the elephant man essay

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The film of The Elephant Man is not based on the successful stage play of the same name, but they both draw their sources from the life of John Merrick, the original "elephant man," whose rare disease imprisoned him in a cruelly misformed body. Both the play and the movie adopt essentially the same point of view, that we are to honor Merrick because of the courage with which he faced his existence.

The Elephant Man forces me to question this position on two grounds: first, on the meaning of Merrick's life, and second, on the ways in which the film employs it. It is conventional to say that Merrick, so hideously misformed that he was exhibited as a sideshow attraction, was courageous. No doubt he was. But there is a distinction here that needs to be drawn, between the courage of a man who chooses to face hardship for a good purpose, and the courage of a man who is simply doing the best he can, under the circumstances. 

Wilfrid Sheed, an American novelist who is crippled by polio, once discussed this distinction in a Newsweek essay. He is sick and tired, he wrote, of being praised for his "courage," when he did not choose to contract polio and has little choice but to deal with his handicaps as well as he can. True courage, he suggests, requires a degree of choice. Yet the whole structure of The Elephant Man is based on a life that is said tobe courageous, not because of the hero's achievements, but simply because of the bad trick played on him by fate. In the film and the play (which are similar in many details), John Merrick learns to move in society, to have ladies in to tea, to attend the theater, and to build a scale model of a cathedral. Merrick may have had greater achievements in real life, but the film glosses them over. How, for example, did he learn to speak so well and eloquently? History tells us that the real Merrick's jaw was so misshapen that an operation was necessary just to allow him to talk. In the film, however, after a few snuffles to warm up, he quotes the Twenty-Third Psalm and Romeo and Juliet. This is pure sentimentalism. 

The film could have chosen to develop the relationship between Merrick and his medical sponsor, Dr. Frederick Treves, along the lines of the bond between doctor and child in Truffaut's The Wild Child. It could have bluntly dealt with the degree of Merrick's inability to relate to ordinary society, as in Werner Herzog's Kaspar Hauser. Instead, it makes him noble and celebrates his nobility. 

I kept asking myself what the film was really trying to say about the human condition as reflected by John Merrick, and I kept drawing blanks. The film's philosophy is this shallow: (1)Wow, the Elephant Man sure looked hideous, and (2)gosh, isn't it wonderful how he kept on in spite of everything? This last is in spite of a real possibility that John Merrick's death at twenty-seven might have been suicide. 

The film's technical credits are adequate. John Hurt is very good as Merrick, somehow projecting a humanity past the disfiguring makeup, and Anthony Hopkins is correctly aloof and yet venal as the doctor. The direction, by David (Eraserhead) Lynch, is com-petent, although he gives us an inexcusable opening scene in which Merrick's mother is trampled or scared by elephants or raped_who knows?_and an equally idiotic closing scene in which Merrick becomes the Star Child from 2001, or something.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

The Elephant Man (1980)

123 minutes

John Gielgud as Carr Gomm

Anne Bancroft as Mrs. Kendal

John Hurt as John Merrick

Anthony Hopkins as Frederick Treves

Screenplay by

• Eric Bergren
• Christopher DeVore

Directed by

• David Lynch

Produced by

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The scenes are among the most heartless in cinema history: a drunken, abusive showman exhibiting the severely deformed Joseph Merrick to horrified punters. David Lynch’s “The Elephant Man” begins with its lead character being treated little better than an animal in a cage. But it soon finds a clean-cut hero in the ambitious young surgeon Frederick Treves, who rescues the hapless Merrick from his keeper and gives him permanent shelter at the London Hospital. Supported by charitable donations, the victim recovers his humanity: he learns to speak again (in a decidedly middle-class accent), to entertain society guests, and to dress and behave like a well-heeled young dandy. Merrick, no more the degraded show freak, reveals his inner goodness and spirituality and dies happy.

Lynch’s movie is based largely on Treves’ sentimental chronicle. But that narrative is merely one version of events—and one that in the end tells us more about middle-class morality than it does about Merrick. There is another story that casts a different light on what happened. The memoirs of Tom Norman, Merrick’s London manager, are surely as biased as Treves’. But as one of the most respected showmen of his day, Norman’s account challenges head on Treves’ claim that Merrick was ultimately better off in the hospital than at the freakshow.

