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40 Years Later, 'The Changeling' Has Us Wondering: What if Joseph is Actually a Mythical Changeling Creature?

3/29/2020

5 Comments

 
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Horror is no stranger to utilizing an uncomfortable piece of history to play in its haunted houses. To celebrate its 40th year, I figured why not revisit one of horror film’s classic haunted houses featuring both a disappointments room and a disabled central figure upon whom the story depends--Peter Medak’s The Changeling...

...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”. 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. 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. A reexamination of The Changeling asks what if the child is the real danger? What if the room is for protection?

This staple of 70’s-80’s haunted house genre tells of a widowed composer, John Russell (George C. 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. On the desk, a child’s schoolbook. 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. In the corner, a small wheelchair. 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. John becomes consumed with finding out what happened to the child and why.

The séance scene is one of the most unsettling and vital parts of the film. Joseph seems only interested in talking to John and, at its close, is begging him for help. Why he’s solely interested in John is never made all that clear, but I think the answer may be obvious. 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. There’s nothing mysterious about wanting to be remembered.

Here’s the thing about those disappointment rooms of old: they were places you sent people you wanted forgotten. 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. And Changeling takes it to its extreme. Rather than claim he died; Joseph’s father actually carries out the murder. 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. The only distinguishing thing about him left behind is his wheelchair, gathering dust at the murder site.

When John goes digging for answers, he’s committing an act of remembrance. The further he goes, the more Joseph pushes. After so long as a nameless and silent nonexistence, now he finally has someone who can hear him, who is listening, who can bring back his name and his long sought-after justice. If he has some anger about it, well, he was murdered after all, and even live children hardly have rational emotional responses as adults understand them at six years old. Joseph harbors more than simple, brutal child’s rage, however. Joseph is made of deeper stuff. Stuff so powerful it can control and set fire to an entire mansion in which he lived and lost his whole life. The rage of the disabled, shamed, and forgotten.

​Nothing fuels like rage.

Still, righteously angry or not, the only thing Joseph seems to want from John is the discovery of his body and the return of his medal. His body because who should be left alone and discarded in a well? Samara never liked it either, and all she wanted was to continue passing on her story, too. His medal because, well, christening medals were used in naming ceremonies, and to name something is to give it an air of permanence, importance, and worth. You don’t name things you’re ashamed of. You bury them. To retain the medal is to retain the name, and thus the vitality of Joseph’s life.
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Even as the rage-fueled mansion fire burns everything to the ground, the things left standing are those most intimately tied to Joseph’s identity: his wheelchair and his music box. These are what we see in the film’s last shot. He’s gotten the final word after all, and insisted on being the final presence.

The prominent image of the antique wheelchair holds a place in the minds of horror fans. The empty chair becomes not only the symbol most synonymous with The Changeling, but also strongly resonates with the idea of loss, as well. If a horror film takes place in a hospital, mental institution, or even an abandoned orphanage, an empty wheelchair will most undoubtedly appear somewhere.  In the film in question, the user of the chair, Joseph, never appears in his wheelchair and always remains a separate entity from the device, so can the actions of the chair actually represent the deceased boy? The cries of the grieving child come from the attic, but the chair miraculously makes its way throughout the house regardless of any obstructions. The focus of the film becomes so fixated on solving the murder of Joseph and freeing his spirit, but what if the story goes beyond the surface structure of the plot? A young boy locked away in a hidden room and later murdered by his father obviously could not be more horrible, but what if, in some way, the father killed for a reason other than an inheritance issue? What if the crippled boy in the attic was not actually a boy? What if the titular character of The Changeling is actuallyJoseph?

Even though the film holds the title of The Changeling, the explanation for the name never really actually comes about, so who or what actually is the mythical creature? In legends hailing from the United Kingdom, a changeling would kidnap a child and take their place of the missing youth. However, according to myth, the fairy child held certain characteristics which could distinguish them changeling from a human actual child. First, the fairy child would appear sickly and small, never able to grow like a normal child. The unhealthy appearance and limited physical capabilities of Joseph does not necessarily rule out any chance of him being a human child, but the case holds a little stronger than assuming the senator plays the role of the changeling.

