David Lynch's The Elephant Man (1980)

Fig. 1. The Elephant Man poster.

 

The Elephant Man is a touching discussion by David Lynch of the nature of deformity and societal prejudice. Based loosely on the true story of Joseph Merrick (renamed John in the film, possibly in honour of his actor, John Hurt), a hideously deformed gentleman brought out of a miserable life of freak shows by Dr. Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins), the film endeavours to show Merrick as a human being, refined and gentle despite his monstrous appearance.

Shot in rich, stark black-and-white, the film evokes the atmosphere of a Victorian hospital, not just visually but socially as well. The hospital staff are initially either terrified of or disgusted by Merrick, as they would be in a society in which deformity is paraded around as ‘the fruit of the original sin’. Merrick faces this society with dignity and aplomb, never succumbing to self-pity or self-loathing. This may, however, have cut out potential for character development – even from the beginning Merrick is “a beacon of humanity… despite his hideous disfigurement” (Haflidason, 2001), and we are not offered any views into his psyche to see how Victorian London’s darker side had affected him. He seems to accept his fate without complaint, bar a handful of well-aimed remarks at London’s high society.

Fig. 2. Merrick concealed still.

 The film makes clever use of horror movie clichés – Merrick is kept hidden during the early part of the film, to build tension as to what he actually looks like and to give the impression to the audience that he is a monster, allowing this preconception to later be broken down. “The Elephant Man uses some of the devices of the horror film, including ominous music, sudden cuts that shock, and hints of dark things to come, but it's a very benign horror film, one in which "the creature" is the pursued instead of the pursuer.” (Canby, 1980). We are initially encouraged to be frightened of what this person could be, but once Merrick is actually introduced the audience is shown very quickly that he is not a person to be feared.

 Fig. 3. Merrick still.

Roger Ebert notes that the film seems to celebrate Merrick for his bravery despite the fact that he never chose his fate. “True courage… requires a degree of choice.” (Ebert, 1980). Ebert summarises the movie’ philosophy thusly; “(1) Wow, the Elephant Man sure looked hideous, and (2) gosh, isn't it wonderful how he kept on in spite of everything?” (Ebert, 1980). To be described as courageous simply for living with and getting by despite one’s disabilities is patronising and suggests that the disabled individual is somehow a lesser being, a child, deserving of being celebrated for the most mundane of successes. While this is unequivocally correct of society at large, the film is less about Merrick and more about the cruelty of humanity. At no point is Merrick actually described as brave, and the viewer is invited to see Merrick as a sympathetic human being rather than a martyr, a statue to raise as an ‘inspiration’.

Ebert also notes that the film romanticises Merrick’s life. He is shown moving in high society, making scale models of cathedrals and reciting psalms. Ebert argues that the film would have been better executed had it focused on Merrick’s physical travails, citing the real Joseph Merrick’s need to undergo surgery before he could even speak. However, it could also be argued that these romanticised actions make the film’s Merrick more accessible, making him more than just his physical deformities and emphasizing his dignified, delicate nature. A story of Merrick’s physical disabilities would still be a story, and would thus require some sort of emotional hook on which the audience may hang their coat.

The Elephant Man is an emotional tour de force, treating the viewer’s emotions somewhat like a rat being shaken by an overenthusiastic terrier. The misery heaped on Merrick by Victorian society hits hard, and while in contemporary society it is no grand feat for a disabled person to simply get on with their life, in Victorian England it was a very different story. For Merrick to not only have, at least briefly, a decent life and to enter England’s higher social circles is indeed an achievement. Public acceptance of disability is a very recent thing; even at the time The Elephant Man was made there was still no legislature in effect to protect the disabled. To look at the film through contemporary, politically correct eyes is to do both the film and Merrick himself a disservice.

Illustration List:

Figure 1. Lynch, D. (1980) The Elephant Man poster. http://www.moviegoods.com/Assets/product_images/1020/214158.1020.A.jpg (Accessed on: 25/10/11)

Figure 2. Lynch, D. Merrick concealed still. (1980) http://melissasmedicinema.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/the-elephant-man.jpg (Accessed on: 25/10/11)

Figure 3. Lynch, D. Merrick still. (1980) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTWKFEebyYASO0t7OTkS32pdHYChRxEpdY9oWyN1BuocVvMXbZ39ObgW7hCIExSgrFdSSn74frdZFFfOrs29KNs38Kjb6PAdyu55_X-kWKlb6Ea_ymbUAKsy2XhIdpotMbmm8LItYZSVo/s1600/elephant+man+stills+%282%29.png (Accessed on: 25/10/11)

Bibliography:

Haflidason, A. (2001). BBC Film Reviews. http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/05/24/the_elephant_man_1980_review.shtml (Accessed on: 25/10/11)

Canby, V. (1980) New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=EE05E7DF1731B32CA0484CC0B7799C836896 (Accessed on: 25/10/11)

Ebert, R. (1980) Rogerebert.com. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19800101/REVIEWS/1010313/1023 (Accessed on: 25/10/11)

More Sketches

I have figured out a way to ride a horse with a collapsed spine and fused legs - sidesaddle! The sketch could probably use a bit more refinement, but it's more about the concept than the execution at this point. I'm definitely enjoying taking the 'blind stubbornness' route, it's interesting to see how I could carry on with my daily life. I did notice, however, that most people who saw this were more 'lol shark on a horse' than 'oh wow, hideously disfgured human surpassing her physical body and pursuing her passion regardless'.
Also, I am on a course in which I can justifiably draw a shark-lady riding a horse sidesaddle. Life is good.

