Word: sideshow
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...Life--" the carnival barker shouts, striking a frightening pose and pausing dramatically, his crazed face illuminated by the kerosene lamp, "is full of surprises...behold the Terriblele Elephant Man." The curtain is swept away. In the mist and shadows, only the silhouette of the sideshow freak is visible--the twisted, lumpy torso and the horrid, enormous head. The place is London, the year is 1883, and John Merrick, a victim of fate and society, meets Dr. Frederick Treves, the man who will change his life...
...takes him for an imbecile: "For his own sake, I pray to God he's an idiot." But the doctor soon discovers that his specimen is not only intelligent, but well-read and inquisitive, a sensitive young man painfully aware of his condition. Refusing to return him to his sideshow master, Treves sets out to educate the incurable Elephant Man, to make him an example of Victorian refinement, to prove that kindness and culture can bring out the beauty...
...early scenes make clear Treves' conflict between mind and heart. When the sideshow curtain is flung back, revealing Merrick for the first time, the camera slowly zooms toward Hopkins as his mouth hangs open and his eyes stare unblinking. He suppresses a scream and then a wince as horror replaces terror and sorrow replaces horror on his face. Later, when Treves displays Merrick before the audience of physicians, he must describe, in detail, his physical distortions. Hopkins delivers these lines quickly, his short clipped sentences and detached, analytical tone fighting the emotion that threatens to crack his voice...
...downright appalling, many critics would say. The thrill shows appeal and cater to the viewers' infantile instincts. Film Professor Richard Sklar of New York University compares these programs to a circus sideshow. "The grotesque aspects of popular culture-burlesque, vaudeville variety and pulp magazines-are finding expression on TV today. Television does not go out on a limb; it trails what is happening in society." Some of the toughest condemnations of the shows come from broadcasters. Morley Safer of 60 Minutes blasts such programming as "the worst brew of bad taste yet concocted by the network witches...
...only surprise Carny offers the viewer is its relentless ordinariness. A movie that promises, in its first reels, to update Nightmare Alley, the old Tyrone Power sideshow shocker, soon relaxes into a standard triangle tale of love, jealousy and reconciliation. No freaks, no geeks-just two pals and a nymphet with a heart of gold. All that is left is the oldtime star power of the lead performers: Robertson, with his motel-room eyes and a voice like pure nicotine; Gary Busey, strong and lovable behind his goony, gummy smile; and Jodie Foster, poised for a swan dive into young...