Final Paper
Final Paper
Allie Turner
English 698D
Dr. Clark
14 May 2018
“You May Look like a Motion Picture Dreamboat, but You Are the Biggest Freak of Them All”:
Understanding Disability in American Horror Story
G. Thomas Couser discusses disability memoir and argues that for marginalized groups
to receive more attention in the general discourse, self-representation is the best hope for them.
He asserts, “most literary scholars would agree that autobiography has served historically as a
sort of threshold genre for marginalized populations” (31). These marginalized populations that
most literary scholars discuss have been African Americans, Native Americans, and women, but
for Couser, he feels that adding people with disabilities to this tradition would be helpful as well.
people a chance with disability to have “control over their own images.”
“correct impairments” or even overcome them, but simply gets the world around these characters
to “accommodate them” (44). In other words, people with disabilities are not changing for
hegemonic culture, but hegemonic culture is changing for them. If this use of rhetoric is
continuously given more attention and employed in discourse, it has the potential to dismantle
the master and slave narrative. This paper adds to Couser’s argument and suggests that this use
of rhetoric needs to not only be employed within literary work, but visual media as well, and
particularly, within media entertainment such as movies and television shows. I would also like
to argue that although the show American Horror Story: Freak Show perpetuates problems for
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the disability community, it still utilizes this rhetoric of emancipation, with the assistance of the
rhetoric of horror, which helps bring positive representation for the disability community.
The season Freak Show brings many possibilities to the disability community. Through
literary works and common media representations, it is safe to say that a common rhetoric that
has been employed is representing people with disabilities as evil characters. Within Freak
Show, the characters deconstruct the term “freak” to mean something positive and recognize that
they are a different part of society, but this does not have to be an evil idea. Evil becomes more
of a grey area with these characters, and if the characters with a disability are acting in evil ways,
it is because hegemonic culture is marginalizing them in some way. The season also sheds light
on power through privilege, and how this can be the most evil act of all when it is taken
advantage of. There are some problematic tropes that continue to perpetuate stereotypes within
this season, but it still leads to different and more positive possibilities for the disability
In order to fully understand how evil is being used throughout the season, it is important
to explore the characters and how they are represented. All of the characters are worthy of
discussion, but for this paper, I only want to focus on Jimmy Darling, Desiree Dupree, Dandy
Mott, and Twisty. Before I discuss these characters, I will first give more context background on
the harmful rhetorics of disability through literary works and images that Couser and Rosemarie
Garland Thomson discuss, then I will give background on the questionable history of Freak
Shows. These two historical backgrounds are important in understanding the season Freak Show
because a discussion on Couser and Thomson can help intersect how people with disability are
seen and written, and the history of Freak Shows can help us understand why a contemporary
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show would continue this story. After I discuss the characters and how the season defines
disability, I will then conclude with how this season helps us understand disability today.
