Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Of God and Frankenstein
In the movie Frankenstein, Colin Clive says, "I know what it feels like to be God!" Is Dr. Frankenstein really like God? I think that is a bit of hyperbole, really. Maybe he hasn’t had much sleep. Maybe he has drunk too much coffee. Maybe he’s been sniffing too much formaldehyde. In any event he is really wired, and I guess giving birth, so to speak, to a monster is a religious experience for him. In my opinion, though, Dr. Frankenstein is more like a bad father. He creates his monster and then doesn’t know what to do with him. The monster doesn’t ask to be brought into the world and so is, in that sense, innocent. His creator is unable to provide him any guidance or protection in his vulnerable state. He lets Fritz torment him, and in the end agrees for the monster to be destroyed.
Looked at in that way, though, Frankenstein is not greatly different from God. God created us and then left us to fend for ourselves. He stepped in every now and then when we needed to be punished. We were expelled from Eden, and then later destroyed by the flood. Maybe we were like some huge biological experiment. Perhaps He felt remorse. He didn’t destroy us all, and then later let us overrun the planet entirely, doing pretty much as we please. I guess God is inscrutable.
What’s the difference between Frankenstein and God? At least Frankenstein was flesh and blood. He could have helped his creation.
Are scientists like God? I don’t think so. If anyone were like God today I think it would be the large corporations. They can say, "Let there be corn," for example, and there is corn. The scientists work for them.
What’s the difference between God and the large biotech corporations? God doesn’t charge royalties for His seeds.
What’s the difference between God and today’s scientists? God doesn’t need permission from the FDA to make a banana.
What’s the difference between us and Frankenstein’s creature? We’re not monsters.
August 2001
Looked at in that way, though, Frankenstein is not greatly different from God. God created us and then left us to fend for ourselves. He stepped in every now and then when we needed to be punished. We were expelled from Eden, and then later destroyed by the flood. Maybe we were like some huge biological experiment. Perhaps He felt remorse. He didn’t destroy us all, and then later let us overrun the planet entirely, doing pretty much as we please. I guess God is inscrutable.
What’s the difference between Frankenstein and God? At least Frankenstein was flesh and blood. He could have helped his creation.
Are scientists like God? I don’t think so. If anyone were like God today I think it would be the large corporations. They can say, "Let there be corn," for example, and there is corn. The scientists work for them.
What’s the difference between God and the large biotech corporations? God doesn’t charge royalties for His seeds.
What’s the difference between God and today’s scientists? God doesn’t need permission from the FDA to make a banana.
What’s the difference between us and Frankenstein’s creature? We’re not monsters.
August 2001
