Talk:Four-armed carny

No ability?!

At abilities its noted that he doesn't have an abilty, Wtf?! i never seen an normal human with 4 arms.. why isn't its noted that he does have an abilty but its unkown.--Yoshi n1 12:00, 5 November 2009 (EST)

• Same stuff was with Dennis who had abnormally black eyes. However, since he never displayed any abilities, he goes as a normal human. AltesUTC CH
  • Dennis was different, there was never anything suggesting what his ability was, only that it made his eyes go black, in this case, it's pretty clear that the two extra arms are the ability. Intuitive Empath - Talk - Contributions 12:26, 5 November 2009 (EST)
    • Just wonder what it means, does he always have four arms, or can he protrude them like Caleb? AltesUTC CH
      • I think its like caleb.--Yoshi n1 12:41, 5 November 2009 (EST)
        • It's a possibility, but from what it was shown, he simply has four arms. Until, or if, they show the arms growing, it would be speculative to list it like that. Intuitive Empath - Talk - Contributions 13:00, 5 November 2009 (EST)
          • Right. Until something is confirmed, he should be listed as a human. -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 14:11, 8 November 2009 (EST)

Another (and likely) possibility is that the 4-armed man and the sword swallower are both nostalgic acts of yore when it comes to sideshows (read: "freaks" and "freak shows"). They may just be choosing to show them there as an homage. I also can't help but notice that it's the shot where Amanda sees a bunch of old-timey "oddity" posters.

It might be a shout-out to sideshow origins, but perhaps with the man with extra limbs having some kind of more-than-normal strength or usage than a normal too-many-limbs person would have (usually the extra set is due to a parasitic twin and the limbs are often weaker and mostly useless). One thing to note here is that all four arms appear to be useful and he looks like he might be a strongman.

People with too many or not enough limbs were a staple of the less-politically-correct sideshow acts (which pretty much became defunct in about the 1940s). I also can't help but wonder if it was the "one of us, one of them" line, combined with the occasional evolved human referring to themselves as a "freak" (Claire comes to mind) that got the writers the idea for a sideshow full of evolved humans. The fact that the evolved humans call themselves "one of us" might be a nod to the famous chant in Tod Browning's 1932 film, Freaks ("We accept her... One of us... Gooble, Gobble."). Of course, Carnivàle has also been brought up (though, Freaks is the granddaddy of dramatized carnivals).

It would be awesome if someone could ask the writers if the carnival setting was at all inspired by the "one of us, one of them" line.

Historically, sideshows were places where a band of misfits (yes, "freaks") would gather as a family and take care of each other away from people who would persecute, mock and scream in terror at them. They could get paid to get gawked at instead of being locked away from society in institutions, put in concentration camps, persecuted and/or shunned.

I also can't help but notice they also made a blatant reference to Dr. Josef Mengele in 1961. The entire concept of putting the disabled to death in Nazi Germany originated with a child with a number of severe physical and mental handicaps (missing limbs, retardation, etc...) being put out of its misery out of "compassion" because of the horrible life it would have probably had (the parents brought it to the government). The disabled were one of the most persecuted groups in the holocaust. The Coyote Sands/carnival connection is stunning. NileQT87 00:55, 8 November 2009 (EST)