When studying the history of “freaks” and freak shows, it’s important to think critically about how time and the progression of time has treated the subject. A lot of people believe that freak shows are a piece of history because we have (in theory) evolved past the extremely obvious ableism and racism of the early 20th century. Dominant discourse is fond of believing that we no longer try to financially benefit off disempowered peoples. However, that’s not an accurate portrayal of modern culture. Firstly, we still largely benefit off of the suffering of non-normative people. We have reality shows, and sitcoms, and movies all about “strange” people who still fit into the American discourse. Bogdan argues in the conclusion to their piece “The Social Construction of Freaks” that the concept of being a “freak” was not one of tension and offense to the humans who were turned into exhibitions. They continue by saying that these people were more concerned about earning money and their stage presence. In fact, Bogdan contends that any contempt the exhibited individuals felt was more connected to a common superiority complex that performers had in relation to onlookers.
I’m honestly not sure how to react to this passage. On one hand, I find it really hard to believe that people who were effectively bought and then marketed to white culture as a commodity. I have an easier time believing that they begrudgingly allowed it for the sake of making some money over the none they could be threatened with due to their “freak status.” And I doubt they were eager to work under people who viewed them in terms of commodities instead of as people, just so they could look down on people who were in the “out” or “rubes.” Additionally, we’ve read that some of the records of the lives of people working in these shows were portrayed through lenses that painted their lives as happier than they were in actuality. And on top of that they were framed as grateful to their producers/managers, despite having plenty of reason not to do so. However, I’m reluctant to write off what Bogdan has written. It’s entirely possible that this is, in fact, the way that things went down in the past. That does not eliminate the fact that there is a very important and problematic history of reducing non-normative people to exotic “others” and commodities for consumption.
Going off this concept, popular television program American Horror Story recently announced the concept for their fourth season. For those of you who don’t watch or follow the show, each season is based around an entirely new theme for the world. The theme of the new season is going to be “Freak Show.” First, it’s very important to note that this is effectively a re-staging of freak shows as a spectacle for dominant culture to consume. I’m really hesitant to encourage this show to go ahead with this concept because of how it can extend the longevity of harmful images and concepts. I’m really hesitant to turn freak shows into a spectacle for audiences’ consumption and for marketing. We are effectively planning and encouraging the re-consumption of a very problematic era in American culture. And even if we go out of our way to demonize and discourage this kind of behavior, we are still re-creating that culture in some manner. And in doing that we don’t actively critique the behaviors and cultures.
Also, going off my prior knowledge of the show and its handling of problematic racial, sexual, and gendered history I feel like I can safely predict a few things. The first of these is heavily triggering content not being properly warned to the audience. This is heavily problematic for a number of reasons, namely that it can (as stated) trigger audience members and harm their personal well-being. The second is improper treatment of pretty much every non-normative identity. This treatment can range from harmful stereotypes to demeaning language and outright inappropriate handling of people’s identities. Additionally, Ryan Murphy (head series creator) has a poor track record for properly handling things like non-normative identities outside of gay white men (his own identity), and even those characters are often poorly characterized and fall into harmful tropes and stereotypes.
It’s important to also consider the way this interpretation of the freak show is being handled, in spite of the fact that we have very minimal information from the early stages of the production. Murphy has stated that he is setting this season in 1950s Florida with one of the last traveling freak shows. Murphy stated that this piece was an attempt to “do the opposite” of what they’ve previously done with the show. This could mean many things, though it potentially could encourage me as to the content. Though I’m reluctant to believe he actually means writing in a way that isn’t problematic and giving characters with non-dominant identities their due diligence.
http://www.enstarz.com/articles/35886/20140404/american-horror-story-season-4-spoilers-angela-bassett-playing-siamese-twins-or-bearded-lady-video.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment