The prototypical caracature mad scientist, I wondered about this years ago but didn’t get an answer then

Let’s backtrack a bit.

The prototypical caricature of Jesus we know. The first images of Jesus that have survived showed him to have a girlish beardless figure. Then someone adapted the bearded image of Thor and called it Jesus and that became the standard. More recently, the image form the Turin shroud has become the standard.

The prototypical caricature Santa Claus we know. With his wild white beard and hair, his rotund jolly face, and red coat. His red and white look came from Coca Cola ads of 1931.

The prototypical circus clown with red nose, white face, baggy clothes, permanent smile and wild hair. I only just found out about that, but it’s been known for some time. This parody was invented by Joseph Grimaldi. He first appeared on stage as a clown in 1781 at age three at Saddler’s Wells Theatre. His most famous clown first appeared in 1806 at covent Garden Theatre.

The prototypical Mad Scientist.

“The movie Metropolis (1927) brought the archetypical mad scientist to the screen in the form of Rotwang, the evil genius whose machines had originally given life to the dystopian city of the title. Rotwang’s laboratory influenced many subsequent movie sets with its electrical arcs, bubbling apparatus, and bizarrely complicated arrays of dials and controls. Portrayed by actor Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Rotwang himself is the prototypically conflicted mad scientist; though he is master of almost mystical scientific power, he remains a slave to his own desires for power and revenge. Rotwang’s appearance was also influential—the character’s shock of flyaway hair, wild-eyed demeanor, and his quasi-fascist laboratory garb have all been adopted as shorthand for the mad scientist “look.” Even his mechanical right hand has become a mark of twisted scientific power.”

Rotwang from Metropolis.

Rotwang doesn’t wear a white lab coat. We had to wait four years for that. In the Movie Frankenstein in 1931 the lead character does wear a white lab coat. But doesn’t have the typical mad scientist face.

Frankenstein.

They come together with the test tubes and chemical apparatus in addition to the white lab coat for the first time in Dr. Meirschultz, a scientist attempting to bring the dead back to life in the 1934 film Maniac.

Dr Meirschultz from Maniac.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-claus-that-refreshes/

Surely the screen characters are based on earlier versions found in literature, particularly novels, probably laboriously described in great boring detail by some great Victorian-era novelist.

mollwollfumble said:

The prototypical caracature mad scientist, I wondered about this years ago but didn’t get an answer then

Let’s backtrack a bit.

The prototypical caricature of Jesus…*

*stops reading

JudgeMental said:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-claus-that-refreshes/

as evidenced by these examples from 1906, 1908, and 1925, respectively:

Interesting, the only rotund Santa Claus that I had seen before the 1931 Coca Cola ad were dressed in black, which seemed to be the norm.

party_pants said:

Surely the screen characters are based on earlier versions found in literature, particularly novels, probably laboriously described in great boring detail by some great Victorian-era novelist.

Have any particular novel in mind? The novel “Frankenstein” (1818) has no physical description of the scientist.
“The Island of Dr Moreau” (1896) only has “he had the type of saturnine face that smiles with the corners of the mouth down”. Not what we’re looking for.

interesting subject

not sure how relevant, but is has occurred to me for some time that aspects of the commercial world, ideology, and media included (perhaps especially), have an interest in dissolving or diluting, or polluting, a normal interest in hobbies.

i’d give it a disease status on a more cultural level, though it appeals to ease.

also, possibly the mad scientist thing is some hangover from the dark ages, a morphed version, a variant of witch perhaps.

That Frankenstein pic isn’t from Frankenstein (1931, in which Colin Clive played Dr Frankenstein and Boris Karloff played the monster) it’s from House of Frankenstein (1944) in which Karloff (in the lab coat) played Dr. Niemann and Glenn Strange played the monster.

But Colin Clive did wear a white coat in the original Frankenstein.

Bubblecar said:

That Frankenstein pic isn’t from Frankenstein (1931, in which Colin Clive played Dr Frankenstein and Boris Karloff played the monster) it’s from House of Frankenstein (1944) in which Karloff (in the lab coat) played Dr. Niemann and Glenn Strange played the monster.

Putting new heads on old bodies, seems to sum up Frankenstein quite well.

Bubblecar said:

But Colin Clive did wear a white coat in the original Frankenstein.

That John Cleese.

Ian said:

I’m in love ❤

Bubblecar said:

That Frankenstein pic isn’t from Frankenstein (1931, in which Colin Clive played Dr Frankenstein and Boris Karloff played the monster) it’s from House of Frankenstein (1944) in which Karloff (in the lab coat) played Dr. Niemann and Glenn Strange played the monster.

But Colin Clive did wear a white coat in the original Frankenstein.

Oops. Didn’t know the difference.

I do have to say that I noticed that most male scientists on documentaries on the television all have bad and/or wild hair.