WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:13.599 You know, I've had a little fun with this series just with people uh coming and finding me and saying, Hey, you know, I I decided I was gonna go and I was gonna watch that that film that you're gonna talk about. 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:15.919 Just thought that would be helpful for me. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:21.440 And every time you guys come find me and you say, I don't know what you're gonna make of that one. 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:28.559 So I will admit sometimes I say that initially as well. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:39.439 But uh usually we find our way to some uh a good message that is coming from uh, or at least a conversation coming from these modern movies. 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:50.719 Uh, you know, these are all other than uh wicked, but uh part one actually was really well thought of, and I think that part two they kind of felt like they'd given all their good awards for the first part. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:01:15.280 Point being they're all really good films, and there are reasons they're good films, and so hopefully you're finding that and enjoying that and understanding that uh part of what makes them a good film is that they are dealing with some interesting underlying questions and subtexts that uh are actually pretty relevant and and fairly easily related to questions we ask in faith, which is why we do a sermon series like this. 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:18.799 So today, Frankenstein. 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:23.200 How many of you read that in sophomore English class? 00:01:23.519 --> 00:01:25.439 Yeah, me and Michael, that's it. 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:27.920 All right, Fred, so uh John did it too. 00:01:28.159 --> 00:01:28.560 All right. 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:36.239 One of I I generally appreciate that that uh um that book, especially for the questions that it asks. 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:45.439 You know, when I became an English major, it wasn't that I loved reading as much as I loved ideas, and Frankenstein is great with ideas. 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:48.239 So uh I'm gonna jump right in here. 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:54.000 I'll start with the book itself and just give a little bit of a uh a rollout, a summary of it. 00:01:54.159 --> 00:01:59.519 Mary Shelley was trying to write a good, scary story. 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:01.200 As simple as that. 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:08.479 Uh in fact, she was in conversation with another author, and they were uh uh trying to challenge each other to do this. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:12.560 So her story involves this scientist, Dr. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:14.800 Frankenstein. 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:18.639 And uh he all right, it's gonna get graphic. 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:19.759 Are you ready? 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:22.479 Well, you all know the story of Frankenstein, right? 00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:42.159 This can't be new to so he uh uses body parts to create a assembled body, a human body, uh, and then is able to animate this body, basically to bring it to life. 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:43.759 So pretty amazing. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:03:15.039 But what he doesn't understand, or what he doesn't anticipate, is that uh this being that is created is in a sense a person, a person with feelings and emotions and thoughts, and uh not having anticipated that, uh all of a sudden he's got this this presence that wants the things that we all want. 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:20.000 Affection, connection, help things to think about. 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:30.639 And so this monster, as he called, as he's called in the uh book, uh uh is starts looking for those kinds of connections. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:41.120 Unfortunately, he is clearly stitched together human being, and not only that, as the story goes, uh Dr. 00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:48.879 Frankenstein, Frankenstein, he only used really big parts because it was easier to work with those parts. 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:57.599 So this it was this massive monster human being that is now going out and looking for human connection, right? 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:03.759 And so you can uh um understand the conflict that tends to play out there, right? 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:16.720 As this monster's, he's looking for this human connection, uh, and the townspeople, the other folks are just appalled, they're they're scared by him because of that uh uh appearance. 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:22.480 And so we end up actually having pity for this monster. 00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:29.279 And it leaves us with this question uh to ask ourselves: if we're going to create life, right? 00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:36.399 If we're gonna progress in a way that we are creating human life, well, what do we owe that life? 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:45.040 As the creator stepping into that role, what do we owe this presence, this being that we are creating? 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:49.279 So now I bring you into the modernized version, the movie. 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:52.319 Did some of you go see it or pull it down on Netflix? 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:54.800 Some of you did, all right, a few of you. 00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:56.000 It's a very good film. 00:04:56.160 --> 00:05:07.279 I, you know, there's some graphic parts, just to warn you, uh, but uh there's a lot more graphic movies out there, so it's not uh as bad as some, but there is uh some on there. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:12.800 Now, as we go into it, the director is a man named Guillermo Del Toro, right? 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:18.319 And he um a little bit about him, he is fascinated by monsters. 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:28.879 I don't know if you follow him as a director, but one of his famous films is Pan's Labyrinth, where they're walking through these uh uh um kind of monster-ish beings. 00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:33.839 And then some others of you might even be more familiar with the more recent Shape of Water. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:41.199 Uh, did if you saw that, it actually won Best Picture uh uh Academy Award in its year. 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:51.360 Now, what we also learned about Guillermo del Toro is that he is not above treating monsters not as monsters. 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:55.600 He will very easily humanize these monsters. 00:05:55.759 --> 00:06:07.279 In fact, in the shape of water, for those of you who saw it, you might remember that there is this fishman that is sort of the main character that's part of things. 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:12.160 Uh, and he turns out to be the romantic love interest in the film. 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:20.079 So I don't know how we can humanize a monster any more than making them the romantic love interest. 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:26.639 Um I'm gonna show you, and hopefully that makes sense a little bit. 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:34.879 This next picture, I'm gonna show you, but this is the monster that Guillermo del Toro chose to be his Frankenstein. 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:36.639 Do we have that first picture? 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:38.079 Yeesh. 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:41.519 Are you scared? 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:42.240 Right? 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:46.319 If that thing came at you, you know, you might step back. 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:47.839 Just no, I'm kidding. 00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:55.040 I think there are many, many young ladies in our world that would love to storm this guy's castle. 00:06:58.240 --> 00:06:59.759 I wrote that myself. 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:03.439 That's my line right there. 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:05.759 No, this is Jacob Elordi. 00:07:05.839 --> 00:07:12.959 He's one of the newer uh uh heartthrobs in the Hollywood establishment or the film establishment. 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:20.319 He is our Frankenstein, uh uh, but uh I will show you uh at how he looks actually in the film. 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:21.759 So you can see, right? 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:28.879 You can see he's kind of stitched up and and uh you you can see to play in the course of the movie and to fit the theme. 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:34.399 Yeah, he looks not quite human uh and and yet still human. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:39.360 I think we got another one here where he's uh you can see uh where he's out in nature. 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:43.040 So he's he's clearly looks different, uh right. 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:54.160 And and to suit the uh the book a little bit too, Jacob Alordi is a pretty tall guy, six foot five, so so they're they're living out uh some of that Frankenstein thing. 00:07:54.240 --> 00:08:05.439 Uh but what really drives everything in this story, similar to the book itself, is the shunning that comes from the creator himself. 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:05.920 Dr. 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:15.120 Frankenstein comes to a place where he believes he's made a huge mistake, and so he looks to undo it. 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:19.040 But it's done with such aggressiveness, right? 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:31.360 He really tries to blow them up and and to kill the monster that we're we're frequently needing to ask ourselves who's the real monster here, right? 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:32.000 As Dr. 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:45.200 Frankenstein begins to regret his decision and he tries to destroy this monster, we're we're looking at you know who really is the one that is less human or less ideal. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:50.320 So uh at this point in the film, there's this big pivot. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:56.879 And now we hear the story of all of this, but now through the monster's eyes. 00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:02.240 And uh we're able to look and see how uh the doctor tried to kill him. 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:09.679 We're able to see how the townspeople tried to hunt him down, or we're so scared of him that they tried to take him out too. 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:16.399 And again, we're invited to ask ourselves who is this real monster in this story? 00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:30.960 So, as we're bringing it to our Christian context, uh I picked our scripture from Genesis today with uh this this the focus on this theme as the driver. 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:33.279 You know, the doctor, Dr. 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:39.679 Frankenstein, he puts himself in this position as creator of life, right? 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:46.799 He gives himself, he rationalized this place of I am going to make life. 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:53.120 Uh and our scriptures, this one included, many of them point to the problem with that. 00:09:53.600 --> 00:10:02.879 When we start putting ourselves in the position of God, right, and and the creator of life, there are problems that come from that. 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:17.120 In the story of Adam and Eve today, all right, uh the building of the Tower of Babylon, these are all instances where we see humans reaching a little bit beyond themselves, right? 