HBO
For anyone who tries to pull that whole “fake geek girl” load of crap, please point them in the direction of Mary Shelley. It’s really hard to argue that girls don’t have a place in horror or alternative culture when the person who created Frankenstein and his monster was a teenage girl. Now the story of the prolific author in her adolescence, the time when she wrote her masterpiece, will be chronicled in Mary Shelley’s Monster, with Game of Thrones’ Sophie Turner stepping into her shoes.
The twist here is that the titular monster is not the one created by a mad scientist in a lab out of thrifted body parts; it’s a personal demon that she struggles with, sacrificing pieces of herself to get literary fame and that perfect final draft. Shelley was a badass to be reckoned with, anonymously publishing “Frankenstein” at the age of 21 when she married poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (to be played by Jeremy Irvine, star of War Horse) after crafting the novel for years. That would be a feat in itself by today’s standards, but in 1818, it was nothing short of heroic.
Mary was not only a creative genius, but an inspiration for young girls. Do you have a hobby or a dream that you’ve been working toward and have been down on yourself because you don’t think you’re going to accomplish it? Mary Shelley published “Frankenstein” when she wasn’t much older than you, dudettes. She believed in herself and you should, too. But Shelley had the “monster” inside of her that apparently drove her ambition, a little more urgently than just wanting to be ambitious. Sometimes life imitates art, and vice versa, kids.
This is why it’s so fitting that Turner, the actress who portrays Sansa Stark on Game of Thrones, is portraying the author. Sansa is a romantic and an adventurer who desperately wants more, and a world beyond her own little place in Winterfell. She’s loyal and fierce, accompanied by her trusty direwolf Lady, and though she’s got that typical teenage girl exterior, she is not one to underestimate. Turner has experience playing strong and smart young women, and she’s going to pad an excellent resume by continuing to do so.
Mary Shelley’s Monster, directed by Coky Giedroyc (Penny Dreadful) and scripted by Deborah Baxtrom (Living with Frankenstein) is clearly in the right hands – these filmmakers are into their material.
