Title: Bank Job Blues
Author: Melissa Scott
Date of First Publication: 2015
Place of Publication: Daughters of Frankenstein
Type: Short Story
Characters: No Character
Themes: MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER; QUEER FRANKENSTEIN; WOMEN WRITING MONSTERS
Critical Summary: “Bank Job Blues” is set in the 1930s and is focused on heist-running lesbians who are testinghte limits of the law in multiple ways. Five women on the brink of retiring from their short, less than successful heist career, find one last job that could set them up for a new start. With the help of Doc, the gang’s mastermind, and his invention, they set out, guns loaded, for what they hope is one last try. Doc is desperate to build a machine that can aid in the passage to a tightly sealed vault for a chance to claim the money within causes her to persuade the gang to join her. Although the machine does not speak or have any indicated human qualities, the creation of the machine inspires emotions in Doc that suggest a close bond formed from the creation. As the tale progresses, it is clear Doc isn’t willing to let it go which is opposite to Victor’s inner driving force to find the creature and get rid of it. The heist goes off course and the gang find themselves in need of revising their plan. They end up in a cave where they hide their creation. But they appear to get away with it, so far as we know, and decide to keep on trying together.
The tone seemed far less suspenseful and more action-oriented. The character of Doc and her mechanical genius connect to the mad Scientist Victor Frankenstein. The creature, or machine, in this chase was crucial in the outcome and plot of the story; however, there was little for the reader to connect with regarding the machine—it was not a Creature. Through the other characters, the reader might find sympathy for the preservation of this machine as the characters work and toil with what bonded them to it. The exploration and sympathy for the “monstrous” as in Frankenstein really in the character’s chemistry with one another.
Administrative Notes: Juan Rivera, CSUF; Alexandra Hollinshead (editing)