In disability studies, many scholars have already recognized the setbacks that people have
faced with having a disability. Couser asserts that people with disabilities offer a different
challenge in the discussion of positive representation of minority groups. Since this community
can often struggle with “having a life, writing a life, and publishing a life”, it becomes difficult
for memoir to happen. Since disability has often been ignored from “educational institutions and
thus from economic opportunity” this proposes problems because if they have not had a chance
at a life, then they cannot write about one. There is also the factor that some people literally have
the inability to compose their own story due to their disability: “people who are blind, Deaf,
technologies of writing, which take for granted visual acuity, literacy in English as a first
language, manual dexterity, and unimpaired intellect and memory” (32). Finally, Couser makes
the connection between the history of disability and rhetoric to conclude that publishing works
proposes another challenge. Due to the problematic rhetoric that has been employed and used to
represent disability, the general public aims to continue and see these representations because it
makes them feel the most comfortable. These “preferred rhetorics…rarely challenge stigma and
marginalization directly or effectively” (33). These “preferred rhetorics then have the potential to
continue perpetuating how the general population views disability, and consequently, could
Roemarie Garland Thomson asserts that through images, disability has a long,
unfortunate history of eliciting harmful stereotypes. Some of these pieces of visual rhetoric are:
the wondrous, which tends to evoke “awe and terror”; the sentimental, which shows people with
disabilities as victims; the exotic, which emphasizes the “otherness”; and the realistic, which
tends to “normalize” and often times “minimize” disability (340-344). It is important to focus on
these pieces of visual rhetoric, Thomson asserts, because society learns about the world through
Like Thomson, Couser also discusses common tropes of rhetoric that is deployed
throughout writing disability. He too, points out the problematic nature of these pieces of
rhetoric, in particular for people with disability. Couser discusses that although these pieces of
rhetoric sell, it still preys victim to the hegemonic culture of how consumers are perceiving these
groups of people. They often have to conform to these pieces of rhetoric through their writing in
order to appeal to the audience. Couser suggests then that memoirs are most important for
marginalized groups to take part in because it “involves self-representation” (31). Some of these
forms of rhetoric are “rhetorics of triumph, horror, spiritual compensation, and nostalgia” (33).
In the rhetoric of triumph, this “outcome is considered inspiring” where the character
“overcomes” a disability rather than learning to deal with it; “think blind runner, amputee
mountain climber, deaf musician, and so on.” This form of rhetoric can be harmful if it
constantly represented, because it does not leave room for the people with disabilities to live with
their disability. If stories are constantly retold with people “overcoming” their disabilities, it has
the potential to set the belief in place that having a disability is inherently wrong, and people
with disability must seek to overcome it; however, this is not ideal for many due to a lack of
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money, (if they cannot afford prosthetic legs, a cochlear implant, etc.) or their disability will not
allow them to overcome it, and they must try to survive with it.
With the rhetoric of horror, or gothic horror, it often “features disfigured, deformed, or
shunned or avoided” (34). In these cases, disability is seen as something that should be “shunned
or avoided.” This is often seen in a lot of literary work throughout time such as the evil pirate
with one leg. However, there are some ways this form of rhetoric could be mended if “the source
of horror is not the condition itself but the treatment of the condition.” In the series, Freak Show
there are these moments of “counterhegemonic potential” that I will later discuss.
There is also the rhetoric of spiritual compensation. This proposes a problem because
there is a “deeply ingrained sense of inferiority with [disability]” (36). In these stories, people
with disability will often spend time asking why God allowed them to have this disability, and
this creates the idea that it is a sin to have a disability, or God was purposely trying to punish this
Finally, Couser points out the rhetoric of nostalgia. In these instances, stories are centered
around a person “offer[ing] poignant accounts of pleasures and pastimes no longer available to
[them]” (41). The person then focuses on past times when they did not have the disability rather
than dealing with their new experience. Again, this has the potential to focus on what is wrong
with this person, and again, giving power to the hegemonic, able bodied culture.
It is crucial to point out the rhetorics through images and writing, because this is what
popular culture receives when they watch film media such as movies or television shows. Not
only is the writing crucial in helping dismantle how the general public perceives disability, but
the images are as well. In exploring these problematic uses of rhetoric that have been popularly
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used through literary works and images, it will help come to a better understanding of how the
“freaks of nature” could have anything from a physical disability, or rebelling against a social
construct that has been put in place, such as the bearded lady. They also featured heavily tattooed
and pierced people as well as sword-swallowing acts. However, the history of the freak show can
be very complex:
The first human ‘oddity’ that the showman P.T. Barnum ever exhibited, Joice Heath, was 80-
years old in 1835, but Barnum promoted her as the 161-year-old nurse of President George
Washington (who died in 1799). The man with poorly formed arms became ‘Seal Man’; the
man with poorly formed legs, ‘Frog Man.’ The man whose entire face was covered with hair
was Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy….[s]ometimes the ordinary was billed as the exotic. An
African-American dressed in a grass skirt and given a spear was sold as a Zulu tribesman
(Gaffney).
