Viewing the Elephant Man
Viewing the Elephant Man
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观赏象人
DOI：
10.2307/462578
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发表时间：
1989
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Stephen Watt
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
W. E. Holladay;Stephen Watt
约翰·梅里克的故事--维多利亚时代晚期杂耍中的象人，后来成为贵族的一项事业--在最近几年获得了新的、或许令人惊讶的人气。通过对伯纳德·波梅兰斯1979年的戏剧和大卫·林奇1980年的电影的研究，我们发现了几个可能解释这种吸引力的观看乐趣的来源，所有这些都集中在梅里克的表现上。在这些来源中，有情节剧和布莱希特史诗戏剧的吸引力，以及与偷窥癖、色情以及戏剧和电影观众有关的更深层次的满足。每一种叙事都以不同的方式构建了关于梅里克生活和观众的神话，观众们时而授权，时而顺从，时而有政治意识，时而投入情感。
The story of John Merrick—the “Elephant Man” of late Victorian sideshows who became a cause célèbre of the aristocracy—has achieved a new and perhaps surprising popularity in recent years. An examination of Bernard Pomerance's 1979 play and David Lynch's 1980 film reveals several sources of viewing pleasure that may account for this attraction, all of which converge on representations of Merrick. Among these sources are the appeals of melodrama and Brechtian epic theater, as well as the more deep-seated gratifications connected with voyeurism, pornography, and theatrical and cinematic spectating. In distinctive ways, each narrative constructs both a mythology of Merrick's life and spectators who are alternately empowered and submissive, politically aware and emotionally engaged.