Freaks (1932)
In its own way, Freaks reflects the spectrum of exploitation and examines the ever-increasing cost associated with engaging with it, both as spectacle and spectator.
One of the film's greatest strengths was also a point of great contention: its use of actual circus "freaks". Contemporary audiences found the display to be revolting. But without this commitment to authenticity, the film's message of exploitation would have fallen flat.
We follow a circus troupe, partially populated by conventional individuals, but also manned by the titular freaks. The relatively typical individuals include Cleopatra or "Cleo", a trapeze artist, Hercules, the resident strongman, Phroso the clown and Venus the animal tamer.
The main attractions of the show, however, are much more diverse. They have all entered into an existence of contractual exploitation; they will allow themselves to be ogled and they will perform, but for a price.
Among them, there is both a half-man as well as a stump man. At one point we see the stump-man withdraw a cigarette from a box of matches, light it, and then light his cigarette all with his mouth. A similar skillset is displayed by the armless woman, as she eats carefully with her feet. We also see conjoined twins, a bearded lady, and an individual with a split-sex persona known as Joseph/Josephine. Additionally, the troupe features multiple individuals with dwarfism, chief among them the wealthy Hans.
Hans becomes the center of a conspiracy hatched by Cleo and Hercules wherein Cleo will marry him and then poison him to take his money.
The wedding feast is a cornucopia of rotten behavior on the part of Cleo, who shames her new husband by passionately kissing Hercules in front of the guests, while openly joking and laughing at Hans. Making matters worse, she rejects an overture of acceptance from the circus performers, declaring them "dirty, slimy freaks" before dashing them with the very drink they had offered her. In fairness, many lips had touched the glass at the point so some reservation is partly understandable; still, a "no, thank you" would have sufficed.
Her mistreatment of Hans prompts suspicion and surveillance of Cleo and Hercules by the freaks. Their strong sense of community is activated and they all fall in around their comrade. Hans’s entourage polishing their weapons as he sits up out of bed and demands the bottle of poison from Cleo provides a thrilling dramatic turn.
As the circus is traveling by night through a storm, a fight breaks out when Hercules attempts to kill Venus, who had voiced her suspicions about the plot. The sequence continues as the wagon is tipped over, incorporating dynamic camera angles and a bit of fire as Phroso and Hercules duke it out. Suspense builds as Hercules comes face to face with the freaks who crawl toward him through the mud and rain.
Cleo and Hercules both apparently meet their respective demises at the hands of the vengeful freaks. We are spared the details, though it is revealed Cleo is turned into a grotesque bird-like creature. Hans is reunited with Frieda, his estranged love from before Cleo's scheming.
By the film's end, the freaks have made one thing clear: contractual exploitation did not entitle others to exploit them outside that contract. Those who gawk at the freaks have paid the twofold price of admission: they bought their ticket and tacitly disclosed their desire to exploit. It is an ugly affair; but one which is agreed upon. Cleo paid no such price of admission; she sought to deceive and destroy, using the vulnerability of the freaks as a vector of attack. Their retribution was swift and just.
Standing as one of the founders of the genre, Freaks has strong things to say about exploitation: "You laughed at them, shuddered at them, and yet but for the accident of birth you might be even as they are. They did not ask to be brought into the world but into the world they came. Their code is a law unto themselves. Offend one and you offend them all."
Carefully examining the terms of the exploitation contract, Freaks is a fascinating if short-lived look into the lives of the vulnerable and what it means to incur their wrath.