Phil suggested looking at the social impact of my transformation, something I hadn't considered. I am very naive, and simply assumed people would put on their big girl knickers and deal with it, but after watching the Elephant Man I'm not so sure. I would absolutely be ashamed of my transformation, and as I desperately fear being socially unacceptable I would endeavour to hide it as best I could. I would also resent the fact that my transformation would force me into skirts, but that's not especially relevant.

Another face study, this time taking the brain-in-front-of-eyes idea a bit further and seeing what it would do to the frontal view. I'm not certain about this one, it doesn't really read as a shark. Ho hum.

I CAN EXPLAIN. I SWEAR TO GOD I CAN EXPLAIN.
Okay. Great white sharks have enormous livers. As in, during an autopsy, when the shark's liver was removed, one of the comparitive anatomists lay down next to it and it was longer than she was tall. Admittedly she was a very small comparitive anatomist, but nevertheless. The shark's liver contains squalene, an oil that acts as a buoyancy aid, hence why it's so blooming huge.Human abdomens are, obviously, not built to house 5 foot long livers, so the result would be pretty unpleasant.
This has been your daily waiving of good taste, have a nice day.
Also how do I anatomy

Face Study 1

Not a perfect likeness. but for my first ever self portrait, I'd say it's not too shabby. I left it black and white because I felt it was easier to see the overall shape without colour.

I figured out several key elements of my face through this study;
- Face halfway between oval and rectangle
- Hair that cannot decide which direction to go in (already knew this one)
- Distinctive dark ring around irises
- Cleft chin
- Thick neck
- Upturned nose with small nostrils
- Slight squint in right eye, eyes don't quite focus
- Thin lips
- Neutral expression halfway between concern and contempt regardless of actual emotion

Fear not!

Thanks to the diligence of Paris, Joey, Mei and one other lady whose name I do not know but really ought to, my sketchbook has been rescued a second time! Thanks everyone who's found it at any point, I fear this is going to become a theme. I really need to hold onto it.

Online Greenlight Review

OGR

Neil Jordan's The Company of Wolves (1984)

Fig. 1. The Company of Wolves poster.

Aggressively Freudian, Neil Jordan’s The Company of Wolves is a surrealistic dive into a young woman’s subconscious. Rife with symbolism, the film takes place in the dream of said young woman – the fact that this is made explicit from the outset means that neither the symbolism nor the incredibly disjointed logic feel heavy-handed or out of place. The dream is ultimately a retelling of the story of Little Red Riding Hood, specifically the older, darker version of the story as a sexual allegory.

The young woman, Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson), lives in a clearly artificial middle-ages town, and is frequently warned by her family, particularly her grandmother, never to stray from the path through the woods for fear of being taken by wolves. Rosaleen’s grandmother has two different definitions of a wolf; the conventional hairy, pack-hunting Canis lupus and the wolf that is ‘hairy on the inside’, specifically werewolves. The film looks at Rosaleen’s unyielding curiosity about what exists off the path - “The imagery is that of a child's fears of wolves and monsters, but they seem to be a representation of how Rosaleen is coping with her own internal changes.  She sees wolves that usually (but not always) are symbols of lost innocence and male desire, whereas the "path" that Granny frequently mentions is a symbol for virginity.” (Miller, 2009).

Fig. 2 Rosaleen and Granny still.

On the threshold of womanhood, Rosaleen is clearly in conflict with her physical desires and changes and the wishes of her parents, who seem to wish to keep their daughter ‘pure’ and untainted by sex and maturity.  Ultimately, in the end, when Rosaleen meets a strange hunter when straying from the path and learns that he is a werewolf, she makes the decision to join him as a werewolf herself rather than flee back to her parents, symbolically becoming an adult woman and leaving childhood.

There are also subtle and not-so subtle discussions of domestic violence – “This Red Riding Hood, sharing a single-room cabin with her mother and father, witnesses what in analysis is usually called ‘the primal scene’. The next morning she asks her mother if her father had hurt her. Answers Mother, ‘If there's a beast in men, it meets its match in women, too.’” (Canby, 1985). The wolf as metaphor for men uses humans’ natural fear of and fascination with the wolf to suggest that men are both threatening and entrancing, things not quite understood but with potential to be dangerous.