This brought about many different types evils: a lot of greed and power followed these freak
shows. These people were gawked at, put on display, and exploited for money. Anyone who was
othered in any sort of way could be put on display as a “freak;” this includes the African-
American woman or man. So, in remembering the brutal history of the freak show, it is
In the mid-16th century, freak shows became popular pastimes in England. In the 19th
century in England and the United Stated, these freak shows became commercialized, but in the
20th century they hit their prime. Some of these “abnormalities” were not real, but this
exploitation was accepted in American culture regardless. These fake abnormalities were
referred to as "gaffed freaks" and became popular because many promoters were trying to
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compete with other promoters because of how popular these freak shows became. With all of this
being said, although many people today believe this exploitation of disability was wrong, others
argue that they were better off than being institutionalized. There were no other opportunities for
Before discussing some of the characters in the season, Freak Show it is important to note
that many of these actors and actresses do have disabilities of their own, which circles back to
Couser’s point of the importance of self-representation. Although I will not be discussing these
characters in great detail, I feel it is worth noting that Ben Woolf, (Meep) has Pituitary
Dwarfism; Jyoti Amge, (Ma Petite) has achondroplasia, a common cause of dwarfism; Mat
Fraser, (Paul aka “Seal boy”) has malformations of the arms and legs; Erika Ervin (Amazon Eve)
is a transwoman; Rose Siggins (Legless Suzi) has sacral agenesis. Throughout film media, many
actors and actresses often put on costumes of disability as opposed to people with disabilities
playing themselves. However, Couser does note that it is important for people with disability to
write their own stories, and in this case, the actors and actresses are not, but this can be a step in
the right direction. It is also important to note how Freak Show defines disability. As mentioned
above, it is important to remain intersectional when we talk about the history of the freak show,
and Freak Show carries on this point. Characters like Amazon Eve do not have a physical
abnormality, but they are othered from hegemonic society in some way for just being different.
So, Freak Show defines disability as anything or anyone that is ostracized from hegemonic
society during this time. They also use the term “freak” as a deconstructed term to mean
something positive, so for the remainder of this essay, I will be using the term freak to refer to
Unlike the history of most stories of disability, the evil does not lie with the freaks, but
with the people in power of this series. Before the deconstruction of harmful disability rhetoric
can be mentioned, it is important to understand where the evil lies within this series. One
example of this evil is with the character, Dandy Mott. He is rich, powerful, white, and fits into
the mold of what society often considers handsome. Dandy’s first moments of evil are seen when
he joins a psychopathic killer on the loose, a man dressed in a clown suit that used to be part of
the freak show named Twisty. Just like some of the other freaks, Twisty is not horrific because
of his disability, but because of the “treatment of [his] condition” (Couser 34). He was dropped
on his head as a baby, which left him with a minor mental disability. As a result of this, before
the viewers meet him as a killer, he was a lovable clown that loved to entertain children. His
fellow freaks and outside society start to bully him because of this, and even suggest that he is
molesting children even though he is not. The teasing gets so bad for Twisty, and he slowly
becomes more ostracized from society, so he attempts to take his own life but fails because
according to him, “[he] is so dumb, [he] cannot even kill [him]self” (“Edward Mordrake: Part 2”
00:30:42-00:30:49). He is left with his lower jaw blown off as a result, and decides to become
the evil person that everyone else is making him out to be, because according to standards of
Twisty does not target children, however, but only adults. Every child he encounters he
does not harm, but only kills authority figures. Twisty’s reasoning for the killing of the adults are
this: “I had to get [the children] back. I made a funny show for them. Their parents were mean,
so I gave them candy. I didn’t make them do any chores…..I’m a good clown (00:32:25-
00:32:50). As he says this, a series of scenes flash on the screen of the various adults that he
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murdered. While it is impossible to argue this is not evil, Freak Show shows the potential of
what could happen if hegemonic society, or even anyone, pushes someone far enough. Twisty
already had a minor mental disability to begin with, but when he tried to assimilate into his own
society, he was laughed at, gawked at, and even accused of doing a horrible act that he did not
do. Audre Lorde paints this out when she says how dominant society responds to difference:
In these instances, this series highlights how other people have responded to Twisty by “fear and
loathing” and because they cannot handle this difference they choose to “ignore it” and even
“destroy it” by labelling him as something that he is not. In the end, Twisty is murdered because
he is unable to see why these evil acts are wrong. However, the evil never came within Twisty,
but from how outside society treated him. The series also highlights that people treated him in
evil ways due to his disability, not because he was evil to begin with.
