Mary Shelley

The Movie, I Mean

I just watched Mary Shelley. It popped up on Shudder like it was new, but apparently it isn’t. It was new to me, anyway.

I enjoyed the story. I don’t know about the history. I care about history as a matter of curiosity, of course, but stories are their own thing, and owe no fealty to real events.

The thing that tickled me about this story is that it’s a lot like the story I told myself about Mary and Percy and their circle when I first learned about them. I fell in love with Percy as a teenager, myself, so it was fun watching Mary do the same. They even found an actor who looked a bit like the drawings we have of him.

Portraying all of Mary’s thoughts and feelings as precursors to Frankenstein may have been taking historical liberties, but it felt authentic in the story. Percy’s flaws (and his honest love), and Byron’s dickishness felt authentic. I mean, nobody ever said Byron wasn’t a dick, did they?

Another part of the story that echoed feelings I’ve had for a long time, without any real support: Polidori. I always felt bad for him that his significant contribution to vampire mythology got so little recognition, and his “friends” didn’t seem to think of him as anything more than a drug dealer. Granted, his story wasn’t great. (Yes, I really did read it.) Anyway, I enjoyed seeing him commiserate with Mary.

I cried when Mary heard what her father said about her work.