KilroywasNOTHere
"BEEP!"
What it says in the title. It seems like Just ten years ago it wasn't hard to find to find articles about the various "Greatest shows on earth." whether it be news articles, videos, people posting Dark Fantasy fics, costumes. then it seems like somewhere in 2014 something happened. Not only did people seem suddenly stop finding wonder in it, but suddenly word words "offense and cruel" started to pop up.
the Barnum & Bailey Circus officially shut its doors in 2017 and it seems like since then the circus has just thoroughly been scrubbed from the American culture. Even in the internet where "Things never die." anytime I try to look up the circus or merlin forbid "Circus freaks" I'm met with broken links or that one season of American horror story that Chrissy Metz (or as she's sadly more well known, "That one chick from This Is Us." was in. Now adays if you type in the circus, it's all outside of American.
I don't know. There's something about this I just find sad. While The circus I don't think was ever as popular as baseball it did have a prominent place within American culture, and it still holds a place of wonder for me both in the fantasy sense and in a real sense. Where else are you going to see a clown perform daredevil like tricks, or lions and tigers and bears all within a few feet from each other. Not to mention people riding elephants. I can't help but think even in the time of video games and the internet that there should still be a place for things like this. Heck even more so now.
the most common arguments I've heard against the circus is as follows.
1. "Circus freaks" are common everyday people. Not only are people like "A fat lady" and "a tattooed man." common site, but marginalizing them and treating them like zoo exhibits is cruel and wrong.
It's true that these sorts of oddities are more commonplace nowadays, you want to see a 500 lb man or woman, go to your nearest Wal-Mart. You want to see a man or woman covered head to toe in tattoos and piercings go to LA or San fran, but I'd argue that in spite of such things being more commonplace now, the circus still would grants such people one thing that everyday America would never provide. That is a sense of gravitas.
Take a look at Dolly Dimples. Even if you don't recognize her name right off the bat, you've more than likely seen her image invoked. her real name was Celesta Herrmann and she was born in Cincinnati on July 18, 1901. She was nothing too out of the ordinary aside from the fact that she was a little short, (4ft 11 in to be exact) she really didn't gain weight until she met a fat admirer named Frank Geyer. At the time she weighed 150 lbs. the two fell in love and she'd blow up by 100 lbs as a result. the happy couple would visit a traveling carnival outside of Detroit called "The Happy land carnival" where Celesta would discover that she outweighed the Circus's "world's fattest lady" by about 50 lbs (Yeah hard to believe there was a time were weighing 200 lbs was enough to get you dubbed as "The World's fattest woman" and no one would question it.) She was offered a job on the spot, thus her career in showmanship was jumpstarted.
seemingly enjoying her newfound attention, she decided to try to make herself an even bigger attraction, quite literally. It's often said she'd consume about 10,000 calories daily to try to bulk herself up. Eventually she would catch the attention of the Ringling Bros. Circus and at the height of her popularity in the 30s, she weighed approximately 555 lbs.
After suffering a heart attack in 1950 she decided to shed the weight and shed it she did. She lost 443 lbs, became a prominent author and fitness guru, has The Guinness Book of World Record for losing the most weight in the shortest amount of time and lived to be over 80 years old. Heart attack aside I'd say she had a pretty good run.
by today's standard, even for her height her weight doesn't seem that out of the ordinary. Heck nowadays we have a whole cable channel dedicated to pointing and laughing at such people and we ironically call it "The Learning Channel" really, even for her time she wasn't the lady with the biggest BMI in town, and yet while at the Circus all eyes were on her while she was performing. Yes, there was some pointing and laughing, but there was also a sense of wonder and imagination, something you'd never get from junky reality tv.
and that's just one performing trope. You know a group of people that's getting increasingly marginalized and having a hard time finding work? Those that suffer from dwarfism. there was just recently a story about how Peter Dinklage has gotten ripped apart by other dwarves because he's now potentially cut off another avenue for them to work in because "dwarves in fantasy are offensive" and because he spoke before thinking there is a possibility that Disney will now scarp the 7 dwarves in their upcoming Snow White movie, which means you now have seven people that were not only cut off from having a well-paying gig, but also cut off them off from the ability to raise awareness about Achondroplasia and promote themselves. (Now there is a conspiracy about whether this was purposely done on Peter's part because he doesn't want the competition, but that's a topic for another time)
Now let me be clear, I'm not saying everyone that suffers from Achondroplasia needs to join the circus and become a clown or a stunt performer and I can't say I speak for anybody. I'm just someone on the outside looking in, but what I think I can say is that everyone has to start somewhere and giving people such as these more avenues to promote themselves and show the world what they can do can't hurt. Yes, money is important and yes programs to help the disabled exist, but what welfare programs can't provide is a sense of agency. It can't provide an avenue where people are treated more like a wonder and less like a joke (Again, but what looking at you reality television)
even ignoring all of that, you still have Strongmen, you still have acrobats, you still have magicians. People seem to be focused on the pointing and laughing reality TV part of the circus that they've forgotten it's also (and possibly more importantly) theater and showmanship, something that in spite of the age of CGI and virtual reality seems to be gravely missing in today's entertainment.
2. "Animal abuse is rampant in the circus, and it should not be encouraged or supported."
I won't actually argue against this, nor will I defend the practice. I don't know near enough about animal care and from what I have heard from actual experts, the conditions and treatment of most circus animals was pretty abhorrent both for the animals and often the young interns that had to help care for them. I don't think that should be encouraged or supported.
That doesn't mean the baby should be thrown out with the bath water. There are animals out there that do have a natural disposition to show off. and there are animal trainers and caretakers that actually know what they are doing. Not only can these sorts of things help animals that may naturally be endangered they can and have help sparked people's passion for nature and create a new generation of nature conversationalist. This is a case where Professionalism needs to be encouraged
3. "We've grown past that sort of thing and don't need such lowbrow entertainment anymore.
