There are a lot of dynamics at work in Frankenweenie. One theme I mentioned yesterday: Pandora's Box which could also call, "Don't mess with Mother Nature." But in terms of the Protagonist (Victor) and his psychological journey, for my money, jem noted the key markers in a comment on Tuesday: 1st act: “I don’t want him in my heart. I want him here, with me.” This leads to him bringing Sparky back to life. Is this a “flawed” reaction? to… 3rd act: “It’s okay, boy, you don’t have to come back. You’ll always be in my heart.” To jem's question -- Is this a "flawed" reaction -- I'd rather think of it as a reflection of Victor's Disunity state. He makes movies, preferring in some way to live in that fantasy world than this one. He is an inventor, reinforcing the sense that he is more comfortable with things rather than people. Indeed his parents voice a concern about Victor's lack of a social life. The whole subplot about the father compelling Victor to play baseball is an attempt to connect Victor to other people. In this sense, Sparky - in essence Victor's only friend - buttresses Victor's state of Disunity. For purposes of this narrative, let's put it this way: Victor has a limited sense of community. Therefore when Sparky dies, his expression of grief -- "I don’t want him in my heart. I want him here, with me.” -- while a natural comment for anyone to say, also reflects his attachment to his Old Way of Being. At least in part, this emotional dynamic is at work in Victor's plunge into reanimation science. So Sparky comes back to life. At first, Victor tries to pretend and act like nothing has really changed. He can still live per the Old Way. However Sparky shakes up the norm by eventually making his presence known. This Deconstructs the Old Way and creates conflict with the citizens of New Holland. We can think of Reconstruction as occurring pretty much after the Sparky's secret is made known. Even though the connection with community of locals is a tense one, it forces Victor out of his cocoon life. Combined with the chaos his schoolmates create with their various weird creatures -- ultimately Victor's fault -- he realizes he cannot live per the Old Ways. He needs to change. His willingness to let Sparky go -- "It’s okay, boy, you don’t have to come back. You’ll always be in my heart." -- speaks to his transformation. Rather than fight nature and try to control it so he can continue to live his cocoon life, Victor is willing to accept a new personal paradigm. Meanwhile there is a whole subplot: Victor - Community. As noted, he starts off disconnected from them. Then goes through chaos and conflict, hence them becoming a mob seeking Sparky's death. However when they see Sparky save Victor's life, they are moved to revivify Sparky. Such a great bit of business with them gathering together, all of their cars connecting to Sparky, a visual symbol of the community coming together in support of Victor. Thus we feel a sense of satisfaction: Victor who started out in Disunity and disconnected from larger society ends up connected with the community, a sign of him moving (psychologically) toward Unity. There you go. My psycho-babble interpretation of what I perceive to be the core of Victor's metamorphosis. Agree or not, I'd love to hear what you have to say. There are also other components and themes to the story's psychological dimensions. Feel free to share your thoughts.

Although less developed, I think Victor's parents also go through a change. At the beginning they exchange a short conversation about Victor's lack of friends. Dad is the most concerned, Mom somewhat, although she seems more willing to allow for Victor's quirks. Then, there's the dinner table scene where Victor asks for his parents to sign the consent form for the science fair.

VICTOR (after listening to his dad's convoluted reasoning): Nobody gets what they want. DAD: Exactly. And wrong. They both get what they want because they compromise.

There's a bit of business in the script I don't think came across as powerfully in the final film. Admittedly, this is hard to show.

Dad skewers meat on his forks, continuing his metaphor. Victor is shrimp; Dad is beef.

It seems like a casual family dinner, but using the shrimp as the stand-in for Victor is very telling of his viewpoint about Victor's life, versus the beef (cow--large animal) that represents Dad.

DAD: You'd like to do this science fair. And that’s great. I'd like you to try a sport. Say, I don’t know, baseball. Science fair, baseball. Science fair, baseball. How do you choose? Guess what? You don’t have to. No reason you can't do both. You meet in the middle. (bringing forks together) Everyone's happy.

Of course, Victor, who feels compelled, doesn't see it as a win, and he's not happy. Dad and Mom feel they're doing him some good, solving a problem he doesn't feel he has. We get another view into his mother's personality just after Sparky returns to life. Victor leaves for school and Sparky escapes the house by falling out the second-story window. During this, Victor's mother is shown vacuuming the house while reading a book. She's dedicated, but detached, not fully present. The first glimpse we get into their potential for change is during the meeting about Rzykruski's future as a teacher. Against the prevailing opinion, they try to stand up for Mr. Rzykruski, pointing out how much Victor appreciates him. It's Victor's dad who suggests that Mr. Rzykruski be given a chance to defend himself. When Victor's parents discover Sparky alive, his parents are upset, but at the same time are able to entertain his point of view, something they were unwilling to do at the beginning. By the end, it's Victor's Dad, the one who was so adamant about Victor not ending up "weird" who changes the most with his telling confession when Sparky is brought out of the rubble of the windmill.

