Binary Thinking
"Outraged Nature took her hideous revenge."
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)
Points
for Reflection
E. Goffman's Stigma (1963), excerpts, DSR 133-144
- How does Goffman distinguish between "virtual" and "actual" social identities?
- To what end does Goffman employ words like "abomination," "blemish," and "deformity"? Does he appear to perpetuate these words stigmatizing function, or implicitly question their traditional usage?
- Do these and other Goffman identifies three types of stigma that can lead to someone's being "discredited"--physical deformities, character blemishes, and "tribal" differences (135). Which of these matter most (and which least) in middle-class American society when it comes to:
- offering education or employment?
- pursuing romance and/or marriage?
- voting for political figures?
- idolizing actors and musicians
- Does the relative importance of each of the three differences listed in #3 vary consistently depending on one's own gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic class?
- Goffman maintains that, at least in the early 1960s, stigmatized individuals held the same beliefs about identity that "normals" did. A mobility impaired individual, for instance, would likely join an observer in considering herself "abnormal." Is this still true today? Do those with mappable differences tend to identify themselves as deviants from the social norm, or do they instead form relationships in which their shared differences form the basis for community? Consider how these questions apply to the student body at Cal Poly.
- Goffman considers an array of possible responses to stigmatized difference, responses made by the stigmatized individual her/himself. Which of these three responses (correction of difference, surprising mastery of skill, obstinate, unconventional recreation of one's identity) is most encouraged by contemporary, American media? By various religious traditions? By local, state, and federal governments preoccupied with cost-benefit?
- As Goffman would have it, stigmatized individuals may use their difference as a rationale for failure in areas unrelated to their difference or, alternately, configure their difference and any concomitant suffering as “blessings in disguise.” Towards which response do you think you would incline in such a situation?
- What is your knee-jerk response to the multiple sclerotic, blind, and crippled individuals cited by Goffman who claim they might actually enjoy life more fully than many people not impacted by such obvious disabilities? Does this make intuitive sense to you?
- Can you recall television shows or films that have committed the error of celebrating a disabled person's minor accomplishments as if they were "remarkable and noteworthy"?
- What do you feel is the most appropriate way to approach someone with a visible disability at, say, a party or other informal social gathering?
John S. Robertson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)
- Is a silent film more, or less, demanding to watch than a “talkie”? Consider this question in light of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
- How might colorizing this black-and-white film alter its tone?
- Does the musical accompaniment reliably signal shifts in mood and atmosphere? Does the score appear carefully crafted?
- The film opens by positing a moral binary between good and evil. Does this dualism play itself out in the film?
- At the “human repair shop” where Dr. Jekyll volunteers his time and medical expertise, does he appear to privilege one class of patient over another?
- When George Carew suggests that development of oneself requires experience, specifically a giving over of oneself to one’s impulses, how does Dr. Jekyll respond?
- Why might the filmmakers position a bedraggled street walker outside the performance hall?
- How does Dr. Jekyll’s reaction to and interaction with Miss Gina differ from his earlier encounter with Millicent?
- The narration explains that Dr. Jekyll awakens to his “baser nature” for the first time, soon after visiting the performance hall. What does this observation imply about the nature of his longstanding relationship with Millicent?
- Does Carew’s knowledge of worldly things make him a suitable parent for Millicent?
- How does Dr. Jekyll’s face shift when considering separating the good and evil within himself—prior to returning to the lab?
- Is the drug Dr. Jekyll develops a reliable agent of transformation? What does the answer suggest about the nature of good and evil?
- How does the lighting of Dr. Hyde’s face shape his character?
- Is Miss Gina equally attracted to Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll?
- What response does Millicent provide to the first marriage proposal she receives?
- At what points in the film does Millicent speak, and why does this matter?
- Does the film implicitly support the claim that a woman is a necessary, positive influence in a man’s life?
- Is Mr. Hyde monogamous-minded?
- Is the method of Dr. Jekyll’s marriage proposal shaped at all by his clandestine experiences?
- Does Mr. Hyde appear invulnerable to the effects of imbibing alcohol?
- What array of physical differences do the filmmakers use to signal Mr. Hyde’s degeneracy?
- What explains Dr. Hyde’s mesmeric power over women?
- Does George Carew’s character change, or remain static?
- At what moments in the film do its creators rely on visual caricatures?
- Does the camera draw closer to, or back away from, Millicent when she’s grieving?
- Do Dr. Jekyll’s desperate, belated prayers prove effective?
- Does Mr. Hyde fascinate Millicent as he has other women?
- What prevents Mr. Hyde from assaulting Millicent?
- Why might one of the elderly men lie to Millicent about what happened to Mr. Hyde?
- Is the concluding, irreversible action taken by our protagonist supposed to be an act of atonement, or something else?
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1920)
one poster from original film release
Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu
