Blank Check with Griffin & David Critical Darlings: Frankenstein And The Craft Category Juggernauts with Bilge Ebiri
Bilge Ebiri, Vulture film critic, joins to dissect Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and its craft-heavy Oscar presence. They debate the film’s lavish design, Del Toro’s sympathy for monsters, Jacob Elordi’s creature performance, and Oscar Isaac’s Victor. Conversation also touches on Wuthering Heights adaptations, Super Bowl celebrity ads, and defenses of Train Dreams and Hamnet.
01:28:24
Wuthering Heights Research Marathon
- Bilge watched dozens of global Wuthering Heights adaptations over a year for a ranking project.
- She bought rare DVDs, used gray-market sources, and even accepted burned files from sellers.
Two-Part Focus Changes Sympathies
- Del Toro nearly split Frankenstein into two films, favoring the monster's viewpoint over Victor's.
- This choice makes Victor less sympathetic and reshapes audience alignment toward the creature.
Childhood Love For Branagh's Frankenstein
- Richard and his sister repeatedly rented Kenneth Branagh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as kids.
- The film's ornate, gothic visuals made it a formative, memorable favorite for them.
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Intro
00:00 • 19min
Frankenstein's Oscar nominations and craft focus
18:56 • 1min
Why craft awards don't equal Best Picture
20:17 • 4min
Is Frankenstein a blockbuster or Netflix prestige?
24:00 • 2min
Visual scale: watching on big screen vs home
25:40 • 1min
Del Toro's visual maximalism and its limits
26:59 • 3min
Jacob Elordi brings the film to life
30:10 • 5min
Film's structural choice: Victor first, creature second
35:40 • 4min
Ad break
39:15 • 5min
Del Toro's empathy: monster as hero
44:19 • 5min
Tone complaints: action, scale, and YA sensibility
49:29 • 3min
Oscar Isaac's Victor: miscast or misdirected?
52:10 • 10min
Mia Goth and supporting performances
01:02:00 • 2min
Del Toro's established motifs and genre echoes
01:04:01 • 4min
Ad break
01:08:23 • 2min
Frankenstein's Oscar prospects and competition
01:10:46 • 6min
Bilge's broader Oscar reactions and favorites
01:16:44 • 6min
Defending Train Dreams and Hamnet
01:23:11 • 2min
Super Bowl ads, celebrity cameos, and selling out
01:25:09 • 10min
Outro
01:34:43 • 19sec
#4628
• Mentioned in 10 episodes
Bram Stoker's 'Dracula
Bram Stoker
The novel follows Jonathan Harker, a solicitor who travels to Transylvania to finalize the sale of a property to Count Dracula.
Upon discovering Dracula's true nature, Harker escapes, and Dracula moves to England to spread his vampirism.
The story unfolds with various characters, including Professor Abraham Van Helsing, Dr. John Seward, and Mina Murray, who band together to thwart Dracula's plans and ultimately destroy him.
The novel explores themes of Victorian fears, the struggle between modernity and superstition, and the undertones of sexuality and disease prevalent in the late 19th century.
#347
• Mentioned in 79 episodes
Hamnet
Lolita Chakrabarti
Maggie O’Farrell
The novel is set in Warwickshire in the late 16th century and revolves around the life of Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare, and their children.
It fictionalizes the events surrounding the death of their son Hamnet, who died of the plague in 1596 at the age of eleven.
The story delves into the grief and emotional turmoil faced by the family, especially Agnes, and how this tragedy influenced Shakespeare's writing, including his play 'Hamlet'.
The narrative alternates between different timelines, exploring Agnes's early life, her marriage, and the years following Hamnet's death.
The book is a poignant study of motherhood, childhood, and the depths of grief, offering a vivid portrayal of family life during the Tudor period.
#3487
• Mentioned in 14 episodes
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Alice Schick
Mary Shelley
Joel Schick
'Frankenstein' by Mary Shelley tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a grotesque, sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment.
Set in 19th-century Europe, the novel explores themes of creation, responsibility, and the consequences of tampering with nature.
As the creature becomes self-aware, it seeks companionship and understanding, but is rejected by society due to its monstrous appearance.
Driven by loneliness and mistreatment, the creature seeks revenge on Frankenstein, leading to tragic events.
'Frankenstein' is a cautionary tale about the dangers of unchecked ambition and the ethical implications of scientific innovation, while also exploring the nature of humanity and the search for identity.
#179
• Mentioned in 123 episodes
Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë
Published in 1847, 'Wuthering Heights' is a novel that tells the story of the tumultuous relationship between Catherine Earnshaw and the foundling Heathcliff, whom her father brings home to Wuthering Heights.
The narrative, framed by the visitor Lockwood and the housekeeper Nelly Dean, explores themes of love, revenge, and the cyclical nature of life.
Heathcliff's bitter vengeance against those who wronged him drives the plot, which spans generations and delves into the dark, passionate, and often destructive aspects of human nature.
The novel is renowned for its dramatic and poetic presentation, its unique structure, and its vivid depiction of the Yorkshire moors as a reflection of the characters' inner lives.
#16674
• Mentioned in 3 episodes
Barry Lyndon
William Makepeace Thackeray
'Barry Lyndon' is a picaresque novel that follows the life of Redmond Barry, an Irish rogue who rises through society by means of deceit and manipulation.
The story recounts Barry's adventures as he navigates the social hierarchy of 18th-century Europe, engaging in gambling, duels, and strategic marriages to advance his position.
His ambition and lack of moral scruples lead him to acquire wealth and status, but ultimately result in his downfall.
The novel is a satirical commentary on the superficiality and corruption of high society, as well as a study of the consequences of unchecked ambition.
#35
• Mentioned in 283 episodes
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
Written in epistolary form, the novel tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant and ambitious scientist who, driven by Enlightenment-era ideas of progress and science, creates a living being from dead body parts.
However, upon seeing the creature come to life, Frankenstein is horrified and abandons it.
The creature, shunned by society due to its appearance, seeks revenge against its creator, leading to a series of tragic events.
The novel explores themes of guilt, loss, and the emotional and moral consequences of scientific hubris, blending elements of Gothic and Romantic literature.
#2519
• Mentioned in 18 episodes
Train Dreams
Denis Johnson
The novella follows the life of Robert Grainier, an orphan sent to Idaho in 1893.
Grainier works as a laborer, building bridges and felling trees for the expanding railways.
He finds happiness with his wife and daughter but faces tragedy when a wildfire changes his life forever.
The story is a reflection on isolation, the closing of the American West, and the simple yet harsh life of a pioneer.
It juxtaposes the sounds of trains with the natural world, creating a dream-like and elegiac portrait of Grainier's life.
This week we’re brooding, Victorian style, with Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri! Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is a Best Picture nominee and is well represented in the craft categories, but it has only one acting nomination, for Jacob Elordi’s hulking monster. It’s of a piece with past craft-heavy Oscar contenders like Dune or The Lord of the Rings, but does Frankenstein actually stand a chance? We discuss the film itself, its lavish sets and costumes, del Toro’s choice to center the monster as the hero, and how that decision reshapes the monster’s opposite, Victor, played by Oscar Isaac.
We also touch on the new Wuthering Heights, also starring Jacob Elordi, the history of Wuthering Heights adaptations, the shameless state of celebrity Super Bowl ads, and finally atone for our past sins, as Bilge defends previous subjects Train Dreams and Hamnet against our critiques. As it turns out, we were the monster all along.
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