The Greatest Showman has been extremely successful. It has been highly anticipated and been promoted excessively. It’s been one of the biggest hits on Box Office with an impressive 434, 5 million US dollars made. Based on the true story of Phineas Taylor Barnum or more commonly known as PT. Barnum. Having grown up in poverty, Barnum is determined to make a life for his wife and children, and also the approval of his wife’s father. Barnum struggles to make money and comes home one day heartbroken after being fired from his job which is unfortunately also the day of his daughter’s birthday. After weeks of trying to make money, he makes a risky decision to get a loan from the bank and buys Barum’s American museum. And from then on the movie goes downhill.
He hires a few “freaks” and becomes successful and a few more characters come into the story. He becomes more successful and later is faced with losing all of his fame and fortune because he lost sight of what is really important. The movie has had many good reviews and people have praised the movie because the feel like I sends out a “positive” message and shows that everyone is equal. I firmly disagree. If it shows that everyone is equal why would there be a whole circus for “freaks”. In the behind the scenes the Director states that PT. Barnum created a place for the freaks to feel loved and equal. Hollywood sugar coated the whole story of PT. Barnum. They have glorified a man who became rich by exploiting people with disabilities.
At the end of the movie when Barnum is at his lowest, the oddities come to his rescue and take him back even though he betrayed them and treated them like freaks. I feel like that doesn’t send out a very good message especially to young viewers. The real PT. Barnum didn’t treat the “freaks” like family, he treated them like animals. “Zip the Pinhead” was a dwarf with a disease called microcephaly, a condition in which a baby’s head is significantly smaller than expected, often due to abnormal brain development. He was dressed up in a furry suit, put in a cage and was ordered to screech and rattle the bars. Barnum also claimed to disagree with slavery, but he bought Joice Heth for $1000, a partially-paralysed and blind slave. He showed her off as a 161-year-old woman.