Fig. 3 Wolf and Rosaleen still.

The scene at the end in which Rosaleen sees the werewolf weep shows that she has come to some kind of understanding of men, and has realized that not all of them are monstrous beasts that seek to rip apart women for their sport. Indeed, the grandmother’s death is particularly important to this; “in order for Rosaleen to gain her independence, there has to be something or someone for her to break free from in the first place.  In this case, it is the sheltered life and caution advocated by her grandmother.” (Ireson, 2007). Rosaleen’s apparent lack of compassion for her grandmother’s death is again a metaphor for her willingly shedding the role of child and becoming a grown woman.

Fig. 4 Huntsman transformation still.

The visuals of the film are just as surreal as the content, with the devil showing up in a Rolls Royce and small stone babies hatching out of stork eggs. The film also takes a somewhat contrary approach to the conventions of werewolf transformation – werewolves do not simply grow hair and become odd-looking man-wolves, but each one undergoes a unique metamorphosis, ranging from skin falling off to expose muscle and be replaced by wolf tissue to the wolf pushing out from the werewolf’s mouth. The individuality of each transformation serves to show that each werewolf-as-metaphor-for-men is different, and that they cannot be tarred with the same brush, an important thing for young women to learn as they reach sexual maturity.

Illustration List

Figure 1. Jordan, N. (1984). The Company of Wolves poster. At:https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ccRCgLSDWsXnDBaoGdSUZE7yQ1TVg5ihBxdBqX57kIONOIHjo4iL9HOGKyvrtGm_BzaHt_6rr_QweIOoUlZLbyTeSZWLQj2ti52UmtQ5ztKKzyGKJpf97XPUhjzQBCd9hV1EB7iv1fI/s1600/Company+of+wolves+poster+2.jpg (Accessed on 04/10/11)

Figure 2. Jordan, N. (1984). Rosaleen and Granny still. At: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0FI34xazGCQpgQ0T4OrRq9yiYxQ-4_aDm-89uQIjBed-F6SfmD6p0Ht-PoSsgSYbjBfhnBY5Jgy9KcH2IB1HaOM3QYUgOqjqkWxRZ6RxYDYBeUWNanLMXGYnPsNK8mX0UBanfmEAy__Y/s1600/company_of_wolves7.jpg (Accessed on 04/10/11)

Figure 3. Jordan, N. (1984). Wolf and Rosaleen still. At: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_loqu5t25tB1ql1jpho1_500.jpg (Accessed on 03/10/11)

Figure 4. Jordan, N. (1984). Huntsman transformation still. At: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVC1OX0WvMNygVEIORx0s_ehWzYB4VBhyphenhyphen81Q3DSirSAs0_4UJM01UhDvypracoFpPyJKgfgLLmOXj3biN3gscfTeGbtdJA22FfBg92mbeTnMoCReVGE9d0c3mNhbKpWqUc156mw-E4eDM/s1600/company+of+wolves+transform.jpg (Accessed on 03/10/11)

Bibliography

Miller, E. (2009) Classic-Horror.com. http://classic-horror.com/reviews/company_of_wolves_1984 (Accessed 03/10/11)

Canby, V. (1985) The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9802EFD91138F93AA25757C0A963948260 (Accessed 03/10/11)

Ireson, L. (2007) Talking Pictures. http://www.talkingpix.co.uk/ReviewsCompanyOfWolves.html (Accessed 03/10/11)

More Drawings

 The first three images were done in Phil Hosking's Photoshop class.

At the moment I'm most interested in the shape of the head. The combination of human and shark skull is quite difficult, as I want it to be recognisably human and shark.

Mike thought I was very weird for wanting to go to a hospital if I was undergoing an agonising transformation. It was quite hard to show my body collapsing as its bones softened, so I threw in an arm bending in the wrong direction to give a visual clue. I'm not sure whether to take this idea further - on the one hand it would be really interesting to look at the medical implications as well as the orthopedic ones, but in very practical terms ICUs are incredibly complex and I fear that in the final painting I would spend more time on the background than the actual figure.

In technical terms this one's probably my favourite so far. The image is refined enough to show the concept but rough enough not to have gone overboard with a simple sketch. In terms of concept I particularly like the little pectoral fins on the hips - I want to take that further.

At this point I consulted my chiropractor and learnt that actually, cartilage is pretty strong and would likely be able to support a human body. However, during the conversation we decided to invoke two things; a) the fact that human bones cannot naturally become cartilage and would thus have to break down in order to be replaced with cartilage, and b) artistic license.

More looking at silhouette and orthopedic supports, along with an idea about whether I would be able to carry on some semblance of an ordinary life as I transformed. Anyone who knows me will tell you that my greatest strength (and weakness) is that I am impossibly stubborn, and even being hospitalised as my body turns against me isn't going to keep me from doing what I want, dammit.

Now if only I could figure out how to ride a horse with a collapsing spine and fused legs.