From Monsters to Men: The Evolution of Forgiveness in Guillermo del Toro’s Cinema

Guillermo del Toro is a one-of-a-kind filmmaker. Over the years, he has made many films, such as Nightmare Alley, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, the Hellboy trilogy, and his most recent project: his take on Mary Shelley’s infamous novel, Frankenstein. It is easy to observe that his obsession with mystical creatures has not faded; his films remain centered on otherworldly characters, metahumans, and monsters. This obsession even extends to his novels, The Strain trilogy, which he co-written with Chuck Hogan.

While the themes conveyed by his characters vary, the essential components remain the same. In Hellboy, for example, the protagonist is a nerdy, wisecracking demon. In Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water, the monsters—though creepy—carry a moving and thought-provoking message.

In his recent release, Frankenstein, Del Toro conveys a similar intention. He signifies that even though the Creature created by Victor Frankenstein turned into an animal because of Victor’s ignorance and incompetency, it learned the "soft ways" of life and moved in a positive direction.

Del Toro has stated that he is an atheist. In spite of not believing in a particular religion, he believes without a doubt that there is a spiritual dimension, and his characters have evolved with this in mind. Even though he was scared of monsters as a child, he now understands that those monsters are embedded in human behavior.

In a recent interview, the filmmaker said that while the portrayals of his characters are absurd, the characters themselves are not entirely perfect. He noted that he used to make fables where humans were the "bad guys" and monsters were the "good guys," but since The Shape of Water, his outlook has transformed. In that film, the creature kills Michael Shannon’s character; similarly, in Nightmare Alley, Bradley Cooper’s protagonist is the actual antagonist. In Frankenstein, the creature eventually becomes a hero in spite of killing six sailors and a hunter.

What Del Toro wants to confess is that nothing is perfect; he wants to introduce forgiveness into his characters. For instance, when the creature walks out of the ship, the captain prevents the sailors from killing it. To express gratitude, the creature frees their blocked ship. Del Toro shows that even though the creature is introduced to the world through animals, he remains innocent at heart. While the creature pledges to burn himself in the novel, in the film, he remains alive. This helpfulness hints to the audience that he continues to act as a vigilante, making the film lean toward sympathy for the creature and away from the vengeful Victor.

This article is authored by Naga Aditya, interning at Deccan Chronicle, Secunderabad.