Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is an electrifying cautionary tale and has more to do with our own generation’s re-electrification of fashion, after quarantine, than we think.

In 2020, our world was shaken by something we never thought we would have to live through.  The pandemic sent most into a whirlwind of uncertainty, gloom and grief.  

In a similar manner, Mary Shelley too lived through a life-shattering event. The eruption of the Tambora volcano drastically affected weather patterns, causing a wet and stormy summer. 

“The weather didn’t permit many outside activities,” said Karen Holmberg, associate professor in the school of writing literature and film at Oregon State University. 

As a result, Shelley and a few of her friends, “set a challenge of each competing in a ghost story contest because that seemed to evoke the gloom of the time,” Holmberg said. 

“Our lives are very situation based,” said Brian Fuller, Sociology Instructor at OSU.

Much like Shelley’s world, our time in quarantine resulted in the struggle of maintaining our former identities. The lack of going places and meeting people resulted in many disregarding the need to get dressed.

“If I’m not going anywhere and I don’t have to dress for that performance then what’s that going to do?” Fuller said.

One of the most noticeable habits to arise during quarantine was endlessly scrolling through Tik Tok and taking part in video trends. 

“If it’s all just you and your room, usually your room is like a private backstage space,” Fuller said. 

But for many, this backstage room along with the new abundance of time, it was also a transformative time for people to explore what Fuller called, the “innate need to express themselves and learn who they are and how they identify,” 

This innate need for self-expression led to the re-electrification of maximalist fashion trends and aesthetics. The end of quarantine behaved as a moment of rebirth for many of us, much like in Frankenstein. 

“The creature is just a blank slate,” Holmberg said.

Maximalist fashion can be tracked through generations though according to Fuller.

 “That’s definitely not a new thing since quarantine or social media,” Fuller said. “It’s manifesting itself in different ways now.” 

With the end of quarantine and the revival of our socializing, we have become revitalized.

“Trying to push the envelope and define (ourselves) to some extent,” Fuller said. “Grabbing ideas and images from other places and copying them to some extent or adding your own flair.” 

Frankenstein, in trying to create a new type of specimen, at one point says, “I selected all of its features to be beautiful”.