The scientific fiction films have been in existence for a long time and they have scientific themes where the main characters play weird roles as they try to do something out of the ordinary. In the two films Frankenstein and Metropolis, the two scientists are trying to achieve their wildest dreams by creating human beings or robots. Victor Frankenstein was the mad scientist who aimed at creating a human being using a human brain that he thought was normal. His major aim in the film is to come up with an identity of a ray that brought life to a human being. He conducts his experiments and is oblivious of the effects they have on those around him. He even goes to the extent of dragging his assistant to go to a cemetery where they dig up graves as he tries to identify a perfect brain to use in his experiments. This is evident from the way he ignores his fiancée Elizabeth and focuses on his experiments, saying that nothing comes before the valuable experiments he is conducting. He conducts experiments that cross the boundaries of what human beings are expected to cross as he tries to understand the essence of human life and try creating his own handy work. He succeeds when the hand of the creature he made begins moving after lightning struck it at the roof of his laboratory. The handy work of Frankenstein causes problems as it starts killing people as the body of Dr. Waldman is found in the laboratory.
The same case is about Rotwang in the film Metropolis. He is so obsessed with creating a robot that can take the form of a human being and do all the actions of the person it impersonates. He is so engrossed in his desire for power and revenge and he ends up creating a robot that he can use to manipulate the workers and wreck havoc in the city. The laboratory he uses for his experiments is very weird and contains many apparatus, dials, and controls, which he tries to use to manipulate the robot he is creating to act as he desires. The mad scientist is apparent in Rotwang in the episode where he appears with his spread out hair, his wild-eyed appearance and the weird laboratory where he conducts his experiments qualifies him as a mad scientist, desperate of accomplishing his inner desire. He wants to resurrect a dead woman because he was so smitten with her and is angry with Joh who was Hel’s husbands before her death. He is so obsessed with the dead wife that he is willing to do anything in his power to revenge against Joh and his son.
The two films have similarities and differences. The similarities come from the fact that the two films are full of scientific fiction where there are people so obsessed with their dreams of creating a scientific wonder that they have an obsession with this idea. In the Metropolis, Rotwang is obsessed with creating a robot that will help him in revenging against those he believes did him wrong in the past. Frankenstein, on the other hand, believes that he can create a human being by using a normal brain. The differences, however, are set in the form of motives of the two scientists. Rotwang is doing the scientific experiments with a malicious motive where he plans to revenge, while Frankenstein is doing the experiments purely out of the desire to know what lies behind the human mind. The other difference is in how the two mad scientists handle their creation. Rotwang uses the robot to wreck havoc around the city and ends up destroying it while Frankenstein abandons his creation and goes off to marry his fiancée.
