage, but this play was not the time nor the place. The creature simply killing Elizabeth is enough to get the point across, the SA seems to have been added for pure shock value, and again, spectacle. One could argue that this action done by the creature is part of his sexual awakening, just as he learns about other aspects of humanity. But again I believe this is not justified by the text of the play, and is written for pure shock value at the expense of another character, specifically a woman. I would call this misogynistic.

And these extreme reactions from the Creature in Dear's play seem to create this hyper-masculinized version of the character and the story. And I think that is a shame considering the original story was written by a woman, and Mary Shelley did a fantastic job of writing a story where the men can exist across a spectrum of masculinity, without needing to be this stereotyped version of hypermasculinity with a desire for sexual vengeance. I mean, Victor creating the Creature is a pretty clear metaphor for motherhood/parenthood, especially considering Shelley's experience with motherhood and the loss of her children and her own mother. And not to say that a cis man isn't capable of writing an authentic adaptation of a woman's story, but here, I think Nick Dear missed the mark, especially in regards to Elizabeth's death and his depiction of Creature/masculinity.

And I don't want to boil this down to, "Nick Dear is a man and therefore his adaption is automatically bad." Because I don't think that's the case, and I think that's an unfair assumption to make. What I do think, is that despite trying to make an adaptation that strove to humanize the Creature better than most other adaptations, Dear instead created an adaptation that fell into the overly-violent monster tropes of the greater Frankenstein Network of adaptations. In essence, Dear may have unintentionally become a product of his own "complex." And unfortunately, that subconscious influence may be partially why we get this interpretation of the Creature, and the unnecessary shock factors added into the story.

So where do we go from here? Chances are, if you see a theatre company putting on a production of Frankenstein, it's probably the Nick Dear version. This was the case for me last October when I accidentally attended a production of this script at a professional theatre company back home in Florida. My hope is that one day we can move on from this script, and find a Frankenstein play adaptation that humanizes the Creature in a way that most audiences (who probably have not read the book) are unfamiliar with, while also not resorting to shock value that dehumanizes the women in the story. My homework for myself beyond this research project, is to read more Frankenstein play adaptations, and specifically ones that are not written by cis men. I think the experiences of women, trans people and disabled people (or obviously any intersection of these communities and identities) could really lend themselves to new and exciting interpretations of the script that bring broader perspectives into context. If you have any suggestions of Frankenstein plays or playwrights who have written Frankenstein plays, I would love to check them out! I also suggest giving the National Theatre world premier pro-shot of Nick Dear's Frankenstein a watch, purely just for the design of the show. Costumes, set, sound and lighting are all really spectacular, and I would love to do an analysis of that aspect of the show one day.

Obviously there was a lot about this show I didn't cover (Cumberbatch, I know), I just wanted to cover the characterization of the Creature at a textual level, because to me that is the most glaring issue with this play. Please let me know your thoughts, and thanks for reading if you got this far!

Citations (I didn't do a great job of referencing these in-text, but all of these sources are great and I highly recommend checking them out!)

Cutchins, Dennis R, and Dennis R Perry. “Introduction- The Frankenstein Complex: When the text is more than a text.” Adapting Frankenstein: The Monster’s Eternal Lives in Popular Culture, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2018, pp. 1–19.

Dear, Nick, and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Frankenstein: Based on the Novel by Mary Shelley. Faber and Faber, 2011.

Hutcheon, Linda. “Beginning to Theorize Adaptation: What? Who? Why? How? Where? When?” A Theory of Adaptation, Routledge, New York, New York, 2006, pp. 1–32.

Jones, Kelly. “Adaptations of ‘liveness’ in theatrical representations of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.” Adapting Frankenstein: The Monster’s Eternal Lives in Popular Culture, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2018, pp. 316–334.

Pfeiffer, Lee. “Frankenstein: Film by Whale [1931].” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 24 Nov. 2023, www.britannica.com/topic/Frankenstein-film-by-Whale.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. 1818.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. 1831.

