Disability and 'The Greatest Showman'

After six years, we finally have another Hugh Jackman musical. Yes, you read that right. Six years have passed since the 2011 release of the film version of the popular musical Les Miserables, starring Hugh Jackman. Now, to close this weird, slightly disastrous, and tiring year we can all sit back, relax, and watch Hugh sing and dance us all into the new year.

Jackman's new musical The Greatest Showman tells the life story of P.T. Barnum, a 19th century politician, showman, and founder of the Barnum and Bailey Circus. While advertised as a biopic, The Greatest Showman grazes over the actual facts of how Barnum made his fortune, and those he hurt along the way. What's most troubling about the film is the story it attempts to sell: one wherein Barnum finds all these people — "freaks" as they would have been called — and creates a family of misfits. Ignoring the political climate of the time, one wherein disabled people, people of colour, and other marginalized groups were regularly bought and sold and/or institutionalized, the films lacks any grasp on the reality of Barnum's life. It attempts to raise P.T. Barnum up as a saviour to disabled people and people of colour. The film's message of accepting yourself, of declaring loudly "This Is Me" (one of the musical's headlining numbers), seems out of place to those of us in the disability community, given Barnum's actual treatment of the disabled.

If you didn’t know, P.T. Barnum popularized the Freak Show in America. He popularized the dehumanization of disabled people as a form of entertainment. He bought and sold slaves and people with disabilities. He showcased them in museums and circuses, and profited off their suffering. While it is worth acknowledging that Freak Shows did give disabled people some (small) amount of agency over their lives, that agency only existed within the realm of disabled people as less than human — as being treated as animals.

P.T. Barnum is not a hero. He was not an ally to the disabled community, at least not in any way that actually helped. This film ignores the real history of P.T. Barnum, and instead paints him as a saviour to disabled people, someone who created a home for people of all walks of life, when that is simply not the case. No amount of catchy show tunes and flashy dance numbers can hide the real history behind the man who contributed to the continued exclusion and dehumanization of people with disabilities.