The Elephant Man: Difference between revisions

 

* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: {{spoiler|Merrick dies. But he dies on the happiest day of his life, and dies doing what he wants to do: to sleep like he's normal.}} It does not count as a [[Downer Ending]].

* [[Circus of Fear]]

* [[Come to Gawk]]

* [[Deliberately Monochrome]]

* [[Dream Sequence]]: Provides the surreal, since most of the film avoids the [[Mind Screw]] Lynch is known for.

* [[The Grotesque]]

* [[Heel Realization]]: Dr. Treves is shaken by the Head Nurse's observation that the arrangement he set up for John Merrick, which include receiving respectable callers, means he is still being treated as a freak on display, albeit in a high class cushy style.

* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Merrick in the train station. See below for [[This Is Sparta]].

* [[Humans Are Bastards]] / [[Humans Are Special]]: The whole movie questions "What does it mean to be human?"

* [[Oscar Bait]]: A partial aversion. It was a tragic biopic about a physically disabled man shot in black and white, which certainly covers several typical [[Oscar Bait]] traits, and was nominated for seven different Oscars. However, [[Award Snub|it won none of them.]]

** Also averted in that most people agree a [[Raging Bull|different tragic biopic shot in black and white]] should have won most of the Oscars that year (and indeed, it did win two).

* {{spoiler|[[Suicide Is Painless]]}}: See [[Bittersweet Ending]].

** It helps build the suspense as we only see the reactions of others to poor Merrick's [[Body Horror|physical deformities]].

* [[This Is Sparta]]: "'''I'''! AM NOT! AN '''ELEPHANT! I''' AM NOT! AN '''ANIMAL!''' I! AM A '''HUMAN! BEING!''' I! AM! ...a man."

** "Where - ''is'' - he?"

* [[Very Loosely Based on a True Story]]: Bytes is a [[Composite Character]], with evidence indicating that Merrick was actually well-treated in the British sideshow. The Belgian one was probably about as bad as the movie suggests.

* [[Victorian London]]: The setting for most of the film.