![]() Geek Love is a carnivalesque reversal of “traditional” family values, executed with such ghoulish enthusiasm that comparisons to The Addams Family rush past in a blur: The Binewskis make Gomez, Morticia, and their brood look like the Cleavers. His megalomania eventually destroys the family’s livelihood, but it may not prove strong enough to destroy the family. Then there’s Arturo the Aqua Boy, the firstborn, who makes up for his four flipper-limbs with so much off-the-charts charisma that he spurs a cult of able-bodied people to cut off their appendages to imitate him. A blessed-or is that accursed?-few achieve a measure of success on the stage. ![]() ![]() Many don’t make it (but are displayed nonetheless, as part of the “Mutant Mystery” exhibit) some-like Olympia herself-are odd but possess neither sufficiently theatrical disfigurements nor star quality. Her mother, Crystal Lil, agrees to ingest heaps of toxic chemicals and drugs during a gaggle of pregnancies in order to deliberately induce deformities in her offspring. Olympia’s parents are circus performers seeking a cost-effective solution to the financial throes of a moribund industry. She makes this declaration with a burst of filial pride, as part of a family bred purposefully to serve as sideshow freaks. ![]() A true freak must be born.” Or so says Olympia Binewski, the bald albino hunchback narrator of Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love (1989). ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |