From Creature to Cyborg: Frankenstein in the 21st Century
From Creature to Cyborg: Frankenstein in the 21st Century
Revolutionary Births
The Creature as Proletarian
"Frankenstein" has become a vital metaphor, peculiarly appropriate to a culture dominated by a consumer technology, neurotically obsessed with "getting in touch" with its authentic self and frightened at what it is discovering."
(Levine, “the Ambiguous Heritage of Frankenstein”)
The Creature in Frankenstein is like a real-life social movement. Just like the Dalit Panther movement fought for the rights of the Dalit community in India, the Creature also struggled for recognition and respect. Both faced rejection and violence from society.
.jpeg)
The Maoist movement in India, especially in remote areas, is similar to the Creature's anger against being neglected and exploited. Both the Maoists and the Creature are seen as violent threats, even though their actions come from a place of suffering and injustice.
The struggles of the working class, especially highly educated people who can't find good jobs, mirror the Creature's frustration at being cast aside despite his potential. This systemic failure drives people to actions and movements that call for change.
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
The Black Panther movement's focus on self-defense and community empowerment is similar to the Dalit Panther movement and the Creature's journey from silent suffering to organized resistance. Both movements show the transition from helplessness to empowered assertion of rights.
A Race of Devils
Shelley's Frankenstein engages with concepts of race and imperialism through the Creature's depiction as the "Other". A being created and then rejected by Victor Frankenstein, his maker. This making can be seen as the making of colonies by white Europeans during colonialism. Where white master are compared to Frankenstein and native can be seen as The Creature. After the decolonization, still neo-colonialism follows in the third world countries where multinational companies exploits the global south and gain their profit. The legacy of exploitation, cultural erasure, and economic dependency still influences global power structures, with formerly colonized nations and peoples often seen as inferior or secondary. Victor’s (Europeans) abandonment of the Creature can be seen as how imperial powers withdrew from colonies, leaving them to deal with the long-term consequences of imperial rule, such as poverty, internal conflict, and identity crises.
From Natural Philosophy to Cyborg
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein warns us about the dangers of unchecked scientific ambition. Victor Frankenstein's creation of life highlights the ethical and societal risks of overreaching science.
.jpeg)
Genetic engineering and cloning raise concerns similar to those in Frankenstein. Techniques like CRISPR can be used to create "designer babies," raising ethical issues around eugenics and inequality. Consequently leads to "Biological Elitism" This could lead to a genetically enhanced elite, exacerbating existing social divides.
.jpeg)
Eugenics is an immoral and pseudoscientific theory that claims it is possible to perfect people and groups through genetics and the scientific laws of inheritance. Eugenicists used an incorrect and prejudiced understanding of the work of Charles Darwin and Gregor Mendel to support the idea of “racial improvement.”(“Eugenics: Its Origin and Development (1883 - Present)”)
Frankenstein also warns us about the dangers of AI. Creating highly advanced AI raises questions of accountability, autonomy, and the potential for AI to surpass human control. We must ensure that AI development aligns with human well-being.
Shelley's novel teaches us that scientific innovation must be accompanied by ethical consideration. We must establish guidelines to ensure that technologies are used for good and not to deepen social divides.
In the context of genetic engineering, this means establishing ethical guidelines that ensure technologies are used to uplift rather than deepen social divides. In AI, it means creating fail-safes and ethical programming that align AI development with human well-being rather than mere profit or power.
The Frankenpheme in Popular Culture
First Film Adaptation and Popular Retellings
.jpeg)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is still relevant today because it keeps getting adapted into different forms like movies, plays, and books. The story's themes of ambition, isolation, and the dangers of science continue to resonate with people.
Early film adaptations of Frankenstein introduced themes of psychological duality and self-alienation. These films helped make the story popular and relevant. Iconic films like James Whale's Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935) shaped how people see the Creature and the story.
Frankenstein has also influenced experimental cinema. Films like Bill Morrison's Spark of Being use old film footage to create new stories, similar to how Victor Frankenstein creates the Creature from parts. This reflects the themes of creation, decay, and resurrection in Shelley's novel. Contemporary adaptations, such as Mary Shelley's own sequel The Last Man and films like Splice and Ex Machina, continue to explore the ethical implications of scientific pursuit. These retellings often delve into themes like genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, and the blurred lines between creation and destruction.
Frankenstein continues to be relevant because its themes resonate with modern anxieties about technology and humanity. The Creature's struggle for acceptance reflects our concerns about otherness and technological isolation. The story also warns us about the dangers of unchecked scientific ambition, which is relevant to current advancements in fields like genetic engineering and artificial intelligence.
