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Further into Imperfecta Living Curiosities: Agency and Exploitation of the Teratological Body Curiosity draws us to the monstrous. But seeing is believing: whether in a book, a museum, or in a show, for centuries people have flocked to see “monsters” for themselves. In the 19th century, many people born with non-normative bodies performed as “freaks” in circus sideshows. Circuses became a sensation and they served as a forerunner to the modern entertainment industry. This exhibit explores the lives of the performers and showmen whose livelihoods depended on the public’s curiosity about seeing wondrous bodies for themselves. Seeing is Believing: Visualizing the Teratological Body When it comes to the wondrous, seeing is believing. From this page, you can explore some of the ways that “monsters” have been depicted over the centuries. Woodcuts in early modern texts, preservation in medical museums, and photography all have been used to display people. These technologies allowed one person’s image to travel across the world and allowed their subjects to “survive” beyond death. What Does It Mean to be "Other?" What does it mean to be a “monster?” What does it mean to be “normal?” These are not objective categories. They have changed meaning throughout history as people have become exposed to a wider diversity of nature, people, and ideas. From this path, you can explore some types of “Otherness” that have, throughout history, challenged apparently objective categories and shaped the direction of science.

Freaks (1932)--Loving Cup Scene

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Film and "Freaks" With the medium of film’s increasing popularity in the early 20th Century came new grounds for the representation of non-normative bodies. Though some short films were produced by sideshows, and others were created for medical purposes, the most famous and enduring example from this era is Tod Browning’s 1932 film Freaks, produced by MGM. Fresh off the heels of his 1931 success, Dracula, there were great expectations at the time of the film’s release. Browning held auditions for the ensemble of “freaks” that would lead the film, and ended up with many of the top performers of the time. Despite the producer’s insistence that what was portrayed was close in keeping with the conditions of real circuses, many critics and audience members alike found the film to be morally objectionable, and indeed its lack of success at the box office mirrored these attitudes.

The plot of the film revolves around Hans, a little person who has become infatuated with Cleopatra, a trapeze artist born of “normal” proportions. After much courting, Cleopatra agrees to marry Hans, though the viewer is made aware that she is only interested in the fortune he has inherited through the warnings of Frieda, another little person employed by the Circus as a bare-back rider. The scene shown here has become one of the film’s most iconic, portraying the groups’ intended acceptance of Cleopatra as “one of us,” and ultimately her vitriolic rejection of their otherness.

Though the film attempts to portray its group of “freaks” sympathetically, imbuing them with a sense of humanity and dignity at times, it ultimately portrays them too frequently, and finally, as “monsters,” and MGM ultimately pulled the film shortly after its release, relegating it temporarily to obscurity, and ultimately ensuring its place as a divisive cult classic.