Clinton Owens: Response to Elephant Man

When I first heard Mr. Benton name the title Elephant Man as a possible movie that we were allowed to watch as one of our outside films my brain went on a mad rush to remember where I had heard that title before. I knew that I had never seen or heard of a film called elephant man before. After leaving the class and thinking about it, I remembered back in elementary school I was the bully and I loved to pick on the girls; so in library class I would aggravate the girls by scaring them with this book. It was called Elephant Man. I would stick it inside another book then tell a girl to come over and look at it with me then scare them with the pictures. I had no idea what the book was about or whether it was fictional or not, all I knew was that it had scary pictures of some deformed monster, or what I perceived as a monster.

When I first thought of the movie Elephant Man I didn’t think that I would be strapped into the emotional roller coaster that was drawn throughout this film. Most movies don’t affect me emotionally like the typical chick-flick that normally is no where near practical or possible. This movie really is possible and the way that this character is portrayed happens daily not always to this extreme, but it does happen. Looking back at my first impressions of the book Elephant Man, I could have been one of those characters. I was judging that man in those photos only by the title of the book and what I saw as a scary monster.

A major part in why I think that I was so emotionally attached to this movie was the skill of the actors and scriptwriters. The actors chosen for this film were prefect and relay their purpose and emotions very well, both physically and vocally. This film did a great job of introducing and developing every character. Such as how Dr. Treves takes John Merrick under his wing and really sees the real person inside of him. Dr. Treves doesn’t see John as an animal or a show as others in society at that point do, he sees him as a human with some physical differences. No one is perfect in this life, it wouldn’t be any fun if we were, think about if everyone looked alike or “perfect,” there would be no different perspectives or opinions on anything. Throughout this movie Dr. Treves really lives this out in his life and teaches others to change their perspectives. Through his acts of kindness he changed a lot of people’s views of what they thought of this “elephant man”, he really got to know him as a man named John instead of their first views of this deformed animal. By seeing the perspective of not being judgmental and really loving everyone not for who they are on the outside but for who they really are inside. The movie portrays love a lot but not in the usually cliché “lovey dovey” way but it takes a different perspective in showing love. Not showing love by buying things or sexually, its showing love by caring and helping another being who needs protection from physical harm. It is being able to help and be a true friend.

By watching this movie it really forced me to look all the way back to elementary school. I never really thought that I could learn from my past, especially that far back in the past. I was forced to take the back seat in my own life and really put myself into the shoes of the characters in the movie that were making fun of and degrading John in the film. It really gave me a heart check and I think that this movie was a good lesson for me to hear.