Theme: Deformity and Disfigurement

Deformity and Disfigurement refers to characters afflicted with bodily deformities and/or disfiguring appearances. There is the common association made that that which is ugly, horrific and unappealing to look at should be shunned, or that is it represents some form of moral degeneracy.

In the horror film, deformity and disfigurement is commonplace. Often horror films feature characters that become afflicted with wasting diseases and mutations or are maddened as a result of scarring in some accident. Mad Surgeons also have a frequent fixation with grafting faces taken from others onto their disfigured wives and daughters.

There are also a number of works that create sympathy for the disfigured and outcast – as in the various versions of Beauty and the Beast, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the more modern versions of The Phantom of the Opera.

Deformity and disfigurement are frequently the character traits that affect Super-Villains and their henchpeople – villains with hook hands or eye patches are commonplace. Often the hurt over their disfigurement will create a psychic split that will leave a villain seeking Revenge against those associated. There are a lesser number of heroes afflicted with disfigurement with examples such as Darkman and Deadpool.