The Invention of Monsters
"'They should be smothered at birth!'"
Freaks (1932)
Points
for Reflection
Tod Browning's Freaks (1932)
- The carnival employee speaking at the film’s opening sensationally tells his audience that “but for an accident of birth, you might be as they are.” Does this film cast disability as a wholly negative state of being?
- This “carnie” also notes that the carnival workers are a community—and law—unto themselves. “Offend one and you offend them all.” Does the film support this assertion?
- Hans tells Frieda he “only has eyes” for her. What complicates this declaration?
- What draws Hans to Cleopatra, and why does she encourage his advances?
- Don John finds members of the carnival with physical and cognitive disabilities congregating in a wooded area, and becomes angry, arguing that they “should be smothered at birth.” Does the film, as a whole, support this eugenic declaration?
- Madame Tetrallini comforts the carnies in her care following their being verbally attacked, reminding them that they too are “God’s children.” Does the film as a whole concretize this claim about their worth?
- Whereas Madame Tetrallini calls the carnival workers in her care “children,” another carnie calls them “monsters.” Does either label better capture the carnival workers’ behavior throughout the film, or are both labels inadequate?
- This early talkie (film w/ sound) employs a number of actors who worked in the silent era. At what points does the exaggerated facial expressiveness required in silent film show up in Freaks, and does this add to or detract from the film’s dramatic character?
- How does the monochromatic, black-and-white nature of this film shape its thematic material?
- What does the absence of a carnival owner (though Madame Tetrallini seems to be some kind of manager for the “freaks”) suggest about the way the carnival survives as a business?
- What factors best explain the camaraderie shared by the film’s closely knit circle of carnival workers?
- Do Hercules’ ableism and sexism feed one another, or do they operate independently?
- Does Roscoe's stutter add to or detract from his effectiveness as a comedian?
- Is the intersex individual primarily a target of fun, or do they emerge with a confident, empowered identity?
- Why does Cleopatra initially encourage Hans’ flirtations, and what dramatically alters the motivation behind such behavior?
- Does Cleopatra flirt with Hans and Hercules in the same way?
- Does Hans’s preoccupation with Cleopatra alter his interactions with the other members of the carnival?
- Do Cleopatra’s and Venus’s sexuality prove a reliable tool they can wield for their own benefit?
- Do the actions of the armless lady and male “Living Torso” humanize them within this film, or turn them into objectified spectacles?
- The young woman with no arms observes that Cleopatra “isn’t one of us.” What is required to become part of this particular group?
- Phroso tells both Venus and Schlitze that they’re attractive. Does he make both comments for the same reason?
- Why might Tod Browning include the scene where Venus and Phroso have a conversation while he’s in the bathtub?
- Does the film sensationalize or normalize the romances conducted by the congenital twins, Violet and Daisy?
- Why does Cleopatra become so incredibly upset at her own wedding party?
- What about Hercules’ and Cleopatra’s treatment of Hans at the wedding party is so demeaning?
- Do the carnies' actions on a dark and stormy night make them less, or more, sympathetic to a modern audience?
- Is the film’s horror scene, reserved for the conclusion, truly frightening?
- Is Cleo’s new appearance, revealed at the end of the story, an appropriate transformation given what we have learned of her character? Would another transformation have been more, or less, effective?
- Why might Hans be uncomfortable seeing visitors towards the film’s conclusion (a closing scene added after the origin version tested poorly with audiences)?
- Does this film ultimately do more to undercut and explode common ableist assumptions that stigmatize those with disabilities, or does it perpetuate such prejudicial assumptions?
Freaks (1932)
one poster from original film release
Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu
