Who Wants To Be An Elephant Man?

For our presentation, my group chose the play “The Elephant Man” by Bernard Pomerance. I found this storyline about John Merrick’s deformities and how people viewed him on a daily basis to be extremely touching and eye-opening. To me personally, the most prominent themes of the play are beauty and loneliness. Both of these themes can relate and are directly correlated to popular culture today. I contributed to this project in numerous ways. I knew that I wanted to do well on this assignment, so I decided I was going to make every effort I could to achieve my goal. Our group decided that we needed to compare schedules to plan out a suitable meeting time. Considering there are nine in our group, we needed to know when everyone was available. I quickly e-mailed my group members the days and times that I would be free to meet. After the majority of our group had sent their availability times, I compared everyone’s schedules and came to the conclusion that the most ideal time for most of us to meet was on a Saturday afternoon at CSUN’s Oviatt Library. I took on a leadership role and e-mailed my group about the meeting time. I left my contact information and explained that if anyone could not make the meeting, they should still come up with ideas and communicate them with the group via e-mail. Two other group members and I attended our first official group meeting at the library to discuss our ideas and plan out how we would engage the class in a discussion about this play. We met for two hours, brainstorming ways to tell the class about “The Elephant Man” in an interesting way. We discussed the themes of the play, and I contributed my view on how social class and the perception of beauty are weaved throughout the story. I explained how I was particularly intrigued by Mrs. Kendal’s character. She is a beautiful on the inside and out, and both she and Merrick were able to step beyond their boundaries of their own class and looks to form a seemingly genuine friendship. I also brought up the idea of how our society and popular culture are so intrigued by abnormalities.  There are plenty of reality shows based on the lives of people who do not fit the image of what is “beautiful.” After we discussed our ideas of theme, each of us was assigned to come up with five creative questions regarding the play to incorporate into the activity we would be performing in class. Since we decided on involving the class through a game of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” I came up with the idea of giving the winning team Mother’s Circus Cookies, since it perfectly correlates with the “circus freak” nature of the play. Our group planned on meeting once more and I attended, along with six other members. We discussed in detail the rules and outline of our classroom activity, and I contributed my idea on how I thought the order of our presentation should take place. Overall, I know I was a great asset to this group. I promptly responded to any e-mails or texts sent my way, attended meetings, and presented my views and ideas on the play to my fellow group members. I am proud of our work and hope the class finds our game engaging and educational.