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Carnivàle (TV Series 2003–2005) – IMDb

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IMDbPro

• TV Series
• 2003–20052003–2005
• TV-MATV-MA
• 55m

IMDb RATING

8.4/10

45K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer3:32

1 Video

92 Photos

DramaFantasyMystery

During the Great Depression, an Oklahoma farm boy and a charismatic minister learn that they are key players in a proxy war being fought between Heaven and Hell.During the Great Depression, an Oklahoma farm boy and a charismatic minister learn that they are key players in a proxy war being fought between Heaven and Hell.During the Great Depression, an Oklahoma farm boy and a charismatic minister learn that they are key players in a proxy war being fought between Heaven and Hell.

IMDb RATING

8.4/10

45K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

• Creator
  • Daniel Knauf
• Stars
  • Michael J. Anderson
  • Adrienne Barbeau
  • Clancy Brown

Top credits

• Creator
  • Daniel Knauf
• Stars
  • Michael J. Anderson
  • Adrienne Barbeau
  • Clancy Brown

• 154User reviews
• 35Critic reviews

• Won 5 Primetime Emmys
  • 14 wins & 26 nominations total

Episodes24

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2 seasons

21See all

2 years

20052003See all

Videos1

Trailer 3:32

DVD Trailer – Season 1

Photos92

Top cast

Michael J. Anderson

• Samson

24 episodes24 eps • 2003–2005

Adrienne Barbeau

• Ruthie

24 episodes24 eps • 2003–2005

Clancy Brown

• Brother Justin Crowe

24 episodes24 eps • 2003–2005

Debra Christofferson

24 episodes24 eps • 2003–2005

Tim DeKay

• Clayton ‘Jonesy’ Jones

24 episodes24 eps • 2003–2005

Clea DuVall

24 episodes24 eps • 2003–2005

Cynthia Ettinger

• Rita Sue Dreifuss

24 episodes24 eps • 2003–2005

Carla Gallo

• Libby Dreifuss

24 episodes24 eps • 2003–2005

Toby Huss

• Felix ‘Stumpy’ Dreifuss

24 episodes24 eps • 2003–2005

Amy Madigan

• Iris Crowe

24 episodes24 eps • 2003–2005

Nick Stahl

• Ben Hawkins

24 episodes24 eps • 2003–2005

Brian Turk

• Gabriel

24 episodes24 eps • 2003–2005

Diane Salinger

• Apollonia

18 episodes18 eps • 2003–2005

Patrick Bauchau

• Professor Ernst Lodz

16 episodes16 eps • 2003–2005

Ralph Waite

• Reverend Norman Balthus

16 episodes16 eps • 2003–2005

John Savage

• Henry ‘Hack’ Scudder

15 episodes15 eps • 2003–2005

Scott MacDonald

• Burley

14 episodes14 eps • 2003–2005

Robert Knepper

• Tommy Dolan

13 episodes13 eps • 2003–2005

• Creator
  • Daniel Knauf
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Storyline

Did you know

• Quotes

  [Opening lines of the series]

  Samson: Before the beginning, after the great war between Heaven and Hell, God created the Earth and gave dominion over it to the crafty ape he called man. And to each generation was born a creature of light and a creature of darkness. And great armies clashed by night in the ancient war between good and evil. There was magic then, nobility, and unimaginable cruelty. And so it was until the day that a false sun exploded over Trinity, and man forever traded away wonder for reason.

• Connections

  Featured in Making ‘Carnivàle’: The Show Behind the Show (2003)

User reviews154

Review

Featured review

Give Carnivale a chance, it’s worth your time

This show is wonderful – and I’ve just started watching it this season. Instead of mundane HBO programming out to just woo shallow critics and the usual unimaginative American audiences, this show goes beyond this world to illustrate truth, deception, good and evil. The story is complex for some, since most story lines do not conclude in one episode (then again, it’s not a sitcom). The actors are amazing, the writers, brilliant, the creators, well I’m surprised HBO would let this one into their usual thematic dramas (you know what I’m talking about). I can’t say enough good things about this show. If you happen to catch it and have no idea what’s going on, don’t give up – just pay close attention and you’ll be utterly enthralled with the brilliance of this show. Carnivale is “out of the box” thinking, which I always love, so unless you enjoy the same old, same old programming, give Carnivale a whirl. It’s worth your viewing pleasure!

helpful•59

14

• Reservoir_Writer
• Feb 7, 2005

• How does the magic work in Carnivale? What are Avatars?

