David Lynch's films have always had an ambiguous state of unreality where it’s never made certain what is real and what is just an unannounced dream sequence. Film itself induces a dream state in the viewer, where what is real and what isn’t is used to manipulate the audience to think or feel a certain way. Lynch is well aware of the dream state of storytelling and instead of masking this, he brings it into the forefront and makes the audience well aware that they are watching what is essentially an extended illusion. The Elephant Man is a 1980 film directed by David Lynch. John Merrick, played by John Hurt is a deformed man who works as an attraction at a carnival. A surgeon, Dr. Frederick Treves, played by Anthony Hopkins, meets with Mr. Bytes, the proprietor of the Elephant Man. He allows Treves to bring Merrick to a hospital to study him, however the hospital staff later agreed to keep him safe for longer. The hospital staff is initially afraid but Treves proves that Merrick is intelligent and harmless. Local newspapers, socialites, and even royalty are fascinated by him, though in some cases as an oddity than as a human being. Additionally, Eraserhead, released in 1977 is a story that follows Henry Spencer, played by Jack Nance, who wanders in the industrial wasteland and meets his girlfriend Mary X, played by Charlotte Stewart. While at dinner with the family, Mrs. X, Mary’s mother, played by Jeanne Bates, strangely reveals that her daughter is pregnant and tells them they have to get married. They move in together and look after their baby, which seems to be some sort of creature. After issues ariserose with Mary, Henry winds up alone dealing with the baby all by himself before falling into a nightmare that never seems to end. Through symbolism, it can be interpreted that the baby represents Henry’s fears of entering fatherhood. Through David Lynch’s use of cinematography, both black and white films, establish the story of the deformed individuals, John Merrick from The Elephant Man and the baby, from Eraserhead who are both handicapped, suggest that despite physical and/or mental disability, it’s essential and vital to feel love and care foraround them.
In both Eraserhead and The Elephant Man, David Lynch reveals the emotion of his films using setting, through mise-en-scène and cinematography, through his creative use of shot types, such as dream sequences therefore setting the tone of the scene. The sets in The Elephant Man are stylistically similar to Eraserhead. Lynch made Eraserhead's setting an industrial fever dream, therefore the sets are filthy, metallic, and treeless. They are filled with pipes, barrels and valves. The sound of trains, machines and steam fill the soundtrack in both films. For instance, in Eraserhead, this can be seen in the scene of Henry stopping by at Mary’s house. The scene opens with a master shot of the house and front yard right before Henry enters and walks up the steps to knock on the door. The setting and music of this scene provide a demonstration of a grim, industrial environment that is smoking, steamy, with virtually no natural beauty. Similarly, in The Elephant man, towards the end of the film, after the failed show that Bytes forced John Merrick to be a part of, Bytes takestook John to the French circus camp. The mise-en-scène includes a dark cluttered, dirty area filled with smoke, broken trailers, and wooden objects scattered around the camp. This sets a tone of despair and stress for the audience. As well as, in both films, The Elephant Man and Eraserhead, David Lynch provides at least one dream sequence. A dream sequence is a technique used in film, to set apart a brief interlude from the main story. The interlude may consist of a flashback, a flashforward, a fantasy, a vision, a dream, or some other element. In Eraserhead, Lynch used rings and holes in Eraserhead as portals to apparent dream sequences and/or and changes in time. Henry’s head pops off and his baby's head comes up from between his shoulders, replacing it. Henry's head sinks into a growing pool of blood on a tile floor, falls from the sky, and, finally, lands on an empty street and cracks open. A young boy finds Henry's broken head and takes it to a pencil factory, in which Henry's head is used to make pencil erasers. Similarly, in The Elephant Man, a dream sequence is shown in which is introduced directly by a swooping camera movement over Merrick's sleeping body, which then gives way to nightmare images containing back-alley industrial workers and smoke. Lynch used the hole/ring symbol, just as he did in Eraserhead to introduce John Merrick's dream sequence. Taking the viewer through the one eye hole in John Merrick's modesty hood, it is drawing the audience into his insecurities, his fears, and general view of life. All in all, using setting, through mise-en-scène and cinematography, and through his creative use of shot types, such as dream sequences, David Lynch creates a unique storytelling process that gives the audience an insight on the illusion and unreality of filmmaking.
One highly noticeable difference between Eraserhead and The Elephant Man is the style of telling the story through action, rather than dialogue.
Eraserhead demonstrates a bridge between the traditional film and silent film. Even though the film itself is not silent, it has a variety of constant, unsettling, disturbing, mechanical sounds, as well as music. The film overall refrains from dialogue, whereas only brief, intermittent dialogue would occur from time to time. Throughout the entirety of the film, the audience is able to watch the story unfold through the emotions, acting, music, cinematography, and sound. For instance, in one scene, It’s almost a full 11 minutes before anyone speaks at all “Are you Henry?,” asks the Beautiful Girl Across the Hall. Nevertheless, The Elephant Man highly contrasts Eraserhead in this manner due to this film being told not only through sounds, cinematography, and music, but through broad, effective dialogue being spoken by the characters, leaving an influential remark on the audience's perception and understanding of the plot. Within the lines of dialogue, came powerful quotes throughout the film. “People are frightened by what they don't understand”, John Merrick. Additionally, another notable difference is the stance, or outlook of the main characters, Henry from Eraserhead, and John Merrick from The Elephant Man and the contrasting overall tone of the films. While The Elephant Man depicts a world which is like a prelude to the dead, industrial wasteland of Eraserhead, the film is much more optimistic than Eraserhead. Henry is lost and helpless, completely ineffectual in his trap. On the other hand, John Merrick from The Elephant Man is able to assert his identity and affect the seemingly unfeeling world around him. For John Merrick, so long as he is the Elephant Man, he is trapped by the pictures-the illusions-society projects upon him. When he is finally able to say, “I am not an animal! I am a human being” his life irrevocably changes. He is able not only to survive, but to live. Director David Lynch created very different films that are equally brilliant in terms of the cinematography and effect of characterization and dialogue on the plot.
As a filmmaker, David Lynch is ableas a filmmaker is his ability to humanize even the oddest of his protagonists, thereby fostering an emotional connection between the audience and the characters in his film. Even in characters with such sparse dialogue as that of his feature film, their emotional essence is beautifully captured by Lynch. Therefore, through David Lynch’s use of cinematography, both black and white films, establish the story of the deformed individuals, John Merrick from The Elephant Man and the baby, from Eraserhead who are both handicapped, suggest that despite physical and/or mental disability, it’s essential and vital to feel love and care around them. Like only he can do, Lynch creates a world that is ugly on the outside, but beautiful within, echoing the mindset David Lynch seems to apply to all of his films, that “people are frightened by what they don’t understand.”