Frankenstein is also relevant to young people. Adaptations for children and young adults focus on themes of belonging and self-discovery, making the story accessible to a new generation. Especially on the bases of the ability young generation face the struggle of comparison with others similar to creture.
Even in digital culture, Frankenstein is still relevant. Memes and online discussions show how the story continues to be shared and interpreted by people. The Creature's desire for acceptance is a theme that still resonates with people today.
Frankenstein is a timeless story that continues to inspire and challenge us. Its themes of ambition, isolation, and the dangers of science are as relevant today as they were when the novel was first published.
Reading and Analysis
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein remains one of the most enduring explorations of knowledge, creation, and alienation. The Creature’s self-taught education—his discovery of language, literature, and human feeling—transforms him into a deeply conscious being, but this very learning isolates him further. Shelley’s vision of education as both empowerment and suffering continues to resonate across modern culture, from classrooms and social media to cinema and artificial intelligence.
In Chapters 12–15, the Creature narrates how he learns language and history by secretly observing the De Lacey family. He describes:
“I heard of the division of property, of immense wealth and squalid poverty, of rank, descent, and noble blood.”
Through these lessons, he discovers not only language but also inequality, morality, and injustice—concepts that make him intellectually human but socially excluded. His learning mirrors the paradox of modern digital education: we gain endless knowledge but often feel more disconnected from empathy and community. In this sense, Shelley’s Creature is a prophetic symbol of the lonely learner in an age of information.
The books that form his education—Plutarch’s Lives, The Sorrows of Werter, and Paradise Lost—become mirrors of his emotional growth. Plutarch teaches him about virtue, Werter about passion and despair, and Paradise Lost about rebellion and exile. When he reads “I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel,” he realizes that knowledge without love is a curse. This discovery defines his tragedy: learning human values only to be denied humanity.
Shelley’s warning is vividly reimagined in Bollywood cinema, which often humanizes technology and explores the emotional cost of knowledge. In Robot (Enthiran, 2010), the humanoid robot Chitti, created by Dr. Vaseegaran (played by Rajinikanth), learns language, literature, and emotion much like Shelley’s Creature. At first, Chitti’s education humanizes him—he writes poetry, saves lives, and understands affection. Yet, when he falls in love and is rejected, his awareness turns into bitterness and vengeance. His transformation from innocent learner to destructive force visually enacts Shelley’s central idea: knowledge without empathy leads to monstrosity. Just as the Creature’s yearning for love turns into rage against his creator, Chitti’s pain exposes the ethical limits of creation and the tragedy of being “almost human” but never accepted as one.
Similarly, PK (2014) offers a spiritual reinterpretation of Shelley’s themes. Aamir Khan’s alien, much like the Creature, learns human language, customs, and beliefs. His education grants him moral clarity but also reveals humanity’s contradictions—our capacity for love coexisting with prejudice and hypocrisy. Both PK and Shelley’s Creature act as mirrors to human society, exposing its irrationality. As PK learns about religion, deception, and belonging, he too becomes an outsider who understands humanity more deeply than humans themselves. His innocence and confusion highlight Shelley’s timeless message: the more knowledge we acquire about the human world, the more we recognize its flaws.
Modern culture continuously reanimates Shelley’s insight. Whether it is a short film like Ahalya (2015), which questions moral judgment, or digital memes that humorously depict alienation and loneliness, the underlying theme remains constant: education can awaken empathy or amplify pain, depending on how it is received. The Creature’s lonely self-education through observation parallels today’s digital self-learning, where individuals, despite access to vast knowledge, often experience isolation, comparison, and emotional fatigue. Much like the Creature peering through the De Laceys’ window, modern learners scroll through glowing screens, observing humanity without truly belonging to it.
Shelley’s critique of education without compassion resonates powerfully in the age of artificial intelligence. Like the Creature, modern AI systems—trained to imitate human language and thought—mirror our intellect but lack emotional depth. Shelley foresaw this moral paradox two centuries ago: that creation without conscience breeds monsters of brilliance but not of empathy.
Ultimately, the Creature’s literary education becomes both a gift and a curse. It grants him moral awareness but condemns him to isolation. His tragedy remains ours—the tragedy of intellect unaccompanied by compassion. From Shelley’s 19th-century pages to Rajinikanth’s laboratory and Aamir Khan’s quest for meaning, the message endures: true education humanizes only when it teaches love alongside knowledge.
Film and Media Reflection
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