Details

• Release date
  • September 14, 2003 (United States)
• Country of origin
  • United States
• Official site
• Languages
  • English
  • Russian
  • French
  • German
• Also known as
  • La feria ambulante
• Filming locations
  • California State University Channel Islands – One University Drive, Camarillo, California, USA
• Production companies
  • 3 Arts Entertainment
  • Home Box Office (HBO)
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime

  55 minutes

• Color
• Sound mix
  • Dolby Digital
• Aspect ratio
  • 1. 78 : 1

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🏅 HOLLYWOOD CARNIVAL 2022 | Dates, Events & More

Hollywood Carnival is a Caribbean – American carnival celebration that is colorful, chaotic and filled with revelry.

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When is the 2022 Hollywood Carnival?

The 2022 Hollywood Carnival dates have not yet been released.

Where is Hollywood Carnival?

Hollywood is a neighborhood that is located in the center region of LA. It is west and northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Of course most people know of Hollywood because it is home to many U.S film industries and historic studios.  The hub of Hollywood Carnival is the Carnival Village.

Carnival Village Address

• 6800 Hollywood Blvd.
• Hollywood, LA 90028

What is carnival in Hollywood?

During carnival, Hollywood transforms into the epic center of multicultural marvels. The Hollywood Carnival is all about promoting a deeper appreciation and understanding for different culture’s amongst the Los Angeles community. The Hollywood Carnival embraces and celebrates the different cultural traditions through food, dance, art, craft, music and costumes.  

Hollywood Boulevard transforms into a street extravaganza carnival with parade-goers, masquerades and musicians all dressed in incredible costumes dancing the weekend away to music from around the world like soca, reggae, samba and more.

Thousands of locals and tourists come out to experience Hollywood Carnival which is a fun day for the whole family. And because this is Hollywood, you will even see appearances from several popular celebrities! Including tv stars, movies stars and musical icons.

Hollywood Carnival Events

This year’s Hollywood Carnival promises to be more exciting than ever before! The Hollywood Carnival Village and the Carnival Parade is guaranteed to take the Hollywood Carnival to the next level. For more information please click here https://www.hollywoodcarnival.com/

Carnival Culture Village

The Carnival Village is the hub for Hollywood Carnival. It is an explosion of cultural fusion that features a Grand Sound Stage that has a variety of performers from all over the world. As well as delicious food, drinks, Arts & Crafts vendors from all over the world. There is also a dance area, a liquor garden and facilities.​

Hollywood Carnival Parade

The Hollywood Carnival Parade is an incredible event that features performers, dancers and musicians. The streets are filled with masquerades dressed in the most stunning costumes representing different cultures from all around the world, celebrating Los Angeles’ multi-cultural community. It is a lively and vibrant event that will attract thousands of spectators who crowd along the parade route.

Hollywood Carnival Parade Route

The Hollywood Carnival parade route will begin at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Normandie Avenue. The parade will continue for 3 miles and finish on Highland Avenue at the Carnival Village.

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Can I be a part of the Hollywood Carnival? Yes of course you can! The best way to enjoy Hollywood Carnival is to join in and play mas! There are several carnival bands that you can take part in and each offer their own unique carnival experience. All you have to do is pick a mas band, buy a costume and march with your band on the day.

The Hollywood Carnival Bands are:

• Bambo Mas: Email: [email protected]
• Extacy Mas: Instagram: @extacymas, http://www. extacymas.com, Email: [email protected]
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• Sistas Wit Style: Instagram: @sistaswitstyle, email: [email protected]

Where do I purchase tickets to Hollywood Carnival?

You can purchase tickets from the https://www.hollywoodcarnival.com/

What to wear to Hollywood Carnival?

Hollywood Carnival is one of LA’s most legendary events. A celebration of cultures from all around the world.  The parades are colourful AF, with women dressed in colourful and elaborate feather headdresses and bejewelled bras. You don’t need to dress like the people in the parade but why not wear some playful pieces that will help you stand out from the crowds. Its the time to let your imagination one wild and get creative and wear something fun, you can check out some cool outfit ideas on Amazon. Remember though to wear comfortable shoes as you will be on your feet all day long!

How to get to Hollywood Carnival?

There is plenty of public transportation that you can catch to get to the carnival or alternatively take a Lyft, Uber or local taxi. If you are not a local you can always fly to LAX which is a massive airport that has lots of both international and domestic flights daily.

Where to stay for Hollywood Carnival?

Los Angeles is a huge tourist destination so you have no shortage of accommodation options! From hotels to private rentals it really comes down to your budget and level of comfort. Of course if you wish to be close to the carnival we recommend staying in Hollywood. Check out some accommodation options here.

For more information about tours, things to do, sightseeing tours, day trips and more click here. For a longer tour check out Tour Radar here.

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Melding Fiction and Reality in HBO’s Carnivàle

Sommaire – Document précédent – Document suivant

Résumé | Index | Plan | Notes de l’auteur | Texte | Notes | Citation | Auteur

Résumés

Carnivàle, created by Daniel Knauf, portrays a travelling carnival wending its way through the Dust Bowl during the unsettled period of the Great Depression, while the overarching story depicts the epic battle between good and evil. The show was cancelled by HBO after two seasons (2003-2005) not only because viewing rates had dropped significantly but also for financial reasons. The present article explores how fiction and reality interact in the show’s complex narrative pattern, which disrupts the formulaic structure of traditional TV series. The constant oscillation between both realms disorientates the viewers as they venture into a world where dreams and reality conflate, creating its own fictional reality, while the narrative’s complex pattern and subtext induce greater involvement on the viewers’ behalf as the unfolding story requires their complete attention in order to decipher its meaning. The fusion between history (the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression) and fiction enhances the viewer’s sense of confusion. The numerous cultural, historical and geographical references create a blurred area located between fiction and reality.

Carnivàle, crée par Daniel Knauf, représente une fête foraine itinérante qui chemine dans le Dust Bowl pendant la période instable de la Grande Dépression, tandis que le récit plus large dépeint une bataille épique entre le bien et le mal. HBO a annulé la série après deux saisons (2003-2005), non seulement parce que les taux d’audience avaient baissé de manière importante, mais aussi pour des raisons financières. Cet article explore comment la fiction et la réalité interagissent dans le récit complexe de la série, qui rompt avec les formules d’une série télévisée traditionnelle. L’oscillation constante entre la fiction et la réalité désoriente les téléspectateurs lorsqu’ils s’aventurent dans un monde où les rêves et la réalité se confondent, et elle crée une réalité fictive propre, pendant que la structure complexe du récit et des thèmes sous-jacents induisent un engagement croissant chez le spectateur puisque le développement de l’histoire demande toute son attention pour déchiffrer sa signification. Le mélange entre l’histoire (le Dust Bowl et la Grande Dépression) et la fiction augmente la confusion du spectateur. Les multiples références culturelles, historiques et géographiques produisent un espace flou entre la fiction et la réalité.

Haut de page

Entrées d’index

Mots-clés :

Carnivàle, fiction, réalité

Keywords:

Carnivàle, fiction, reality

Haut de page

Plan

1. “When The Grapes Of Wrath meets David Lynch”

2. Historical realism and fiction in Carnivàle

Haut de page

Notes de l’auteur

This paper is an improved version of the one I gave during the Journées d’études: Séries d’élites, culture populaire: le cas HBO, organised by Sciences Po Paris and the University of Picardie, in Paris on 7 and 8 June 2010 and I would like to thank Marjolaine Boutet for her kind invitation. The Wikipedia article on Carnivàle proved of great help in my research not to mention Series Concept & Background by Daniel Knauf, <http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.harvardwood.org/resource/resmgr/hwp-pdfs/carnivale_pitch_document. pdf>, April 15, 2011.

Texte intégral

PDF 523k Signaler ce document

“It’s a carnival. Things are never what they seem.”
Clancy Brown (Brother Justin Crowe)

• 2 “Carnivàle Fans Besiege HBO with E-mails”, ZAP 2 it, zap2it.com, July 19, 2005.
• 3 “TV Guide Weighs in on HBO’s cancellation of Carnivàle”, TV Guide, June 1, 2005. 