[henrysglock]

In Short: I Was Right About The Released Script and The Filmed Monologue.

In this post here about the discrepancies in the released 4.07 script as compared to the version of One's monologue that we see on screen, I mentioned a sneaking suspicion that they might be two halves of a whole monologue.

So, I spliced the 4.07 transcript and 4.07 script together:

For clarity's sake, I color-coded it. Red-colored lines are ones that only appear in the filmed monologue. Blue-colored lines are ones that only appear in the released script. Words in parentheses indicate a swap in wording/phrasing. Words not in parentheses are additional words. Everything is left in order of appearance, i.e. none of the lines have been shifted for clarity. The texts are one-to-one merged.

As we can see, they splice together very nicely...especially in places where we were missing subjects, conclusions, topic introductions, and/or topic re-introductions in the individual texts.

For example:

In the script, the conculsion/Victor's fate is not mentioned. In the transcript, Victor is never re-introduced to El as the subject of his own arrest.

In the merged version, it becomes:

Victor is re-introduced to El, and his fate is told.

Or here:

Brenner's goals with One is introduced in the script, but the part about "fixing" comes out of nowhere, since Virginia's goal of fixing Henry is never brought up. "A doctor not interested in fixing" implies that someone had been interested in fixing him. No such case is mentioned. Meanwhile, Virginia's goal of fixing Henry is mentioned in the transcript, but Brenner's "studying" part comes out of nowhere. "He did not just want to study me" implies that being studied was mentioned previously. It was not.

In the merged version, it becomes:

Fixing? Mentioned by discussion of Virginia. Studying? Mentioned via Brenner's introduction.

And even within that section:

The transcript initially mentions why Henward wants to escape/break free, but it veers away from it with Victor's arrest...only to revisit it out of nowhere directly after. The script never introduces breaking free/why Henward wanted to escape, but it does go from Victor's knowledge (or lack thereof) directly into a clear reintroduction of his need to escape.

In the merged version, it becomes:

Reason for escaping? Given. Escaping? Clear reintroduction to the topic.

The two texts fill in each other's gaps, just as I suspected.

Now I won't say that there aren't some wonky bits, particularly in the "My naive father...for their sins" and "The more I practiced...take the next step" sections.

These exist entirely separately, and they overlay the same memory: Victor's cradle vision and Henward in the red sweater sitting in the attic.

This becomes interesting when we consider that this ^ isn't Nancy's POV. Nancy is downstairs watching Victor...

...and this view is peeking over some boxes in the attic, supposedly seeing Henward while he's enacting said vision:

It, like this scene:

Is from a bizarre outsider POV, one that's about Henward-height.

So my thoughts on that wonky-ness amount to this:

I would speculate that the two lines don't feed into each other, but may instead be meant to occur simultaneously from different people (whether that be via a time loop or via timelines...I can't say for certain).

Either way, the texts do line up as two halves of a whole.

[studyingsocialjustice]

can you give any theatre/acting related advice that you have learnt through your studies as a theatre major? thanks

Anon I am SO sorry - this ask is from a year ago and I literally JUST saw this and I have absolutely no idea how that happened. I hope that you are still following me and will see this!

EDIT from May 2023: Haha. Oops. This ask is now from maybe like two years ago? Possibly almost three? I genuinely don't know. But I am so sorry that it's taken so long. I remember exactly what I was doing while typing my original response to this: I was folding laundry and trying to get ready to move back in to school, and I was procrastinating doing the folding by typing my response to this, and then my parents came in and were like "why aren't you folding laundry" and I remember saying to myself that I would come back to this ask and then I never did. But you probably don't care about that much, so here we go:

My top three things I have learned, in order:

Number One: Script analysis is everything. It will help you connect to and understand your character, it will help you to connect to and understand the world of the play - it is the foundation for understanding everything. Look at the historical context of when the play was written and where it stands in the playwright's repertoire chronologically. Look at word choice. Look at how the characters interact with each other. My favorite books I recommend for this are A Practical Handbook for the Actor by Melissa Bruder, Lee Michael Cohn, etc. and Backwards and Forwards by David Ball. I read these books in my senior year of high school, so four years ago now, and I still use their methodology for all of my script analysis. Their methods are incredibly useful and I highly highly recommend reading them. B&F was also required reading for my Script Analysis course at my university this year, and it is still just as useful. The books are old enough that they aren't too expensive to buy, and you could probably also find copies online, though I'm not sure of that.

