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comment by goobster
goobster  ·  2629 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Famed Ringling Brothers Circus closing - CNN.com

End of an era.

I used to manage a dark, twisted circus (cirque noir... no animals) that toured the US several times; Circus Contraption. (The official site is - remarkably - still running, somehow.)

The circus is an important part of theater, social commentary, and shyster freakshow. We need the twisted, living at the edges, fucking with our standards and our brains and our social contracts. The resiliency of our beliefs and views comes from having them challenged, and the circus is an important part of that.

Even the glitzy, showboat style feel-good carnival of Ringling Brothers and Cirque du Soliel still serve this purpose... a bit ... at the edges ...

When we lose the weirdness at the edges, we lose a bit of ourselves. Our definitions blur. Lines become unfocused, and more easily crossed.

RIP RBBBC.





steve  ·  2628 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    The circus is an important part of theater, social commentary, and shyster freakshow. We need the twisted, living at the edges, fucking with our standards and our brains and our social contracts. The resiliency of our beliefs and views comes from having them challenged, and the circus is an important part of that.

    When we lose the weirdness at the edges, we lose a bit of ourselves. Our definitions blur. Lines become unfocused, and more easily crossed.

this is an interesting thought -it makes me wonder... what other lines are there to be crossed? Societally, our definitions aren't just blurred, I think they're gone in many ways. What beliefs are left to be challenged? I guess one never knows until one is confronted with this... but as I think about what was "CRAZY FRINGE" even ten years ago... walks down mainstreet with a $60k job in advertising. A person who engaged in what was once "Sexually Reprehensible" is now about to take office on Friday.

Fringe is every day. Boundaries are gone. Just my observation... not judgement.

goobster  ·  2628 days ago  ·  link  ·  

The fringe is just further away, I think.

And I as I get older, what is "fringe" to me, is "quaint" or "old fashioned" to people younger than me.

Sex has always been the taboo in American culture... but the resurgence of burlesque, circus arts, and alternative sexual definitions and orientations, means the fringe is just further out there. And I won't be the one to define it. I'll be the one lamenting the "good ole days" when I could watch a "proper" burlesque act where the performer only took her top off...

ButterflyEffect  ·  2628 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Wasn't that point of the point of the fringe, and progression of social norms? To push the fringe into the face of the public so they are forced to confront it, either accepting it or destroying it? The acceptance of these kind of things, I would think, is largely a good thing. Same with the destruction of our definitions.

What lines do you think still exist? Do you think the reduction of our boundaries is a positive?

steve  ·  2628 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    What lines do you think still exist?

clearly there are still many, many lines.... but none that I've seen that are agreed upon widely as a "culture norm" in the US. You could argue that sexism, racism, homophobia are alive and well.... because they are... but there is growing consensus that those things aren't ok. In fact - those things are becoming the fringe... maybe (hopefully).

    Do you think the reduction of our boundaries is a positive?

I don't think I can pass that judgement. We all construct our belief systems and try to live accordingly. The way we set our boundaries may be different, but we should only set the boundaries for ourselves.

lil  ·  2629 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    We need the twisted, living at the edges, fucking with our standards and our brains and our social contracts. The resiliency of our beliefs and views comes from having them challenged, and the circus is an important part of that.

As I implied, with Trump as president, we might not need circuses anymore.

Is it a coincidence that Hubski has some circus connection? I don't think so.