It is impossible to talk about Twisty and not discuss Dandy. He comes into contact with
the rich and powerful Dandy, who finds out about Twisty’s killings, and desires to join him.
After Twisty is murdered, Dandy decides to continue Twisty’s legacy, and dresses up as a clown
just as Twisty was. It is important to discuss Twisty and Dandy together, because they serve as
foils for each other in many ways. They both commit the same, evil acts to others, but are treated
very differently.
When Dandy decides to carry out Twisty’s legacy after he is murdered, he remembers
how his mother would not let him be an actor, but he says, “[s]he can’t keep my greatness in the
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slips. One door closes, another opens” (00:00:27-00:00:31). Dandy’s “greatness” comes from his
immense amount of privilege: his wealth, looks, race, and how people respond to him. He
understands that just because his mother would not allow him to do something, he will still be
able to find a way to do what he wants because of his “greatness.” This highlights his misuse of
power on an individual level, but even furthering this, on a systematic level as well.
Dandy continues, “[a]nd this body is America. Strong, violent, and full of limitless
potential. My arms will hold them down when they struggle. My legs will run them down when
they flee. I will be the US steel of murder” (00:00:33-00:00:47). The wording of this monologue
complicates the meaning even further. Dandy makes the suggestion that his body is America, or
in other words, a metaphor for America; however, having qualities such as violence is not a good
suggestion for what America may represent. Even furthering this notion, the fact that Dandy’s
body, to be more specific, his strong and in shape body, is America, gives another suggestion
that anything that is not emblematic of his body is not America. Twisty would not be America
according to Dandy’s definition. So, if others do not fit this tight mold of what America
Although Twisty is seen as the most evil part of society, Dandy instills even more fear
into the audience. He shows that because of his immense privilege, he is able to get away with
the murders he has committed. When he informs Regina, his old childhood friend, and the
daughter of his maid, Dora, that he killed Dora, Regina instantly goes to the police. Detective
Colquitt comes knocking on Dandy’s door in order to question him. As Detective Colquitt enters,
Dandy tells him, “my mother taught me the importance of decorum; offering an aperitif is the
first duty of a gracious host” (“Tupperware Party Massacre” 00:33:37-00:33:45). Dandy has got
the outside appearances mastered as someone in society. Although he has murdered a bunch of
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people, he still explains to the officer that decorum is something he was raised with. Dandy
knows how to act the part of a “gracious host” even though he commits evil acts.
Believe it or not, Regina and I grew up together. We were childhood best friends,
inseparable, until the summer I turned nine and became aware of the difference in our
stations. But even though we’ve grown apart, I’ve never known Regina to lie, so if she
says I killed them, then they must be dead (00:34:02-00:34:25).
Dandy highlights the difference in him and Regina’s “stations” and how important class is in this
society. As childhood friends, they were very close, but as he got older, he knew they came from
very different backgrounds. This shows the power that money and greed have over people in this
society, and how that power can dictate how they treat others who do not have it. Dandy feels
comfortable enough to admit he did this act, because he knows he will be able to get away with it
But what [Regina] didn't tell you, Detective Colquitt, is the absolute conviction that I'm
going to get away with it. The Mott family owns the biggest brands of frozen foods
across America. You'd be surprised how much money can be made one block of spinach
at a time. So, including this estate and the house in Montauk and the stocks and bonds
held in trust from my grandfather, the fortune left to me could easily sustain a small
country (00:34:32-00:35:02).
