Artist Statement
American Horror Story: Freak Show explores what makes freak shows and carnivals so terrifying by using figurative and metaphorical language to undermine others. This season of the show is set in Jupiter, Florida 1952, when freak shows had become less popular as far as entertainment goes. Elsa Mars, the German owner of the struggling Fräulein Elsa’s Cabinet of Curiosities, collected an assortment of freaks from around the United States for her sideshows in the carnival. American Horror Story: Freak Show is telling the viewers about how Freak shows became morally bankrupt and brought out the fear in the viewers of the spectators, instead of all the audiences that were interested in the freaks. While the freak show is around in Jupiter, Florida there are a bunch of kids going missing and people being murdered. Of course the freaks get blamed while really a clown is going around doing all the killing. The show explores cultural themes such as rejecting others because of their appearance, sexuality, disabilities, racial discrimination against the freaks, wanting to be normal and violence never solved. Some anxieties that the show exemplifies are killer clowns, murder, and being different. The freaks are considered monsters to the “normal” people, because they don’t look the same as everyone else, which makes them more harmful. The freaks are the first ones blamed when anything bad happens because they are not “normal”. In conclusion, I have decided to keep these concepts in my adaptation with my own twist to them, while emphasizing the killer clown killings going on.
I like everything about this season of American Horror Story. However, I wish that the killer clown hadn’t gotten killed off, or I wish that Dandy had taken over in place of Twisty the clown. I can change the fact that they didn’t make Dandy a new clown that kidnaps kids and kills their parents. I feel it would make my adaptation more interesting, but at the same time I don’t think I should because Twisty the clown has a background story of why he did what he did and Dandy does not have the same backstory. I could adapt Dandy to be a killer clown in his own way. Twisty kidnapped kids because he used to be a very successful clown that kids loved until a little dwarf spread rumors he was touching the kids inappropriately. Parents started to hate him and he left to go back home to his mother who was found to be dead. Twisty was dropped on his head as a kid which caused him to be slow like he is, he tried making trinkets with junk to sell to kid toy shops, but no one appreciated them. That’s when he decided to try and kill himself, in the process he shoots his bottom jaw off and lives. He then becomes the killer clown by killing kids parents and taking them to his trailer to give the kids a “better” life than their parents. Dandy admires the clown and this is when he finds his love for killing.
Changing the setting from Jupiter, Florida 1952 to anywhere else in the United States wouldn’t be much different. By the 1950’s carnivals and freak shows weren’t very popular, it was a struggling economy. Changing the date to a later setting would change the reactions on the spectators. Back in the early 1900’s more people were amused by the “freaks” and not so disgusted. The business was successful. If I were to change characters I could change them for the better, so the regular towns people don’t despise them, or I could change the regular towns people to be accepting and less vicious. Creating a sequel of events that lead up to this show would give more background to the characters and events that happen throughout this show.
In my adaptation, I will be commenting on the way society forces people to think that people who look different are weird and are not equal. My adaptation will also be about how people were selling themselves or other people because of their deformities to make money.
I like everything about this season of American Horror Story. However, I wish that the killer clown hadn’t gotten killed off, or I wish that Dandy had taken over in place of Twisty the clown. I can change the fact that they didn’t make Dandy a new clown that kidnaps kids and kills their parents. I feel it would make my adaptation more interesting, but at the same time I don’t think I should because Twisty the clown has a background story of why he did what he did and Dandy does not have the same backstory. I could adapt Dandy to be a killer clown in his own way. Twisty kidnapped kids because he used to be a very successful clown that kids loved until a little dwarf spread rumors he was touching the kids inappropriately. Parents started to hate him and he left to go back home to his mother who was found to be dead. Twisty was dropped on his head as a kid which caused him to be slow like he is, he tried making trinkets with junk to sell to kid toy shops, but no one appreciated them. That’s when he decided to try and kill himself, in the process he shoots his bottom jaw off and lives. He then becomes the killer clown by killing kids parents and taking them to his trailer to give the kids a “better” life than their parents. Dandy admires the clown and this is when he finds his love for killing.
Changing the setting from Jupiter, Florida 1952 to anywhere else in the United States wouldn’t be much different. By the 1950’s carnivals and freak shows weren’t very popular, it was a struggling economy. Changing the date to a later setting would change the reactions on the spectators. Back in the early 1900’s more people were amused by the “freaks” and not so disgusted. The business was successful. If I were to change characters I could change them for the better, so the regular towns people don’t despise them, or I could change the regular towns people to be accepting and less vicious. Creating a sequel of events that lead up to this show would give more background to the characters and events that happen throughout this show.
In my adaptation, I will be commenting on the way society forces people to think that people who look different are weird and are not equal. My adaptation will also be about how people were selling themselves or other people because of their deformities to make money.