Monstrous Births and Modern Day "Freak" Shows

After watching Tod Browning’s 1932 film Freaks this week, in which actors with real disabilities portray characters in a circus, one is forced to consider why they are relevant in a discussion of monsters and metaphors. Of course, the fact that the movie poster exclaims, “Can a Fully Grown Woman Truly Love a Midget?” Is a clear indication that, at least at that time, those with medical dwarfism were not considered human in the same context that a person of regular stature would be. And if they were not considered human, then they would be perceived as inhabiting a separate category, or standing somewhere between humanity and the monstrous other.

"Freaks" Movie Poster, 1932

And unfortunately, this idea has historical roots, and hasn’t changed much even in our era― indeed, The Learning Channel (TLC) regularly produces reality shows around families of short stature, attempting to both normalize the condition while capitalizing on its modern “freak show” style. Undoubtedly the mystery of conception and birth, as well as cultural fears and anxieties around pregnancy― and its sometimes surprising results― claim partial responsibility for this phenomenon.

And though today the process of birth has become overwhelmingly medicalised, there are still things we don’t know or understand about it; even throughout the last century, the practice has changed drastically. The ideas and rules about pregnancy, delivery, and childcare are constantly shifting― what may have in your mother's time been considered safe, or even ideal, may in your own be seen as dangerously ignorant or neglectful. As a mother myself, I remember the often unsolicited advice I was given for what to eat, how much to move, which way to sleep, which vitamins to take, and countless other pieces intended to bring about a "healthy" child― the definition of which is also constantly changing.

What also makes birth so mysterious is that sometimes the very attempts to ground and medicalise it, to unpack the mystery or control the unknown have in themselves created frightening or monstrous consequences. In the 1950's and 1960's for example, the drug Thalidomide was given to women as a tranquilizer for morning sickness symptoms; it was advertised as “completely non-poisonous, completely safe” (Klausen and Parle, 735) but caused massive birth defects. Consequently, thousands of children around the globe were born partially disabled, often missing limbs. 

Thalidomide Advertisement, 1959

These “thalidomide babies” became an international phenomenon; as Klausen and Parle describe in their article “'Are We Going to Stand By and Let These Children Come into the World?' The Impact of the ‘Thalidomide Disaster’ in South Africa, 1960-1977”:

Descriptions of deformed infants and parents’ shock struck fear into the hearts of many about the prospect of having a severely disabled child. And at least in the USA, popular magazines like Time and National Enquirer published photographs of thalidomide babies; the latter peddled images and descriptions of the children as ‘freaks’ to be gawked at and feared. (746)

To me, this stands as another example of a parallel between birth, fear, and monstrosity. And while today, a routine pregnancy scan allows a technician to photograph, measure, and determine the health and gender of a child in utero, there is still a mystery there― both in the womb itself, and in the varied children it produces. It is one we will probably always be fascinated by, even if we were to enter an era in which babies were only produced in laboratories. Conception and birth are difficult for us to understand― we can't pin them down, and our attempts to do so are often disastrous. Consequently, as monsters are often both metaphorical representatives of cultural fears, associated with both the known and unknown, science and nature, and will “always come back” pregnancy and creation are a perfect vehicle for them.

Works Cited

Klausen, Susanne M. and Julie Parle. “‘Are We Going to Stand By and Let These Children Come Into the World?’: The Impact of the ‘Thalidomide Disaster’ in South Africa, 1960–1977.” Journal of Southern African Studies, vol. 41, no. 4, Aug. 2015, pp. 735–752. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/03057070.2015.1047181.

“Freaks” Movie Poster, 1932. Digital Image. The Original Underground. 2019. https://theoriginalunderground.com/products/freaks-movie-poster

Thalidomide advertisement, 1959. Digital Image. Developmental Toxicology. http://developmentaltoxicology.weebly.com/thalidomide.html