A Review of The Greatest Showman by a Musical Fanatic & Death Positive Advocate

I can't help but enjoy it. Yes, it's faux-inspiring. Yes, it's pretty damned shallow. However, as a musical buff with a weakness for dance, I was pleasantly surprised that they used pop tunes and not show tunes. 

I do have to acknowledge some things. I don't see ringmasters like PT Barnum as "accepting" and "kind" to fellows who look different. They exploit people for their own gain and nothing else. 

Have you ever heard of Julia Pastrana? 

She was born with an unusually pronounced jaw and thick hair throughout her face and body. Her manager Theodore Lent chose to marry her so she wouldn't leave his show. 

After she died from complications of childbirth, Lent got her body and the body of her baby taxidermied and the two appeared for decades in “freak” exhibitions throughout Europe. 

Their bodies traveled around the world even until the 1970s and afterwards, they were put in storage. They were vandalized and her son's body was eaten by mice. It took another decade or so for her body to be returned to Mexico for a proper burial. 

Despite how The Greatest Showman portrays PT Barnum as a person hiring these folk as a sign of inclusivity and equality, the show is fiction not biographical. Freakshows were called FREAK shows for a reason. The likes of Lent and Barnum aren't heroes. They profit off exploited people. 

This doesn't mean you cannot enjoy the movie though. As mentioned earlier, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Just realize that this show is an idealized version of its dark past. 

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