Freaks?

In viewing the movie “Freaks” by director Tod Browning the thing that stood out to me was the way the movie was sectioned.  Before the “wedding” scene the audience views the “freaks” as “freaks” because they are in the normal person’s world.  We see the “freaks” against the backdrop of “normal” people so the audience can see the great differences between the “freaks” and the “normal” people. However, after the wedding sense we being seeing the freaks as more than just defined by their physical ability and we look at them as a community. The “freaks” in the move seemed to have a small community where they all understood each other and protected each other. Much like the freak shows that we have been talking about in class these “freaks” seemed to have found a family of equals; they all accepted each other for who they were because they knew that the world would not.  In my interpretation I believe that Tod Browning was not trying to show us the conventional “freak”, but trying to paint a picture that the freaks were really Cleopatra and Hercules. They were the two characters in the movie that seemed to stand out among a community of people. I believe that when defining the word “freak” you have to look at the context of the situation and the surroundings. If the color of my skin was hot pink and so was everyone else would I be labeled a freak?
-Sarah F.