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Freaks

 Freaks
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TVTItem
 Freaks
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Freaks
 Freaks
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Freaks
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Freaks is a 1932 MGM horror film about sideshow performers, directed and produced by Tod Browning (coming off of his success with the previous year's Dracula) and featuring a cast mostly composed of actual carnival performers. The film is very loosely based on Tod Robbins' 1923 short story "Spurs".Browning had earlier performed as a contortionist in a traveling circus, and much of the film was drawn from his personal experiences. He also took the unusual step of casting real people with deformities as the titular sideshow "freaks", rather than using costumes and makeup on conventional actors. In the film, the "freaks" are generally depicted as sensitive, kind, and well-meaning people. This contrasts with two of the "normal" circus performers, Cleopatra the acrobat and Hercules the weightlifter, who conspire to murder one of the "freaks" (a dwarf named Hans) and steal his large inheritance.Upon release, the film was met with nothing short of extreme backlash from patrons, who reportedly ran out of the theater in fear; one woman attempted to sue MGM under the claim that the film caused her to suffer a miscarriage. As a result, the movie had several of its most disturbing scenes excised and permanently destroyed, cutting its 90-minute runtime down to just over an hour; this didn't do anything to quell the outcry, and it died an undignified death in the box office as a result. Seemingly relegated to Hollywood's dustbin, the film was rediscovered over 30 years later by the midnight theater crowd, leading it to gain a following as a Cult Classic and lost gem of pre-Code film history.One bit of influence the film has had: The "Gooble gobble, we accept her, one of us" chant with which the freaks welcome Cleo (not that she appreciates it) was worked into the songs "Pinhead" by The Ramones, "Donkeytown" by Doctor Steel, and "Separated Out" by Marillion, and has long since eclipsed the film itself in pop-culture prominence. David Bowie also namedropped the movie and its director in the title song on his album Diamond Dogs.Not to be confused with the 2018 film Freaks, the 2020 film Freaks: You’re One of Us, or the series Freaks and Geeks.
 Freaks
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2024-03-19T00:31:53Z
 Freaks
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2024-03-19T00:31:53Z
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Dropped link to AnAesop: Not a Feature - IGNORE
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DBTropes
 Freaks / int_18aff462
type
Artistic License – Biology
 Freaks / int_18aff462
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Artistic License – Biology: The deleted scene with Hercules as a soprano – castration of an adult male doesn't create the potential of a soprano voice; that would be a castrato, who were castrated before puberty. Once a man's voice deepens, it never reverses, testicles or not.note On the other hand, given the modifications the "freaks" were able to do on Cleo, they might have found a way to "adjust" Hercules' voice.
 Freaks / int_18aff462
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Freaks / int_18aff462
 Freaks / int_2429030d
type
Cutlass Between the Teeth
 Freaks / int_2429030d
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Cutlass Between the Teeth: In the climax, the limbless Randian is seen wriggling towards the antagonist with a knife clenched between his teeth.
 Freaks / int_2429030d
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1.0
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Freaks / int_2429030d
 Freaks / int_259dc974
type
The Freakshow
 Freaks / int_259dc974
comment
The Freakshow: The film is set in one for the vast majority of its plot.
 Freaks / int_259dc974
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Freaks / int_259dc974
 Freaks / int_26fa627a
type
Elephant in the Living Room
 Freaks / int_26fa627a
comment
Elephant in the Living Room: Nobody directly mentions that Daisy and Violet are conjoined twins, not even when the fiancé of one meets the fiancé of the other. The two men even mention visiting the other couple even though logistically, they'd all have to live in one house.
 Freaks / int_26fa627a
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Freaks / int_26fa627a
 Freaks / int_2764d432
type
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
 Freaks / int_2764d432
comment
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Cleopatra. She pretends to love Hans so she could marry him and then take all his money.
 Freaks / int_2764d432
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1.0
 Freaks / int_2764d432
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Freaks / int_2764d432
 Freaks / int_2a015a74
type
Beauty Equals Goodness
 Freaks / int_2a015a74
comment
Beauty Equals Goodness: Inverted with the titular "freaks" who are actually very friendly and gentle people, despite not portraying the classic "standard" of beauty; the ones who do meanwhile are the antagonists. Played straight though with Venus.
