THE GREATEST SHOWMAN — Page 3

Not thrilled by the trailer. The song is extremely generic pop, although sung well, it's almost like the big finale to a Disney Channel movie. "Look out cuz here I come, marching to the beat of my own drum" is the most cliche line I've ever heard. I loved Pasek & Paul's work on La La Land but the rest of their stuff doesn't really wow me.

For some reason I was expecting a somewhat artsy, sophisticated Oscar contender. The trailer really isn't giving me those vibes. Looks like a fun but extremely cliched family film, so I'm adjusting my expectations.

Thanks for sharing that, a lot of insight into the project that doesn't come across in the trailer.

I'm intrigued by the "fantasy" and time period bending element, that can be really cool when done right. I guess they are not being shy about the "Moulin Rouge" approach haha. Who says musicals need to be gritty and realistic! Still, I don't see how they can try and not tie it to the specific period and place when Barnum lived, but still address the struggles an African American performer would encounter during that same period. (Just assuming this is an element based on the comments in the article)

Also hope they don't paint Barnum as a type of crusader for the people he exhibited in his shows, by all accounts he was pretty sleazy and exploitative and I'm not sure I believe him saying those lines to the Settle character. There's a lot of moral grey area and Barnum was essentially a con man, so I hope that's not washed over.

Am I the only one that finds it odd how they're portraying PT Barnum? He was kind of a terrible person and they're making him out to be some saint for the outcasts of the world.

Well it's a musical coming out on christmas. The trailer has uplifting music and shows a man who got laid off and creates something to save his family. It also shows him giving a motivational speech to a little person saying "nobody ever made it being like everyone else". And it's Hugh Jackman in full charm mode. It's pretty obvious the tone they're going for.


P.T. Barnum wasn't fired before becoming a showman. He had a general store, a book auctioning trade, a statewide lottery network and he founded a newspaper. He wrote editorials about church elders that led to libel suits and imprisonment, and then lotteries got banned. That's what forced him into becoming a showman.

P.T. Barnum's first success after that was exhibiting his blind and almost completely paralyzed slave, Joice Heth, as the 160-year-old nurse of George Washington. When she died, he had her publicly autopsied to prove she was over 160. She was about 80. I wonder if that part's gonna be in the movie.

All Barnum cared about was making money, and he didn't care how he did it.

His story is presumably more completely told in these Wikipedia notes -- which would include his later involvement in politics and some philantrophy --

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum

Wayman_Wong said: "It is, however, sad and ironic that ''The Greatest Showman'' should open only months after the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closed in May 2017 after a run of 146 years."

In a lot of ways, the time for that sort of entertainment is past. When you have a culture where you can see amazing marvels with the click of a mouse, how are you going to make some guy walking on a wire attractive? In past days you did it by making it dangerous, but of course modern circusses aren't really dangerous at all, so there goes that.

And nobody wants to see animals abused, rightfully, so performing elephants and other animals weren't in the show anymore.

And Ringling Bros. circuses haven't been performed in tents since the Hartford circus fire on July 6,1944, which the organization never really recovered from.

So all in all, The Ringling Bros. era probably died a natural death. When you think about it, 146 years is a pretty good run.

I don't think anyone is expecting a scathing dark portrayal, but I just think it would be boring to wash over the negative.

As for the Evita comparison, that's really a different story. Eva Peron WAS loved and adulated wildly by the people of Argentina as they show. There isn't really anything comparable for Barnum.