Film Review | Gazing upon the grotesque: The beauty in The Elephant Man

I don’t tend to watch black and white films in my spare time, I prefer life in technicolor. However, I found myself watching David Lynch’s ‘The Elephant Man’ during an unproductive free period. I was simply curious as to why it had earned the commendation of being “a brilliant movie that everyone must see at least once “. After watching it, I could see why; I felt an incredible need to write about the movie.

The film is based the real life story of John Merrick, who was born with a disease that had rendered him so badly deformed that he aptly became known as ‘The Elephant man’. 

We can’t deny that all humans, as much as we try to hide it, have a sense of prejudice. We find it harder to accept things that are out of the ordinary. The world is superficial, that is fact. Most times, we take ourselves for granted, always wanting to ‘improve’ our already more than satisfactory selves. 

John Merrick desires nothing more than to be ‘normal’. To be treated like a person of the society, to be the recipient of civil address. Unfortunately, his grotesque appearence lands him in the derogatory life of a circus freak. Yet despite being ridiculed, scorned and degraded daily, Merrick still possesses a heart of gold. One can’t help but be captured by his humble character. Initial horror or disgust is replaced by sympathy and sadness as we slowly come to know him not for the monster that he is, but the gentleman. He is but a beautiful soul encased in an atrocious body. 

It is a meaningful film that reflects both the frustrating nature of humanitys insensitivity as well as humanitys surprising acts of kindness.

Miscellaneous Musings | A Taboo Subject

Should hotels provide condoms in guest rooms, whether complimentary or for sale? It’s a question still debated in the hotel industry. In China, condoms in hotels are quite common (after Beijing ordered it), but some foreigners have averse reactions to the foil-wrapped rubbers in their rooms, like my dad who angrily declared the hotel condoms “an embarrassment!” before hiding them away from our eyes.    - credit to Shanghai Shiok!

I faced a similar incident in the past, though not necessarily in a hotel. During my first week moving into my dorms for uni, I received a welcome pack with all the usual complimentary tidbits:  chocolate bars, a mini energy drink, keyholders and a large pack of ribbed condoms.. wait, a pack of what?Let’s just say, my conservative Asian parents looked less than comfortable. A few days later, due to complaints made by several unhumored parents, the condoms were removed from the welcome packs.

In my opinion, these parents weren’t getting the message. To them, these condoms challenged their impermeable fantasy of their precious children staying pure and abstinent through till marriage. 

But the reality of the situation is, just they you once did, their kids will be having sex in University. With or without their approval. Hence, the main question for these parents to contemplate is this: would you prefer them to do it without protection or with? 

It’s as plain and simple as that. I’m not saying I’m against people who wait till their wedding night, in fact I admire their patience. I’m just saying, for those of us who don’t have this on our agenda, what’s wrong with an educational institution providing STI and pregnancy preventing measures?

On the other hand, what Is disturbing are these.

 

Aren’t JLS fans mostly 10 year old girls? With that in mind, I can safely say that these colorful ‘innocent’ packs are something I disagree with. Something tells me 10 year old girls wouldn’t look at these products and immeadiately think ‘anti-baby’. It would be more along the lines of ‘Great, JB wants me to have safe sex!’ or rather, ‘JB wants me to have safe sex!’

Want something even more absurd? Yep, the British do it once again. Royal Wedding condoms.

Life Stories | On moving to the UK

“My business is your business, and your business is mine”

A street performer yells out to his audience as he prepares for his next trick, walking on a rope held taut by six volunteers, all male and all somewhat brutish in appearance. Despite this random assortment of manpower, the rope was still uneven, with left side held higher than the right.. What this street performer was proposing to accomplish seemed all too ambitious and a daunting task with a slim chance of actual success.

I found truth behind his words. Indeed, a street performer in London could not make any business without his audience, and the audience takes pleasure from the business of the street performer. However, it was not this that resounded with me on this particular scene on an unusually sunny day in Trafalgar Square, rather it was the reminder of an all too similar occasion in the middle of Times Square all the way back in Hong Kong.

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On the night of departure, the weather took shift to the worse as thunder and lightning threatened a delayed flight. The plane remained unscathed, possibly due to my excessive chanting of “Please don’t electrocute the plane..” whilst in the prayer position. Torrents of rain streamed against the oval windows as we soared away from a blurry Hong Kong, the nightlights still bright with all its magnificence blinking back at me as I flew off to begin my new life on the other side of the world.

Long haul plane journeys are always tedious, and I usually need to maneuver into at least 5 different positions in the vain hope of finding one comfortable enough to sleep in.  Luckily, the seat beside me was empty so I finally found my haven leaning against the window. I woke up to the sound of muffled laughter: my Dad watching a Cantonese movie on my left; and on my right, a peek of daylight seeped in through the window. Opening the blinds all the way up, I gazed down at an expanse of green fields bathed in warm sunshine. A far cry from the concrete city I had always known. This, as of now, is Home.

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Stalling for time, the street performer began describing his street theatre 'philosophy', along with the promise of old-school tricks with a daring twist. He had already pumped the crowd by catching a disc thrust several meters in the air behind his back, cycled on a unicycle around his makeshift arena without any legs on the pedals and pulled an impossible length of rope from inside his clothes. The street performers that had impressed me back in HK, now seemed amateur in comparison with this common London street entertainer. From this observation, I realised that all that I had been exposed to in my former HK existence will now come into question in this new daunting cultural environment. On the one hand, living in the UK will hold a sense of familiarity, but at the same time, it will not be exempt from a whole new set of challenges that will force me out of my Harbour city bubble to gain a more holistic picture of the world around me as well as further insight into myself as an individual and my impending future.

So as I watched the performer successfully walk across the rope.
Even if the path seems unachieveable, that doesn’t mean I can’t get thorugh it. Just need determination, practice and enthusiasm.