The Greatest Showman

The greatest showman is a movie most of you have watched or at least heard of. The movie follows the imagination and growth of the main character Barnum. He grew up poor but had natural talent for promotion selling lottery tickets to people on the streets. Despite his shortcomings he maintained his vision of success and sticking true to himself and pushed forward.  Even in his love life, the father of his love interest didn’t believe in him or his daughters love for him he continued to preserve her heart. The film focuses on the pursuing your dreams and the focal point that being “different” is okay and to always be yourself. The movie overall (in my opinion) was far from a disappointment. The musical theater theme of the movie is spectacular at swaying your emotions  and the songs are insanely catchy. There are a number of lines within the movie that have underlying themes and strong messages that clearly convey to the audience.

Barnum looked for inspiration everywhere around him and grew his brand from the ground up. The idea for his circus came from a comment his younger daughter made. He was never swayed by others opinions and attempted to make what was abnormal a norm where everyone could feel accepted. He recruited “odd outsiders” with impeccable talent to create a circus for them to showcase their talents. These outsiders hid from society because they feel they are too odd in different ways.  They felt ashamed for  not fitting in.  Instead of pushing them away like the rest of society Barnum looks at them, and inspires them to not hide away, because they are beautiful in their own right and that they should be seen and heard.  They end up finally accepting themselves and being different. The song “This is Me” was so powerful in getting this message across to the characters in the movie and the audience watching it. However he had many failures along the way. He had a writer who wrote harsh critics about Barnum and his circus, along with people lining up to protest to take down his circus, he still never felt discouraged even if those around him continued to not believe in his dream. Barnum and those in the circus stayed focused on their goals to preform and embraced who they were.

As the story continues Barnum finally reaches the fame that pined after so long for. But like any other movie he reaches another downfall soon after. Barnum loses track of the most important things to him and shuts out those around him. When he hits rock bottom he is soon reminded of what he was fighting for to begin with. He remembers his family and his coworkers, those who have been by his side through it all. This teaches us one of the most important lessons not to lose yourself in the process. It is easy to become blinded by achievement and success and be focused on “the next best thing” that one can attain.

2 Comments
  1. I’ve never heard of this movie but it definitely sounds interesting. I like how you mentioned the song they used, and its importance in the movie.

  2. Ive always heard of this movie especially when it just came out but I had no idea that the sis what it was about. Its completely different from what I thought it would be

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