After Dandy tells Detective Colquitt this, he tells him that he will give him $1 million if he kills
Regina and buries her body. Detective Colquitt quickly shoots Regina and asks Dandy where a
shovel is.
This further complicates the corruption of power within the series; not only is Dandy
representing power and greed, and what he can get away with due to his wealth, but now other
people in power, people that are supposed to be seen as trustworthy and to protect the innocent
like Detective Colquitt, are influenced by this power and greed as well. Dandy remains as a foil
to Twisty because he is everything in appearance that Twisty is not, and what is socially
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constructed in this society to be “normal” which is why Dandy can get away with it. He commits
the same evil acts as Twisty, but will continue to get away with it. After all, Dandy informs the
Jimmy Darling
It is true that throughout this series, the freaks are exploited, ostracized, put on display,
and treated in inhumane ways. With this being said, it is important to highlight that people like
the character of Dandy, who is seen as handsome and powerful in society, are the ones doing it to
the freaks. As mentioned previously, when the freaks act in ways that are evil, it is due to the fact
that society has pushed them to be this way. Jimmy Darling is one of these characters who often
switches back and forth between playing the evil and good guy.
Jimmy Darling, played by the actor Evan Peters, has the condition ectrodactyly, or
commonly known as cleft hands. The actor Evan Peters does not have this condition, however,
so this does perpetuate actors and actresses putting on costumes of disability. Although this is a
problem, there is a lot of potential to explore how this character is written. When a detective
comes to the freak show to try to pin a murder on another freak, Jimmy defends his fellow freak
by killing the detective out of a crime of passion. Before the freaks bury the detective, Jimmy
says,
this law man was supposed to protect and serve the innocent, but instead, he judged us
guilty before he even set foot into our camp. All we ever wanted was a place that we
could feel safe and be just the way we are, but no one is going to hand it to us. We’re
going to have to rise up and take it…..when bad things happen to good people you start to
question what is right and what is wrong. Well I say it is time we make our own right and
our own wrong….they want to call us monsters, fine, we’ll act like monsters (00:03:12-
00:04:04).
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This has potential to follow the “rhetoric of emancipation” that Couser discusses. Jimmy and his
fellow freaks are tired of being taken advantage of by people of power, and even though he
murdered someone and did something evil, the real question lies with why law men are not
protecting and serving everyone, including freaks. Jimmy cries to his fellow freaks that they
must “rise up and take” safety if outside society cannot give it to them. Here, Jimmy is arguing
that the world must accommodate them, and that the freaks should not have to. Jimmy’s
monologue also highlights the real area of horror: not with the freaks, but how they are treated.
Hearing Jimmy’s side of the story, and how defeated he feels could show the audience that this
Finally, after Jimmy eventually goes to jail, a man convinces Jimmy that it would be a
good idea for him to cut off his cleft hands for money, so they could be put on display in a freak
museum. Jimmy would be able to use this money to get out of jail. He complies, and ends up
being left with no hands. However, when he attempts to purchase prosthetic hands, he rejects a
“normal” looking hand, and instead, purchases prosthetic hands that look like his cleft hands.
Rather than “overcoming” his cleft hands, or even seeing them as horrific, he decides to keep
encouraging hegemonic culture to accommodate him and his differences by embracing his own
differences.
Desiree Dupree
Another freak that is unapologetic about her disability is Desiree Dupree. She is
confident, quick witted, and not afraid to shut someone down if they act in a problematic way.
She was born with “ambiguous genitalia” and was often mistaken for a little boy growing up.
