Frankenstein's view on the issue of Stereotypes

Frankenstein's view on the issue of Stereotypes

WIQ After-Dinner Speech

     Ladies and gentle monsters, it is my greatest pleasure to be here talking to you all. I would like to give special thanks to Lord Dracula who has provided us with vintage drinks from his own collection. Now as the civilized members of our society we have gathered here this lovely evening, and you may be wondering why. I, Frankenstein, felt the need to address the increasing problems that we face in the twenty first century.

     In my early years, I have traveled to various countries. Being born in a lab in the University of Ingolstadt, I have traveled to Geneva, the Alps and even up to the glaciers of the North. In those days, all was fine. Everywhere I went, people were scared of me for who I was. They would find horror in the things I did and the things I said instead of the scars or the color of my skin. I was a proud monster, not well known, but respected for being myself. But somewhere in the process of modernization, things began to change. The story of my creation began to spread, thanks to Mary Shelly, and people started asking me to star in movies. I refused of course. How silly would it seem, for a respectable monster to appear on television! But that was one of my biggest mistakes.

     The humans eventually decided to dress up another human as me. Oh, the terror. I swore the first time I saw the movie that I shall kill who ever decided to call that ugly, despicable creature with my name. What’s up with the bolts? The green skin? Really? I mean, I had scars in my old days but even that has been long gone since plastic surgery has developed. (For those of you ladies who are interested, Korea is hands-down the best). The most disturbing thing though, is that they picture me as if I am some illiterate monster with speaking issues. The so called Frankenstein’s in the movies go around saying “arghh….!”(Arm Gesture…), and how cliché is that? But the human society seems to believe that it is okay to defame me with those so called “films”. Why? Because we are not one of them. Because we are different. We may not share the same values or cultures, especially in the dietary aspect, thankfully, but we are also inhabitants of the earth and I say that we deserve equal rights.

     I accuse the media of the human society as the source of such stereotypes against us. Just about a week ago, kids were running around in green paint and bolts glued to their necks saying “trick or treat”, and they seem to think that's scary! All this is because of the media that portrayed me with such an image! Many of you comrades would also have faced such problems. Even Lord Dracula who provided us with the magnificent beverages suffers from all the twilight syndrome and whatnot. Dating with their lunch!

     The real problem is, surprisingly, that the public doesn't care about the truth. The original story of me, written by Mary Shelly, contains nothing about a green folk with limited vocabulary and a bolt stuck in his neck. Actually it is quite an accurate description of the well educated and civilized monster that I am. But nowadays the human governments are censoring the truth by classifying such books as “classics”. For them it is better for us monsters to remain as a terribly uncivilized species. By inducing fright against us in the public, the government can most effectively take care of any mistakes by turning the blame on us. How simple is that? In the past, the western humans would use this policy against other human beings. But in the modern days, with less of their own species to pick on, they have turned their eyes to us.

     I say that the situation is urgent. The best solution is to get humans to read books. But, we all know, that’s impossible. Instead, what we could do is to hunt down the people who are insinuating the idiotism of the public. Oh no, not the politicians, at least not this time. It is the media that I would like to accuse. We monsters need to get together to solve this problem. But the issue is complex and requires careful planning. We need to take time to slowly change the perspective of the humans. After all we are civilized aren’t we? So until then, ladies and gentle monsters, eat, drink and be scary.