THE MONSTER IN THE MACHINE: FRANKENSTEIN AND FILM

Showings

Ped Mall -Scene 1 Wed, Oct 3, 2018 9:00 PM
Series Info
Series:Iowa City Book Festival

Description

Iowa City Book Festival
The Monster in the Machine: Frankenstein and Film
FREE

Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein (1818) was first adapted for the screen by the Edison company in 1910, and the mad doctor and his monster have regularly terrified movie audiences ever since.

This FREE informal presentation with University of Iowa Cinematic Arts Associate Professor and Head of Films Studies and Director of Graduate Studies Corey Creekmur will survey the history of the creature's cinematic appearances from the beginnings of cinema to the present, keeping an eye on the ways in which the story of the animation of dead flesh has also been an allegory for cinema itself, which regularly, if less horrifically, instills the illusion of life into static images.

Creekmur's presentation will touch upon the many unconventional and parodic variations on the Frankenstein story as well, serving as a prelude to a double-feature screening ($10 - tickets available online and at FilmScene's box office) of James Whale's Frankenstein (1931), which provided the most enduring imagine of the monster in Boris Karloff's iconic performance, and the outrageous sequel Bride of Frankenstein (1935), in which the monster's original, actual creator makes a delightful guest appearance.