In My Monster Roommate, a script for a three-act episode of a new sitcom, Alexander Aminov reimagines Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in a modern setting. As he notes in his reflection, the plot of Shelley’s gothic novel lends itself surprisingly well to the conventions of the sitcom, with stock characters, catchphrases, unlikely scenarios, and repetition all readily at hand. The result is a bit screwball with a lot of puns and tongue-in-cheek literary references (and, of course, the all-important swinging kitchen door).
Aminov picks up on a number of the novel’s more uncomfortable moments, and with a knowing wink to the audience turns the textual source into part of the joke (as with the running joke that Elizabeth isn’t Victor’s cousin “in this version”). Yet even as Aminov gently pokes fun at his characters, the scenario itself echoes Shelley’s most important message: our ability to feel with the “monster” is what makes us human.
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