freak!

Professor Imada touched on a variety of topics that interested me. However, one stood out to me and it was about P.T. Barnum's exhibitions. Professor Imada went into depth in describing how individuals who were races other than European were viewed as freaks. Another factor besides race was those who had disabilities. Individuals who did not look normal were seen as freaks and would be stared at, made fun of, and viewed as less than human. It was a common theme throughout this quarter how individuals of European decent or portrayed as a normal humans often felt superior to those who differed.

We were introduced at the beginning of the quarter to the theme of how Europeans often felt superior to those who were not in paintings such as these presented by Professor Herbert. He spoke about how individuals such as this Tapuyan man and woman are wearing little clothing and are presented with animalistic characteristics, such as the man with tusks in his face ,thus leading to curiosity through the epistemic technologies of man-to-man and specimen logic.

Albert EckhoutTapuyan Woman, 1641Copenhagen: National Museum

Albert EckhoutTapuyan Man, 1641Copenhagen: National Museum

Professor Imada showed us clips from television shows and movies to demonstrate how this theme was and still is relevant and apparent today.

As we learned about The Couple in the Cage, Julia Pastrana, and Ota Benga, I remembered how these stories and concepts were also portrayed in season five of American Horror Story entitled "Freak Show". Humans with disabilities led to curiosity. Humans without disabilities looked at how these individuals were different and were intrigued by how they were not normal. It was a sense of amusement for them, to treat those that had the disabilities poorly or to trick them. For the humans with no disabilities, this was entertainment.

I find this theme to be quite interesting and I will indeed think about having it be the topic of my research paper for next quarter. I believe that there are many forms of media to support the claims made my Professor Imada including both primary and secondary sources. Because of this, it would make for a very entertaining process when writing the research paper.

Page updated

Report abuse