Two: One of the best, and in my opinion most accessible methods of script analysis (especially if you don't want to read a whole book) is the Question Words Method: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? This works for monologues as well as general script analysis, and is usually applied to one character at a time.

For monologues: Who is speaking? Who are they speaking to? What are they trying to achieve by speaking? Where are they while they're talking? When in the course of the story is this happening? Why are they talking about this now? Why not later, why not sooner? To quote one acting teacher I had, why are they opening their mouth? And finally, how are they going about getting what they want? What tactics are they using, what's their word choice? What actions are they taking as they speak?

For characters: Who are they? This includes, name, title, relationships, basic biographical information. What do they want? What is their goal throughout this story? Where does this story take place? When? For a particular scene, where and when does that scene take place (general setting) and when in the course of the story does it take place? Why do they want whatever it is that they want? And how are they working to achieve it?

The most essential part of this, in my opinion, is what does the character want, and how they are going about achieving that. It's the objective and the tactics.

Three: This comes from one of my professors from this past school year. There is this idea in the world of theatre that if there's anything else you can see yourself doing, you should go do that because acting is only for people who can see themselves doing nothing else and just really really want it. Which is stupid because just because you might be able to imagine yourself taking a different career path doesn't mean you would be happy doing it. So, from my professor: "If you could see yourself doing anything else, do this anyway, because it's better." Again: If you could see yourself doing anything else, do this anyway, because it's better. If this is what you love, who cares about what else you could be doing? Do the thing that is fulfilling and makes you happy. It doesn't matter if other people think that it isn't a good career or won't make you enough money. If this is what you love, do it, because it's better than anything else.

I sincerely hope that this advice was helpful to you! Again, I'm so sorry that it's taken me so long to answer your ask; time unfortunately is not my friend and I've had a lot of - for lack of a better word - bullshit happen to me this year. Best of luck going forward, and please know that although it may sometimes take me a while to respond, my inbox is always open! I love giving advice, and am always happy to provide it!

[hologramcowboy]

I agree with you and a lot of the other antis on many things but the one thing I have to disagree with is the perspective on John Winchester. It’s common knowledge since the early seasons that he wasn’t a good father or person in general at all after Mary died. I’m not sure what there is that JDM defended when he literally filmed a scene where John berates Dean and coddles Sam, he forced his sons into a life they never would’ve wanted,told his son to never come back after he left. JW is not good

Confused about this ask as I never wrote that John Winchester is good?

However, from an acting standpoint, no actor judges his character, he does instead look for motivations. No bad guy knows he is the bad guy, in his mind he feels justified, he thinks he is the good guy. There is an interview out there, where jDM explains perfectly his perspective on John and why he potrayed John the way he did.

Just to clarify, I never stated John was good, I simply shared a status of an unprepared actor who did no character analysis and is making less than intelligent comments instead of following the actual character's impulses which would be world away from what he currently does on screen.

John was a questionable father and a dark man, however, from an acting perspective, no one ever looks at a character to judge it, instead, they try to own that character's WHY fully even when it contradicts their real life self. They find ways to bridge the gap and personalize the work. Acting is incredible because it teaches you that no one should ever be judged, we are all the result of many experiences that shaped us and those experiences define our values which in turn defines our choices.

From John's POV, he was being loving in his own way, the only way a broken man knew how. Doesn't make it right but it does make it human and relatable and acting is all about allowing people to reach catharsis by facing their flaws, traumas, etc when they see it in those characters and recognize themselves and their inner stuff.