1Carnivàle, created by Daniel Knauf and aired on HBO, ran for two seasons between September 14, 2003 and March 27, 2005. HBO’s president Chris Albrecht decided, despite critical acclaim, to cancel the show at the end of the second season not only because the ratings had fallen but because of the production cost: each episode was running on a budget of approximately $3.5 million. The decision resulted in angry fans besieging the network sending up to 50,000 e-mails2 in one single weekend while TV Guide opined that HBO had merely acted like just any average TV network: “[f]or a network that brags, ‘It’s not TV. It’s HBO’, that was a real TV kind of thing to do3”.

• 4 “Dan Knauf Interview”, The Bally, February 15, 2005, <http://www.carnycom/bally/dan.html > April 11, 2011.
• 5 See Henry Jenkins’s book Fans, Bloggers and Gamers. Explore Participatory Culture, New York & Londo (…)
• 6 Discussing Twin Peaks, Mark Jancovitch and James Lyons suggest in the introduction of their study o (…)

2Carnivàle is a dark and eerie period drama set in the United States during the Dust Bowl at the heart of the Great Depression of the 1930s. The show follows the uncanny errands of a nomadic sideshow from Oklahoma to California, while the overarching story depicts the epic battle between good – the young Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl) – and evil – the Methodist preacher Brother Justin Crowe (Clancy Brown). The show’s narrative structure was, as Daniel Knauf avers, “designed to operate on more than one level4” encouraging a new mode of viewer engagement5. Besides being melded into historical reality, the intricate subtext, which had been subtly woven into Carnivàle’s plot, made it, at the time, one of the most disconcerting and abstruse shows on television since Twin Peaks (ABC, 1990-1991)6. The plot revolves around two parallel storylines, which slowly converge toward one another to conflate into one single plot during the show’s last two episodes.

3The purpose of this paper – while parsing out the web of sub-textual references embedded in the narrative – will be to show how, through filmic strategies and narrative structures, the recurrent eruption of dreams and visions in the “narrative reality” constantly transgresses the limits between fiction and reality. I will then examine the way in which fiction is subtly enmeshed into the historical template of the Thirties, thus creating a world in which both realms collide.

• 7 See Jason Mittell, “Narrative Complexity in Contemporary American Television”, The Velvet Light Tra (. ..)
• 8 In an interview concerning the main title sequence Scott Boyajan explained: “Our goal was to create (…)
• 9 David Marc, “Carnivàle. TV drama without TV genre” in It’s not TV. Watching HBO in the Post-Televis (…)
• 10 Each card figures a famous painting, which changes anamorphically into a news reel.
• 11 Peter Brueghel the Elder’s Fall of Rebel Angels (1562) and Peter Brueghel the Younger’s The Peasant (…)
• 12 The news reels show historical footage of the Bonus Marchers approaching the Capitol, Mussolini, Ro (…)
• 13 Hélène Duccini lays emphasis on the importance of music, which signals the switch from reality into (…)

4I shall only examine here some of the most prominent features illustrating Carnivàle’s highly complex narrative structure7 and which contribute to blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality. During the opening title sequence8 the viewer is literally drawn into the world of Carnivàle as the camera zooms into a deck of Tarot cards immediately gesturing “the viewer toward the occult9” realm of the narrative. As the camera moves into one of the cards10, the viewer is transported through a fictional world of paintings11, which transitions seamlessly into the real world, denoted by historical footage of the Thirties12. The camera then moves back out before entering another card, and so on. The camera’s constant oscillation between fiction – the paintings – and reality – the news reels – conveys a sense of confusion among viewers as it questions the boundary between both realms, while the haunting score enhances the hypnotic effect of the opening title sequence13.

• 14 Daniel Knauf noted in an interview: “I’m a big fan of Tolkien”, in “The Making of a Magnificient De (…)

5The pilot – Milfay – opens with a prologue told by Samson (Michael J. Anderson), the carnival’s dwarf manager. The prologue not only evokes that of J.R.R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings (1954)14, but immediately captures the viewer’s attention as it presents him/her with the plot’s narrative framework:

Before the beginning, after the Great War between Heaven and Hell, God created the Earth and gave dominion over it to the crafty ape he called Man; and to each generation was born a creature of light and a creature of darkness; and great armies clashed by night in the ancient war between Good and Evil. There was magic then, nobility, and unimaginable cruelty; and so it was until the day that a false sun exploded over Trinity, and Man forever traded away wonder for reason.