In August 1884, after checking himself out of the Leicester workhouse, Merrick began his career as “the Elephant Man.” The exhibition of human oddities had been part of English entertainment since at least the Elizabethan period. In the 1880s, alongside the Elephant Man, the British public could see Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy, American Jack the Frog Man, Krao the Missing Link, Herr Unthan the Armless Wonder, and any number of giants, dwarfs, bearded women, and other “freaks of nature.” Despite the freakshow’s popularity, by the end of the 19th century, middle-class morality was condemning it as immoral, indecent, and exploitative.

Most Victorian freaks, however, earned a comfortable living. Many were free agents who negotiated the terms of their exhibition and could ask for a salary or a share of the profits. They sold souvenirs to the crowds to make extra money. The freakshow was thus an important economic resource for working people whose deformities prevented them undertaking other forms of labor. Indeed, freak performers did not consider their exhibitions to be obscene or degrading. Rather, they saw themselves as little different from other entertainers.

Merrick suffered grievously from a rare disfiguring disease. His limbs were severely enlarged, and his massive head sprouted a large bony lump. His skin was loose and hung in sack-like masses from his back. A small “trunk” that had been cut away from his upper lip was beginning to grow back. He was, recalled Treves, “the most disgusting specimen of humanity that I have ever seen.” But at the age of 22, Merrick’s decision to exhibit himself as the Elephant Man was a rational financial choice.

During the two years he was on display in Europe, he was able to save more than £50—a sizable sum for a working-class man. In fact, Merrick earned more from his exhibition than his manager. They shared the take evenly, but Norman paid for the rent of the venue, food, and lodging.

According to his manager, Merrick was happy with his life as a show freak, and of the workhouse he had quit, he declared: “I don’t ever want to go back to that place.”

This was no surprise. The Victorian workhouse was the place of last resort. Poor food, squalid living conditions, and the penal atmosphere were all intended to discourage the poor from being a burden on the state. Indeed, most working-class people sought desperately to avoid the physical hardships and social stigma of the workhouse. Norman recalled that Merrick “was a man of very strong character and beliefs—anxious to earn his own living and be independent of charity.” He refused to pass a hat around at the end of the show to collect extra, insisting that “we are not beggars are we, Thomas?” The freakshow provided Merrick with a way to earn a decent living in a manner he found less degrading than relying on poor relief.

When the Elephant Man’s show was shut by the police in December 1884, Merrick left for a continental tour. But two years later, he returned to the East End of London destitute, having been robbed of his savings by an unscrupulous showman. Treves had exhibited the Elephant Man to the Pathological Society in 1884 as a puzzling medical specimen and had given him his business card. When Merrick produced the card on arrival at Liverpool Street station, the police summoned the surgeon to intervene on his behalf. Motivated by scientific curiosity and compassion, Treves admitted Merrick to the London Hospital. He raised funds for his upkeep through a campaign in The Times to prevent what he considered the immorality of the Elephant Man’s public exhibition.

In the hospital, Merrick was kept largely confined to his rooms. When he ventured too far outside them, he was quickly shepherded back, lest he frighten other patients. Treves said his intention in providing for Merrick was to save him from the humiliation of public exhibition. However, his charge was constantly visited by curious members of high society. Like the masses who attended freakshows, they came out of a prurient fascination with Merrick’s grotesque body rather than merely to “cheer his confined existence.” Indeed, as a patient with a rare disorder, he piqued the curiosity of a variety of medical practitioners and was frequently on display. According to Norman, Merrick was “constantly seen and examined” by a “never-ending stream of surgeons, doctors and Dr Treeve’s (sic) friends.”

The Elephant Man’s hospitalization sprang from a benevolent desire to help this “poor fellow.” But, for Merrick, it may have been little different from entering the workhouse. As a permanent resident, supported entirely by charitable donations, he was rendered a dependent member of “the deserving poor.” Norman argued that Merrick’s “only wish was to be free and independent.” This could not happen while he remained an inmate of the hospital where, his former manager argued, he must have felt as if “he were a prisoner and living on charity.” Treves maintained that Merrick was “happy every hour of the day.” But Norman’s son unearthed the testimony of a hospital porter who claimed that Merrick asked more than once: “Why can’t I go back to Mr Norman?”

