COVE

I’m going to discuss how different television shows have used the chemical or molecular change seen in Jekyll after he drinks the potion and turns into Hyde as a trope. The first image I’m going to discuss comes from a television show on Nickelodeon called Danny Phantom. In Danny Phantom the change is used as an overall concept. However, there are times throughout the series where the trope shows through more than others. The next images come from the television show Supernatural. In this show the trope is used to construct the whole plot for a season. The last image comes from a show called Once Upon a Time. In this show there is actually an altered version of Hyde as a character. Throughout all these different television shows, the main theme of using an outside source to alter one’s personality is seen. Also, just like in Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde, the change that takes place can be seen as a regression into an id state of being. Then, using these images, Stevenson’s original work, and Andrew’s article, I plan to talk about how fidelity to the original source has little to do with how these television shows have used the trope. Despite lacking fidelity, it is clear that all three shows use the trope in their own unique way, and it made a successful transition into modern day television.

“Identity Crisis,” Danny Phantom. Mark Isenburg, Ben Balistreri, Fred Reyes, Butch Hartman. Season 2, episode 6. Nickelodeon 2005.

The first image I want to discuss comes from the show Danny Phantom. It is a television series for kids that aired in 2004 and ran for three seasons. It is sort of a cult classic and still has a pretty loyal following even all these years later. The overall plot of the show shares some similarities to Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde. Danny goes into his parents’ ghost portal, gets shocked, dies, but because he is in the ghost zone when this happens, he becomes stuck in between life and death, and can turn into a ghost when he wants to. Just looking at the starting plot, one could say that the only way it resembles Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde at all is the molecular body change. However, if you look to how the show handles the change in different episodes, it is clear they are drawing from the Jekyll and Hyde trope in many different ways. In season one, Danny starts using his ghost powers to enact revenge on his enemies and turns into a character his friends don’t like. There are also many times throughout the series where he is seen as unable to control the change from human to ghost. There is also the subplot where Danny’s future self loses track of his humanity completely and becomes an evil ghost overlord. Danny dreads that happening to him, so he fights constantly against a future he feels is inevitable.

Besides all that, there is episode 205 titled ‘Identity Crisis’ which really shows just how much the series draws from the Jekyll and Hyde trope and Stevenson’s original story. In this episode, Danny flies through a ghost dream catcher, which separates his ghost self from his human self. There are a ton of fan theories about this episode because it is very clear from the beginning of the series that ghost Danny and human Danny are very much the same person, so how can they be separated like that? Well, after reading Stevenson’s story, I see exactly what the writers of this episode were trying to do by showing the separation.

In the episode ghost Danny is seen to have complete moral superiority, while human Danny is lazy, base, and not very Danny like at all. Ghost Danny wants to save the world, while human Danny would rather eat, play video games, or look at girls. In essence, ghost Danny is meant to represent the superego, human Danny the id, and the hybrid is the ego balancing the two out.

I find it interesting how the series can be so different from the original text and yet draw so strongly from the roots of the Jekyll to Hyde transformation. Fidelity is not used here at all, and yet this children’s cartoon can be seen as an adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde. It doesn’t use the original plot, but Andrew’s article says the history of an adaptation is like a horizontal axis. If you had an axis showing the original source material and all the adaptations to today, then I believe Danny Phantom is a creation of such an axis.

I wanted to use a different image that better showed the different Dannys. However, I couldn’t get it to upload. In the other image, ghost Danny is seen wearing a cape with his hair flowing in the wind. While human Danny stands carelessly wearing a flannel and his hat turned backward. Also, ghost Danny is shown to being ‘pointing a finger’ at human Danny and seems to be yelling at him. I thought this was a good representation of how the superego and id would be without the ego to balance them out. However, in this image, I believe we get sort of the same effect, with ghost Danny saving human Danny.

“Lucifer Rising,” Supernatural. Eric Kripke. Season 4, episode 22. Warner Brothers, 2009.

 Although it might not seem like it right away, I believe that Supernatural uses a Jekyll and Hyde trope all throughout season four of the series. The idea is that Sam has spent the season drinking demon blood to make himself stronger so he can defeat the demon Lilith. While demon blood seems like a far stretch from Jekyll’s potion, it is actually a lot closer to the original material than one would think. In Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde, Jekyll’s main idea for the potion is to separate the ‘good’ side of himself and better the world. Sam has the same idea. He thinks if he drinks enough blood and kills Lilith, then the world will be saved. If you know anything about Sam Winchester it’s that he was told that from a young age he had something evil inside of him and he will do whatever it takes to try to prove he’s a good person, even though he feels like there’s unexplainable darkness within him. Sound like a certain scientist we know?

Another thing one must understand about the show to see how close the transformation is, is how demons are portrayed in the series. Demons are shown to be the ultimate id creatures, especially young demons. In the Supernatural universe when a person is sent to hell, they are tortured until they lose all their humanity, forget who they were, and basically become animals. So, the fact that Sam is drinking demon blood is shown to represent his regression into a different being with less care for rules or relationships. Even when those around him start to notice his downfall, Sam remains convinced that everything is okay until he crosses a major line.

Just like Stevenson’s Jekyll, Sam gets a great feeling of freedom and power when he drinks the blood. So great that it begins to blind him to the world around him. I chose the picture above because I believe it greatly represents the point where he crosses the line and realizes how much the blood is altering his humanity. Even though he does not change unwilling into a demon as Jekyll starts to do with Hyde, it is very challenging for him to stop drinking the blood. Even seasons later, Sam still struggles with the urges.