• 15 As Gilles Deleuze notes, “the close-up extracts the face […] from all spatio-temporal co-ordinates” (…)
• 16 Daniel Knauf, “Magic and Myth. The Meaning of Carnivàle”, Carnivàle. The Complete Second Series, HB (…)
• 17 “Dan Knauf Interview”, The Bally, February 15, 2005, <http://wwwcarnycom/bally/dan.html >, April 11, 2011.

6The close-up on Samson’s face, which is accentuated by the dark background surrounding him, highlights the timeless dimension of the epic15 informing it with a universal dimension. Immediately after the prologue there is a brief and abrupt flash of light. The viewer is then suddenly plunged into Ben Hawkins’s nightmare: a world saturated with cryptic clues and symbols. A detailed study of this nightmare reveals that all the key elements of the series are already present, as Daniel Knauf explains, “for me the thesis was set out at the very first episode16”. Consequently, the viewer is given a number of hints to help him/her wade through Carnivàle’s complex narrative maze. Moreover, the economy of the dream segments enabled Knauf to pile up information in a condensed narrative form. There is undoubtedly a Lynchean colouring to this dream segment, which is reminiscent of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper’s surreal “red room dream” in Twin Peaks (1, 3). Indeed, as in Dale Cooper’s dream in which the evil character of Bob appears through flashes of light, the Tattooed Man, whom we see running through the fields in Ben’s nightmare, is glimpsed at through flashes of lightning conferring an almost subliminal effect to the dream’s imagery. Consequently, the viewer is left with the impression he/she has just awoken from a nightmare, which he/she only remembers fragmentarily. As Knauf explains, “it’s done in flashes, and it’s done almost to an abstraction” to “start a clue going17”. The dream ends almost as abruptly as it began with Ben waking up in his home. The opening scene of Carnivàle clearly mirrors the opening title sequence as we move from the world of fiction (Samson’s prologue and Ben’s dream) to the tragic reality of Ben’s mother’s death in a dust-ridden Oklahoma farm.

• 18 The way in which this scene is filmed is reminiscent of the atmosphere depicted in Edward Hopper’s (…)
• 19 Samson tells Ben: “I reckon Henry Scudder is your daddy”,The River, season 1, episode 7.
• 20 Daniel Knauf notes that Justin and Iris are “the children of Belyakov” in “Magic and Myth. The Mean (…)

7The dream and vision segments also enable Knauf to stage the remote battle waged between Ben Hawkins and Brother Justin, laying emphasis on the parallel structure of the narrative. The second episode, After the Ball is Over, opens on Ben Hawkins and Brother Justin’s first shared dream from which both characters will awake simultaneously. This brief segment18 gives the viewer further information on the show’s narrative pattern. We can see Ben and Brother Justin sitting side by side at a counter in an empty diner as they are greeted by the waitress’s cryptic words “Every Prophet in his House”. Facing them is a mirror in which they can both see Henry “Hack” Scudder and Lucius Belyakov. This scene functions as a visual chiasmus in which Scudder, Ben’s father19, wearing an evening jacket and a top hat, can be seen seated behind Brother Justin while Belyakov20, Justin’s father, dressed in a Russian uniform, is sitting behind Ben.

Agrandir Original (png, 485k)

• 21 In the series the Avatars are portrayed as human-like beings with supernatural powers. Each generat (…)

8Not only does this scene stress the parallel structure of the narrative, highlighting the forthcoming battle between good and evil, but the visual chiasmus while restoring both Avatars’21 ascendancies through the reflection in the mirror, also indicates the double-crossing intrigue and the way in which the parallel plotlines will constantly overlap during the two seasons to finally conflate into a single plotline in which both Avatars will confront one another as prefigured by the final explosion that brutally ends the dream.

9In Insomnia (season 1, episode 9) and Hot and Bothered (1, 10) Ben is fighting off sleep so as not to have to face his nightmares. In Hot and Bothered, as soon as Ben dozes off, the figure of the Tattooed man reappears before him. Ben’s momentary lapses of consciousness denote not only the collapsing boundaries between fiction and reality – which are recurrent throughout the show, highlighting the fissures in the narrative pattern – but they also work as signals addressed to the viewer to help him/her remain fully aware of the narrative’s unfolding and its significant details.

