Monster in A Real Life

In this world, from a long time ago, monsters have appeared and presented around us in many telling story. In fact, monsters are considered as something which is abnormal, and usually accused of having the ability to threaten and destroy humanity. Perfectly, the film The Elephant Man emphasizes about John Merrick who has a disfigured appearance, and also is called a monster. Fortunately, Dr. Frederick Treves finds out about Merrick when he is wandering around the freak shows, and tries to examine and help Merrick come back to the real society. On the other hand, people have opportunities to observe and judge Merrick as a new phenomenon. In the connection to the same focus, Jeffery Cohen’s Monster Theory gives contentions about monsters and their influences to the real life and humanity in the relation to the film, especially the first thesis – Monster’s body is a cultural body, the sixth – Fear of the monster is really a kind of desire, and the seventh one – Monster stands at the threshold of becoming.
Firstly, the 1st thesis of Cohen’s monster theory states that “monster’s body is a cultural body” (4). Truly, John Merrick is an unlucky man who was born with a deformed body and was forced to live as a disgusting freak in the 19th century Victorian, England. Undeniably, Merrick is called a monster because of his unusual appearance that can fear almost everyone. Next, it is also expressed that “the monster's body quite literally incorporates fear, desire, anxiety, and fantasy, giving them life and uncanny independence” (Cohen 4). Through the film the elephant man, we can see a different man inside the deformed outside who has a warm heart and an intelligence of a normal human. Despite the ugly look, he is a very friendly and ha...

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...ncess, Merrick really returns. Obviously, this is one of the most important marks of his coming back, a return to life, to humanity.
Overall, the film The Elephant Man gives us a new aspect about “monster”, and how people think and react to this topic. Besides, Jeffery Cohen’s Monster Theory brings us a more scientific about monsters, and the effects of them in real life. In fact, thesis 1 – Monster’s body is the cultural body, thesis 6 – Fear of the monster is really a kind of desire, and the last one – Monster stands at the threshold of becoming have the significant relationships with the explanations of the life of John Merrick, and the society in which he lives. The argument about monsters will be continued all over again, but at least the film and the theory helps to introduce a much more different ways to look and recognize the real monsters in the real world.