Merrick never returned to the show world. Instead, he lived out his days in renovated basement rooms at the London Hospital, where he was found dead, lying across his bed, at 3:30pm on April 11 1890. Although no foul play was suspected, the coroner felt it prudent to hold an inquest. He concluded that Merrick had died of natural causes—that the weight of his head overcame him during sleep and caused suffocation. Treves supported this interpretation. He argued that Merrick’s death resulted from his “pathetic but hopeless desire” to sleep “like other people.” Norman, however, had a different interpretation of Merrick’s death. He believed the Elephant Man had taken his own life.

Suicide does seem a much more plausible explanation. Merrick was found dead in the middle of the afternoon, and thus not during a natural sleep. He was lying in a position that he knew would cause asphyxiation. The Elephant Man’s skeleton remains on display in the London Medical College’s pathological museum, a fate he clearly expected. According to one of Treves’ medical students, he “used to talk freely of how he would look in a huge bottle of alcohol”. Norman also continued to exhibit Merrick’s “body” after his death, displaying a bust of the Elephant Man in his waxworks. But when he sold the exhibit after the first world war, he kept hold of the bust and stored it away in a packing case. Merrick continued to be exhibited, therefore, in both of the venues that had made him famous.

Ironically, it was the sideshow, rather than the scientific institution, that finally laid the Elephant Man’s body and memory to rest.

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Re-examining “the Elephant Man”

By Nadja Durbach

Nadja Durbach questions the extent to which Joseph Merrick, known as the Elephant Man, was exploited during his time in a Victorian “freakshow”, and asks if it wasn't perhaps the medical establishment, often seen as his saviour, who really took advantage of Merrick and his condition.

July 24, 2013

Image of Joseph Merrick published in the British Medical Journal in 1886 — Source

The scenes are among the most heartless in cinema history: a drunken, abusive showman exhibiting the severely deformed Joseph Merrick to horrified punters. David Lynch’s The Elephant Man begins with its lead character being treated little better than an animal in a cage. But it soon finds a clean-cut hero in the ambitious young surgeon Frederick Treves, who rescues the hapless Merrick from his keeper and gives him permanent shelter at the London Hospital. Supported by charitable donations, the victim recovers his humanity: he learns to speak again (in a decidedly middle-class accent), to entertain society guests and to dress and behave like a well-heeled young dandy. Merrick, no more the degraded show freak, reveals his inner goodness and spirituality and dies happy.

Lynch’s movie is based largely on Treves’ sentimental chronicle. But that narrative is merely one version of events — and one that in the end tells us more about middle-class morality than it does about Merrick. There is another story that casts a different light on what happened. The memoirs of Tom Norman, Merrick’s London manager, are surely as biased as Treves’. But as one of the most respected showmen of his day, Norman’s account challenges head on Treves’ claim that Merrick was ultimately better off in the hospital than at the freakshow.

In August 1884, after checking himself out of the Leicester workhouse, Merrick began his career as “the Elephant Man”. The exhibition of human oddities had been part of English entertainment since at least the Elizabethan period. In the 1880s, alongside the Elephant Man, the British public could see Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy, American Jack the Frog Man, Krao the Missing Link, Herr Unthan the Armless Wonder and any number of giants, dwarfs, bearded women and other “freaks of nature”. Despite the freakshow’s popularity, by the end of the 19th century, middle-class morality was condemning it as immoral, indecent and exploitive.

An example of a Victorian ‘freakshow’ exhibition: poster for ‘What is it?’, an act shown at The Royal Surrey Zoological Gardens, c.1846 — Source (NB: from the British Library, not openly licensed)

Most Victorian freaks, however, actually earned a comfortable living. Many were free agents who negotiated the terms of their exhibition and could ask for a salary or a share of the profits. They sold souvenirs to the crowds to make extra money. The freakshow was thus an important economic resource for working people whose deformities prevented them undertaking other forms of labour. Indeed, freak performers did not consider their exhibitions to be obscene or degrading. Rather, they saw themselves as little different from other entertainers.