Hope that helps you. From an acting perspective, if you play a villan or a questionable character, you will look for the why behind those actions and empathize instead of judging. Only then can you truly embody a flawed, complex human being that people can see themselves in. If you judge your character, disconnection happens. Not only between you and your character but especially between you and the audience and since your performance is meant to serve the audience...I am going to stop here because I could go on forever. Yes, John was a questionable father many levels and a conflicted, torn, traumatized man which is precisely why JDM did an excellent character analysis that resulted in exquisite inner work. He was one of the best actors on SPN and the reason is he didn't judge John, he made him real, flawed and complex and he fought for John's objectives til the end which made you root for his character even if he was a lost man.

Drake, on the other hand, is supeficially putting a happy sticker on it and thus denying many the chance to experience catharsis by facing their inner demons. There is so much more to a performance than lay people grasp and it seems Drake is clueless about his own craft. Hope that clears my post up for you.

[i-promise-i-am-not-on-drugs]

I love this so fucking much

i fully believe the reason the final cut of this scene is so different is because they changed it to be more subtle. cause if you imagine it played out on screen, it's so unbelievably romantic. the final cut is also extremely romantic, but the og is just nuts to me. i'm also pretty sure the duffers said they change things and cut things out to make things less obvious, so take that as you will

1. will is still kneeling on the floor, but there's no direction for mike to sit on his bed. it says mike goes up to him, which could be a lot of things, but since will is still on the floor im guessing mike was meant to squat down to his level or kneel next to him. already way more intimate than the final cut where mike sits on his bed. so as we go through this, make sure you keep in mind they are sitting right next to each other

i imagine he was supposed to be right there

2. 'you didn't have to' wasn't in the original script. originally, mike and will were supposed to let will's words hang in the air and smile at each other for a second or two (probably the same amount of time between 'you didn't have to' and 'hey, also-' in the final cut). they were supposed to smile at each other until mike says "Hey, listen [...]", then will looks away. a few uncut seconds of them....smiling at each other.....until one of them awkwardly breaks the silence.... y'all.

id also like to bring up what finn said about mike not knowing about will's feelings, but there also being a mutual understanding and acceptance. i think what he means is that they mutually understand how different and special their relationship is. "i didn't say it..." with no response but a shared smile implies the same thing the final cut does. will didn't have to, mike understood anyway. that shared smile is supposed to be them acknowledging that. they both know it, and i honestly don't know how finn and noah were supposed to act that out without it being so obviously flirty and blushy. hence why they most likely didn't keep it in. also remember that they're supposed to be right next to each other probably face to face. THE OG WOULDVE BEEN SO BLUSHY AND AWKWARD LIKE.......

3. "If we're....friends again. Best friends."

lord jesus

given that at this point in s4 the audience is meant to have already put it together that will likes mike, that line is crazy to me.

"If we're..."

WHY DID HE HAVE TO THINK??? WHY DID HE HESITATE???? the watcher already knows there is romance present in this dynamic, how fucking else is that meant to be taken?? this is also stranger things, the show where a staple in their romances is that they always claim they're just friends, when they're not. and it's MIKE saying this, not will.

and right after this, it says "Will finally looks at mike, emotional." so during mike's entire monologue, will isn't looking at him. to be honest i think them staring into each other's souls in the final cut it more romantic, but mike saying all this to a will who isn't looking at him adds a lot of depth. imagine mike saying all that and staring at will, who isn't looking back. it puts more romantic emphasis on mike. it's like mike wants will's approval.

smooth transition into—

4. "Yeah?" "Yeah."

good god it's so romantic

they swapped this for "Cool." "Cool." which can be interpreted as platonic a lot easier. and the time they did use "yeah?" "yeah." was during the van scene. it happens in the og script for the bedroom scene too, except it was WILL asking and MIKE confirming. they're flip flopped.

