dc.description.abstract | This study aims to discover and analyze the formula of gothic horror genre
that can be found in the book of Frankenstein, a story about a scientist who discovers
reanimating a dead body. The popularity of this novel has been continuously adapted
into many literary works such as movie, stage and television production, especially
the image of the monster that has been appropriated widely to entertain and to market
customer goods to the public. The newest movie entitled I Frankenstein tells us about
the further story about the monster’s life after Victor died, get a good ratting from the
audience. From this movie actually shows us that until now the story about
reanimating a dead body is still popular.
I use qualitative data, focusing the research on the literary pieces
Frankenstein, social condition in 18-19th century and the reader. This study uses
Formula theory to analyze popular literature. Cawelti said that every works should
have the essential standardization and it should have a characteristic or uniqueness to
make a work popular and easy to understand and also the reader can be differentiated
with another work. In this thesis, I analyze what formula according to Cawelti which
have a uniqueness that probably makes this novel becomes popular. This theory helps
me in analyzing how the relation between the formula and the culture in 18-19th
century about scientific experiment which makes this novel as the escapism and wish
fulfillment.
After analyzing the formula of the story, I can find interrelated hypothesis
about dialectic between formulaic literature and the culture that the capacity of
Formulas enable the audience to explore in fantasy the boundary between permitted
and the forbidden and to experience in a carefully controlled way the possibility of
stepping across this boundary. Through this novel, Mary tells us that science can go
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too far, people didn’t think about morality using a dead body in their experiment to
know how God creates human and how God gives them life and death decisions.
Mary also wants to tell us, that actions have consequences and don’t play God. That
we are only human being who has weakness and sometimes doing mistakes, not a
God. | en_US |