Today I was wondering why Frankenstein's (Frankenstein's monster's) head was flat. I don't remember it from the novel and it seems like such a random thing. Where did it come from? Who decided and why?
Well it originates in the movie "Frankenstein" (1931) but specifically un-credited make-up artist Jack Pierce. Says Pierce:
“I discovered there are six ways a surgeon can cut the skull, and I figured Dr. Frankenstein, who was not a practicing surgeon, would take the easiest. That is, he would cut the top of the skull straight across like a pot lid, hinge it, pop the brain in, and clamp it tight. That’s the reason I decided to made the Monster’s head square and flat like a box.”
And I'm so impressed by that. I just don't imagine make-up artists putting that much thought into their craft. They likely don't anymore.
Ok but why is he green? That's apparently still due to Pierce but the explanation is more complex. According to this article, his skin is described as yellow in the book. But Pierce made him green because:
The color sensitivity of the film stock used in the 1930s meant that certain shades of green would show up on screen as a ghostly white. Karloff’s green makeup, then, both tinted the actor’s skin to a cadaverous pallor and gave him a decidedly different complexion than the rest of the cast.
But, of course, the movie is in black and white so why would that matter? Well, when it was time to make color promotional materials, artists used Boris Karloff in his full makeup as reference and so he was depicted to the public as green. And the rest is history.
Another quick Frankenstein-adjacent fun fact... Fred Gwynne, in making his Herman Munster character, based Herman's physical mannerisms on his mother. And it amazes me how I never noticed before, but if you look at him again, it just jumps out at you how feminine his physicality is. Not just feminine but maternal. In retrospect it completely makes sense.
