Wow. Those were the best special-effects I've ever seen! What? That poor guy's face was for real?! Bloody hell...
I actually didn't watch I Am The Elephant Man, because I find these "shockumentaries" very distasteful. Mitchell & Webb parodied them brilliantly with their "Boy With An Arse For A Face" sketch, essentially claiming (quite rightly) that programmes like Channel 4's Bodyshock series are nothing but Victorian sideshows dragged into our front rooms..
You can create compelling and respectful entertainment from people with deformities (see David Lynch's masterful The Elephant Man). People who live with such debilitating deformities have tragic and heartbreaking stories to tell, but they also stand as testament to the human spirit that they can somehow carve out a life for themselves. I really don't see how they manage it, or how their families cope. Behind the ugliness, these people really are marvels.
But the Bodyshock documentaries rarely offer anything beyond a cookie-cutter "story" and cheap shocks. Most episodes I've seen involve a doctor arriving in a Third World village and whisking a disfigured person to a modern hospital to improve their looks with cutting-edge surgery. But don’t expect to see Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie look-alikes by the end of the process!
It's just bad, bad television, with manipulative titles like "Half-Tonne Mum", "Megatumour", "The Man Who Ate His Lover" and "The Girl With Eight Limbs" – all designed to grab the attention of viewers who might be scrolling through their EPG. It’s like the TV circus has come to town. Roll up! Roll up!
So why do people watch? Well, it's human nature to ogle things out of the ordinary. I'll admit to sneaking looks at deformed people I sometimes spot around town. I don't feel good doing it (and I don't make it obvious), but I still find myself doing it. But at least outside in the real world, most people remember their good manners. On TV, you can stare, gawp, wince (and maybe even laugh) as much as you like...
Or maybe these shows make westerners feel better about themselves? In our culture, we're swamped by images of beautiful people all the time in the media. Many people feel "ugly" if they don’t resemble Cameron Diaz and George Clooney, with the pursuit of Victoria Beckham's figure leading many down the path to anorexia. Perhaps there's comfort in seeing people who are much, much worse off than you are on television, for a change?
But it's terrible how flagrant these documentaries have become! 10 years ago, a shockumentary wouldn't have shown a deformed person in their trailer. You'd only get glimpses and hints. The documentary itself would probably spend 20 minutes "teasing" viewers before showing the subject openly. That was how they kept you hooked for the whole hour.
These days, it's very different. This advert for I Am The Elephant Man was shown on Monday, with Huang Chuncais' facial condition in clear sight -- during an ad-break on The Paul O'Grady Show! That's at 5 o'clock in the afternoon! Kids are watching! Is that really acceptable? How many parents had scared kids to deal with after that aired? No disrespect to Mr Chuncais, but his facial tumours aren't really ideal viewing for toddlers, are they?
I find it very disappointing that stories with such potential for emotional impact are rarely told by documentary filmmakers. It's very easy to find a deformed person in a foreign country, pay them to have a camera stuck in their face, and stick in on Channel 4 to exploit them while entertaining the curious....
