{"id":214,"date":"2022-05-01T19:26:10","date_gmt":"2022-05-01T19:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/higinbothamlitmixtapes\/?page_id=214"},"modified":"2022-05-01T19:32:51","modified_gmt":"2022-05-01T19:32:51","slug":"l-nash","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/higinbothamlitmixtapes\/l-nash\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;The Creature&#8217;s Mixtape: Humanity 101&#8221; (L. Nash)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"214\" class=\"elementor elementor-214\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-80e63da elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"80e63da\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-5ef2e7f\" data-id=\"5ef2e7f\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ad5f2ce elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"ad5f2ce\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: The Creature\u2019s Mixtape: Humanity 101\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"380\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/playlist\/49bQwVdWpZ2g18M87LwafD?si=4405beb37d7845a4&utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-adc4e15 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"adc4e15\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-2b1f817\" data-id=\"2b1f817\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0a4e0f1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0a4e0f1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>1. \u201cIt took a lot of money to start my heart<br \/>Just to peg my leg and to buy my eye, yeah<br \/>The newspapers call me the state of the art<br \/>And the children, when they see me, they cry\u2026<\/p><p>I know what it means to freeze to death<br \/>To lose a little life with every breath<br \/>To say goodbye to life on earth<br \/>To come around again<br \/>Lord have mercy, I\u2019m the frozen man<br \/>God have mercy on the frozen man\u201d<\/p><p>The Creature may be an entirely unique lifeform, but if any human were to be able to empathize with him, William James McPhee would undoubtedly come the closest. William\u2019s resurrection is a medical miracle, but despite the achievement he embodies, his physical appearance drives even the most open-minded people away. Everyone he used to know has long since died, stranding him in time as Victor strands his creation in space. One aspect of the Creature\u2019s existence that Frankenstein refrains from exploring in-depth is that each part of him ostensibly once came from a living being, that in truth, part of him has died again and again before he has so much as opened his eyes for the first time. [I went back to check that this was, in fact, true and not a detail added to the character in later retellings. From what I can see, it\u2019s more implied than stated\u2014pages 42-3 provide the best evidence both for and against this\u2014but I think the conclusion is sufficiently backed by the text.] \u201cThe Frozen Man\u201d might let the Creature consider the pain that has been inflicted upon him by Victor other than his abandonment.<\/p><p><em>\u201cI am malicious because I am miserable; am I not shunned and hated by all mankind? You, my creator, would tear me to pieces, and triumph; remember that, and tell me why I should pity man more than he pities me? You would not call it murder, if you could precipitate me into one of those ice-rifts, and destroy my frame, the work of your own hands.\u201d<\/em><\/p><p>2. \u201cOh<br \/>Forgiving who you are for what you stand to gain<br \/>Just know that if you hide, it doesn&#8217;t go away\u2026<\/p><p>Oh<br \/>I grieve in stereo, the stereo sounds strange<br \/>I know that if you hide, it doesn&#8217;t go away<br \/>If you get out of bed and find me standing all alone<br \/>Open-eyed, burn the page<br \/>My little dark age\u201d<\/p><p>The Creature spends his entire life in the shadows, yearning for any connection with another human being but knowing he will never have what he wants. After years of torment, he finally decides to demand happiness from his creator in the form of a companion, but to do so, he has to show himself as he is, not just in appearance but also in self-expression. In this confrontation, the Creature has accepted the disgust of human society and has still deemed himself worthy of happiness, worthy of being stood up for, even if the only one who will do it is himself. The Creature could also easily use these lyrics to directly address Victor, particularly towards the end of the excerpt, as Victor really does awaken to find the Creature waiting for him, and no matter how he runs, he will inevitably reckon with his fate. Though only the chorus is quoted here, the verses are also pertinent, though in delivery rather than content. They are monotone, indicative of emotional fatigue or even a blank canvas on which to overlay one\u2019s own emotions. The Creature, in learning how to speak entirely on his own, would have had to teach himself intonation and social cues, and I imagine he\u2019d relate more closely to this kind of delivery early on than the livelier entries on this list.