 Freaks / int_2a015a74
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Freaks / int_2a015a74
 Freaks / int_2ddddebf
type
Hostile Weather
 Freaks / int_2ddddebf
comment
Hostile Weather: Used memorably in the climax.
 Freaks / int_2ddddebf
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Freaks / int_2ddddebf
 Freaks / int_2e52839c
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Proud Papa Passes Out the Cigars
 Freaks / int_2e52839c
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Proud Papa Passes Out the Cigars: When the Human Skeleton's child was born, he was later seen passing out cigars in celebration.
 Freaks / int_2e52839c
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Freaks / int_2e52839c
 Freaks / int_2f36d97
type
Older Than They Look
 Freaks / int_2f36d97
comment
Older Than They Look: Hans and Frieda, by oh-so-very-much. They may look like children, but they're both adults and quite eligible for marriage.
 Freaks / int_2f36d97
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 Freaks / int_2f36d97
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Freaks / int_2f36d97
 Freaks / int_310356c9
type
Color Me Black
 Freaks / int_310356c9
comment
Color Me Black: Cleo, whose hatred for the disabled people around her drives the plot, ends up becoming a sort of human chicken. Hercules acts like a misogynistic bully throughout the movie, but one of his most pointlessly cruel acts is the way he torments Josephine Joseph, revolted by their androgyny. In the lost scene that concluded his character arc, Hercules is made androgynous too.
 Freaks / int_310356c9
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Freaks / int_310356c9
 Freaks / int_319e4a2f
type
Even Evil Has Standards
 Freaks / int_319e4a2f
comment
Even Evil Has Standards: While not evil, Roscoe is definitely a bit of a jerk, and hung out with Hercules and mocked Josephine Joseph at the start. But toward the end, after it comes out that Hercules probably had (and of course, did have) a hand in poisoning Hans, we see Roscoe pointedly avoiding Hercules' company, refusing to talk to him.
 Freaks / int_319e4a2f
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Freaks / int_319e4a2f
 Freaks / int_32821ceb
type
The Unintelligible
 Freaks / int_32821ceb
comment
The Unintelligible: Schlitzie, on account of her microcephaly (a common complication of which is neurocognitive impairment).
 Freaks / int_32821ceb
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1.0
 Freaks / int_32821ceb
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Freaks / int_32821ceb
 Freaks / int_391b966b
type
Ugly Hero, Good-Looking Villain
 Freaks / int_391b966b
comment
Ugly Hero, Good-Looking Villain: The titular "freaks" (especially Hans and his lover Frieda) each have nearly every possible body dysfunction one could have, but they're good-hearted and look out for each other, meanwhile, in contrast, there's the beautiful trapeze singer Cleopatra and her handsome lover Hercules who view the "freaks" as abominations and tools to take advantage of, including Hans, who nearly got conned into marrying Cleoparta, who would plan to kill him for his wealth.
 Freaks / int_391b966b
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Freaks / int_391b966b
 Freaks / int_3f45f1e6
type
Adaptational Heroism
 Freaks / int_3f45f1e6
comment
Adaptational Heroism: In the original "Spurs" story, the freaks are all depicted as vainglorious, self-centered, and in competition with one another. This is in contrast with the film, where they form a nurturing and mutually supportive quasi-family.
 Freaks / int_3f45f1e6
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Freaks / int_3f45f1e6
 Freaks / int_4063fe0d
type
Stock Shout-Outs
 Freaks / int_4063fe0d
comment
Stock Shout-Outs: The "One of Us" chant.
 Freaks / int_4063fe0d
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Freaks / int_4063fe0d
 Freaks / int_44938457
type
The Strongman
 Freaks / int_44938457
comment
The Strongman: Hercules works as the circus's strongman.
 Freaks / int_44938457
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1.0
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Freaks / int_44938457
 Freaks / int_44c59f9f
type
IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy
 Freaks / int_44c59f9f
comment
I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Frieda tells Hans she only wants him to be happy but knows Cleopatra will make him anything but.
 Freaks / int_44c59f9f
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Freaks / int_44c59f9f
 Freaks / int_4510b368
type
Ambiguous Gender
 Freaks / int_4510b368
comment
Ambiguous Gender: Josephine Joseph. It's still unknown whether the performer was a man, woman, or genuinely intersex, as advertised.
 Freaks / int_4510b368
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 Freaks / int_4510b368
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Freaks / int_4510b368
 Freaks / int_4852f325
type
I Just Want to Be Normal
 Freaks / int_4852f325
comment
I Just Want to Be Normal: Hans is implied to have some feelings of self-hatred over being a little person. This, presumably, is why he finds the idea of a relationship with the "normal" Cleo so exciting, considering her inherently more desirable than Frieda.
 Freaks / int_4852f325
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 Freaks / int_4852f325
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Freaks / int_4852f325
 Freaks / int_48c99e19
type
Death by Adaptation
 Freaks / int_48c99e19
comment
Death by Adaptation: In the comic adaptation, Hans blinds Hercules with a razor then runs him over with a carriage.
 Freaks / int_48c99e19
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1.0
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Freaks / int_48c99e19
 Freaks / int_4dd46feb
type
Polar Opposite Twins
 Freaks / int_4dd46feb
comment
Polar Opposite Twins: Violet is a fiery party girl; Daisy is a demure homebody.
 Freaks / int_4dd46feb
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1.0
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Freaks / int_4dd46feb
 Freaks / int_504a1991
type
Body Horror
 Freaks / int_504a1991
comment
Body Horror: It's basically Body Horror: The Movie; armless, legless, limbless, conjoined twins, dwarfism, intersex, everything that can go wrong with the human body and still live is on display here. Downplayed, since the whole point of the movie is that the "freaks" are still human beings, and shouldn't be treated any different because of a medical issue. What the freaks do to Hercules and Cleo counts as well. Being forcibly castrated and disfigured beyond recognition is far from a pleasant fate, after all.
 Freaks / int_504a1991
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Freaks / int_504a1991
 Freaks / int_53243b25
type
Conjoined Twins
 Freaks / int_53243b25
comment
Conjoined Twins: Daisy and Violet, played by real-life conjoined twins.
 Freaks / int_53243b25
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1.0
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Freaks / int_53243b25
 Freaks / int_5360c039
type
Karmic Transformation
 Freaks / int_5360c039
comment
Karmic Transformation: Cleo, Cleo, Cleo... do NOT piss off the circus freaks...
 Freaks / int_5360c039
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1.0
 Freaks / int_5360c039
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Freaks / int_5360c039
 Freaks / int_56dd38a0
type
Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone
 Freaks / int_56dd38a0
comment
Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone: In the end, as Hans and Frieda reconcile, Venus and Phroso quietly leave the mansion so the two could have the moment together.
 Freaks / int_56dd38a0
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 Freaks / int_56dd38a0
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Freaks / int_56dd38a0
 Freaks / int_575fd5e2
type
Dark Is Not Evil
 Freaks / int_575fd5e2
comment
Dark Is Not Evil: The "freaks" have deformities, but once you get past 'em, they're very pleasant. Rather, it's the "normal"-looking people who are the villains of the film, with their virulent ableism and overwhelming greed driving them to attempted murder and plenty of general skullduggery.
 Freaks / int_575fd5e2
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Freaks / int_575fd5e2
 Freaks / int_5941d75
type
Beta Couple
 Freaks / int_5941d75
comment
Beta Couple: Phroso and Venus, whose relationship is given a reasonable amount of screen time but not much narrative weight.
 Freaks / int_5941d75
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1.0
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Freaks / int_5941d75
 Freaks / int_5fcedca
type
Big Eater
 Freaks / int_5fcedca
comment
Big Eater: Hercules, who considers six eggs a light snack.
 Freaks / int_5fcedca
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1.0
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Freaks / int_5fcedca
 Freaks / int_685a6461
type
Circus of Fear
 Freaks / int_685a6461
comment
Circus of Fear: Zigzagged. The freaks are fairly mellow people unless angered.
 Freaks / int_685a6461
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1.0
 Freaks / int_685a6461
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Freaks / int_685a6461
 Freaks / int_71268450
type
Adaptation Title Change
 Freaks / int_71268450
comment
Adaptation Title Change: Freaks is very loosely based on the short story "Spurs".
 Freaks / int_71268450
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 Freaks / int_71268450
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Freaks / int_71268450
 Freaks / int_762b9223
type
Played for Laughs
 Freaks / int_762b9223
comment
Played for Laughs: The scenes involving the conjoined twins and their romantic laugh were intended to be Cringe Comedy to some degree.
