Free Writing – The Elephant Man Review

I watched an interesting movie the other day called The Elephant Man, which was made in 1980 and stars Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt. The main theme I got out of the movie is that people who take advantage of others do not lead fulfilling lives. John Merrick (Hurt), who was born with severe physical deformities, was exhibited as a freak and shown at the circus as entertainment for people with morbid curiosity and low morals. The story leads us to believe that this is how he spent his entire life, for he was "owned" by a man named Bytes, who made his living by showing of John's limitations. As his caretaker – if you can even call him that, for he didn't seem to care about John very much at all – Bytes was not happy with his pitiful existence, and was even more miserable at the end of the show after he had kidnapped John from the hospital only to find that John would not go along with his Elephant Man act anymore. The last we know of Bytes is that he was drunk and asleep in his carriage, which very well may have doubled as his home. Another character who took advantage of John was the night porter, who collected money from random drunks, among other people, in return for late-night tours into John's hospital room. In return for treating John like an animal the porter got exactly what he deserved – a swift knock upside the head, which amounted to a painful pink slip.

These two characters were balanced out by Dr. Frederick Treves (Hopkins). Dr. Treves showed kindness to John, and while he openly debated his own motives for entering such a strange friendship, his compassion helped John to feel human and gain a sense of his personal worth. Dr. Treves did not take advantage of John, and his life was blessed with a meaningful relationship and an increase of respect from those around him. During one emotional encounter, Bytes exclaimed to Dr. Treves, "Do you think you're better than me?" I'll take the liberty of answering his rhetorical question with a resounding yes! Dr. Treves was much better than either of the two main antagonists, and the quality of their lives is evidence of this. I would recommend seeing The Elephant Man. I wasn’t always comfortable watching the movie, but that ended up being a good thing because my mixed feelings caused me to really think about how I interact with others.

The Elephant Man trailer