Facial Disfigurement...in movies, books, memoirs

[mairceridwen]

Can anyone think of any?

I've got the usual (Mask, Elephant Man, Man without a Face)

But I'd appreciated any others. I'm putting a list together for a prof.

e.

[Ready4Change]

1. Phantom of the Opera

The Joker in the first Batman movie, or the comic books.
The Man in the Iron Mask, perhaps?

[Philostopher]

2. This might prove to be a good resource for you:

http://itsb.ucsf.edu/~vcr/Lobby.html

It's a dermatologist's website, it's just full of that sort of thing. You may have to click around a little, but it's probably a good resource for your purpose.

[Worst Username Ever]

3. oops nevermind

[Lavender Brown]

4. The Enchanted Cottage (1940-something)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037671/

[miss_kitty]

10. that was a most excellent movie

with a very deep message. i'm getting chills thinking about it

[barackmyworld]

5. face/off

[Mandate My Ass]

6. Jane Eyre

Mr. Rochester's face gets crisped in a fire.

On Edit: The Color Purple

[Lavender Brown]

7. Vanilla Sky

[Fenris]

8. Hannibal by Thomas Harris

[Richardo]

9. "Autobiography of a Face" by Lucy Grealy

Had her jaw removed due to cancer at a very young age. Ann Patchett wrote of their relationship in "Truth & Beauty: A Friendship"

[ohiosmith]

11. Johnny Handsome.

[henslee]

12. I once saw a cool old b/w movie as a kid -- a revolutionary/bandit

type was riding around on a horse reaking havoc with a band of men. (I think it was some sort of epic about England/Ireland made in the forties.) Anyway, he had a mask over his mouth and when he took it off, his cheek had been cut away, exposing a horrifying face. Anyone know this movie?

[henslee]

13. Eyes without a face by Franju... awesome b/w french film.

as well as Billy Idol song. And don't forget, Polanski as the thug slicing up Nicholson's/Jake Gittes nose in Chinatown.

[Khephra]

14. There's a documentary on Sundance this month

about people who cut off limbs for the hell of it. I don't know if that will interest you or not.

[mairceridwen]

15. YES!!!

I need stuff like that too. Thanks

[Chovexani]

26. Try Boxing Helena then

Really messed up indie film. More than a little bit misogynistic, though. I felt stoned after watching it.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

17. I could live without the knowledge that such a thing exists. Agh. (nt)

[mairceridwen]

18. true

It's a great *find* and hence, my enthusiasm

[ohiosmith]

16. Mr. Sardonicus

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

19. Niki Lauda, Formula One world Champion, 1976

Crashed at the 1976 German GP, his ferrari burst into flames and his helmet went off.

Before & After:


And During:

[Beware the Beast Man]

20. Joaquin Phoenix

Not a "disfigurement," so to speak, but he does have a pretty noticeable cleft palate scar.

[MercutioATC]

21. Ichi the Killer.

The sides of his mouth are slit open halfway back to his ears.

[politicat]

22. Books: Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

Mutilation and disfigurement all over the place. Tough book. I still don't know how I feel about it.

Red Dragon, Thomas Harris.


Short stories (available at Fictionwise in multi format) The Good Witch of the North Wing by Steve Antczak;
The Ugly Princess, Elizabeth K Burton (a fairly funny one, as it happens...)
The Ugly Princess, Nancy Luenn (out of print, children's, gorgeously illustrated. Check your library.)
Jonny Punkinhead, Amy Sterling Casil.
Beauty and the Opera, or, The Phantom Beast by Suzy McKee Charnas

Any retelling of a Beauty and the Beast legend has a LOT to say about disfigurement....

Pcat

[Terran]

23. The film "Freaks", perhaps?

Those were all genetic deformities, not disfigurements, however. I think.

How about "Oedipus Rex?" Also, a corrections office on "Oz" had his eyes gouged out by an inmate.

[ornotna]

24. Rondo Hatton - No makeup needed

He was afflicted with acromegaly (gigantism). He was in about 20 movies, mostly bit parts. His claim to fame came with the movies "House of Horrors" and "The Brute Man" where he played "The Creeper".

[Lisa]

25. how about war veteran stories?

I'm pretty sure there have been movies/novels about the experiences of WWI and WWII soldiers (actually the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation had a documentary a couple of decades ago about a surgeon who tried the salvage the faces of the wounded).


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418160/plotsummary
QED: Simon's War (1983) (TV)
Documentary which follows the life of Simon Weston, a former soldier in the Welsh Guards who sustained 46% burns when the HMS Sir Galahad was bombed by the Argentines during the Falklands War, showing how he had to learn to cope with disfiguring facial injuries and psychological scars.



Aside from the usual horror flicks (e.g. Vincent Price in "The House of Wax", and other such movies).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045888/
http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s402circus.html