10The dreams and visions function both analeptically and proleptically as they provide links between the different episodes of the narrative, as well as between the past, present and future. A role also embodied by characters such as the carnival’s blind mentalist, Lodz (Patrick Bauchau), who acts as a link between the carnies and the Avatars (Management, Ben Hawkins). He will also link the living and the dead in the show’s second season notably when he takes over Ruthie’s body to communicate with Lila, the Bearded Lady. Yet dreams are also a means to reflect the uncertainty and the fear of the period, as Ruthie, the snake charmer, tells Ben in Hot and Bothered: “Everyone has bad dreams. It’s the times we live in. It’s hard to feel safe…”

11Hence, dreams convey in Carnivàle a sense of doubt and indeterminacy as they become the locus of hidden and mysterious meanings. Yet, by deciphering the dream and vision segments, the viewer will probably enjoy a clearer view of the narrative’s cryptic meaning as Lodz tells Ben in Insomnia: “you must listen to what your dreams tell you. They will guide you”. A piece of advice which may well be understood here as an oblique address to the viewers.

12However, dreams are only one example of the links between the diegesis and the supernatural events which occur regularly throughout the show. In After the Ball is Over (1, 2) Clayton Jones, (a.k.a. Jonesy), assigns a task to the roustabouts while he asks Ben to clean the baggage trailer:

Jonesy. You’re in charge of the baggage trailer.
Ben. The what?
Jonesy. Baggage trailer ’round back. Run down trailer with a big ole roof on her. Can’t miss it.

• 22 Daniel Knauf, “Behind the Scenes. The Making Of Carnivàle”, Carnivàle. The Complete First Series, H (…)

13Ben obeys and as he walks away from the carnival’s encampment he comes to the trailer, which is located under a tree on the outskirts of the encampment. As he enters the trailer he notices a fœtus in a jar, he then opens an old case in which he finds an evening jacket, a top hat and an old dusty box, which contains the picture of a young woman standing in front of a truck bearing the “Big Sky Farms” sign. As he looks at the back of the photo he sees the following initials “H. S. [Henry Scudder] and FLO [obviously his mother Flora]”. The trailer’s door suddenly slams shut, leaving him in the dark, enhancing the underlying tension and unsettling atmosphere of the scene. As he leaves the trailer, the eyes of the fœtus open suddenly – “a great moment22” according to Knauf – warning the viewer about the uncanny and eerie aspect of the story, maybe also a way for the director to tell the viewer: “keep your eyes wide open”. When Ben tells Samson he has just come from the baggage trailer, the latter retorts: “We don’t got no baggage trailer. Nobody’s got a baggage trailer. It’s an old carnie gag, like hunting for snipe.” When Ben brings Samson to the place where the trailer was it has, to his great surprise, disappeared. But there is an uncanny feeling when Ben shows Samson the photo he found “[i]n the trailer that ain’t there”.

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• 23 Roland Barthes, “The Reality Effect” (1968), in The Novel: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory, 19 (…)
• 24 Ibid.

14This lapse in the interstices of the narrative fabric illustrates how insignificant objects, which stand for “concrete reality23”, induce what Barthes referred to as the Reality Effect. These details convey a sense of realism to the narrative. Ben’s photograph illustrates the “need to authenticate the ‘real’: [as] the photograph [is] ([an] immediate witness of ‘what was here’)24”, shedding light on the flaws and cracks of reality through which surreal events slip into the narrative, enhancing not only the weird atmosphere which imbues the show, but also the lifelike features which characterize the entire series.

15Furthermore, the parallel and circular structures of the narrative pattern carefully tread lines between fiction and reality, enhancing the viewer’s puzzlement. The importance of the various opposing groups of characters portrayed throughout the series shed light on the plot’s parallel structure as well as on the way in which both plotlines interact: Sofie and Apollonia; Brother Justin and Norman Balthus; Brother Justin and Clayton Jones and Brother Justin and Ben Hawkins, etc. I will only examine here three of these couples.