<\/p><p><em>\u201cShall I respect man, when he contemns me? Let him live with me in the interchange of kindness, and, instead of injury, I would bestow every benefit upon him with tears of gratitude at his acceptance. But that cannot be; the human senses are insurmountable barriers to our union.\u201d<\/em><\/p><p>3. \u201c*audience clapping in time* <br \/>I want to hear every single person<br \/>See every single pair of hands<br \/>Three, four<br \/>Find me somebody to love (x8)<br \/>Somebody, somebody<br \/>Somebody find me, somebody find me somebody to love<br \/>Can anybody find me<br \/>Somebody to<br \/>*pause*<br \/>Come on!<br \/>*audience responds* Love<br \/>*pause*<br \/>(Two, three)<br \/>Yeah!<br \/>*George Michael spins, song resumes*\u201d<\/p><p>Listening to this song evokes a vivid childhood memory: curled up in a black mesh nest of a chair in my father\u2019s 4th grade classroom, playing Flash games on a school laptop, and waiting for the day to begin. Every time this song came on, Dad would light up and say, \u201cIsn\u2019t that amazing? To have thousands of people clapping along, singing your words?\u201d In creating this playlist, I sorted the candidates into themes of reality, relatability, and angst vs escapism, aspiration, and love. I think this specific iteration of George Michael singing this song is about as far from the Creature\u2019s lived experience as a person could get, but that distance heightens the allure. Just as ordinary people watch superhero movies and see the selves they fantasize of being in the paragons on-screen, so too would the Creature listen to this performance and see himself on that stage, soaking in the bright warmth of mass adoration, allowed to be seen and heard and loved for who he is.<\/p><p><em>\u201cYet mine shall not be the submission of abject slavery. I will revenge my injuries: if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear; and chiefly towards you my arch-enemy, because my creator, do I swear inextinguishable hatred. Have a care: I will work at your destruction, nor finish until I desolate your heart, so that you curse the hour of your birth.\u201d<\/em><\/p><p>4. \u201cDoctor, my eyes have seen the years<br \/>And the slow parade of fears without crying<br \/>Now I want to understand\u2026<\/p><p>&#8216;Cause I have wandered through this world<br \/>And as each moment has unfurled<br \/>I&#8217;ve been waiting to awaken from these dreams\u2026<\/p><p>Doctor, my eyes<br \/>Tell me what you see<br \/>I hear their cries<br \/>Just say if it&#8217;s too late for me\u201d<\/p><p>This song hits on the audio equivalent of an \u201caesthetic\u201d that I think dips into both the \u201cpeople being like me\u201d and the \u201cme understanding what people are like\u201d categories: the content is heavy, but the musical style is light. I\u2019m not well-versed in music theory, so you\u2019ll have to forgive me, but in general, songs in major keys have warm colors and more upbeat tones for me, while songs in minor keys have cooler colors and more serious or negative tones. \u201cDoctor My Eyes\u201d is in the key of F, and the combination of a major key, the older style, and the unfaltering bounce of the percussion could lead someone not paying attention to the lyrics (say, a child in the car at 6 AM on the way to school) to believe \u201cDoctor My Eyes\u201d is quite a happy song indeed. Once the lyrics are laid bare on a page, however, the illusion is easily dismissed. One song that didn\u2019t make it to the final list, Billy Joel\u2019s \u201cGreat Wall of China\u201d, cultivates a similar aesthetic (which I just now learned is etymologically linked to any kind of sensory perception, not just visual, neat) of anger through a smile. The colors are like fire: warm and engaging, but with an underlying intensity that would prove painful under closer inspection. \u201cDoctor My Eyes\u201d accomplishes a similar effect, but the colors are earthier, the emotions more melancholic than choleric.<\/p><p><em>\u201cI intended to reason. This passion is detrimental to me; for you do not reflect that you are the cause of its excess. If any being felt emotions of benevolence towards me, I should return them an hundred and an hundred fold; for that one creature\u2019s sake, I would make peace with the whole kind! But I now indulge in dreams of bliss that cannot be realized.\u201d<\/em><\/p><p>6. \u201cGasping at glimpses of gentle true spirit he runs<br \/>Wishing he could fly<br \/>Only to trip at the sound of goodbye<\/p><p>Wordlessly watching he waits by the window and wonders<br \/>At the empty place inside<br \/>Heartlessly helping himself to her bad dreams he worries<br \/>Did he hear a good-bye?<br \/>Or even hello?\u201d<\/p><p>There\u2019s a similar bittersweetness in this entry to the last, but I think \u201cHelplessly Hoping\u201d weighs more heavily into the themes of isolation, yearning, and insecurity. The Creature would definitely have played this on a self-pity day while huddled behind the De Lacy house. Peeking through the cracks, he invades this family\u2019s privacy, studies their speech and behavior and dreams, all for his greatest desire to be crushed under the blows of a frightened but united front against him. The practically parasocial intimacy he constructs over months of patience and devotion falls apart the instant he attempts to realize it. While the Creature comes away from this experience with a working knowledge of language and a better understanding of the world, the fragile heart that he has worked to protect has also broken, and he knows that unless he can enlist Victor\u2019s aid and\/or enact revenge, his life will forever be empty.