Merrick suffered grievously from a rare disfiguring disease. His limbs were severely enlarged, and his massive head sprouted a large bony lump. His skin was loose and hung in sack-like masses from his back. A small “trunk” that had been cut away from his upper lip was beginning to grow back. He was, recalled Treves, “the most disgusting specimen of humanity that I have ever seen”. But at the age of 22, Merrick’s decision to exhibit himself as the Elephant Man was a rational financial choice.

During the two years he was on display in Europe, he was able to save more than £50 — a sizeable sum for a working-class man. In fact, Merrick earned more from his exhibition than his manager. They shared the take evenly, but Norman paid for the rent of the venue, food and lodging.

A photograph of Joseph Merrick, taken in 1889 and published in the British Medical Journal with the announcement of Merrick’s death (“Death of the ‘Elephant Man’”, Vol. 1, No. 1529) — Source

According to his manager, Merrick was happy with his life as a show freak, and of the workhouse he had quit, he declared: “I don’t ever want to go back to that place.”

This was no surprise. The Victorian workhouse was the place of last resort. Poor food, squalid living conditions and the penal atmosphere were all intended to discourage the poor from being a burden on the state. Indeed, most working-class people sought desperately to avoid the physical hardships and social stigma of the workhouse. Norman recalled that Merrick “was a man of very strong character and beliefs — anxious to earn his own living and be independent of charity”. He refused to pass a hat around at the end of the show to collect extra, insisting that “we are not beggars are we, Thomas?” The freakshow provided Merrick with a way to earn a decent living in a manner he found less degrading than relying on poor relief.

When the Elephant Man’s show was shut by the police in December 1884, Merrick left for a continental tour. But two years later, he returned to the East End of London destitute, having been robbed of his savings by an unscrupulous showman. Treves had exhibited the Elephant Man to the Pathological Society in 1884 as a puzzling medical specimen and had given him his business card. When Merrick produced the card on arrival at Liverpool Street station, the police summoned the surgeon to intervene on his behalf. Motivated by scientific curiosity and compassion, Treves admitted Merrick to the London Hospital. He raised funds for his upkeep through a campaign in The Times to prevent what he considered the immorality of the Elephant Man’s public exhibition.

Portrait of Sir Frederick Treves by Luke Fildes, painted in 1896, 6 years after Joseph Merrick’s death — Source

In the hospital, Merrick was kept largely confined to his rooms. When he ventured too far outside them, he was quickly shepherded back, lest he frighten other patients. Treves said his intention in providing for Merrick was to save him from the humiliation of public exhibition. However, his charge was constantly visited by curious members of high society. Like the masses who attended freakshows, they came out of a prurient fascination with Merrick’s grotesque body rather than merely to “cheer his confined existence”. Indeed, as a patient with a rare disorder, he piqued the curiosity of a variety of medical practitioners and was frequently on display. According to Norman, Merrick was “constantly seen and examined” by a “never-ending stream of surgeons, doctors and Dr Treeve’s (sic) friends”.

The Elephant Man’s hospitalisation sprang from a benevolent desire to help this “poor fellow”. But, for Merrick, it may have been little different from entering the workhouse. As a permanent resident, supported entirely by charitable donations, he was rendered a dependent member of “the deserving poor”. Norman argued that Merrick’s “only wish was to be free and independent”. This could not happen while he remained an inmate of the hospital where, his former manager argued, he must have felt as if “he were a prisoner and living on charity”. Treves maintained that Merrick was “happy every hour of the day”. But Norman’s son unearthed the testimony of a hospital porter who claimed that Merrick asked more than once: “Why can’t I go back to Mr Norman?”

Left: An 1899 carte de visite of Joseph Merrick circulated to members of the public — Source . Right: A photograph of Joseph Merrick, taken in 1889 and published in the British Medical Journal with the announcement of Merrick’s death (“Death of the ‘Elephant Man’”, Vol. 1, No. 1529) — Source

Merrick never returned to the show world. Instead, he lived out his days in renovated basement rooms at the London Hospital, where he was found dead, lying across his bed, at 3:30pm on April 11 1890. Although no foul play was suspected, the coroner felt it prudent to hold an inquest. He concluded that Merrick had died of natural causes — that the weight of his head overcame him during sleep and caused suffocation. Treves supported this interpretation. He argued that Merrick’s death resulted from his “pathetic but hopeless desire” to sleep “like other people”. Norman, however, had a different interpretation of Merrick’s death. He believed the Elephant Man had taken his own life.

