Embracing her 'inner freak'

[Kire]

I saw a story about Bree Walker on Extra tonight, and I looked up a story about her in USA Today. It is below.

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I'm a big fan of Carnivale, especially since a classmate of mine, the giant Matthew McGrory (Guiness Book record holder for biggest feet), appeared in the pilot episode. Matthew has embraced his 'inner freak', too, in a lucrative movie career. He played "Karl" in Big Fish, and "Tiny" in the horror movie, House of 1,000 Corpses.

I don't think I've ever posted in this forum, but I thought this was an interesting discussion. Apparently, a number of disability activists are really angry at her for starring as a side-show freak. But, I don't think it's that simple. It's a dramatic series "about" side-show freaks. They're actors choosing to play these roles. Even though they're disabled, it's not like they're being forced to "perform" in a tent for their dinner or whatever. Even their characters have style, and class, and are fully developed in very honorable ways. They're accepting the lot God gave them, and they're using it to tell stories. I love them for it.

What do you think? Does this piss anybody off?

Embracing her 'inner freak'
By William Keck, USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES — "Ladies and gentleman, children of all ages, step behind the curtain if you dare and marvel at the Scorpion Queen!"

During her 20 years reporting and anchoring Southern California newscasts, such an introduction would have deeply offended disability advocate Bree Walker, who was born with a congenital condition called ectrodactyly. Traditionally referred to as lobster-claw syndrome, the condition fused together the digits of her hands and feet into claw-like appendages.

Much of her on-camera career in the '80s and '90s was spent with her hands hidden beneath a news desk. Now Walker has finally embraced her "inner freak," she says, as one of the sideshow attractions on the dark HBO drama Carnivale.

"When I was a little kid, my oldest brother used to tease me that the only job I'd ever get would be in a carnival as a sideshow freak," she says. "I've spent all my professional life trying to act as if I were not different. I didn't realize how I'd been hiding the true me all these years."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2005-02-16-bree-walker_x.htm

Here's a picture of Matthew McGrory, from Big Fish:

[OneBlueSky]

1. um . . . is it true what they say about guys with big feet? . . .

inquiring minds want to know . . . :shrug:

[Kire]

4. he says he's been on dates, and that's all they want to know

in an article I read in the weekly world news, he said something like that.

I know Howard Stern made a big deal out of it.

He made Matthew a member of the "whack-pack", but they had a falling out after he got an agent and "went Hollywood".

[China_cat]

2. I worked with a carnival for years

and knew many of the 'freaks' on the road. Sealo, Grady Stiles, Otis the frog boy, Stella the bearded lady, Dolly the ossified girl, the Gallyon twins, Jolly Jere who weighed 800 lbs. etc.

What the 'disability activists' that shut down the sideshows did was deprive fully consensual ADULTS of a way to make a living...taking neither welfare nor SSI nor any other form of public assistance. The majority of them had homes they had paid for, traveling homes on the road, paid companions to help them take care of their needs. Losing the sideshows meant losing the income. At a time when a 'good' middle class salary (take home) was around $100/week, these 'freaks' were pulling down 10 to 20 times that depending on the spot and the time of year.

It also meant losing the opportunity to educate the public about their conditions and take away some of the repulsion. It was a sad day when people lost their jobs just because some others like them wanted to deny the fact that they also have the same conditions.

[China_cat]

3. Have to ask if you saw the Carnivale

episode Lonigan, Texas? The 'lobster gal' in that one was Grady Stiles daughter. (He was a very nasty man who more or less disowned the 2 'normal' children he had)

http://phreeque.tripod.com/grady_stiles.html Scroll down about half way.