I chose an image that had a close up of Sam’s face so we can see how much the change is affecting his features. Mostly notably the black eyes, which are the most blatant show of his demonic self coming through. This is the first time in the whole series where we see that there is another way to become a demon besides going to hell. Which is another reason why I think the drinking of blood in comparison to the Jekyll and Hyde trope is so important. I like this image because they blur his hand, so your eyes automatically focus on his face. His hand in this image is what he’s using to battle Lilith so in essence it represents the part of himself that is trying to hold on to his humanity. By blurring the hand and causing the viewer to focus on the face, it implies that he is losing the battle – not with Lilith but within himself.

“Demon Dean Fanart,” unknown artist. Link: https://m.facebook.com/www.ineed.one/posts/some-extremely-intense-demon-...

The fan image I chose is also from Supernatural. I know these were all suppose to be from different sources, but Supernatural has fifteen seasons and some really amazing fanart out there. Besides, I found it interesting the way they brought back the Jekyll and Hyde trope much later into the series. I found it even more interesting that this time they used the transformation on Dean instead of Sam. Instead of drinking demon blood, Dean is given a mark that allows him to use the first blade. Every time Dean uses the blade, he becomes a little more unhinged. While the other characters and even the audience are tricked into thinking that the blade simply brings out Dean’s natural killer instinct, slowly it’s revealed how much control the mark and blade have over him. The final result is revealed in the last episode of the season when Dean dies and then awakens again with black demon eyes. Yet again an outside source (beyond time spent in hell) has been used to turn a human into a demon. You also have to take into account how these permanent transformations don’t happen suddenly, but instead are slowly stretched out, getting worse and worse, just like in Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde.

I would argue that Sam’s transformation is closer to the original source material. However, there is this thing about Dean where he knows there is monstruous potential inside of him. He has been to hell; he became a demon the regular way at one point. When he went to purgatory, he came back saying that it “felt more pure” there, when all there was to do in purgatory was run and kill. So, in a way, Dean is very much in touch with his id. However, he keeps it firmly in place and can be seen as a very balanced ego character. Just like Jekyll, Dean enjoys letting that side of himself out, and he thinks he can control it until it’s too late and the id has complete control.

I chose this particular fanart because it reminded me a lot of the 1932 Jekyll and Hyde movie poster. It does a great job portraying the change. In the art, we can see Dean’s real face, then his altered face. I like this portrayal because it shows how both versions are very much part of the same person. Because even though you lose the superego and ego when you become a demon, you are very much still the same person. Especially in Dean’s case when he already was so close to his dark side. I think this represents the original spirit of the Jekyll and Hyde trope, which can be lost in some versions when Hyde is shown to be so different in appearance to Jekyll. I like how the only physical change that Supernatural portrays is the eye color. The rest is left up to Jensen’s acting. This art takes it a bit further and overlaps the two, showing the change in personality side by side. Although it's fanart, it uses scenes from the actual show as inspiration.

“Strange Case,” Once Upon a Time. David H. Goodman, Nelson Soler, Alrick Riley. Season 6, episode 4. ABC, 2016.

The last image I want to talk about comes from the show Once Upon a Time. While it lacks fidelity to the source material, it is closer to the original story than the other shows talked about before. In this series, Mr. Hyde is a villain who reappears in multiple episodes throughout. However, in season six, we get an episode titled ‘Strange Case,’ which tells us Mr. Hyde’s backstory. It is very similar to the original story, but instead of Hyde slowly taking over as a result of Jekyll’s inability to control that side of himself. Jekyll is tricked by Rumpelstiltskin and turns into Hyde.

I chose this image because it shows some of the special effects used to make the change happen in this series. This is one of the only adaptations I’ve seen so far that actually uses different actors for Jekyll and Hyde. While I think that choice in itself strays very far from the original text, the over all idea is the same. When looking at this through the lens of Andrew’s article, I’d say that Once Upon a Time is a show of adaptations lacking in fidelity or matching but as a whole becomes a series of very interesting storytelling that borrows from the original sources. With this image we can see that. No where in Stevenson’s text does it mention glowing in reference to the change between Jekyll and Hyde. However, in 2016 when this episode aired, it was presumed the audience would be captivated by that type of portrayal. I think this difference shows the essence of Andrew’s article. That fidelity or exact matching to an original source does not constitute a good adaptation. Instead, it takes the gathering of many different factors such as culture and time.

“Demon Dean Fanart,” unknown artist. Link: https://m.facebook.com/www.ineed.one/posts/some-extremely-intense-demon-dean-fan-art-whoa-uncredited-if-you-know-the-artist/319002772081262/

Andrew, Dudley. "Adaptation." Film Adaptation. Ed. James Naremore. Rutgers UP, 2000.

“Identity Crisis,” Danny Phantom. Mark Isenburg, Ben Balistreri, Fred Reyes, Butch Hartman. Season 2, episode 6. Nickelodeon 2005.

“Lucifer Rising,” Supernatural. Eric Kripke. Season 4, episode 22. Warner Brothers, 2009.

Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Longman, Green, and Co, 1886.

“Strange Case,” Once Upon a Time. David H. Goodman, Nelson Soler, Alrick Riley. Season 6, episode 4. ABC, 2016.