 Freaks / int_762b9223
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 Freaks / int_762b9223
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Freaks / int_762b9223
 Freaks / int_7c4f6612
type
Comic-Book Adaptation
 Freaks / int_7c4f6612
comment
Comic-Book Adaptation: A four-issue miniseries came out in 1992, written by Frank's Jim Woodring and illustrated by Francisco Solano Lopez. Per The Dark Age of Comic Books, it's Darker and Edgier— and much more graphic about what gets done to Cleo.
 Freaks / int_7c4f6612
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 Freaks / int_7c4f6612
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Freaks / int_7c4f6612
 Freaks / int_80251be3
type
How We Got Here
 Freaks / int_80251be3
comment
How We Got Here: The film opens with a carnival barker telling circus-goers about a beautiful woman who was turned into a terrible freak. Then the camera cuts to Cleopatra in her trapeze, and the story starts.
 Freaks / int_80251be3
featureApplicability
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 Freaks / int_80251be3
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 Freaks
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Freaks / int_80251be3
 Freaks / int_8163e2bb
type
Dramatic Drop
 Freaks / int_8163e2bb
comment
Dramatic Drop: Cleo loudly drops the spoon used to give Hans his medicine when she realizes he is on to her.
 Freaks / int_8163e2bb
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Freaks / int_8163e2bb
 Freaks / int_82c4178b
type
"Join Us" Drone
 Freaks / int_82c4178b
comment
"Join Us" Drone: The famous "one of us" chant comes from a titular freaks accepting Cleo as someone who has joined them, whether she likes it or not. The difference is the context. The first time, they meant it in a friendly way since she was marrying Hans, a friend of theirs, that they considered family. But when she reveals she was stringing him along. They show her they meant it literally as well and makes sure her appearance reflects likewise at the end of the movie.
 Freaks / int_82c4178b
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 Freaks / int_82c4178b
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 Freaks
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Freaks / int_82c4178b
 Freaks / int_8b68d9a7
type
Stalker with a Crush
 Freaks / int_8b68d9a7
comment
Stalker with a Crush: There's a scene where one of the circus workers is telling a story about a guy who keeps showing up in the audience and proposing to marry her, but the viewer is probably too busy watching the armless Frances O'Connor use a knife and fork with her feet to listen.
 Freaks / int_8b68d9a7
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Freaks / int_8b68d9a7
 Freaks / int_8ed5c6e4
type
Asshole Victim
 Freaks / int_8ed5c6e4
comment
Asshole Victim: Hercules and Cleopatra. Cleopatra only married Hans for his money and attempted to kill him to obtain said money. She also vehemently rejected the freaks welcoming her into their family and mocked Hans for his dwarfism. Hercules was equally cruel to the freaks and attempted to kill Venus because she knew what he and Cleopatra were trying to do to Hans. They both get their comeuppance in the end.
 Freaks / int_8ed5c6e4
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Freaks / int_8ed5c6e4
 Freaks / int_90b66e22
type
Femme Fatale
 Freaks / int_90b66e22
comment
Femme Fatale: Cleopatra, whose beauty betrays her venomous scheming against Hans.
 Freaks / int_90b66e22
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Freaks / int_90b66e22
 Freaks / int_90e31482
type
Laser-Guided Karma
 Freaks / int_90e31482
comment
Laser-Guided Karma: Cleopatra, who looked down on the freaks, ends up becoming a side-show freak herself. note  In one of the cut scenes, the freaks castrate Hercules, turning him into a falsetto opera singer. Cleopatra is turned into a squawking "Chicken Woman", with her legs amputated, her face scarred, and her vocal chords ruined, along with being stuffed into a humiliatingly silly, sexless chicken costume that removes even the possibility of allowing her to present herself as appealing like some of the female freaks in the rest of the film. note Her transformation is even more gruesome in the comics adaptation, where the freaks begin by cutting most of her hair off in her trailer then mutilating her hands, feet and muscles of jaw, preventing definitively Cleo to closing her mouth. When she still manages to flee in the storm, they finish the job by shaving her head except for a few wisps left to stand out like clown hair, cutting off her nose and upper lip, burning her skin and removing her lower face flesh and most of her tongue, leaving his lower jaw hanging down and unusable . Only her beautiful bustline has been left perfectly intact to constantly remind Cleo of her lost beauty. When she's revealed in this state, her new caretaker has been instructed to feed her baby food and merely give her straw to sleep, defecate and urinate in, as though she's been reduced to the mental level of an animal, which the blank stare of her half closed right eye might also bear out- except she's hardly in a position to protest to the contrary, is she?
