Freaks, Geeks, and the Circus

As I was reading the article "One of Us": Tod Browning's Freaks by Joan Hawkins, I thought a lot about how the themes that Hawkins identifies as central to Freaks, are present in both Geek Love and Night at the Circus. The main themes that I immediately could connect to the two novels are constraints, the born vs. created debate, and gender difference.

In the article, Hawkins describes the scene where the circus freaks seek revenge: "...its overt sense of menace derives from the fact that the freaks can not be contained" (p. 269). In Geek Love and Nights at the Circus, it seems that in the end, the characters still remained confined rather than breaking through that which constrains them: we do not really find out the effect that all of Oly's hard work and determination to keep Miranda's tail actually had on Miranda (and if the Binewksi name and tradition will be carried on); as for Fevvers, despite her uncomfortableness at the very notion of a woman desiring for a man to save her and her blatant opposition to marriage, Fevvers ends up needing to be saved by Walser in the end in order to feel whole and vibrant, and does in fact marry him.

Hawkins states that after the revenge scene, Cleo undergoes a final transformation into the chicken-woman, suggesting that Cleo is "constructed, not born, as a freak" (p. 270). First of all, it is interesting to note that the chicken/egg symbolism appears in both Geek Love (through Chick and what his name represents) and Nights at the Circus (through Fevvers having hatched from an egg, and recurring egg symbolism throughout the novel), these references highlighting the debate of whether a true freak is indeed born, or created. It is also interesting to think that Cleo is turned into a chicken-woman: half bird, half woman, just like Fevvers.

Lastly, Hawkins comments that the movie Freaks represents an obsession with both physical difference, and gender difference. Although the gender arguments being made through Freaks appear to be slightly different than those in Geek Love and Nights at the Circus (based on the article, Freaks seems to put more of an emphasis on strong females feminizing male characters and on sexual ambiguity), it is still interesting to note that the theme comes up in all three texts.

Although I have not yet seen the movie, and can probably make a stronger argument once I have, I find it very interesting to see these themes coming up in many of the texts we have been studying. In addition, based on the article, I am both looking forward to seeing the film in class tomorrow, and a little nervous...