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:23.759 Adam and Eve, they defy God, who told them not to eat of the forbidden fruit. 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:25.039 And then what do they do? 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:28.159 They eat of the forbidden fruit. 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:39.519 And what comes of that is they move into this place of awareness of our world and how our world works, that they are not ready to deal with. 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:46.399 Now they're understanding good and evil and all the depths and complexities, and they were not ready for that. 00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:48.159 In the case of the story of Dr. 00:10:48.240 --> 00:11:01.120 Frankenstein, this doctor wasn't really ready to take on the job of creator, the full job of the creator when he made this creation. 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:10.399 He wasn't able to offer what is critical to any creation, anything that has life. 00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:24.720 It's something we Christians would call love, has that all-encompassing theme for all that is to care for another being as much as we are able to care for ourselves. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:27.039 Others might call it empathy. 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:39.519 That's the problem that the good doctor doesn't uh have, or he has this problem, the problem that he doesn't have this empathy, he doesn't have this love. 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:46.799 And these are essentials for a creator to have if they're going to create this creation. 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:56.080 And so the absence of this capacity, it really puts the doctor in over his skis, so he tries to backtrack on what he did. 00:11:56.320 --> 00:12:00.240 He tries to uneat the fruit, as it were. 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:16.639 The problem is with that is that uh the being is there, the monster is there, and it's this being with heart, it's emotions, it's it's essentially human. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:23.840 So uneating this fruit means to kill this being. 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:41.360 Hopefully, you're hearing the weight of that and the weight of uh of uh this human being getting out and ahead of himself, which is really what the director's playing with and what Mary Shelley was playing with. 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:48.320 Our director, Guillermo Del Toro, of this latest film, he's giving us some things to think about in life today. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:54.399 It's not just a monster movie, which I think is what most of us anticipated it would be. 00:12:54.559 --> 00:12:57.039 Oh, I watched the monster movies from the 50s. 00:12:57.279 --> 00:13:00.240 They're a lot of fun, but I don't know that I need to watch that. 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:04.720 And then you get in there and you think, oh no, he's doing more than that. 00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:15.679 He's talking about some modern day challenges that we have, modern day opportunities where we're getting in out over our skis, right? 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:25.120 We we don't necessarily see ourselves as creating monsters because the things we're creating don't look like monsters. 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:42.000 But there are plenty of ways we're venturing into unknown and uncontrollable awareness, and often this includes the creation of a kind of life in our world. 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:47.840 Most of our movement into the world of technology would probably qualify here. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:56.720 Does it ever hit you that we've created a system of what you might call omniscience? 00:13:57.759 --> 00:14:04.080 Omniscience being uh uh the capacity of knowing everything. 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:05.440 Omniscience. 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:21.519 This is a bit of our internet, at least it's the full gathering of all the information that we've been able to accrue as a species, and we've created a way to have that world's content knowledge right at our fingertips. 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:27.039 I've got it right in my pocket as I sit here and talk to you. 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:31.360 Omniscience, it's a word we use for God, right? 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:34.960 We understand a God as Christians that knows everything. 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:42.240 That's a key part of a lot of our theologies uh uh here in this room and and outside as Christians. 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:53.360 But this idea of creating that in another being in the internet, does that give us pause? 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:59.200 Now, to be fair, the internet is not God. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:11.200 There's more to knowledge than just pure content, but it's a pretty powerful monster in and of its own. 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:13.519 Are we ready for that? 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:18.240 Or are we more like the doctor, the good doctor? 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:22.159 And what will come of it if we are? 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:27.360 Aren't we learning this a bit with uh artificial intelligence? 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:28.320 Right? 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:33.440 We're all excited about this amazing tool that's going to serve us. 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:41.840 But what does it look like to have an omniscient and all-knowing servant? 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:48.960 The dynamic the dynamic there can feel a little bit concerning, potentially. 