 Freaks / int_90e31482
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 Freaks / int_90e31482
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Freaks / int_90e31482
 Freaks / int_94e4c8ab
type
Betty and Veronica
 Freaks / int_94e4c8ab
comment
Betty and Veronica: Hans has to choose between the sweet, attainable ingenue Frieda and the exciting, sexy vamp Cleo. He chooses wrong.
 Freaks / int_94e4c8ab
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_94e4c8ab
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 Freaks
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Freaks / int_94e4c8ab
 Freaks / int_9d12bbc1
type
Foreshadowing
 Freaks / int_9d12bbc1
comment
Foreshadowing: At the wedding banquet, the freaks propose to accept Cleopatra as "one of us". By the end of the film, she had indeed become one of them in a way they (and she) had not intended.
 Freaks / int_9d12bbc1
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Freaks / int_9d12bbc1
 Freaks / int_9df812ad
type
Tiny Guy, Huge Girl
 Freaks / int_9df812ad
comment
Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Cleopatra is the huge girl to Hans' tiny guy while she pretends to love him.
 Freaks / int_9df812ad
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Freaks / int_9df812ad
 Freaks / int_9e0c3153
type
Punctuated! For! Emphasis!
 Freaks / int_9e0c3153
comment
Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
 Freaks / int_9e0c3153
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 Freaks / int_9e0c3153
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Freaks / int_9e0c3153
 Freaks / int_a39d6056
type
Nice to the Waiter
 Freaks / int_a39d6056
comment
Nice to the Waiter: Phroso being kind to Schlitzie and the Snow sisters, who are all mentally handicapped.
 Freaks / int_a39d6056
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1.0
 Freaks / int_a39d6056
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 Freaks
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Freaks / int_a39d6056
 Freaks / int_a46ea5c1
type
LightFeminineDarkFeminine
 Freaks / int_a46ea5c1
comment
Light Feminine Dark Feminine: Frieda and Cleopatra, respectively.
 Freaks / int_a46ea5c1
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1.0
 Freaks / int_a46ea5c1
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 Freaks
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Freaks / int_a46ea5c1
 Freaks / int_a5a6d7b3
type
Mutants
 Freaks / int_a5a6d7b3
comment
Mutants: Of a sort; the titular freaks' deformities are all ones that are now known to be the result of genetic mutations.
 Freaks / int_a5a6d7b3
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Freaks / int_a5a6d7b3
 Freaks / int_a7e47a11
type
Your Approval Fills Me with Shame
 Freaks / int_a7e47a11
comment
Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: An inversion (in which a villainous character directs this towards the sympathetic characters) during the famous "gobble gobble, one of us" scene. Even though Cleo (successfully) ingratiates herself with the freaks in order to scam Hans out of his fortune, she simply cannot hide her revulsion when they demonstrate their genuine acceptance of her.
 Freaks / int_a7e47a11
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Freaks / int_a7e47a11
 Freaks / int_a855802d
type
Crippling Castration
 Freaks / int_a855802d
comment
Crippling Castration: A deleted scene shows us that Hercules has been castrated by the Freaks and is now singing soprano. This is merciful compared to what happened to Cleo, or whatever she’s become.
 Freaks / int_a855802d
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1.0
 Freaks / int_a855802d
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1.0
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Freaks / int_a855802d
 Freaks / int_a8a04f6f
type
And I Must Scream
 Freaks / int_a8a04f6f
comment
And I Must Scream: Cleo in the final scene, unable to speak after... whatever has been done to her.
 Freaks / int_a8a04f6f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_a8a04f6f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Freaks
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Freaks / int_a8a04f6f
 Freaks / int_abad35b4
type
Soundtrack Dissonance
 Freaks / int_abad35b4
comment
Soundtrack Dissonance: SCARY SCARY TITLE CARD! Perfectly normal hanging-out scene involving circus performers. Who are freaks.
 Freaks / int_abad35b4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_abad35b4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Freaks
hasFeature
Freaks / int_abad35b4
 Freaks / int_aca54dad
type
Discreet Drink Disposal
 Freaks / int_aca54dad
comment
Discreet Drink Disposal: Hans spits out the poisoned medicine that Cleopatra gives him, by way of a handkerchief he hid under the covers of his bed.
