Guillermo del Toro’s "Frankenstein" as Food for the Soul

 In chapter six of his book Culture Care, Makoto Fujimura explores the need for beauty in our society. Fujimura compares beauty to food and nutrients. When we are stressed or overwhelmed, we tend to eat “junk” food, which does little to nourish us, but when we take the time to slow down, we make meals that fill us up and make us feel better. Similarly, beauty is the nourishment our souls need to be fulfilled; the beauty of life nourishes us. Fujimura later explores beauty in terms of gratuity and stewardship. He says that while beauty is not necessary for our survival, it is needed for our flourishing.

Recently, I had the pleasure of viewing Guillermo del Toro’s 2025 remake of Frankenstein at the Chicago International Film Festival. This movie was visually stunning, the acting was incredible, and overall it was a captivating film. It reminded me of Fujimura’s definition of beauty, specifically that beauty “is something we want to remember and something we would not want to change” (50).

Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican film director known for his fantasy-horror movies. Some of his best-known works are Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, and one of my all-time favorite movies, The Shape of Water. From a very early age, del Toro was fascinated by monsters and the supernatural. His childhood sketchbooks and journals were often filled with depictions of monsters and tales of horror. He also experienced lucid nightmares as a child, in which the creatures he saw in his dreams inspired his drawings and stories. The first film he remembers seeing was the 1939 adaptation of Wuthering Heights, which inspired him with its gothic elements. He went on to study filmmaking at the University of Guadalajara. He spent most of the 80’s working as a special effects makeup artist, until the release of his first film Cronos in 1993. His works have gone on to win multiple Oscars, BAFTAs, Emmys, Golden Globes, and numerous awards from various film festivals.

                His most recent film is an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein. The novel, written by Shelley when she was just 19, raises the questions of life: What are we? Why are we? Why am I here?  These questions are questions that del Toro also wrestled with in his youth. It also explores themes of being misunderstood, man as the monster, and science gone wrong, themes that del Toro frequently explores in his other films. Del Toro first saw the film when he was 7 and made the Creature his “personal messiah”. He described the making of Frankenstein as “his song”, saying, “You are born to sing one or two songs in your lifetime. This is my song”.  Del Toro worked on the film for over 20 years until Netflix gave him the funding to produce it.

                Instead of making it a movie of darkness and horror, like the traditional adaptation of Frankenstein, del Toro wanted to make a movie of wonder that showed the harsh realities of life and the joys that death can bring. One of the main differences that del Toro made was in the scene where the Creature comes to life. Instead of just showing the lightning strike that brings the Creature to life, del Toro wanted to show the moments leading up to it. He wanted a sense of joy to come across, for the audience to feel a sense of satisfaction, as Victor would have felt in that moment. He also chose to show more of the gory side that would entail in creating life. This aspect, not often shown in older adaptations, is an allegory of how humans take the gift of life for granted. It is not a clean process; it is messy, gross, and creates a lot of waste. Perhaps my favorite part of del Toro’s adaptation is the physical appearance of the Creature. Instead of having the Creature be some sort of hideous beast, del Toro decided to make the Creature look ethereal, not quite handsome, but a beauty that is beyond human.

     

                It is this beauty of the Creature that reminded me of Fujimura. Del Toro chose to give his audience something beautiful and full of life, instead of the usual depiction of the Creature, who is harsh and ugly. Through this gift of beauty, his message came across clearly, not all who are monstrous are monsters, but those who make them monsters are. Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein nourished society by giving us a reminder that life can beautiful when we accept it for what it is.

The Awe-Inspiring Costume Design of Paul Tazewell

Costume design truly can make or break a production. The first thing you notice about someone is the clothing they’re wearing, so the costuming of a film or play is one of the first ways you judge how “intentional” and “inspired” it is as a piece of work. In Chapter 7 of Faith, Hope, and Carnage, Nick Cave talks about the artist’s desire to be awed, “to create a communal sense of awe.” While this seems like an obvious thing to say about the motives of an artist - “well, of course an artist wants you to be in awe of their work” - an interesting thing about costume design for film and theatre is that they sometimes don’t want you to be in awe of their designs at all. Oftentimes the intention of the costume design is to be simple or underwhelming, or they don’t want their costuming to be seen as distracting or “too much.” But one costume designer who definitely wants you to be in awe of his work is the incredible Paul Tazewell. 

Paul Tazewell is a costume designer of theatre, film, and television, with iconic work spanning decades. His most well known work in theatre is for Hamilton and Death Becomes Her, both of which won him Tony awards in costume design. His most well known work in film is West Side Story (2021) and Wicked, winning an Oscar in costume design for Wicked. Tazewell made Oscars history as the first Black man to win an Oscar in the costume design category, and only the second Black person to ever win in the category after Ruth E. Carter for Black Panther.

Paul Tazewell doesn’t only do work for “excessive” costumes, like the geode dress of Michelle Williams as Viola Van Horn in Death Becomes Her or the bubble dress of Ariana Grande as Glinda in Wicked. He also knows how to dress up shows with a more “normal” wardrobe, like the broadway production of In the Heights. But where Tazewell’s talent most shines is in the sparkling details: the glitter, the shine, the glamour.

 

Tazewell’s decades of work in musical theatre, ballet, opera, television, and film has earned him a secure spot on the list of the most iconic costume designers in entertainment.

The Power of Porcelain: Tang Ying’s Influence on Chinese Pottery

    In The Creative Spark, Agustin Fuentes notes how art has the powerful ability to tell the human story. Art can be so captivating that it tells you a story about both its creator and its history. Physical art that withstands time and performance arts that get passed through the generations inform others of the distinctly important historical and cultural periods that influenced these works.

    I turn now to an underappreciated art form, ceramics. Ceramics have been popular for centuries, most particularly in China, where porcelain became one of their biggest exports. The peak of Chinese ceramics is largely viewed as the Qianlong period, an era of the Qing dynasty from 1735 to 1796. This period is known not only for its immense quality of work but also for the impressive volume of works created for both imperial use and foreign trade.

    The most important ceramicist shaping this era’s creations was Tang Ying, whom the Qianlong Emperor named Superintendent of the Imperial porcelain works. Tang Ying created pieces with impressive precision, formulated new techniques, and helped solidify China as the premier porcelain producer. Every piece from this era and those subsequent have a touch of Tang Ying’s influence, and ceramics as a medium today is heavily influenced by his impact.

Tang Ying’s most important innovations include new colored glazes, specifically a stronger blue and purple shades:

 

New techniques like using black ink on pottery:

 

Methods of replicating textures found in nature, like marble, jade, and even wood:

 

And new and intricate styles and forms like this vase within a vase:

 

    Along with these innovations, Tang Ying also revived older forms and techniques used in previous centuries, aiming to tell the full story of Chinese history through his creations. His art tells the human story of centuries of Chinese ceramists in the past and into the future. Tang Ying’s work before and into the Qianlong period made Chinese ceramics some of the most coveted artworks of the West. His contributions ensured that the legacy of Chinese art would both flourish within the region as well as live on outside of China’s borders. Having just visited the Art Institute and taken a look through ceramics from around the world, I can say with confidence that everyone was inspired by Tang Ying, whether they knew it or not.