The Elephant Man is a story about a ugly man named Joseph Merrick .Joseph Merrick was a person who was so ugly that others either laughed at him or were afraid of him. He was not ill but he couldn't go to work either. He lived at London Hospital by Dr Frederick Treves’s help. He was very happy in the two rooms. Many people came to see him. He always kept the beautiful things in his mind. Even when he was kept in the cold and dark little room, he took his mother's picture with him because her mother was beautiful ,kind and the most important she smiled to him when he was a child. He was satisfied with what he have. Though he was so unfortunate, he never complained about the life and the fate. When some peole went to see him, he talked about the books with them happily. So more and more people were willing to see him. Even the Her Majesty, Queen Alexandra ,the Queen of England came to see him and gave him a Christmas gift.
Then Mrs Kendal helped him to go to the theater . Merrick loved it very much. After that, he goes to the country for six weeks.6 month later,he died.

Shakspere created Hamlet--a man with wisdom and courage .In order to revenge on his uncle for killing his father, he pretented to be mad and suffered a series of misery. On the contrary, we can also say that Hamlet is rude and selfish for he did not think twice before his revenge . if a country has no king, how can a country keep alive So, every thing has two sides, the bright side and adumbral side. Every time we make a decision we have to think twice.

初看《象人》的时候，一是自己惯来对黑白色的偏爱，二是冲着导演大卫·林奇（David Lynch）的名字，这次的《象人》，大卫·林奇1980年的处女作，让我哭了。 象人不是象，象人不是动物，象人是人。这是影片的主题，也是主人公Merrick被逼进绝望的夹角时最后的呼喊，却寻求不到解救。就像影片缓慢拉开的序幕：一个相框中的美丽女人，一个接下来绝望的可人儿的母亲，一群喧嚣的大象。伴随着背景聒噪的喇叭声，一个女人的身体被象群踩过，践踏。这个女人，一位母亲，这热带雨林中荒诞的经历，故事的起源就用这样的蒙太奇给抽象带过。然后是冗长的两个小时。黑白画面。伴随让人产生自然的生理嫌恶的哮喘声，变形的身体，丑陋的皮肤，硕大的头部，唯一能分辨出的清澈的左眼和一只还是本来面目的左手，丑陋面貌下的美丽圣洁的心灵，夜夜祷告神经的羔羊，被屠杀的羔羊。那就是象人。
象人是无辜的，他像个孩子一样胆战心惊，他害怕人们对他的鞭打，对他嘲笑，他害怕窗户外突然出现的那些不怀好意的人的脸，他害怕哪怕只是一个突然的关门声，他害怕的不敢说话。他随身带着他母亲的照片，一位有着天使般面容的女人，然后他又伤心的说：如果我的母亲还在，她一定不会想见我，她……会以我为耻，我，我让她蒙羞了……哪怕那些人只是作态般的接近他，他却受宠若惊，开心的像个孩子，他会说：那是真的吗，真的是这样的吗？他不敢相信，他以为他一生会真的像一个动物般的在阴暗潮湿的低层度过，伴随着衰弱的身体，和沉重的哮喘声。他对窗外教堂的希望，来自于他只想做一个普通人的渴望，可是那教堂就是窗外不远的地方，那么近，他看不见，他只能在心里画出它的轮廓，运用自己的想象来打造他的理想，一个对于普通人而言不值一提的理想。
我以为这只是大卫·林奇编造出来的借畸形人来嘲讽这个世界的黑色幽默，一部《巴黎圣母院》的延续和再造，用残酷的躯体面容来歌颂内心的圣洁。当我开始搜寻更多关于象人的资料的时候，我搜寻到了Joseph Merrick的故事。《象人》就是根据Joseph Merrick的真实经历改变而成。这是让人震惊并且让人伤心的一个事实。一百多年前，象人曾经真实存在过。事实上，现实远比影片所表现的要残酷，Merrick在死后，其身体一直被伦敦皇家医院保留，用做实验，他罕见的病理成为困扰医学界100多年的难题。而影片中用畸形小矮人的救助和医生最后的良心发现来表明美好的一面，只是依旧无法挽救象人的死亡。Joseph Merrick曾亲手用纸板做了一座教堂，华美易碎。
Joseph Merrick说：“如果不是这样，或许我能更好的取悦你，取悦这个世界…….如果我能……如果你能用一个人的灵魂来衡量他的价值……影片最后是重回开头的抽象和虚幻，因为在现实社会中我们并不能得到解答。一个声音说，那是象人死去的母亲，她说：nothing will die。