"One of Us"

Hey all,
I Hope everyone rocked that midterm and had a great weekend! :)

While reading the article, there was one quote from an ad for the movie that struck me, "a horde of caricatures of creation-not actors in make-up-but living breathing creatures as they are, and as they were born!.....Children will not be permitted to see this picture! Adults not in normal health are urged not to!" The reason this struck me as extremely odd and disconcerting was the emphasis on the "other" as extraordinarily negative, horrifying, and less than unacceptable. If the "freaks" are as this ad claims, "not actors in makeup- but living breathing creatures" shouldn't we treat them with the same respect we would any other person or film actor? I found this especially strange because it goes on later in the article to explain that the movie depicts the "freaks" as normal people living their lives, For instance, "Frances the armless woman eats; Randian the 'living torso' rolls and lights a cigarette." They are definitely othered in the film by the 'normal' humans around them, however, it is not done as negatively and to the extent that the ad accomplishes. This got me thinking, if the movie ad is a true reflection of how we view individuals with certain 'specialties', this is a very sad statement toward our treatment of and respect for human life.