Now, here the analysis gets a little more complicated: what if both the real Joseph and the fairy child appear in the film? It is hard to argue when Joseph would have been abducted by the fairy, but his spirit remains trapped and can only find peace if his christening medal is returned to him. The religious amulet serves two purposes for freeing the young Joseph. First, the necklace exists as a representation of a religious protector.  The myths name a few methods for protecting children from the clutches of the changeling, but one such technique requires the child to receive a blessing or become baptized. The christening medal shows Joseph most likely was baptized as a baby, but without the religious artifact, the child remains helpless against the hold of the fairy child. Furthermore, the changeling stole Joseph’s identity, so returning the medal to the kidnapped child would symbolize the return of hisJoseph’s identity. However, despite the fact that the Fae Joseph no longer holds the air of a child, the changeling still holds a presence in the house.

​A few years after Joseph died, a new family moved into the house which included the young Cora. The girl died after being hit by a coal cart, which is the story John originally becomes interested in. He assumes the girl’s horrible fate causes her spirit to remain in the house, but perhaps Cora’s death came from other circumstances. The inclusion of the Cora storyline brings confusion to some critics as the placement seems unnecessary and quickly becomes shoved under the rug after the discovery of Joseph. So, why include Cora? With the murder of “Joseph” three years prior, the changeling needed another child and Cora would have been a perfect replacement. At only seven years old, Cora ran from her house and was struck by a coal cart. Possibly chased by the changeling, but regardless of the cause of her death, she stayed free from the fairy child.

So, while the real Joseph becomes represented by the innocent voice calling for his medal, the Fae Joseph embodies the discarded wheelchair. When alone and believed to be unobserved, the changeling could jump around and perform physical capabilities not normally associated with the sickly demeanor it actually portrayed. Possibly the reason Joseph’s father locked away his supposedly invalid son. If the “boy” possessed various powers, even the small stature could prove dangerous. Also, despite needing a wheelchair to move, the only toy found in the upstairs disappointment room was a red ball. Obviously, not an appropriate toy for a child with limited mobility all locked away, but for a changeling with the ability to jump about and play? Have a ball, fairy kid.

The wheelchair also becomes a representation of the unnatural side of Joseph, meaning, the changeling. The chair looms menacingly at the top of staircases and even chases the people who seek justice for the real Joseph. Taking on animalistic qualities, the chair emanates guttural snarls and hunts its prey as it expertly maneuvers down the stairs. As the resolution for the true child unfolds, the senator realizes his life is a lie, Joseph finds peace, and the house and everything inside burns to the ground. Before escaping the burning house, the leads left the chair capsized in the foyer. However, the last shot of the smoking remains shows the wheelchair standing upright. As if the changeling still lives and now surveys the destruction it caused.

​While we can all agree on the significance of the wheelchair, what it represents is up for debate. Could its purpose be to symbolize Joseph’s forced remembrance, or could it be the embodiment of a more sinister spirit?
By Katelyn Nelson and Amylou Ahava

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5 Comments
LG
5/22/2021 03:08:38 am

Great article; I loved this! Would you mind if a geeky super-fan of this classic film offers a few -- okay, four -- corrections?

First, your assertion that "despite [Joseph] needing a wheelchair to move, the only toy found in the upstairs disappointment room was a red ball" is incorrect on two counts, as follows:

(1) Quite unequivocally and very early on, the film establishes that the red ball belonged to Kathy, John's dead daughter, who is shown playing with it in the flashbacks that John has while packing his NYC apartment just after the start of the film. (Remember how the family housekeeper, helping John pack, accidentally drops the ball onto the floor -- inadvertently bouncing it toward John and thus reminding him, painfully, of the recently-deceased Kathy? Remember how John then places the ball into a wooden desk box for safekeeping, only to have unseen forces remove it from the same box -- in a series of the film's most iconic scenes -- once John gets to Seattle?)