• 25 Brother Justin, “I have journeyed into the wilderness”, 1, 10. In the same episode Brother Justin i (…)
• 26 Michael Strang, Fan and Carnivàle mythologist in “Magic and Myth. The Meaning of Carnivàle”, op. ci (…)
• 27 In the mythology of Carnivàle, the Omega is, like the Alpha, a female who is the only other known e (…)

16The relationship between Brother Justin and Norman, who took Justin and his sister Iris in when they were only children and nurtured them, will progressively deteriorate notably because of Justin’s deep belief that he has been chosen by God to carry out some mysterious mission. At the beginning of season 2, Norman is left paralysed and mute after undergoing a stroke in Los Moscos (2.1). The stroke was probably caused by the revelation of Justin’s true nature. A change in character which occurs during his errand25 on the roads of California and his stay at the Sherwood State Hospital’s psychiatric ward: “Justin Crowe, the man, died in the wilderness”. Not only does Norman act as the revealer of Justin’s true nature – “my greatest evil: saving your life!” – but he is there to witness the event of the Creature of Darkness within Justin (“Justin there is a demon within you”, The Day that Was the Day (1.12). Yet he is unable to kill him in cold blood when Justin pleads with him to do so, and as such he remains Justin’s “last link to humanity26”. It is only when Justin fully reveals his evil nature that Norman will try to assassinate him during one of the preacher’s public rallies (Lincoln Highway, UT, 2.9,). Norman’s failure to kill Justin, the Usher of Destruction27, may illustrate, in a certain way, man’s inability to prevent the Armageddon.

17Although both characters do not meet during the first season, the personal evolution of Brother Justin and Jonesy clearly contribute to emphasize the narrative’s parallel structure. Halfway through the first season in Pick a Number (1.6), Brother Justin loses his faith in God after the mysterious fire that destroyed Chin’s brothel killing six homeless children, and decides to leave Mintern. While sitting one evening with a group of hobos around a campfire he tells the undercover reporter Tommy Dolan: “I lost my God”. This episode signals his progressive switch over to the “dark side of the Force”. Meanwhile, Jonesy loses his faith in Samson, having discovered while visiting Management’s trailer (Black Blizzard, 1.4) that there was no one behind the curtains. The segment’s chiaroscuro lighting establishes a visual tension enhanced by the haunting score, while the contrasting interplay between light and dark signal the uncertainty and ambiguity of the scene warning the viewers against any reliance on what they and Jonesy see.

18The parallel structure is also enhanced by the Doppelgänger motif and the recurrent use of mirrors. In Los Moscos (2.1) Sofie is filmed from behind, wandering all alone on a dusty road. The viewer catches a glimpse of two shadows stretching behind her and walking side by side: Sofie’s and that of a female veiled figure, whom we suppose to be her mother. In the final episode, Sofie, who is locked up in the cabin off Brother Justin’s house, confronts a black female figure dressed in a funeral veil whom the viewer believes once more to be Apollonia. As the figure nears Sofie, she lifts up her veil revealing not Apollonia’s face but Sofie’s who tells her “This… is… your… house”: thus giving shape to the cryptic sentence “Every Prophet in her House” uttered to Sofie by a young girl she passes by as she is walking along the road leading her to New Canaan (The Road to Damascus, 2.6). This scene is a perfect illustration of the show’s puzzle-like pattern in which all the pieces seem to fall into place retrospectively.

• 28 Daniel Knauf, “Magic and Myth. The Meaning of Carnivàle”, op. cit.

19While discussing the two main protagonists, Daniel Knauf argued that Ben “[is] the mirror image of Brother Justin28”. This is perfectly illustrated in the peeling scene in Alamogordo, NM (2. 2), when Brother Justin has one of his visions while combing his hair in front of a mirror. The comb suddenly sticks and yanks a piece of flesh from his scalp. Another piece comes and another, until his entire face is peeling off as he finally shreds the mask of skin from his head revealing Ben Hawkins’s face. “Who are you?” asks Justin while gazing at the ghoulish sight. This segment is a nod to Lynch’s TV series, notably the episode (Lonely Souls, 2.14) in which Leland Palmer, while looking at himself in the mirror, sees the reflection of Killer Bob’s face – the demonic entity hosted in Leland’s body – smirking back not really at him but at the viewer.

