Newcastle University

The Bride of Frankenstein (Whale 1935)
Thursday the 22nd of November, 5PM in space 5 Culture Lab Newcastle. 

This screening will also be followed by a paper entitled ‘The Monster Demands a Mate’: Corruption, Transgression, and Family in Bride of Frankenstein' by Dr. Christopher Machell (Northumbria). See abstract below. 

Here is a review of the film, which has a coveted 100% on rotten tomatoes.com !

'Forget the likes of "The Godfather II" and "The Empire Strikes Back" - "Bride of Frankenstein" is THE greatest example of a sequel completely surpassing the original in terms of sheer brilliance. ... The film has it all: superb casting, tremendous sets and make up, memorable dialogue ("To a new world of Gods and monsters") and a brilliant score by Franz Waxman. Boris Karloff must surely be one of the greatest actors to ever appear on film. . .(imbd.com) 
 

Abstract:

‘The Monster Demands a Mate’: Corruption, Transgression, and Family in Bride of Frankenstein

This paper will explore James Whale’s 1935 horror film Bride of Frankenstein, the sequel to his previous work based on Mary Shelley’s novel, simply titled Frankenstein. Bride of Frankenstein is widely regarded as one of the best entries into the cycle of horror films that Universal Studios produced during the 1930s and 1940s, offering audiences some of the most complex examinations of monstrosity, social transgression, and attitudes to homosexuality in cinema. James Whale was one of the few openly homosexual directors in Hollywood in the 1930s, and many critics, including Elizabeth Young, Harry M. Benshoff, and Rhona Berenstein have noted the importance of the homosocial and homoerotic subtexts that run throughout Bride of Frankenstein, as well as Whale’s role as director in emphasising those subtexts. This paper seeks to locate itself alongside those critics, first by analysing the homoerotic dynamics that are developed between Bride’s main characters, and then by asking how the film uses those dynamics to explore and engage in discourses of monstrosity, ‘otherness’ and how they undermine notions of the traditional family.
 To do this I will situate my analysis within the social and political context of the 1930s, with particular reference to attitudes towards homosexuals and women in Hollywood, the Hays code and censorship, and as Young has already pointed out in her essay ‘Here Comes the Bride’, the relationship between the monster in Bride of Frankenstein and racial discourse in 1930s America. Finally, I will argue that Bride of Frankenstein, in offering subversive re-presentations of otherwise familiar discourses on transgression, portrays a sympathetic exploration of ‘otherness’, isolation and exclusion, which challenge contemporary audiences not only to sympathise with Frankenstein’s monster, but also, to reassess their preconceptions and ideological assumptions of monstrosity and transgression.