Laura Gildersleeve Blog Post 1

I found the uncanny, life-like appearance of the wax figures at Madame Tussauds wax museum particularly intriguing and disturbing. In one instance, I was standing in the room with the film celebrities and I saw a woman taking a photo of a wax celebrity. The shot she was trying to take was blocking my path, so I politely waited to the side so she could take the photo. I was waiting for nearly a minute and was beginning to get annoyed, so I made the conscious decision to walk through her shot. And, in this moment, my heart dropped as I realized I had been waiting patiently for a wax statue, not a ‘she’, to take a photo that would never be. This was one of the many eerie experiences I had in Madame Tussauds that made me think of the piece we read for the visit, The Man with the Twisted Lip, by Arthur Conan Doyle, and the theme of ‘Monstrous London’.

                  One specific line in Doyle’s piece came to mind as I walked through the museum; “bodies lying in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer” (1). Doyle used this line to describe the state of the people found in the opium den on the east end of the city, giving the “[slaves] to the drug” an inanimate feel and giving light to the ever-present theme of ‘Monstrous London’ (Doyle, 1). Yet, this line immediately sprung into my mind as a way to describe the wax figures in the museum, as well. Specifically, I attempted to take the humanity out of the statues, similar to what Doyle did to the people, and imagine them as “bodies [of wax] lying in strange fantastic poses” (Doyle, 1). Despite this attempt, I could not shake the eerie feeling that the statues’ “lack-lustre eye [had] turned upon the newcomer,” me (Doyle, 1). This line, representing both the opium addicted people of the 1800’s and the wax figures that symbolize modern London, demonstrates the theme of ‘Monstrous London’ that can be seen throughout London’s history.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 9, 2019 at 12:33 PM

    Hi Laura,

    I appreciate your comment about waiting for the woman to take a photo. I had a similar experience in Madame Tussauds. I found myself not being able to tell the difference between real people and the wax figures. I would wait to step around someone, only to find out it was never going to move because it was only wax. I also completely agree with the theme, Monstrous London, that can be used to capture the similarities in London's history, Madame Tussauds, and the Sherlock Holmes passage. The humanity was taken out of the wax figures in the museum. People, tourists, anyone who wanted to pay for the ticket price could experience the famous individuals, many who which we feel are untouchable or way above everyone else. This experience allows people to feel like they are one in the same with the wax figures. Your blog post is very insightful and I believe you captured the theme perfectly.

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