(2) The child's toy still in the attic room when John breaks in -- aside from the lullaby-playing music box -- is a set of toy soldiers wearing British imperial army uniforms dating back to the Boer War (you can tell from the funky helmets) -- thus alerting the audience that: (a) this room's last child inhabitants were in residence in the very late 19th and/or early 20th centuries and (b) at least one of said inhabitants was likely a boy (since Victorian-/Edwardian-era, upper-class parents weren't big on gender-neutral toys). These toy soldiers thus give discerning viewers an early clue that Cora might turn out to be either a red-herring or but one of the room's former habitués, including at least one little boy.

Second, while you write that the film never makes clear why Joseph fixates on John and go on to conclude that this fixation must be an incidental effect of John's interest in the house's mystery -- i.e. "Why he's solely interested in John is never made all that clear, but I think the answer may be obvious. 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" -- the film tells us flat-out that Joseph reaches out to John because the emotional pull of John's grief for Kathy and his late wife Joanne makes John stand out as an empathetic fellow traveler. (e.g. Remember that the medium at the séance says to John: "John, you've suffered a cruel loss. The spirit in this house is reaching out to you through that loss.")

Moreover, John doesn't happen upon the attic room solely under the power of his own initiative, but instead because Joseph, sensing a simpatico soul in residence, *draws* him to that room -- by breaking the attic window while John stands outside on the front walk beneath it; by turning on the taps and filling sinks and tubs in every bathroom from the house's ground floor up (thus leaving a trail of breadcrumbs that draws John upstairs to the final bathroom adjacent to the then-still-concealed attic door); etc; etc.

The screenplay even has John say this explicitly to Clare just after he shares his attic room discovery and plays her the reel-to-reel recording his "note for note," simpatico "composing" of the song in the attic room: "The running water; the broken window; the banging -- everything I've experienced in this house since moving in has been trying to get me up into that attic room."

Third, while you go on to argue that John is the first of the house's post-Joseph's-death inhabitant who has cared enough to probe the house's mystery and that this is why ghost Joseph reaches out and keeps reaching out, the film again tells us explicitly that Joseph has tried to tell his story to previous occupants of the house whom he sensed were emotional fellow-travelers. (e.g. "I'm not the first" John says to both Clare *and* the Senator at different points in the film, adding to Clare before the seance reveals Joseph's name and identity: "Whatever it is in this house is desperate to communicate. It's tried before.")

Cora, presumably, was similarly empathic, and thus sensed Joseph's jarring SOS -- or the creepy shenanigans of a fae changeling, per your excellent theory -- clearly enough to flee into the street to her death. Meanwhile, folks at the Historical Society note that a physician and his family -- the last inhabitants before John -- lived in the house for years in the 1960s without incident, perhaps because they weren't as emotionally resonant as John or select others before him. (Similarly, Mr. Tuttle, the Historical Society's handyman, is completely unperturbed by the house: sans the emotional resonance that Joseph seeks, Tuttle never has paranormal encounters in the house, of which he's been caretaker for decades.)

The film also strongly suggests that ghost Joseph's "reaching out" to the house's simpatico previous inhabitants is the re

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LG
5/22/2021 08:54:51 am

TRUNCATED END OF THE ORIGINAL COMMENT ABOVE:

The film also strongly suggests that ghost Joseph's "reaching out" to the house's simpatico previous inhabitants is the reason why Minnie -- the Historical Society clerk and Senator Carmichael fan-girl who tries to evict John after Clare rents the house to him without permission ("I don't know why, but Minnie and the Society don't seem to have tried very hard with this place") -- has kept the house mothballed for decades at the Senator's behest. (Remember that just after Minnie famously intones "This house doesn't want people" to John and Clare, she calls the Senator to report her actions, concluding, "Senator Carmichael, I'm happy to help.")