<\/p><p><em>\u201cWhat I ask of you is reasonable and moderate; I demand a creature of another sex, but as hideous as myself: the gratification is small, but it is all that I can receive, and it shall content me. It is true, we shall be monsters, cut off from all the world; but on that account we shall be more attached to each other. Our lives will not be happy, but they will be harmless, and free from the misery I now feel.\u201d<\/em><\/p><p>7. \u201cI walk into this room<br \/>Oh, all eyes on me now<br \/>But I do not know the people inside<br \/>You look straight through me, these eyes<br \/>Seeking more wisdom than I have to give away<br \/>Realize, realize what you are<\/p><p>What you&#8217;ve become,<br \/>Just as I have<br \/>Oh, well are you and I so unalike?<br \/>I don&#8217;t hear you<br \/>Just as I am<br \/>We\u2019re all afraid if we move we might die<br \/>So we mock the world<br \/>From our sacred, oh<br \/>Lives, our lives<br \/>Don&#8217;t you know only when you give life<br \/>Oh, then you become what you are\u201d<\/p><p>Many of these selections are debatable fits for the Creature\u2019s music taste, but if I am to die on a hill, my grave will read: \u201cThe Creature digs Dave Matthews.\u201d As a note, I am definitely biased, as this song features one of my favorite intros of all time. I know he gets a certain reputation, particularly for his raunchier subjects, but many of his songs grapple with God as a creator who ultimately will not save the singer in the way he wants. (It\u2019s very Jewish of him.) He also performs his pieces as though they\u2019re part of a musical, and through that lens, he\u2019s an excellent actor. He infuses every song with raw, sincere emotionality, and while his voice is consequently not quite as polished, it is individual and human. No matter what you think about his work, it is undoubtedly art. The Creature would so dig him, his themes and his passion and the orchestration of his music. I chose this song specifically because it\u2019s one of the angrier pieces and, alongside religious undertones, it also deals with identity, fear, and sacrifice\u2014the struggles of which the Creature would know all too well.<\/p><p><em>\u201cOh! my creator, make me happy; let me feel gratitude towards you for one benefit! Let me see that I excite the sympathy of some existing thing; do not deny me my request!\u201d<\/em><\/p><p>8. \u201cThis is our moment<br \/>Here at the crossroads of time<br \/>We hope our children carry our dreams down the line<br \/>They are the vintage<br \/>What kind of life will they live?<br \/>Is this a curse or a blessing that we give?<br \/>Sometimes I wonder<br \/>Why are we so blind to fate?<br \/>Without compassion, there can be no end to hate<br \/>No end to sorrow<br \/>Caused by the same endless fears<br \/>Why can&#8217;t we learn from all we&#8217;ve been through<br \/>After two thousand years?\u201d<\/p><p>After all these songs about individuals and interpersonal relationships, we needed at least one that zooms out and considers humanity as a whole because that\u2019s what the Creature is missing out on in totality. As much as he claims he\u2019d be satisfied with a single companion, the reality is that no matter where the pair would go, it would quite literally be them against the world until they die. When I undergo periods of loneliness, I can sit in the quad or visit the cemetery and feel like one in eight billion. The Creature doesn\u2019t have that luxury. \u201c2000 Years\u201d narrates (with exception) from the perspective of every person, living and dead, looking back at their lives together and hoping for the future. This live performance, perfectly positioned in time, becomes all the more potent as countless voices count down to the new millennium. By contrast, the Creature will spend his life in misery, pining for the collective voice that will never accept him.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1. \u201cIt took a lot of money to start my heartJust to peg my leg and to buy my eye, yeahThe newspapers call me the &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6346,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-214","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/higinbothamlitmixtapes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/higinbothamlitmixtapes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/higinbothamlitmixtapes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/higinbothamlitmixtapes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6346"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/higinbothamlitmixtapes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/higinbothamlitmixtapes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/higinbothamlitmixtapes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/214\/revisions\/219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/higinbothamlitmixtapes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}