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In an optimistic and most positive assessment, American Horror Story: Freak Show <\/em>is like any piece of popular art aiming to break down the stereotypes of an outcast group. The show details the lives of a group of \u201cfreaks\u201d trying to stay relevant in the dying Freak Show industry. The ostracized characters because of their physical differences and who are not immediately relatable \u2013 but crafted with dimensions to identify with. Storylines are interwoven with dramatic human emotions that tug at your heart strings: you root for the \u201cfreak\u201d and \u201cnon-freak\u201d who fall in love; you empathize with freaks learning to love and embrace who they are. Boundaries and associations of the label \u201cfreak\u201d are broken down by a character that is outwardly and physically \u201cnormal\u201d \u2013 and has led an economically and socially privileged life \u2013 but has clear psychological \u201cfreakishness\u201d and disadvantages. The line that distinguishes \u201cfreaks\u201d from \u201cnon-freaks\u201d is even further blurred in our minds.<\/p>\n While American Horror Story: Freak Show <\/em>redefines normal and promotes tolerance, it engages you with characters whose realities are evidently distant from your own. You might temporarily lose sight of this distance as you sit enraptured for sixty minutes, but are abruptly brought back to reality and left sitting in front of a screen. Any real emotional investment you had7 in the story has suddenly dissipated. And this viewing experience is probably just what you wanted from the show. It evoked exciting and fearful and dramatic emotions for sixty minutes at the end of your day. The word \u201centertainment\u201d in German translates literally to \u201cunderholding,\u201d or \u201cwhat holds you under\u201d \u2013 the show has held you under its spell for the perfect amount of time to \u201crelax\u201d, and then releases you back to your \u201creal life\u201d. You might establish a connection with the storyline and characters, but it is a detached connection at best.<\/p>\n And this is where we see Arbus\u2019 work diverging from commercialized \u201cphotography of freaks\u201d \u2013 she has crafted a story that cannot just be turned off and release you back to reality because it is reality<\/em> \u2013 the reality of the actual subjects, the reality of the photographer behind the camera, and the reality of you \u2013 the viewer.<\/p>\n Arbus\u2019 work and American Horror Story: Freak Show <\/em>are different manifestations of art in their intended purpose and end product. The writers and directors of American Horror Story: Freak Show <\/em>create characters for mass audiences to connect with and storylines to increase viewership; Arbus\u2019 work portrays real people and their stories. Arbus does not view her art as the end in itself \u2013 the subject is more important than the actual photograph \u2013 and the experience of connecting with her subjects is in a sense the art. In some of her most famous works such as \u201cA Jewish Giant at Home with His Parents in The Bronx, N.Y. 1970,\u201d <\/em>or \u201cA Young Man in Curlers at Home on West 20th<\/sup> Street, N.Y.C. 1966,\u201d <\/em>subjects reported one of the most striking aspects of Arbus\u2019 craft was how she invited and expected her subjects to get to know her in the vulnerable way she was getting to know them. Arbus firmly believed that she and her camera were temporary guests entering the lives of her subjects: \u201c\u2018I work from awkwardness,\u2019 she said. \u2018By that I mean I don\u2019t like to arrange things. If I stand in front of something, instead of arranging it, I arrange myself.\u2019 That arrangement is about humility: you don\u2019t change the subject, the subject changes you.\u201d[2]<\/a> She acknowledged that she was entering existing lives and that those lives existed independently of her art. In American Horror Story: Freak Show, <\/em>the story and the characters \u2013 and our attachments \u2013 are contained and bound to the art itself. The \u201crealness\u201d of engagement with the show ends not far from where it began. Arbus\u2019 art rests on the premise of natural, empathic, genuine human connection and interaction. When you can have that, do you even need mind-numbing entertainment?<\/p>\n Her attitude towards her art allowed her to access her audience in a unique way because it begs viewers to confront their personal insecurities and fears. Arbus proposed a theory of the \u201cgap between intention and effect\u201d \u2013her photography makes viewers consider the gap between what we want people to see and what cannot helped but be seen by others[3]<\/a>. She made her art with the intention of advancing her subjects\u2019 and audience\u2019s understanding of themselves and the way they relate to others. Reception of her work also illuminates fears that our society has: expressed discomfort exposes layers of anxieties about our own freakishness and abnormalities, as well as the discomfort we feel from seeing someone else so exposed and vulnerable. Sometimes viewing her photographs feels unnatural \u2013 like you\u2019re looking into a window of someone\u2019s life that you shouldn\u2019t be, and that reaction stems from our inclination to push back and close the door on unconventional intimacy and vulnerability.<\/p>\n American Horror Story: Freak Show <\/em>and Arbus\u2019 photography demonstrate common interpretations and cultural value. It is very possible that for some shared viewers, each piece of art achieve the same effect. There are probably people who might not think twice about what a photograph of \u201ca giant with his parents\u201d has to offer them. But in the midst of the cultural industry infiltrating our minds with sameness, we have to take advantage of the genuine art that is simply commenting on the basic human condition. So while this is on one hand may seem like a love letter for Arbus\u2019 work, it is a call to take Arbus legacy in stride. She understood that the art itself was a merely closing the distance between us and the people we share this world with.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> “Freak Shows.” Wikipedia<\/i>. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a>\u00a0Kim, Eric. “11 Lessons Diane Arbus Can Teach You About Street Photography.” N.p., 15 Oct. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> “The Photography of Diane Arbus.” The Inkling The Photography of Diane Arbus Comments<\/i>. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.us\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our most prized possessions are our identities. Whether we know it or not, we treasure the ability to understand and define who we are, and how we relate to other people. So what happens when a threat is posed to … Continue reading ![\"A](\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl117s16\/files\/2016\/03\/images.jpg\")
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