Episode 002: Freaks (1932)

1. Introduction
2. Freaks Synopsis 17:01
   1. Check out the documentary Freaks: Sideshow Cinema on YouTube, featuring author David J. Skal (who wrote a biography of Tod Browning), Jennifer Miller (woman with a beard, performer, juggler, and fire eater; check out her lecture on Circus Amok), and others
3. Freaks Discussion 25:53
   1. Our personal history with and overall thoughts on the film
   2. Thoughts on the word “freak” (see Shocked and Amazed!’s sideshow terminology)
   3. Favorite scene(s)
   4. Is Freaks exploitative of people with disabilities?
   5. Is Freaks a horror film?
   6. Reception of the film
   7. Thoughts on the ending scene(s)
   8. Comparison with the short story “Spurs” by Tod Robbins that inspired the film
4. Psycho Sounds 1:24:28
   1. Fright Club Podcast hosted by Columbus film critics George Wolf and Hope Madden
   2. Twitter: @FrightClubPod
   3. Facebook: MaddWolf.
   4. Podcast about new releases of all genres: The Screening Room, Fright Club: (Physical) Disabilities in Horror
   5. Fright Club: Mental Illness in Horror
5. Freaky Fic 1:27:38
   1. Lisa Tuttle’s short story collection A Nest of Nightmares (1986)
   2. Featured in the book Horror: 100 Best Books
6. Plugs and Wrap-Up 1:30:25
   1. freaksandpsychospodcast.com
   2. freaksandpsychospodcast@gmail.com
   3. voicemail: 614-721-1011.
   4. Twitter: @FreaksPsychos and @AnDreadtheBlind
   5. Facebook: facebook.com/groups/freaksandpsychos/
   6. Letterboxd: Andread and Disability in Horror
   7. Dark Mark, creator of the show’s intro and outro music
      1. Twitter: @mark_longfield
      2. Letterboxd: Darkmark

A transcript will be available in the future for this episode.

You can contact Angela M. Smith at ang.smith@utah.edu or AnDread for access to the below articles or book chapters if you cannot access them through your university or local libraries.

Smith, Angela M. “Impaired Visions: The Cultural and Cinematic Politics of Blindness in the Horror Film.” Horror Zone: The Cultural Experience of Contemporary Horror Cinema, edited by Ian Conrich, Tauris, 2010, pp. 259-275.

Smith, Angela M. Hideous Progeny: Disability, Eugenics, and Classic Horror Cinema. Columbia University Press, 2011.

Smith, Angela M. “Walk This Way: Frankenstein’s Monster, Disability Simulation, and Zombie Ambulation.” Literature and Medicine, Volume 36, No. 2, fall 2018, pp. 412-438. DOI: 10.1353/lm.2018.0021.

Smith, Angela M. “Dis-Affection: Disability Effects and Disabled Moves at the Movies.” The Matter of Disability: Materiality, Biopolitics, Crip Affect, edited by David Mitchell, Sharon Snyder, and Susan Antebi, University of Michigan Press, 2018.

Smith, Angela M. “Madness: The Babadook.” Monsters: A Companion, edited by Simon Bacon, Peter Lang, 2020.

Books on freaks in culture and sideshows

For more information on Freaks, check out The Freaks Show: Rare documents about Freaks, Tod Browning’s classic cult movie.

Rachel Adams, Sideshow USA: Freaks and the American Cultural Imagination

Nadja Durbach, Spectacle of Deformity: Freak Shows and Modern British Culture

Leslie Fiedler, Freaks: Myths and Images of the Secret Self

David J. Skal, Dark Carnival: The Secret World of Tod Browning, Hollywood’s Master of the Macabre

Rosemarie Thomson-Garland, Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body