we can't know for sure what scene they filmed first, but i think it might've been van scene first and then the bedroom scene, cause i know the roller rink scenes and scenes in the house were filmed near the end of filming as a whole.

i probably sound crazy, but let's entertain that possibility for a second. cause one was filmed first, which means one was changed first.

the van scene lines were originally "You really think so?" "I know so." , but they changed it to "Yeah?" "Yeah." so what if they changed it so it would parallel the bedroom scene?

if they kept it as it was originally written, the scenes would be very obvious parallels. one talks and talks and talks about their feelings for the other. then the other asks for confirmation, and confirmation is given. it would've paralleled mike's monologue to will to a love confession, which is WAY too obvious

i cannot express to you how crazy this makes me 

5. "This intimate moment is shattered"

i don't even have to explain why this is a romantic trope, it just is

i'm gonna assume they were still supposed to have their gazes torn from each other like in the final cut, but imagine that happening while they're way closer. SO much more obviously romantic. they could've been in the same shot when it happens like in the other two scenes where they're interrupted, but in the final cut they aren't. and it's entirely possible they changed that cause the og is just WAY too romantic

i also want to highlight a couple parallels between this scene and the van scene cause this script pretty much confirmed they're connected and i honestly never thought about it until now

> "These past few months she's been so...lost without you."

> "Listen, the truth is, this last year has been weird, you know? And, you know, Max and Lucas and Dustin—they're great, they're great, it's just...it's Hawkins, it's not the same without you."

> "Mike takes this all in. Emotional now too."

"You really think so?"

"I know so."

and in the final cut

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

> "Will finally looks at mike, emotional."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

and in the final cut

"Cool."

"Cool."

and of course, the painting. the bedroom scene is the set up for the painting. will grabs it before the shoot out happens. and the van scene is the pay off. idk how in the hell i never picked up on that, but i see it now

but yeah. i guess the duffers realized on set how obviously romantic the byler scenes play out and had to fix it so it'll still fly under the radar for most people

not me though y'all stay safe ❤️

[scriptwriters-network]

Script Analysis ~ Readers Class 6/29 **Special Day.

Reading and analyzing scripts is one of the best ways to improve your writing! It’s so much easier to see glaring problems and brilliant writing in work that is not your own – and once you see it and know what to look for, you can apply it to your scripts.

More information here.

[the-crooked-library]

Nosferatu (2024) is unquestionably a multifaceted work, but what I personally consider to be the unifying idea behind its facets is that, for Ellen, Orlok represents validation.

Her fears are dismissed and called childish?.. He's a nightmarish manifestation of them.

She is consistently disrespected by everyone around her?.. He considers her his only equal. She never uses his title, it's permitted.

She is told to fix herself, misunderstood, and always isolated?.. He knows all the darkest parts of her and is delighted by them. He wants her just as she is, so much that he will lie, kill, and cross the ocean to find her.

The scene in their death/wedding bed is a direct parallel to the scene of her waking in that bed at the beginning of the film. She complains to Thomas that the "honeymoon is yet too short" and tries to pull him down with a kiss - however, he is worried about being late for work, and so he extricates himself and leaves. Cut forward to her sharing the same bed with Orlok, similarly early in the morning; he is startled by cock-crow and begins to rise, but she guides his head back down - and, even though he knows that he will die, he stays. He is her sexual and emotional desire, realized.

Given that there is a plethora of emotions Ellen is forced to suppress on daily basis, there is no singular correct interpretation of her relationship with Orlok. To erase any one of them is to render it shallower than it actually is; but there is no doubt as to why their attachment is mutual. To each, the other is something they’ve never had before.

