Freaks

I am just grateful that so much has changed since the time that this movie was made. First, I find it pretty upsetting that there were actual exhibitions like this where the differences between people were drawn upon. It's obvious that the "freaks" in the show were in a kind of family unit, but I think it's sad that they came together as part of sideshow. Like the "mother" of the ones with microcephaly. She obviously cares for them, but still allows them to be paraded around as part of a laugh for someone else. It's just sad to me. And they don't really know any better, either. And then there was the ending. The retribution laid upon Cleo. Although her end seems just, I don't agree with it. I think it just reinforces the idea that "freaks" like them are dangerous, and widens the gap between "normal" people and anyone who seems different. I don't really think that extreme of a measure was deserved. All that does is continue a cycle of fear and mistrust. I know that overall, the film humanized those with physical deformities- however, seeing poor Zip(or Pip) advancing in the rain with a knife in her hand!- was one of the most frightening images of all. Seeing someone who wouldn't know better taught to think or act that way- that to me, is one of the most frightening and dangerous things imaginable.