Las Vegas and "America's got Talent" says hi.
the Barnum & Bailey Circus officially shut its doors in 2017 and it seems like since then the circus has just thoroughly been scrubbed from the American culture. Even in the internet where "Things never die." anytime I try to look up the circus or merlin forbid "Circus freaks" I'm met with broken links or that one season of American horror story that Chrissy Metz (or as she's sadly more well known, "That one chick from This Is Us." was in. Now adays if you type in the circus, it's all outside of American.
I don't know. There's something about this I just find sad. While The circus I don't think was ever as popular as baseball it did have a prominent place within American culture, and it still holds a place of wonder for me both in the fantasy sense and in a real sense. Where else are you going to see a clown perform daredevil like tricks, or lions and tigers and bears all within a few feet from each other. Not to mention people riding elephants. I can't help but think even in the time of video games and the internet that there should still be a place for things like this. Heck even more so now.
the most common arguments I've heard against the circus is as follows.
1. "Circus freaks" are common everyday people. Not only are people like "A fat lady" and "a tattooed man." common site, but marginalizing them and treating them like zoo exhibits is cruel and wrong.
It's true that these sorts of oddities are more commonplace nowadays, you want to see a 500 lb man or woman, go to your nearest Wal-Mart. You want to see a man or woman covered head to toe in tattoos and piercings go to LA or San fran, but I'd argue that in spite of such things being more commonplace now, the circus still would grants such people one thing that everyday America would never provide. That is a sense of gravitas.
Take a look at Dolly Dimples. Even if you don't recognize her name right off the bat, you've more than likely seen her image invoked. her real name was Celesta Herrmann and she was born in Cincinnati on July 18, 1901. She was nothing too out of the ordinary aside from the fact that she was a little short, (4ft 11 in to be exact) she really didn't gain weight until she met a fat admirer named Frank Geyer. At the time she weighed 150 lbs. the two fell in love and she'd blow up by 100 lbs as a result. the happy couple would visit a traveling carnival outside of Detroit called "The Happy land carnival" where Celesta would discover that she outweighed the Circus's "world's fattest lady" by about 50 lbs (Yeah hard to believe there was a time were weighing 200 lbs was enough to get you dubbed as "The World's fattest woman" and no one would question it.) She was offered a job on the spot, thus her career in showmanship was jumpstarted.
seemingly enjoying her newfound attention, she decided to try to make herself an even bigger attraction, quite literally. It's often said she'd consume about 10,000 calories daily to try to bulk herself up. Eventually she would catch the attention of the Ringling Bros. Circus and at the height of her popularity in the 30s, she weighed approximately 555 lbs.
After suffering a heart attack in 1950 she decided to shed the weight and shed it she did. She lost 443 lbs, became a prominent author and fitness guru, has The Guinness Book of World Record for losing the most weight in the shortest amount of time and lived to be over 80 years old. Heart attack aside I'd say she had a pretty good run.
by today's standard, even for her height her weight doesn't seem that out of the ordinary. Heck nowadays we have a whole cable channel dedicated to pointing and laughing at such people and we ironically call it "The Learning Channel" really, even for her time she wasn't the lady with the biggest BMI in town, and yet while at the Circus all eyes were on her while she was performing. Yes, there was some pointing and laughing, but there was also a sense of wonder and imagination, something you'd never get from junky reality tv.
and that's just one performing trope. You know a group of people that's getting increasingly marginalized and having a hard time finding work? Those that suffer from dwarfism. there was just recently a story about how Peter Dinklage has gotten ripped apart by other dwarves because he's now potentially cut off another avenue for them to work in because "dwarves in fantasy are offensive" and because he spoke before thinking there is a possibility that Disney will now scarp the 7 dwarves in their upcoming Snow White movie, which means you now have seven people that were not only cut off from having a well-paying gig, but also cut off them off from the ability to raise awareness about Achondroplasia and promote themselves. (Now there is a conspiracy about whether this was purposely done on Peter's part because he doesn't want the competition, but that's a topic for another time)
Now let me be clear, I'm not saying everyone that suffers from Achondroplasia needs to join the circus and become a clown or a stunt performer and I can't say I speak for anybody. I'm just someone on the outside looking in, but what I think I can say is that everyone has to start somewhere and giving people such as these more avenues to promote themselves and show the world what they can do can't hurt. Yes, money is important and yes programs to help the disabled exist, but what welfare programs can't provide is a sense of agency. It can't provide an avenue where people are treated more like a wonder and less like a joke (Again, but what looking at you reality television)
even ignoring all of that, you still have Strongmen, you still have acrobats, you still have magicians. People seem to be focused on the pointing and laughing reality TV part of the circus that they've forgotten it's also (and possibly more importantly) theater and showmanship, something that in spite of the age of CGI and virtual reality seems to be gravely missing in today's entertainment.
2. "Animal abuse is rampant in the circus, and it should not be encouraged or supported."
I won't actually argue against this, nor will I defend the practice. I don't know near enough about animal care and from what I have heard from actual experts, the conditions and treatment of most circus animals was pretty abhorrent both for the animals and often the young interns that had to help care for them. I don't think that should be encouraged or supported.
That doesn't mean the baby should be thrown out with the bath water. There are animals out there that do have a natural disposition to show off. and there are animal trainers and caretakers that actually know what they are doing. Not only can these sorts of things help animals that may naturally be endangered they can and have help sparked people's passion for nature and create a new generation of nature conversationalist. This is a case where Professionalism needs to be encouraged
3. "We've grown past that sort of thing and don't need such lowbrow entertainment anymore.
Las Vegas and "America's got Talent" says hi.
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