[devonellington]

Tues. June 13, 2023: Peeking Between The Pages

image courtesy of Ag Ku via pixabay.com Tuesday, June 13, 2023 Waning Moon Pluto Retrograde Rainy, warm, humid How was your weekend? Ready for the regular Tuesday natter? Today’s serial episode is from Legerdemain: Episode 93: Descendants of Doom Pub Tracking Grimmkins is thirsty work. Legerdemain Serial Link Legerdemain Website Friday seems very far away. But I was out of the house…

[nowmemoriees]

WILL AND MIKE TALK | SCRIPT ANALYSIS (4x04)

Full Script👇

So, first, we read that Will is kneeling on the floor, as we can see in the show. But this script never mentions that Mike sits on Will's bed, it says that he comes up to him! They were supposed to be even closer in this scene full of tension. 👀

When Will says his line "I didn't say it", there's a shared smile between Mike and him, and nothing else. But, in the show, Mike replies -> You didn't have to, directly paralleling the m1leven argument scene.

But then, Mike apologizes and tries to explain his weird behavior, but that makes the moment uncomfortable for Will, so he looks away.

"I felt like.... I almost lost you or something."

That was the original line, but instead, we got something way more painful. -> I felt like I lost you.

(Notice how the Yeah? - Yeah exchange is replaced by a Cool - Cool, directly parelling THAT 13 reasons why scene where you know what happens👀)

Mike fixes and reassures his friendship with Will, and Will was supposed to finally look at him at the end of the conversation.

But it was not like that, because Will was hearing and staring at Mike during the whole talk, emotional.

(It's a good moment to remind you that they were supposed to be even closer!)

The moment was now intimate. It was, at first, uncomfortable for Will, but Mike made it intimate for them both.

But this intimate moment was shattered. It was not interrupted, broken or ruined.

It was shattered.

When something is shattered, it has been damaged in a way that you won't ever be able to fix it.

It was a moment that would never happen in the same way again. It was finally theirs. And nobody knows what could have happened if Jonathan never showed up 👀

(If we come back to the 13 reasons why parallel, maybe I know what could have happened)

[tripleprod]

Very few time ago we hired a scriptwriter for writing scripts. But time is continuously changing. Now we can do automated script writing with AI technology.  Click here for details.

[henrysglock]

Now…I might sound insane, but it’ll be worth it if I end up being right.

I think this might be half a script, and the final product is the other half of it.

There are key, emphasized points in here that are essentially inverse-swapped from the final filmed product.

Final Filmed Product: - Heavy emphasis on Martin Brenner, sound effects and everything. - Brenner being placed at the center of the 1959 massacre by his involvement with the Creel mother. - Henward having been exposed to Brenner often enough to want to escape him before the 1959 massacre. - The Creel Mother despising Henward. - Henward was forced to kill because he was cornered in the situation with Brenner, - Barely any mention of Victor, but the mention we do have talks about a demon (which only appears in the Henry newspaper). - Strange, abrupt dialogue cut to Victor's arrest (i.e. "He was arrested..." with no clear mention to El of who "he" is). - Tattoo reads 00—

Script: - Brenner never mentioned to El by name by Henward - Brenner having no direct link to the 1959 massacre - No mention of the Creel Mother...at all. - Killing to escape his family framed as Henward's next logical step - Victor is focused on, his arrest is not mentioned, and neither is the demon. - Tattoo reads 001 right off the bat.

It's also so bizarre to me that even after the Henry-001 reveal in this script, he's never referred to as Henry. Henry is named in the flashbacks, but when it's NINA dialogue it's always One. One is never equated to Henry.

Even here:

Never "Henry is One". Just "Henry is Vecna." and "One is Vecna."

We also have an entirely different transformation scene, one that would have more adequately tied Henward to Vecna without giving us that bizarre Brenner face overlay:

Which brings me to my final assertion: (Once again) There are two different Vecnas.

This would absolutely track with my observations about the mirror shards (here), the unaccounted for jumpsuits (here), the differences in build between Vecnas (here), and the Max/Maxine swapping (mentioned in script talk here, but it also appears in the final filmed product).

(And for heaven's sake, if you're thinking of coming into my reblogs with talk of revisions and unscripted changes: please don't. I have considered that, and I don't particularly care because there's a pattern to the changes.)

Script available here: link