DAD: Victor? Is there anything we can do for you? VICTOR: You said that I need to let him go... DAD: Sometimes adults don't know what they're talking about.

While always concerned about their son, they begin with the outlook that they're parents and they know what's best for their son. By the end they've shifted to realizing that Victor had his own life lesson to learn, and imposing their own values on him might not have been the best approach.

I think a theme prevalent throughout was "misunderstanding". Victor-Parents: As Will stated above, Dad didn't understand Will. He even goes as far to say: "That's my point! I don't want him to turn out, y’know, weird." MOM: "There's nothing wrong with Victor. He’s just in his own world." Now writing this I'm thinking could Mom be, in her "detached, not fully present" behavior as said by Will, a reflection of Victor? Back to Dad, so he kinda twists Victor's arm, forcing him to play baseball when he doesn't really want to. (other theme of love v. just getting it over with) Then, when Sparky is brought back to life, Victor says this, " Sorry, boy, but I can't let anyone know about you. They may not understand. So you need to stay here today." To me this communicates, I don't trust my parents with this secret because they just don't get where I'm coming from. But the biggest scene is the one where the parents discover Sparky. Here's the Dad's lines: "Victor what have you done?...Yes, but that was different, because we couldn't! It's easy to promise the impossible. What you did was a very serious thing. Crossing the boundary between life and death -- reanimating a corpse -- it's very...upsetting." Then in the big print: "Tears well up in Victor's eyes. His anguish is palpable. Mom looks to Dad for a plan." Mom: "Oh sweetheart, we'll help you look for Sparky but when we get back I think we need to have a little talk. Understood." And then at the end, the father with his line: "Sometimes adults don’t know what they’re talking about." In other words, I misunderstood you, and yes lets bring Sparky back. And I thought it was an interesting choice for having the parents being the active character in bringing back Sparky to life, not Victor, demonstrating a reversal from the father's attitude from before. And misunderstanding from Mr. R's relationship with the town: there's the scene in which the town kicks him out, and he says they misunderstand science, and with his heavy Russian accent he doesn't get his message across. Misunderstanding with reanimated Sparky: Sparky is viewed as a monster, not the loveable dog he is. There's the scene with the baby, Bob's mom, and again the scene when the parents discover Sparky alive. The Mom is horrified and screams, scaring Sparky, who then sees himself in the mirror and runsaway frightened. Plus there is the scene when the mayor thinks Sparky ate Elsa and they go after him -- the Frankenstein.

Excellent analysis, Will, and I think you are spot-on with it. The parents do change, especially as personified by the father who gives voice to their starting and end points. And one thing their transformation does is underscore a point: Victor's metamorphosis does not mean he obliterates his Old Ways, rather he will still be a science kid, still be an inventor, however as opposed to doing that in isolation, we get a sense he'll be more of a part of the larger community and with more understanding parents. Again a sense of Unity at the end of the story. Thanks for your insights, Will!

jem, I hadn't thought of misunderstanding as a theme in the story, but going through your analysis, I think you're absolutely right. And as I think about the novel "Frankenstein," I'm now thinking the roots of the theme in the movie extend back to the book. Victor Frankenstein's misguided delusions about what it would mean to create new life, his rejection of the 'monster' he creates, the monster having several circumstances in which it misinterprets human behavior, the same with humans toward the monster, and so on. I think you can bring the theme of misunderstanding back around to the very notion of attempting to reanimate Sparky in the first place, a fundamental misreading of Nature. Things dies. It's an essential aspect of the Life-Death cycle. Apart from expanding the story to make it bigger in scope and stakes, that's another reason why the kids have to create their various hybrid animal-monsters: At least Victor's desire in reanimating Sparky is driven by his pain and suffering; theirs is ego-driven. In the end, their collective misunderstanding of the nature of Life generates extensive blowback. Interesting thing is how these dynamics in the psychological dimension of the story -- Victor's metamorphosis, the parents' transformation, the role misunderstanding plays out -- are all part of the story's structure, but don't overwhelm the fun of the narrative. They're scaled just right, not too heavy to weigh down the plot, just enough to provide layers of emotional resonance to the story so that the events that happen actually mean something. Thanks, jem, for going through the story and spotting narrative elements that reflect this misunderstanding dynamic. It's an interesting and helpful lens through which to look at the story.

"...are all part of the story’s structure, but don’t overwhelm the fun of the narrative" What makes this movie still entertaining and not heavy, suitable for the whole family, while underneath the themes you mentioned are going on? How have they accomplished that?