However, when she goes to the doctor to figure out why she is bleeding, he informs her it was
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due to a miscarriage and she is “full woman.” Her ambiguous genitalia is just an enlarged
This “disability” that she has only makes her stronger. Her husband, who also is a
freak, is unfaithful to her and does not treat her very well. She finds the courage to leave him
after this news, and only becomes more willing to fight off men that do not treat her right. Her
entire existence is devoted to embracing her femininity, and not being apologetic about it: she
wears tight dresses that show off her curves, and never appears to hide the fact that she has three
breasts. As her new identity is discovered, she continues to grow the courage to fight off anyone
who mistreats her. Instead of femininity being seen as subordinate, weak, and less than
masculinity, here it is seen as strong, empowered, and even dominant. In many ways, Desiree’s
disability of being “overly feminine” is seen as freakish to the world, but Desiree uses it to
empower her, make her stronger, and it gives her the courage to stand up for herself.
By the end of the series, Desiree, Jimmy, and another freak team up to murder Dandy,
who has managed to kill the rest of their freak friends. Desiree looks at Dandy before they
Man came through here and started putting our kind in class jars and filled up a museum
with our kind….that’s where you think freaks belong: powerless, behind glass; a human
car crash to stare at to remind you how lucky you are. Well, maybe that’s true. Maybe
that’s all we are, but let me tell you this: you may look like a motion picture dreamboat,
but you are the biggest freak of them all (00:01:52-00:02:28).
As Desiree tells Dandy this, he is in a glass box, and the freaks are ready to drown him to death.
As he drowns, Desiree, Jimmy, and their other freak friend watch him in this glass box. This then
flips the master/slave narrative on its head: now the freaks are watching “the biggest freak of
important to challenge current ideologies that society holds. I do not think the suggestion here is
to murder powerful people in society, but to get audiences to see what it feels like to be a freak.
Dandy is put on display for the freaks entertainment, and while it could be argued this is barbaric
and evil to do, it is interesting to consider that people with disability are put on display all the
time for entertainment. Desiree reminds the audience that evil people like Dandy are hurting
minority groups in society, and even in death, Dandy tries to remind Desiree that he has a lot of
Conclusion
After all is said, it is important to consider why something like Freak Show would take
place in the year of 1952, even though this show came out just a few years ago, and if the legacy
of freak shows have died out, or are even illegal, it is important to question why this show would
return to it. Couser and Thomson remind us that freak shows still very much exist today, and if
we are not careful, we will miss them. In mainstream media we still see “rhetorics of triumph,
horror, spiritual compensation, and nostalgia” (Couser 33). From the dancer with prosthetic legs
in Dancing With the Stars, who manages to “transcend dance” according to the judges, to the
countless horror movies that use mental disability as a source of horror to be feared, like Black
Swan, or Shutter Island, it appears that there still needs to be a lot of work done for people with
disability. Even though people with disabilities are not put in glass boxes, they are still exploited,
or are being represented in a non-complex way because they have never been given the
opportunity to.
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Due to the fact that Freak Show represents actors and actresses that actually have a
disability, this holds potential for this deconstruction. Freak Show also explores the real evil of
society: the rich, the powerful, and sometimes, the conventionally attractive ones according to
societies standards. This is shown through characters like Dandy Mott, or even the detectives that
do not protect and serve, and instead, only attempt to reap the benefits of privilege. Characters
like Twisty are evil not because of their own disability, but because dominant society has pushed
them to a point where it appears they have no other choice but to act in evil ways. Jimmy Darling
and Desiree Dupree show what the “rhetoric of emancipation” may look like; they do not try to
accommodate the world, but force the world to accommodate them. Freak Show does fall into
the category of the rhetoric of horror that Couser opposes throughout the series, but it has
“counterhegemonic potential.” The real horror, or the most chilling evil of them all, lies not with
the freaks themselves, but how they are treated by characters that are in positions of power; these
powerful people are the biggest freaks of them all. Although this series is not written by people
with disabilities, there are actors and actresses with disabilities that play their own role.
American Horror Story: Freak Show has its fair share of problems, but it has the potential to
move towards more positive representation within the disability community, and to continue the
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