Suicide does seem a much more plausible explanation. Merrick was found dead in the middle of the afternoon, and thus not during a natural sleep. He was lying in a position that he knew would cause asphyxiation.

The Elephant Man’s skeleton remains on display in the London Medical College’s pathological museum, a fate he clearly expected. According to one of Treves’ medical students, he “used to talk freely of how he would look in a huge bottle of alcohol”. Norman also continued to exhibit Merrick’s “body” after his death, displaying a bust of the Elephant Man in his waxworks. But when he sold the exhibit after the first world war, he kept hold of the bust and stored it away in a packing case. Merrick continued to be exhibited, therefore, in both of the venues that had made him famous.

Ironically, it was the sideshow, rather than the scientific institution, that finally laid the Elephant Man’s body and memory to rest.

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Further Reading

Durbach explores how the freak shows of the mid 19th-century formed ideas of otherness and identity - and defined what it meant to be British.

The Public Domain Review receives a small percentage commission from sales made via the links to Bookshop.org (10%) and Amazon (4.5%). Thanks for supporting the project! For more recommended books, see all our “ Further Reading ” books, and browse our dedicated Bookshop.org stores for US and UK readers.

Nadja Durbach was born in the United Kingdom and grew up in Canada. She completed her BA (Hons.) in 1993 at the University of British Columbia and her PhD at Johns Hopkins University in 2000. She is currently Professor of History at the University of Utah. She is the author of two books: Bodily Matters: The Anti-Vaccination Movement in England, 1853–1907 and Spectacle of Deformity: Freak Shows and Modern British Culture . She is currently working on a book about the politics of food in Modern Britain.

The text of this essay is published under a CC BY-SA license, see here for details.

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Example Of The Elephant Man Essay

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Literature , Elephant , Film , Human , Character , Death , Life , Cinema

Words: 1200

Published: 01/22/2020

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English 225 Introduction To Film

