Document Type
Article
Abstract
As Mary Shelley unambiguously informs readers on the title page of her 1818 novel Frankenstein, her tale of Victor’s discovery of the secret of non-biological reproduction represents the Promethean myth, a morality tale warning against the usurpation of divine authority. In Shelley’s novel, Victor ultimately recognizes the dangerous path he has discovered, and he refuses to create a female companion for his hideous progeny, risking his own life to protect the world from a potential race of monsters. In the cinematic tradition, however, this unrealized “bride” often has been created, and these fantastic narratives realize the Pygmalion myth, that of a creator who falls in love with his own creation, even if that creation was initially intended—Eve-like—for another. Most filmic manifestations of “the Bride of Frankenstein” result in either a destroyed female creature or a fiercely independent woman unleashed upon an unsuspecting world; the New Woman transcending her creator, coming to represent a feminist threat. Alex Garland’s 2014 film Ex Machina skips the Promethean myth entirely: inventor Nathan’s Pygmalion creation is a hyper-advanced, female-coded android, Ava. Her sexual attractiveness entrances Nathan’s unsuspecting houseguest Caleb, who cannot resist aiding the artificial woman in her quest for freedom. In the end, this “dark bride” turns on her creator, killing him and unleashing herself as if from Pandora’s Box on the world. Such films present feminist independence and power as (especially for male viewers) the true monstrous threat of Shelley’s envisioned Prometheus, more than the male creature ever could.
Recommended Citation
Bishop, Kyle W.
(2025)
"From Prometheus to Pygmalion to Pandora: Teaching Greek Mythology with Frankenstein’s “Dark Brides”,"
Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy: Vol. 12:
Iss.
3, Article 1.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dialogue/vol12/iss3/1
Included in
American Popular Culture Commons, Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons, Women's Studies Commons