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Micro-‐elements of The Human Cen5pede
Subgenre Horror: Sci-‐fi (body parts)
We can tell that The Human Cen5pede is a horror with sub-‐genres of thriller, Slasher and drama. About a psycho5c doctor who surgically places 3 people ‘mouth to anus’, it is also quite graphic and disturbing for most viewers as it explores the Desperately sick mind of a surgeon who wishes to make his fantasies come to life through Kidnapping three foreign vic5ms. People claim that this movie is “the most disgus5ng Film ever produced” as it contains stomach churning scenes many people see as Unimaginable like walking around connected to two other people through orifices people Would rather steer clear of.
Iconography The human cen5pede possesses different forms of iconography such as bandages, which Have been used to hold the three people together mouth to anus, and they are also used On their knees where they have been disfigured so they can’t stand up and runaway. There Is also the very dis5nc5ve home built medical ward where Dr.Heiter experiments on his 3 unwilling vic5ms, which shows that he is doing this all in secret and no one else knows About it, which is made evident when the police come searching for the missing people. A weapon used in this movie to make the great escape which reduced people to the edges Of their seats was the lamp, although it doesn’t seem deadly, it smashed the glass window, So that the vic5ms could escape this insane man. The dis5nc5ve coat of the doctor is key in Making this film even more creepy, we can tell he loves to dress the part to put him in the role Of doctor. Essences of the real hospital set the scene, crea5ng binary opposites between A comfortable home and a hospital ward being placed within this realm of comfort, which Has been exploited As a last result the Japanese tourist picks up a shard of glass, which is seen As a weapon and slits his throat as he can no longer bear to be living in this way and may as Well kill himself before the doctor does it for him.
Loca5ons The loca5on of this film is set primarily at the doctor’s house, however it is very isolated. It is set in Germany, which is notorious for ‘weirdos’ when it comes down to human Dissec5on and cannibalism, as the media has pointed out over a few years. The typical SeZng when the two American girls have broken down in their car is pouring with rain, Dark, isolated, no one is visible, seems normal at first, however ends in disaster. The Doctor’s house looks small from the outside, however appears a lot larger on the inside, Looking pris5ne and organized, which could be a ‘norm’ of the type of person that is Portrayed in this movie. There is also a room with a swimming pool where the doctor Likes to take a relaxing dip, it is a very large swimming pool for just one person to swim About in, crea5ng the sense of loneliness and isola5on within the house. Swimming Pools also create the sense of fear, so much water in some place, people fear of drowning And being trapped underneath the surface, adding to another fear within the movie As well as being a]ached surgically to three people.
Characters
Like a typical horror movie, The Human Cen5pede possesses 2 young female American girls Who are le_ vulnerable. We also have a Japanese tourist called Katsuro, typically in a movie The male is the power one that can defend people, he is placed at the front of the human Cen5pede, showing how much power and authority he holds over the two girls, crea5ng a Realm of dominance over them. He also defends the girls and leads them to more safer places Within the house, trying to keep himself and them alive. However, at the end he kills himself As he sees himself as an animal rather than a human as he has treated his family in a bad way. We are then le_ with the girl, who is the last girl standing, considering the rest of the characters Are dead, either from shoo5ng, suicide or blood poisoning. The most interes5ng character of the film is of Course the creepy, deranged doctor who set the medical experiment up, he is a very calm person, who Laughs as he has created his own fantasy and finds it amazing. He cannot sympathize with other people, He is uncaring, although feeds them to keep them alive, to see if food can pass through all three people. We Could also cay that he gets some sort of sexual enjoyment out of this, making him seem excep5onally weird From normal society. As the doctor is a male, we could apply the male gaze theory to him. We see the women as sexualised and very vulnerable at the hands of men as they can’t escape the power he has.
Narra5ve structure and film theory For The Human Cen5pede we could apply the theory of Todorov with his view of equilibrium, Which then transfers in to a disequilibrium. The two American girls start off fine when the Pair are driving in their car, then they break down, which is the disequilibrium, which is when Disaster strikes and everything becomes fatal and horrific. We can apply Propp’s character theory to this movie. The doctor (villain) struggles against The hero in this movie, he fights obstacles against the vic5ms in the movie as the three try And escape from him. They become abusive and rebellious against his sick power. We could Also say that there is a donor character within the movie because Katsuro (Japanese tourist) Kills himself and leaves the last girl standing to fight the ba]le, he died because he couldn’t Carry on so it was all up to her to save herself and escape, telling other people what happened, Seeking for help. There are binary opposites within this movie as Strauss’s theory has suggested. Such as Old and young, medical ward and home, ‘mouth to arse’, clean house and a messy situa5on. These binary opposites create stark contrasts within a movie, crea5ng more of an effect on The audience, crea5ng a disturbed emo5on that is gut churning to watch. There is definitely an enigma code a]ached to this movie, which is a theory of Bathez. Although the movie Is gross and unbearable, we want to watch it the whole way through to find out if the human cen5pede Can fight back and gain control and power over the villain, to seek revenge. Mulvey came up with the theory of the male gaze, which is obviously present. There are young American Teenage girls who would be seen as very a]rac5ve in the male gaze, especially when they come in from the Rain and they’re wet, many men could imagine the scenario of two wet women turning up to his house in Seek of help, as the male is seen as the strong and bold man who should look a_er women. There is a final girl theory within this film as Katsuro kills himself, the one American girl is le_ to fend for herself and get Out of the s5cky situa5on that they’re in. Being a theory of Clover