The further he goes, the more Joseph pushes. When John goes digging for answers, he’s committing an act of remembrance. The only distinguishing thing about him left behind is his wheelchair, gathering dust at the murder site. Joseph is killed and replaced so thoroughly his christening medal is buried and gone and any mention of him as he truly was is virtually wiped from record. Rather than claim he died Joseph’s father actually carries out the murder. It wasn’t even altogether uncommon to claim the inhabitant of this domestic prison had died-regardless whether that was true-just so you wouldn’t have to explain more about them. Here’s the thing about those disappointment rooms of old: they were places you sent people you wanted forgotten. There’s nothing mysterious about wanting to be remembered. John is the one who uncovered the bedroom, the one who wants to understand what’s going on in the house when it bangs every morning, the one doing the work to find out about Joseph for the first time in decades. Why he’s solely interested in John is never made all that clear, but I think the answer may be obvious. Joseph seems only interested in talking to John and, at its close, is begging him for help. The séance scene is one of the most unsettling and vital parts of the film. John becomes consumed with finding out what happened to the child and why. In an effort to find answers, John seeks help and is led to hold a séance, at which little Joseph Carmichael ( Voldi Way) makes his appearance. On a nearby table, under a genuinely troubling layer of grime, a music box that plays a tune John had only just played and recorded. Scott) looking for an escape who rents an old mansion and, after a series of mysterious happenings, uncovers a boarded-up child’s room in the attic covered in monstrously thick spider webs and decades of dust. This staple of 70’s-80’s haunted house genre tells of a widowed composer, John Russell ( George C. A reexamination of The Changeling asks what if the child is the real danger? What if the room is for protection? Most commonly located in the attics of old houses, these were rooms where parents would force their disabled children to live, where they would face abuse and/or neglect, simply because the parents were afraid they would be socially scorned for having such a child and/or they just straight up didn’t know how to care for them. While I’m unclear as to its technical term, the purpose of this room is always clear: to hide away the family shame of having a disabled or disfigured child. One of the worst trends in historical treatment of disabled children (and adults) in media and the real world has been the designation and use of the “disappointments room”.
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