I found Tod Browning’s Freaks to be a really interesting film, and it is going in my movie collection. The first half consists of the characters and their day to day life. We see them eating, drinking, doing laundry, basking in the birth of a child, and even an armless and legless man lighting and smoking a cigarette (somebody said this was really powerful, and I definitely agree). Perhaps their daily routine is not the most exciting thing to watch, but it demonstrates that "they" are deep down no different from "us.”
On the other hand, the Freaks do think of themselves as being different and are subject to isolation from the world – as a disabled person I would be lying if I said I’ve never felt this way, it is something I’ve dealt with my entire life. The "normal" people and the Freaks themselves constantly reinforce this “separation” throughout the film. There are a lot of references to animals, sometimes as insults to a particular character. For instance, Hans is called a bug or an ape. At the wedding party, the "We accept you, one of us" chant also shows how they are a distinct group of people.
- Josh Steffen
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