Finally, fourth: You argue that the film never explains the "changeling" term directly. Here again, the screenplay does this quite explicitly (if late in the game). During John's ultimate showdown with the Senator, he concludes his story about the orphan substituted for the murdered Joseph by sneering (as only George C. Scott can): "That -- changeling -- was you."

Please know that I make these observations not to be an Internet Jackass but instead because I'm such a super-fan of this film that I'm really pleased to see you give it such a nifty, thorough, thought-provoking treatment. Kudos! (Your 'Fae Changeling' theory would certainly explain that evil little chuckle that we hear from the wheelchair and music box that survive the house after the fire.) Thanks for this article! Cheers.

[FUN FACT: While I've been a super-fan of this film since I first saw it during its original theatrical run as a terrified-but-enthralled 9 year old, I didn't learn until just a few years ago that the film's crew accidentally torched a historic Seattle mansion while filming the final scene of Joseph's revenge fire, causing catastrophic damage. This is why we can't have nice things. ...]

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Poetryqn
1/28/2022 12:43:48 pm

Thanks for that comment LG, and thanks to the Killer Horror Critic for the original post. I confess, I'm not a fan of modern horror movies, but I've always loved The Changeling and the 1960's film, The Haunting for their psychological horror. (Probably why I also like The Innocents.)

A question for each of you: Do you think Senator Carmichael was 'in' on the swindle scheme? He had to be six years old at the switch, knowing he had been in the orphanage. Or has he convinced himself that he's Richard's natural son because the truth is too painful to acknowledge?

Candace
6/14/2022 04:56:39 pm

@POETRYQN

I know you didn't ask me, but I would still like to share my answer to your question. I believe the senator knew the truth, but he had been tossing the idea out of his dead because he grew to love Richard Carmichael and didn't want to believe that he could kill an innocent child.

Think about it. At the age of six the senator (the changeling), already had his own, original name, a mother or parental figure at the orphanage before Richard Carmichael, and friends of his own. Then Richard Carmichael waltzes into the changeling's life, takes him back to the house where he murdered his true son, which is how the spirit of the real Joseph Carmichael knew of the changeling. Not too long after the adoption is finalized, Richard Carmichael takes the changeling and flees overseas, and is able to chip away at the changeling's original identity and raise him up to be the newly healed Joseph Carmichael, and semi-successful in brainwashing him into believing that he is the real Joseph Carmichael.

But the adult senator had to have questions concerning his miraculous recovery from a sickness that had him bed-ridden and badly crippled. And questions about his "mother", Mrs. Carmichael, who, I theorize, must have died not too long after the death of her own father and the murder of her son, the real Joseph Carmichael.

I also theorize that the senator went back to the murder house and after a little investigation, concluded what Richard did, but the very thought of his father murdering a child was too terrifying and abhorrent to entertain, so he forced himself to move on and bury the truth and live the life his father conditioned him to live. He couldn't destroy the house because of its registry at the historical preservation society, so he becomes a patron, becomes influential, and gets to such a high position that he can ensure that nobody lives in the house ever again, until Clare meets John Russell.

I cannot be sure if the changeling knew of the spirit of the real Joseph Carmichael. All of this is so exciting to think about. Exciting, but sad at the same time.

Candace
6/14/2022 04:43:00 pm

Thank you, LG, for pointing out the incorrect bits of the story, I thought I would have to be the one to point it out.

I am also glad to see that I am not the only one with a theory of Cora's death. I also have a theory that Joseph chased her out to get killed, in order to make her family vulnerable and "open" to receive his SOS, but rather than stay long enough for him to try to communicate, the doctor takes the rest of his family and leaves the house, and leaving Joseph to stir in his anger and amping up his hunger for revenge against the one who took his place.

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