Published date: Aug 11 2022

Journal Title: KnE Social Sciences

Issue title: ICADECS International Conference on Art, Design, Education and Cultural Studies (ICADECS) 2021

Pages: 113-121

DOI: 10.18502/kss.v7i13.11651

Alfi Zulfa NooraidaAmerican Studies, School of Strategic and Global Studies, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta

Asri SaraswatiAmerican Studies, School of Strategic and Global Studies, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta

This research analyzed the commercially successful American musical film entitled The Greatest Showman, released in 2017. This film depicts the journey of P.T. Barnum, who becomes a showman. Barnum founded a circus that includes people from minority racial groups and who have physical uniqueness. This research aimed to examine how representation of the American dream is portrayed in this film and is reconstructed by focusing on minority characters in the circus troupe. A descriptive-analytical method was used with a qualitative approach by considering narrative and cinematic aspects. Inspired by P.T. Barnum’s ‘freakshow’ and circus in the nineteenth century, the film portrays the circus as the pathway to the American dream for multicultural and disabled minorities. The circus provided equal opportunities for all people to show their talents and abilities to perform in a circus show, regardless of class, social status, or gender. However, problematically, the representation of the American dream in the film still affirms white, male privilege by maintaining white males as the leaders of minorities in the circus space.

Keywords: American dream, film, freakshow

[1] Budiman A. Key findings about U.S. immigrants. Pew Research Center; 2020 Aug 20. Available from: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/20/key-findingsabout-u-s-immigrants/

[2] Alvarado L. Dispelling the meritocracy myth: Lessons for higher education and student affairs educators. The Vermont Connection. 2010;31(1). 2

[3] Winn JE. The American dream and contemporary Hollywood cinema. New York: A&C Black; 2007.

[4] Springhall, J. The genesis of mass culture: Show business live in America, 1840 to 1940. New York: Springer; 2008.

[5] Tartaglione, N. This is $400M+: ‘The Greatest Showman’ hits WW milestone on feel-good legs. Deadline; 2018, 29 Mar, 3:26pm. Available from: https://deadline.com/2018/03/the-greatest-showman-crosses-400-million-global-box-office-fox-marketing-analysis-future-plans-1202353898/

[6] Adams JT. The epic of America. New Brunswick: First Transaction Printing; 2012.

[7] Cullen J. The American dream: A short history of an idea that shaped a nation. Oxford University Press. Oxford.; 2003.

[8] United States Declaration of Independence. 1776. Available from: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage

[9] Life. Cambridge Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved Sep 26, 2021, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/life

[10] Grande L. Strange and bizarre: The history of freak shows. Things Said and Done; 2010 Sep 26. Available from: https://thingssaidanddone.wordpress.com/2010/09/26/strange-and-bizarre-thehistory-of-freak-shows/

[11] Frangos S. Captain costentenus: The tattooed Greek of New York. The National Herald. Long Island: New York; 2006, 3 Jun.

[12] Huang Y, Huang Y. Inseparable: The original Siamese twins and their rendezvous with American history. New York: Liveright Publishing; 2018.

[13] Pratista, H. Memahami film. 2008. Yogyakarta: Homerian Pustaka. Indonesia.