The film The Elephant Man is an iconic and powerful humanistic filmmaking endeavor from one of the most interesting directors of the 20th century. Based on the true story of Joseph Carey Merrick, the film depicts a man with severe deformities experiencing life as a human sideshow in 19th century London, and his attempts to find peace and solace amongst the curiosity of man. Director David Lynch forces the horrors and sadness of deformity onto the audience in a way that leaves the viewer tear choked with sadness and sympathy. Most people who watch the film are touched in a way that alters their view of the crippled, weak, and deformed persons of the world, while showing his plight as being uniquely horrific. The film presents a subtle and sensitive portrayal of a man excised from the rest of society, attempting to live life as a man but still having to deal with prejudices and the lack of understanding of other human beings. The creation of the film begins with Joseph Merrick’s incredible story being written into a play by Bernard Pomerance in 1979. Lynch’s film version was released the following year; it was not derived from the play, but Pomerance's work did give Lynch inspiration for his film. Lynch based his film version of the tale of Joseph (now John in the film) Merrick’s life on Merrick’s own memoirs and other sources from the time. The script, written by Lynch, contains information based upon Merrick’s memoirs and biography, as well as from Frederick Treves’ personal accounts. As far as historical accuracy is concerned, details have been altered to make the story more palatable for film. For example, Merrick is referred to incorrectly as “John“. This inaccuracy is a perpetuation of the error that was made in history, according to Frederick Treves’ account of the story. Lynch in an effort to maintain realism changes the name purposely but fails to make this understandable to the viewer. Beyond this change, many elements within the film are based in history, including his state of dress (wearing a hood and cloak when he travelled), his relationship and adoration for his mother, and his cardboard construction of a cathedral. Perhaps most central to the film is John Hurt's amazing, sensitive performance as John Merrick. Despite being forced to emote through layers of makeup and prosthetics (modeled after Merrick's real face and appearance), Hurt manages to convey a depth of emotion that few actors could accomplish, finding beauty in this beastly figure. The character is played as that of a child, one who does not quite understand the world around him, if only because he has not really been exposed to any parts that did not contain cruelty. Lynch shows Hurt being victimized by Victorian society, but also abandoned like a child; numerous closeups of children are show, and Princess Alexandra describes him as "one of England's most unfortunate sons." His disability shows just how medicine and Victorian society of the time treated people with disabilities: quite poorly, and deserving of the criticism Lynch's camera provides. Since no one was with Merrick when he died, Lynch's ending is purely based in fantasy, but makes a compelling scene nonetheless. Lynch divines a hypothetical death in which Merrick lies down like a normal person, which because of his abnormalities, causes his death. Merrick was found lying down in this manner when he was discovered the next day. Because of the peaceful state of his body it is supposed that he chose his death in this manner. Lynch stays true to at least what is known and believed. Lynch also gives a final grace and dignity to the character of John Merrick which allows the film to end in a way that is touchingly appropriate. In this way, we are oddly relieved for Merrick, as he had endured so much suffering and pain that it seemed fitting that he would die trying to be normal. In his death, we see him try to lie like a drawing of a sleeping child from his room, yet another tie to Merrick as a childlike figure. The supporting cast deliver spot on performance that give validity and weight to the human drama at the heart of The Elephant Man. Of great note is Anthony Hopkins as Treves, one of the few true allies Merrick has along his journey. As Merrick’s “proprietor,“ Freddie Jones plays a ruthless menace and desperate part of man his greedy and delights in the suffering and controlling of those weaker than himself. Michael Elphick's performance as a night porter is chilling, particularly in one scene where he plans to humiliate Merrick in his hospital room by showing him naked and charging admission. Anne Bancroft as Treves’ wife, provides the needed compassion as she shows Merrick kindness in the face of a lifetime of women screaming at his physical ugliness. Perhaps the most challenging and famous line is the scene when Merrick the tragic hero demands that everyone acknowledge that he is human. In the famous subway scene, Merrick is chased by crowds of people, viewing him as a freak. He utters in anguish, “I am not an elephant! I am not an animal! I am a human being! Iama man!” (Lynch, 1980) The working class is stunned and step back as he falls in exhaustion and sickness. It is a scene that lives on in the minds of viewers and it is the culmination of Lynch’s humanistic endeavor to make the audience realize that the deformed, the hurt, the ugly, and the forgotten; are still human beings and still deserving of respect. Today, “The Elephant Man” remains a highly-acclaimed film and emotional masterpiece. Expertly directed, written, and performed, with an old style cinematography and orchestral score, the film can be seen as a return to the days of black white film. Victorian cultural superiority is thrown into question, as the high-class sophistication of the aristocrats is shown up by Merrick's raw, basic empathy and humanity. The emphasis on character and acting skill was an original move by Lynch during a time when special effects and color were taking the lead in cinematography. In fact, when one views the movie, he or she comes away with the idea that it could not have been filmed any other way. One of Lynch's decidedly less surrealist films (like Blue Velvet or Eraserhead), Lynch still manages to examine the macabre subject of a real-life freakshow, who becomes the most human character in the film. It is because of this sensitive, nuanced portrayal of disability and human cruelty that Lynch's film remains one of the great film dramas of the 20th century.

Clark, R. (2007-03-02), "The Elephant Man", The Independent Ebert, R. (1980, January 1). The elephant man . Retrieved from http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19800101/REVIEWS/101031 3/1023 Lynch, D. (1980). The elephant man. Retrieved from Movie

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The Elephant Man

68 pages • 2 hours read

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The Elephant Man Essay

Filed Under: Essays

HOW DOES THE DIRECTOR OF THE elephant man ESTABLISH JOHN MERRICK AS AN OUTSIDER? The director David Lynch establishes John Merrick as an outsider, in the opening sequences of his film ‘ The Elephant Man’ by using several devices that gain the audiences’ attention and raise the audiences’ expectations of the nature of deformity the main character suffers from. The atmosphere is created by the use of monochrome, lights and sounds (of a mostly dark nature only) to enhance the main point, why was Merrick an outsider? The director uses several close up shots of characters faces to emphasize their reactions. The dialogue used in the film degrades John representing him as a subhuman creature and the music used in the film reinforces John’s position as an outsider. The main theme of the film is outsiders, the director David Lynch has made many other films on the subject. The Elephant man’s life is a perfect example to express the position of an outsider in Victorian Times.

