Some films when viewed today can be looked at in a very different context than when they were first released. Freaks, from 1932 is such a film. The DVD version of this movie included a great documentary and commentary that helped me understand why I didn’t see the film as outrageous or grotesque.
This film is a drama. There is a bit of a love story between two little people. Hans and Frieda are engaged to be married, but when Hans see the, rather “normal” looking trapeze artist, Cleopatra he falls in love with her beauty. Along with the carnival’s strong man, Hercules, Cleopatra proceeds to lead on Hans in an effort to gain his inheritance. The plan was for Cleopatra to marry Hans, and then poison him. During the wedding banquet for Cleopatra and Hans, the rest of the “freaks” in celebration proclaim Hans’ new bride as one of them by chanting, “We accept you, one of us! Gooble Gobble! Gooble Gobble!” Cleopatra runs in disgust of the “freaks”, and her plan is found out. Soon she is hunted down by the “freaks”; who make her into a new attraction at the circus.
Many people who saw the test screenings and the even premier of the film were shocked by the look of the carnival attractions. There were reports of people running out of the theater screaming and even a woman experiencing a miscarriage due to the “shocking” deformities. Film historians’ now acknowledge that these were most likely marketing ploys to play on people’s fear of deformities. The pre-roll of the film sets up the deformities in a historical context; children born to people who have committed some grave injustice against humanity or a god of some sort.
Now with a more intelligent understanding of physical and mental deformities the fear of seeing such things in this film can be stripped away to reveal a very emotional human story. One were people who are considered different from what is socially acceptable have banded together to form a community and find happiness. Every person within the circus freaks are presented as genuinely good; whereas the normal looking people are bad deep down. The “freaks” are driven by their pursuit of “normality” and happiness; the “normals” are driven by greed and perfection. For those of us that have felt like outsiders for any reason we can easily relate to the “freaks”. The important thing to see about the performers in this film is that they are all individuals with human emotion, something that sadly couldn’t be seen until many years after the release of the film.
I have always had a fascination with early carnival side shows. To the extent that I have worked at learning how to do a couple of things that would have been part of the side show a hundred years ago. I am also proudly different than what is socially acceptable. Along with my writing this gives a good explanation as to why I’m sitting in the car as one crazed writer.
This film is a drama. There is a bit of a love story between two little people. Hans and Frieda are engaged to be married, but when Hans see the, rather “normal” looking trapeze artist, Cleopatra he falls in love with her beauty. Along with the carnival’s strong man, Hercules, Cleopatra proceeds to lead on Hans in an effort to gain his inheritance. The plan was for Cleopatra to marry Hans, and then poison him. During the wedding banquet for Cleopatra and Hans, the rest of the “freaks” in celebration proclaim Hans’ new bride as one of them by chanting, “We accept you, one of us! Gooble Gobble! Gooble Gobble!” Cleopatra runs in disgust of the “freaks”, and her plan is found out. Soon she is hunted down by the “freaks”; who make her into a new attraction at the circus.
Many people who saw the test screenings and the even premier of the film were shocked by the look of the carnival attractions. There were reports of people running out of the theater screaming and even a woman experiencing a miscarriage due to the “shocking” deformities. Film historians’ now acknowledge that these were most likely marketing ploys to play on people’s fear of deformities. The pre-roll of the film sets up the deformities in a historical context; children born to people who have committed some grave injustice against humanity or a god of some sort.
Now with a more intelligent understanding of physical and mental deformities the fear of seeing such things in this film can be stripped away to reveal a very emotional human story. One were people who are considered different from what is socially acceptable have banded together to form a community and find happiness. Every person within the circus freaks are presented as genuinely good; whereas the normal looking people are bad deep down. The “freaks” are driven by their pursuit of “normality” and happiness; the “normals” are driven by greed and perfection. For those of us that have felt like outsiders for any reason we can easily relate to the “freaks”. The important thing to see about the performers in this film is that they are all individuals with human emotion, something that sadly couldn’t be seen until many years after the release of the film.
I have always had a fascination with early carnival side shows. To the extent that I have worked at learning how to do a couple of things that would have been part of the side show a hundred years ago. I am also proudly different than what is socially acceptable. Along with my writing this gives a good explanation as to why I’m sitting in the car as one crazed writer.
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