 Freaks / int_aca54dad
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_aca54dad
featureConfidence
1.0
 Freaks
hasFeature
Freaks / int_aca54dad
 Freaks / int_b1346878
type
Fate Worse than Death
 Freaks / int_b1346878
comment
Fate Worse than Death: Cleopatra and Hercules. They don't kill them. Oh, no. That would be far too kind.
 Freaks / int_b1346878
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_b1346878
featureConfidence
1.0
 Freaks
hasFeature
Freaks / int_b1346878
 Freaks / int_bd50ec63
type
Battle in the Rain
 Freaks / int_bd50ec63
comment
Battle in the Rain: The final confrontation between Cleo, Hercules, and the freaks, in a driving rain.
 Freaks / int_bd50ec63
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_bd50ec63
featureConfidence
1.0
 Freaks
hasFeature
Freaks / int_bd50ec63
 Freaks / int_c313d43a
type
True Companions
 Freaks / int_c313d43a
comment
True Companions: The freaks are a family, and if you mess with one member, you mess with all of them. Cleopatra and Hercules find this out too late.
 Freaks / int_c313d43a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_c313d43a
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1.0
 Freaks
hasFeature
Freaks / int_c313d43a
 Freaks / int_d087a0b6
type
Sex by Proxy
 Freaks / int_d087a0b6
comment
Sex by Proxy: Daisy and Violet, necessarily. They can each feel the other's emotions. The scene where one twin kisses her fiancé and the other twin lights up with pleasure is a surprisingly explicit allusion to this.
 Freaks / int_d087a0b6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_d087a0b6
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Freaks / int_d087a0b6
 Freaks / int_dcd423d2
type
Affectionate Nickname
 Freaks / int_dcd423d2
comment
Affectionate Nickname: Hans, in one scene, calls his fiancée Frieda "Friedchen," the German pet form of her name.
 Freaks / int_dcd423d2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_dcd423d2
featureConfidence
1.0
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Freaks / int_dcd423d2
 Freaks / int_dd2fe8c3
type
Porky Pig Pronunciation
 Freaks / int_dd2fe8c3
comment
Porky Pig Pronunciation: Roscoe has a really bad stammer.
 Freaks / int_dd2fe8c3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_dd2fe8c3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Freaks
hasFeature
Freaks / int_dd2fe8c3
 Freaks / int_e13156e1
type
Mama Bear
 Freaks / int_e13156e1
comment
Mama Bear: Circus owner Madame Tetrallini where the more vulnerable freaks are concerned. She even calls them her "children."
 Freaks / int_e13156e1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_e13156e1
featureConfidence
1.0
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Freaks / int_e13156e1
 Freaks / int_e2ccee25
type
Animal Motifs
 Freaks / int_e2ccee25
comment
Animal Motifs: Cleo is referred to as "the peacock of the air". In the final scene, however, she's more of a chicken.
 Freaks / int_e2ccee25
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_e2ccee25
featureConfidence
1.0
 Freaks
hasFeature
Freaks / int_e2ccee25
 Freaks / int_e5421161
type
Expy
 Freaks / int_e5421161
comment
Expy: Not in the movie itself, but in "Spurs", Jacques Coubré (renamed Hans for the movie) is basically this for Tweedledee, the Big Bad of Tod Robbins' earlier work, The Unholy Three. Essentially, he's what Tweedledee would have been like had he actually gotten away with his crimes. The movie version of Hans is nothing like Tweedledee, however (despite his actor playing the character in the Unholy Three movie adaptations).
 Freaks / int_e5421161
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_e5421161
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1.0
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Freaks / int_e5421161
 Freaks / int_e563bf09
type
Insistent Terminology
 Freaks / int_e563bf09
comment
Insistent Terminology: "Children!? These are monsters!"
 Freaks / int_e563bf09
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_e563bf09
featureConfidence
1.0
 Freaks
hasFeature
Freaks / int_e563bf09
 Freaks / int_e567510d
type
Determinator
 Freaks / int_e567510d
comment
Determinator: The "freaks." Their lack of limbs and/or other essential parts does not stop them from trying to have as good a life as possible.
