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but the more i thought about it, the more i realized that Obsession succeeded in making a Victor Frankenstein-esque villain more than the 2025 movie did.

don't get me wrong, the movie was beautiful. i loved Jacob Elordi as the creature, the acting was great and the visuals were stunning. but one major change in the movie was that Victor was rewritten to be more obviously a villain.

right off the bat, Victor was shown to be abusing and berating the creature and then trying to burn down the house with the creature in it. he also generally had a very arrogant and self-righteous demeanor. there's even a very on-the-nose line of "you are the monster, Victor" which i was NOT a fan of.

this was not what book Victor was like at all. book Victor was more like Bear, in that he was a more subtle villain. much like Bear, Victor's villany came from his inaction and refusal to take responsibility for his actions.

Bear was never violent or abusive towards Nikki. Victor was never violent or abusive towards the creature. to someone who doesn't know the full story, these men come off as poor undeserving victims of these monsters.

Victor doesn't abuse or try to kill the creature, but what he does is he lets it run rampant and hurt people. when a child gets killed and an innocent woman is convicted for it, Victor does absolutely nothing about it despite knowing that it was his creation that did this. he lets the woman be executed simply because he was too much of a coward to take responsibility for his actions.

and in the same vein, the rest of the story plays out and more people get murdered by the creature because of Victor's inaction and cowardice. Victor is also selfish and loves to paint himself as the victim in any circumstance. even when the creature clearly threatens the safety of his wife, Victor assumes that he's the intended victim and thus lets his wife be murdered.

and up until recently, just like with Obsession, there was a lot of debate on who the real villain of Frankenstein was. and that's how you know the writer succeeded in writing a subtle villain.

with both Victor and Bear, it's not that they're moustache twirling villains orchestrating everything from the beginning. it's the fact that they are realistic villains, subtle villains; the kind that could be your neighbour, your coworker, even your friend.

Victor is reminiscent of many parents who neglect their children and refuse to take responsibility for the life that they chose to bring into this world. Bear is reminiscent of many men who are not outwardly violent but are selfish, cowardly and don't mind taking advantage of a situation as long as it benefits them.

both of them genuinely believe that they're the victim in this situation. Victor laments about how he did nothing to deserve all this and how this monster was ruining his life, and Bear complains about how obsessed and overbearing Nikki is.

i think writing a subtle villain is truly an art. there are many realistic villains in media but not all of them are subtle. it's a fine balance between making your character sympathetic and making them refuse to take accountability. Bear was sympathetic in many ways, people could even relate to him. and yet, it doesn't take away from the fact that he had the choice to try and reverse the wish but never thinks of doing it until HE is in trouble.