The Greatest Showman

I’m not sure what prompted it, but for some reason, The Greatest Showman has been on my mind a lot recently. For one, I love musicals. I’m the greatest shower singer to ever grace my bathroom. For another, I think Hugh Jackman is tremendously talented. I love this movie for a lot of the same reasons most people do: the songs are incredible, the performances by the cast are amazing, and I think the story the movie tells is really inspiring. But I often find myself wondering if it’s a story that should’ve been told in the first place.

The story centers around the character, P.T. Barnum, a man with big dreams and ambitions, who gathers together society’s misfits to put together a show he hopes will dazzle and amaze. They achieve success, but somewhere along the way, Barnum finds himself lost in the limelight and must find his way back to the things that really matter, family and friends.

On the surface, it’s a heartwarming tale. The cast brings these characters to life, and gives us moving performances that will bring a tear to your eye. (I don’t think I’ve ever managed to make it through the whole movie without crying at least once.) In particular, the story of Barnum’s outcasts seems to resonate with a lot of audience members. After all, who can’t relate to being bullied or feeling ostracized at some point in their life? Members of marginalized groups in particular seem to be moved by this thread in the story, particularly the song “This Is Me”:

The song is an anthem that shows us it’s okay to be exactly who we are, no matter what anyone says. That’s a message that carries a lot of weight, and it’s not hard to understand why people identify so strongly with it. All of us have struggled with identity, self-love, and society’s expectations of us at some point in our lives, and this song serves as a much-needed reminder that you’re worthy of love and deserve to be seen for exactly who you are.

I think the thing that makes this aspect of the story so relatable to audiences is that it’s clear from the onset that this is a message that the cast themselves feel strongly about, and that passion carries over into their performances. It’s a message they believe in, and they invite us to believe with them:

You can see in behind-the-scenes clips that the cast is dedicated to this idea that not only is it okay to be exactly who you are, but you should celebrate it. The actress that plays Lettie Lutz, the “bearded woman”, Keala Settle, is brought to tears in rehearsals by the song, so closely does she identify with her character. Her performance is breath-taking, and her passion is obvious.

Barnum isn’t immune from this message, either. It’s what brings him and his troupe together in the first place. Their plight echoes his own feelings of shame and inadequacy from his humble upbringing and his need to prove himself worthy of his wife. And that’s the crux of Barnum’s dilemma. His desire for approval is what leads him astray, and that’s why “This Is Me” hits so hard. Not only does it illustrate why Barnum’s troupe are the real heroes of the story, but it sets us up for Barnum to find his way back to where he’s meant to be. For him to come back home:

It’s a compelling story all around. It teaches us to balance faith in ourselves with kindness, humility and gratitude, and it does this with style and flair. And the songs are catchy as hell.

So what’s the problem?

For starters, the character P.T. Barnum (and the whole movie) is based on real people and real events. The man P.T. Barnum actually existed, as did his circus, and very real questions of propriety could be raised around glorifying a man who arguably exploited actual humans (and animals) for his own financial gain.

Jackman’s portrayal of Barnum in the movie paints the man as a kind-hearted dreamer who was simply overcome by his own eventual success and simply lost his way. The character’s epiphany in “From Now On” shows us that Barnum simply lost sight of what was really important, and that his troupe (as well as his wife and daughters) were the only people whose approval really mattered after all. He sees the light, mends his ways, and they all lived happily ever after.

It makes for a satisfying story, and while I think it was incredibly important to the cast and crew of The Greatest Showman that they communicate these messages of acceptance with conviction and sincerity, I do wonder if it swept a lot of things conveniently under the rug to accomplish this.

The movie does touch on this idea periodically with the character James Gordon Bennett, the theater critic who, in his reviews and commentary on Barnum’s exhibitions in the film, accuses Barnum of being a charlatan and a fake. However, we don’t actually get much interaction with Bennett in the film, and so this vehicle for potential criticism that could be used to address these issues of exploitation and resolve questions the audience might be asking about the appropriateness of the whole thing, is largely muted. In fact, in the end, even Bennett is won over by Barnum, without much explanation as to the how and why of it.

I understand that some degree of creative license must be taken to craft a compelling narrative for the screen that keeps audiences engaged, and often nuance is discarded in favor of flashy numbers that grab your attention. That’s all fine with me, actually. But the fact remains that every time I watch the film, while I’m genuinely moved by the story and the performances, I’m still always left with moral questions about whether or not we should be okay with letting these things slide in the pursuit of entertainment.

In fairness, I should mention that the man P.T. Barnum was an activist. He participated in politics in the time leading up to the Civil War, advocating against slavery and sectionalism. He was part of the Connecticut state legislature, and was even quoted saying:

A human soul, that God has created and Christ died for, is not to be trifled with. It may tenant the body of a Chinaman, a Turk, an Arab or a Hottentot–it is still an immortal spirit.

But he also owned slaves himself when he lived in the south, a fact he later seemed to regret.

In 1879, during his time in the Connecticut legislature, he sponsored a law that made the use of contraception illegal, and also made it illegal to provide contraception to others. (A law that was not overturned until almost a century later in 1965.)

So while the movie may paint a rosy picture of who Barnum was, as is so often the case, P.T. Barnum the man was a controversial figure, and I wonder if this tarnishes somewhat the message the movie tries so hard to convey.

I don’t have an answer to that. Just more questions.

But I do love the movie just the same. So, I’ll leave you with my favorite song, the one I personally draw the most inspiration from:

‘Cause every night I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
I think of what the world could be
A vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it’s gonna take
Oh a million dreams for the world we’re gonna make