Carnivale

I enjoyed the reading on In Search of Freaks. It reminded me of the show Carnivale that ran on HBO a few years ago. The show was about a traveling carnival during the dust bowl era. And of course being a HBO series it was “Hollywood” filming; however, it was littered with facts and painted a great picture of a traveling “freak show.” In Search of Freaks gave four main types of “freaks.” And carnival did a great job including them all. The show had a bearded lady (made freak); Siamese twins (born freaks), turtle boy (gaffed freak) and fire breathers (novelty act). After reading that freak shows became an institution I realized that that’s exactly what the traveling freak show in Carnivale was. They had their own set of rules and in a sense it was a large family. In one episode they displayed carnival justice. After an outsider killed one of their own they held a trial. They did this by having the defendant pick a number and play Russian roulette.  The show was able to put the “onstage freak” and “off stage freak” into perspective. For example Carnivale had a “cootch show.” In NM they picked a beautiful young Mexican woman to dance the cootch. But the manager of the cootch show had quite the introduction for this woman. He declared that she came from the majestic and mysterious lands of the Middle East, thus he presented her as exotic. She wore Middle Eastern accessories to amplify that exotic image. I recommend this show to anyone interested in the dust bowl era and the traveling “freak show.” The show really helps one understand the concept of In Search of Freaks that the social construction of freaks or the manufacture of freaks is the main attraction. After the curtain falls, it’s easy to see that the performers in Carnivale are actually human beings just like you and I.

Domalski, Josh