 Freaks / int_e567510d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_e567510d
featureConfidence
1.0
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Freaks / int_e567510d
 Freaks / int_eaf5a1ac
type
Groin Attack
 Freaks / int_eaf5a1ac
comment
Hercules acts like a misogynistic bully throughout the movie, but one of his most pointlessly cruel acts is the way he torments Josephine Joseph, revolted by their androgyny. In the lost scene that concluded his character arc, Hercules is made androgynous too.
 Freaks / int_eaf5a1ac
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_eaf5a1ac
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1.0
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Freaks / int_eaf5a1ac
 Freaks / int_eb81c601
type
Big Damn Heroes
 Freaks / int_eb81c601
comment
Big Damn Heroes: Phroso saving Venus from Hercules at the end, followed by the Freaks saving Phroso from Hercules.
 Freaks / int_eb81c601
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_eb81c601
featureConfidence
1.0
 Freaks
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Freaks / int_eb81c601
 Freaks / int_f64a9cf7
type
Earn Your Happy Ending
 Freaks / int_f64a9cf7
comment
Earn Your Happy Ending: The freaks take brutal revenge on Cleo and Hercules. Hans, feeling guilty over the whole thing (even though he only wanted Cleo exposed for her crime and the poison handed over), has lived as a recluse for years. But then we see Phroso and Venus together, and Frieda gets back together with Hans, comforting him, telling him it wasn't his fault and that she loves him.
 Freaks / int_f64a9cf7
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1.0
 Freaks / int_f64a9cf7
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Freaks / int_f64a9cf7
 Freaks / int_f6b2bfb7
type
Gold Digger
 Freaks / int_f6b2bfb7
comment
Gold Digger: The only reason Cleopatra was interested in Hans at all was because of his fortune.
 Freaks / int_f6b2bfb7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_f6b2bfb7
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 Freaks
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Freaks / int_f6b2bfb7
 Freaks / int_f829585a
type
Beauty Is Bad
 Freaks / int_f829585a
comment
Beauty Is Bad: Played straight with Cleo, who is as selfish as she is shallow. Although there are plenty of other good-looking characters who are treated a lot more sympathetically.
 Freaks / int_f829585a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_f829585a
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Freaks / int_f829585a
 Freaks / int_fbf17fc8
type
Instant Soprano
 Freaks / int_fbf17fc8
comment
Instant Soprano: The long-lost original ending supposedly had a scene of the misogynistic Hercules singing falsetto. Or, technically, castrato. Yes. That means exactly what you think it means.
 Freaks / int_fbf17fc8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Freaks / int_fbf17fc8
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Freaks / int_fbf17fc8
 Freaks / int_fccd06b6
type
Beware the Nice Ones
 Freaks / int_fccd06b6
comment
Beware the Nice Ones: The freaks here generally are gentle and friendly people, but when someone plans the death of one of them, they will not let you get away with that... you better believe it.
 Freaks / int_fccd06b6
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 Freaks / int_fccd06b6
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Freaks / int_fccd06b6
 Freaks / int_name
type
ItemName
 Freaks / int_name
comment
 Freaks / int_name
featureApplicability
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Freaks / int_name
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Freaks

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 The Devil-Doll
seeAlso
Freaks
 Freaks
hasFeature
Adaptation Title Change / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Armless Biped / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Banned in China / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Beast and Beauty / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Beauty Is Bad / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Bullying the Disabled / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Circus Brat / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Circus of Fear / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Come to Gawk / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Condescending Compassion / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Cutlass Between the Teeth / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Dwarfism in Media / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Elephant in the Living Room / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Film Noir Index / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Films Noirs Index / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Food Slap / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Half the Man He Used to Be / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Incestuous Casting / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Instant Soprano / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Irony as She Is Cast / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
"Join Us" Drone / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Karmic Transformation / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Malevolent Mutilation / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Mutant Media / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Mutants / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Non-Ironic Clown / int_835501ca
 100 Scariest Movie Moments
seeAlso
Freaks
 Freaks
hasFeature
Physical Disability in Media / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Porky Pig Pronunciation / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Proud Papa Passes Out the Cigars / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Punished with Ugly / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Secretly Wealthy / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Sex by Proxy / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Silence Is Golden / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Speak in Unison / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Tar and Feathers / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
The Freakshow / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
The Grotesque / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
The Strongman / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Ugly Hero, Good-Looking Villain / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Villain Holds the Leash / int_835501ca
 Freaks
hasFeature
Saw a Woman in Half / int_835501ca