I'd really welcome a discussion on this issue, please.
I'm raising the issue of 'performing midgets' because I notice that Ozzy
Osbourne, in a typically tasteful extravaganza to renew his wedding vows, is
including the attraction of 'performing midgets', according to a UK
newspaper, the Sunday Mirror, yesterday (Sunday, 8th December, page 57).
Does anyone have any comments on this? I'm preparing a lecture for
undergraduate students on a Social Care Studies course, in which we're
looking at models of disability, including the issue of 'freak shows', which
it has been argued were, for some, an opportunity for autonomy and economic
independence (see, for example, work by Vanessa Toulmin of the National
Fairground Archive at Sheffield University).
I notice an increasing number of people of restricted growth on the
televison recently - maybe it's just Christmas and adverts with 'Santa's
elves' in, but there do also seem to be more films as well. Has anyone else
got any thoughts on this?
I'm thinking of the Munchkins in the Wizard of Oz, of course, as well as the
Oompa Loompas in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. There was also a
film by Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin called Time Bandits. And (although I
haven't seen it myself yet) I'm told the Hobbits in Lord of the Rings are
mainly people of restricted growth.
The only example I can think of at present of one person of restricted
growth who appeared apparently on his own merits (and by himself, not in a
fairly homegenous crowd) is a character alongside Malcolm McLaren in The
Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle. Not that he actually gets to say very much. And
again that raises another issue - disability as perversion? There's a poem
called The Battle of Lepanto (I think) by G K Chesterton which describes the
corrupt and evil court of some member of the Spanish royal family - one of
the Philips - and includes a line about a curtain 'which is soft and black
as sin / and little dwarfs creep out of it / and little dwarfs creep in.'
Final point on all this - I watched some kind of film or made-for-tv drama
years ago, back in the 80s, which I'm convinced included that Fonz actor,
Henry Winkler (although I cannot find it in any of his published
biographies) which was a very sympathetic treatment of the issue of 'circus
freaks' - can anyone give me any further pointers on this?
As a society, are we moving back towards making people of restricted growth
'special' and 'freakish' again, and how does this tie in with recent
legislation and the whole approach - as I thought - to treating people as
individuals?
Flame me if you wish, but I really would value some thoughts around the
critical analysis of this phenomenon.
Sorry for the length of this email.
Cheers,
Sarah
Dr Sarah Goode
Programme Director, BSc (Hons) Social Care Studies
Applied Social Studies, Medecroft
King Alfred's College
Winchester
SO22 4NR
01962 827283
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