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:56.159 Artificial intelligence is essentially trying to add a layer of wisdom to our content. 00:15:56.240 --> 00:16:04.799 So it's not just information, but it is a capacity to be able to synthesize information. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:12.000 Are we walking forward with the awareness of what this fruit might bring? 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:19.279 Or are we letting the ambition and the desire for money and for power set this course? 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:28.320 The film itself, Guillermo del Toro as the driver, gives us an answer. 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:33.360 An answer that maybe suits this challenge that he's posing as well. 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:36.480 And it comes from the monster himself, actually. 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:43.440 The answer isn't to destroy the monster, as one might think. 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:48.960 In the case of technology, the answer is not to destroy the internet. 00:16:50.799 --> 00:16:56.559 We wouldn't necessarily want to do that, and maybe we wouldn't be able to do that even so. 00:16:57.679 --> 00:17:08.079 But if we go back to the story, it ends with the doctor dying in the book at least, and the monster heading off suggesting that he's gonna go kill himself. 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:27.440 In the film, however, in this final meeting between the doctor and the monster, Gamer del Toro, he has the monster offering maybe the most human moment in the film. 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:42.720 After they've both had a chance to tell their view of the tale, we've seen both sides of what went on between the monster's creation and then the doctors trying to take that creation down. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:50.319 And this is a story that is pretty aggressive for the monster. 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:56.480 But he has that monster, and I keep using that term for lack of a better one. 00:17:56.880 --> 00:18:00.319 The monster forgives the doctor. 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:15.279 This is not just uh forgiveness for the doctor having created him into this graceless state in which everybody around him is gonna either be afraid of him or want to kill him or both. 00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:20.319 Forgiveness not just for that, but also for hunting him down. 00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:27.200 For trying to kill him, the monster forgives the doctor. 00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:32.319 It's a powerful moment in the film that doesn't happen in the original story. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:45.920 And the irony, hopefully you're not missing, is that the monster is offering the most human moment, the most human act in the story is made by the monster. 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:50.000 I think the film comes with an invitation. 00:18:50.240 --> 00:19:06.880 As we move into these new ages, especially with tech, this film is a cautionary tale towards our desire to play God, to bite the fruit, to move into arenas we may not be quite ready for. 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:16.240 And the answer isn't necessarily that we don't move into those areas, but it's something a little more nuanced. 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:24.160 His answer focuses on this need for humanity in our progress. 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:31.440 Right now, all of this movement seems to be driven by the most ambitious of us all. 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:34.880 You know, the modern, modern-day Frankenstein, Dr. 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:53.039 Frankenstein's, who've been blessed with these amazing capabilities to be able to not only generate things like AI, but to create the the institutional system to be able to move it forward, to make it something that the general populace is able to use. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:20:00.799 But they're often driven by being the first to be able to capitalize on that capacity, right? 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:15.039 They're the first ones to be able to get there and to establish themselves and to begin uh establishing their presence in a way that they start making income, they start getting prestige, they start getting power, they start getting authority. 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:25.920 But it's not generally the place where we're asking the moral questions, the ethical questions. 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:36.480 They seem to be all of these uh uh drivers, seem to be leaving that question for others. 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:41.759 Or maybe it's just not part of their makeup. 00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:50.880 And it begs the question for us here in our society are these also the people who can manage the creation? 00:20:52.880 --> 00:21:02.720 Are they able to manage the foreseen and the unforeseen challenges that might come from creating this omniscient being? 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:10.640 Del Toro, he's asking us if we're true truly ready for our creation. 00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:23.440 And by that he seems to be saying, are we good enough at being human to be able to manage the human progress with humanity? 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:32.640 I'll end us with that final bit of scripture from the Gospel of Luke. 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:40.640 And this is clearly something that uh a writer in Luke stole from the Spider-Man comic books. 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:59.759 But he asks us here, in words that Jesus says, from everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required, and from one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded. 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:23.200 We're invited to embrace the weight of that statement and to be intentional about walking with this progress and to be able to offer the humanity that our progress needs. 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:25.039 Amen.