The director has chosen this because the subject reaches out to us by making us think about how we treat other outsiders today and compare modern day views with the views of Victorian society. The film credits inform the audience that the story is “Based on The Elephant Man and other reminiscences by Sir Frederick Treves”, this is important because the story of the Elephant man does not seem tangible because his deformity is so extreme that it can be compared to a character in a horror movie. The first image we see is a close up shot of John’s mother’s facial features. The tone is immediately established as dark and eerie due to the lighting which include, bright flashes of light, fading back to a dark background and the sounds of a herd of elephants on the march, ending with a sound of a train. The sounds of the train indicate the historical setting because trains were a new and important form of transport in that time. The images on the screen are both disturbing and intriguing because the images presented suggests that John Merrick was conceived by a sexual relationship between an elephant and a woman, this leaves the audience puzzled and confused because there is no explanation for the scene until later in the film.

The Term Paper on War Films Directed John World

In the late-19 th and early-20 th centuries, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American war were grist for American movies' mill, mostly in romantic flag-wavers which boasted little action. The war film as it is known today - violent dramatizations of men in combat - emerged with the world's first experience of modern warfare, World War I. This study therefore excludes films ...

The scene makes the audience confused because they do not understand the relevance of the scene towards the subject matter but at the same time, the viewers are interested because they have a compelling need to comprehend the relevance of this vague scene. I think this scene was placed wrongly because it comes across un clearly to the audience so they cannot fully appreciate the meaning of this scene and its impact is substantially reduced. The director uses a linear narrative, this means showing something in a sequential order, he included this to show the development of the Elephant man’s life, it is an effective narrative form because takes the audience through a timeline of how Merrick is exploited. The camera shots used in the fairground are constructed to make the audience see signs such as ‘FREAKS’ and ‘NO ENTRY’, through Frederick Treves’ point of view.

The tone and atmosphere in this scene are very eerie; we become drawn into this world by the prospect of the freak show because such a degrading display would not be tolerated in the modern world. Freak shows were an acceptable form of entertainment in Victorian times, just like the gladiator fights in the Roman Empire; it was acceptable to find enjoyment through other people’s pain, emotional or physical. Treves looks to the signs and becomes fascinated by the idea of finding such an interesting specimen to study, but later in the film, he finds John an intelligent being, who is worthy of love and friendship and not just a rare medical find. Treves is probably the first to realize Merrick’s pain the more he knows him and is the first to befriend him. The camera follows him into a door with a no entry sign and proceeds down into the exhibit observing many other freaks, but he passes them by to seek the real treasure by following the policeman through a gaslight atmosphere resembling a labyrinth. It is an allusion to the labyrinth of the Minotaur, as Theseus went seeking a monster, half-man, half-bull, so has Treves gone seeking his ‘monster’, half-man, half-elephant.

The Term Paper on Court Scene Shylock Audience Money

Throughout William Shakespeare's play, The Merchant of Venice, there is a strong theme of prejudice. Portia has to deal with prejudice against her sex, the Prince of Morocco has to deal with prejudice against his race but the character that is most discriminated against is Shylock. He is hated for being a Jew and a money-lender, but Shakespeare has not made Shylock a character easy to sympathise ...

Before he reaches the fairground attraction, he passes a woman crying in terror. This only makes him more anxious to see how extraordinary a case this is, driven on only by a thought of the acclaim in finding such a rare prize. The audience is also driven on by the dim lighting and the long shots, making the freaks exhibit look like a maze, driving the viewer to follow Treves’ to the mazes end. The lack of music and dialogue has the effect of an eerie silence. The director has purposely omitted these devices to intrigue the audience further. The dialogue in the first ten minutes may be sparse, but it is important.

The language used to describe John is derogatory and offensive; this raises an expectation in the audience that the elephant man is such a spectacular example of extreme deformity. The policeman speaks, “This exhibit degrades everyone who sees it and the poor creature itself.” This shows how even people of authority degrade John by relating him to an animal or circus act. My Bytes replies, “He is a freak!” This derogatory dialogue discriminates John by saying that his only purpose is to be a subhuman circus exhibit. This establishes John as an outsider as it shows people’s attitudes towards him.

How, in Victorian times, society accepted that if a person looked differently, he should be treated differently, badly. It was a time where men were not judged by mind but by appearance. Another scene where the language is important is when Treves is operating on a man who had a machine accident. The scene clearly establishes the historical setting by the lack of hygiene in the hospital and the condition the patient is in. The scene identifies how human life was held second to progress back then. A boy enters and Treves ask him if he found ‘it’, as if referring to a commodity not a human and the boy replies with, “Yes I found it.” The word ‘it’ degrades Merrick as a commodity because it seems more likely that the boy is referring to an object rather than a person.

The Essay on Outcasts In Society In Relation To John Steinbecks Of Mice And Men

Throughout history, many groups of people have been the target of persecution by a much larger or more dominant group, often the common people. Among these groups are or were: blacks, the disabled, women, children, the elderly, and members of other religions. In John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men, three characters were regarded as outcasts by the majority of workers on the ranch: Lennie, mentally ...

The attitude Treves and the boy have towards Merrick is the equivalent of our attitude today towards a garment or animal. The audience has not seen or heard John; the director has done this to build up suspense about John’s appearance. By the time Treves visits John Merrick, the tension has risen to such an extent that the audience is entirely engrossed into the final unveiling of the Elephant Man. Treves leaves his work place and walks into a street filled with noise and happy people. He eventually leaves the street filled with ‘normal’ people down a narrow street that leads to a deserted, urban wasteland, which has no sound and should house no one. He enters Bytes’ place of residence, it is a disgusting dump and the atmosphere is created by dripping water and dim lighting.

The object of this scene was to create the maximum amount of suspense for when you finally see the Elephant Man. The light is fixed on the characters’ faces so people will focus their attention solely on the characters. Treves focuses on a sign saying ‘The Terrible Elephant Man’ until Bytes walks out. Treves asks him ‘are you the proprietor’s uggesting that John is a commodity not a person.

Bytes gives his usual speech before unveiling Merrick to Treves, he speaks as if talking to a crowd, not just to one person, this makes the viewer feel more involved in making John an outsider and makes the audience listen attentively as Bytes talks. ‘Struck down in her fourth month of her maternal condition by an elephant on an uncharted African Plain.’ This is Bytes story of how Merrick has come to be so deformed so his show has more effect. The director chooses to show this so the audience can piece together the opening sequence. This speech finally pieces together the dream sequence for the audience.

The curtains lift and we see John being treated like a animal as he is told to take off his shirt and turn around by a boy. The camera focuses on Merrick as he is unveiled like a showpiece at an art exhibition and further emphasizes his position as an outsider and then focuses back to Treves and with a close-up of his face; we see tears fall down at the sight of such an abomination. This device makes us feel sorry for John and the way life has treated him. We also understand how degrading it must be to be judged by people as they pay to look at you for their entertainment.

The Essay on Elephant Man John Merrick

Ashley Montagu tells John Merrick's unusual story in the book that studies human dignity, The Elephant Man. The Elephant Man, an intriguing book that captures the heart of the spirit, is the story of a simple, yet unfortunate, man. It causes one to think about life's precious gifts and how often they are taken for granted. As the sad and unique story of John Merrick, 'the elephant man,' ; unfolds, ...

John Merrick is a symbol of the unfortunate side of Victorian England. A symbol of how people can quickly forget about others in the face of progress. He represents a class in Victorian society that suffered from the mistreatment, prejudice and exploitation. His story is so powerful because it is inspiring to see such an unfortunate individual make it in a world ruled by prejudice. I think Lynch successfully established John Merrick as an outsider because just the first ten minutes managed to show the reactions and judgments people had towards Merrick. Whether it was a baker, doctor or factory worker, the reaction is always the same, one of disgust, disregard and disrespect.

Throughout the first ten minutes Merrick was exploited tremendously. He is talked about as if he is sub-human or a commodity.

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10 standout r.e.m. deep cuts.

Hear a pick from each of the band’s first 10 albums.

By Caryn Ganz

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