• 29 Ben is told by Management in The Day that Was the Day (1, 12): “To restore a life, you must take a (…)
• 30 “Albrecht tells reporters that the second season of Carnivàle was originally supposed to conclude w (…)

20Another main feature of the narrative lies in its circular pattern. If we consider the first (Milfay) and last episodes (New Canaan, CA) of the show, we cannot avoid noticing the obvious circularity of the plotline. The close of the first episode ends with Ben healing Maddy, the young disabled girl. While performing his cure on the young girl’s legs the surrounding nature withers of life, the flower petals fall, the grass wilts and blackens progressively. To cure the little girl, Ben has had to sacrifice the surrounding nature29. This scene is mirrored during the show’s final cliffhanger as we see Sofie entering the cornfield. As she begins healing Brother Justin the surrounding corn ears blacken and wither progressively row after row. The circular pattern of the narrative tends to corroborate Chris Albrecht’s claim that the second season of Carnivàle was to end so as to propose a satisfactory close-ended conclusion to the viewers and it seems, therefore, possible to believe that the series’ creator, who introduced the cliffhanger, was hoping to pressure HBO into pursuing the show30.

• 31 “Dan Knauf Interview”, The Bally, February 15, 2005. <http://www.Carnycom/bally/dan.html>, April 11, 2011.
• 32 Ibid.

21As a result, we may note how both the holistic dimension and fragments of the narrative convey a puzzle-like impression to the show. The fragments and the overall framework are closely intertwined; as Daniel Knauf explains, “[i]f you’re going to deconstruct the show, you have to start from the big and work your way down to the small31”. Each episode plays, just like in a puzzle, a pivotal part in the overall structure as each detail contributes to the depiction of the whole picture, suggesting a more dynamic role of the viewer. However, Knauf warns us against reading too much into the show: “like I said […] sometimes a cigar is just a cigar32.”

22Hence, the eruption of dreams into waking experience transgresses the limits between dreams and narrative reality as it refers to a reality located beyond the limits of dreams conveying a feeling of otherworldliness. By disrupting the linearity of the narrative process, the dreams and visions introduce an unstable verisimilitude, which not only puzzles the viewer, but leads him/her to the discovery of an apparently unknown reality. Moreover, the binary and circular patterns of Carnivàle’s narrative deviate from the traditional narratological canons, greatly contributing to the show’s constant interplay between fiction and reality. Another prominent aspect of Carnivàle I wish to explore now is the way in which Daniel Knauf wove fiction into historical reality by notably altering historical chronology, creating once again confusion and disorientation as the narration manipulates time and space.

• 33 Daniel Knauf in “The Museum of Television & Radio’s William S. Paley Television Festival. Carnivàle(…)
• 34 The historical setting of Carnivàle required significant research and the presence of a historical (…)
• 35 Daniel Knauf explains that he “wanted to do something with the aspect of more long ago and far away (. ..)

23Carnivàle is set at the core of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl; Daniel Knauf claims he chose that particular historical period because “the Depression just seemed such a pivotal time in American history when anything could have happened and there were so many awful things happening back then. It seems almost a reasonable […] proposition that the devil was there33”. I shall therefore delve into the way in which the storyline is embedded into history and examine how both are intricately interwoven. The historical setting34 depicting America amid the throes of the Depression contributes to the portrayal of a period of despair, war fears and political tensions. Furthermore, setting the plot in the past clearly gives an impression of remoteness35 while contributing to its epic dimension.

• 36 See this segment on YouTube, <http://www.youtube.com?v=WSLFXzjhEM8>, January 10, 2012.
• 37 Management to Ben in Los Moscos 2. 1).

24The historical template of the plot comprises a period going from the First World War to the Trinity Test, which took place on July 16 1945, 210 miles south from Los Alamos on the Alamargodo Bombing Range. The recurrent visions of the trenches in which Henry Scudder crosses paths with the Russian infantryman Lucius Belyakov, an opposing Avatar, may well be viewed as an omen of the Second World War, which will reach its climax with the use of the atomic weapon. While their encounter heralds the forthcoming battle between their offspring – Ben Hawkins and Justin Crowe – the nuclear explosion Ben envisions in his dreams, in Los Moscos (2, 1)36, not only symbolizes the Apocalypse, “[a] weapon, a full sun wrought by the hands of men. It is the last link in a chain of events unfolding even as we speak […]37” but also marks the end of the Age of Wonder and the beginning of the Age of Reason mentioned by Samson’s prologue.

25I will, therefore, chart out how the historical context of the depression and the Dust Bowl, the numerous cultural references, the radio and the circus all partake in creating the subtle cultural and historical subtext of the series. However, the chronological and geographical discrepancies question the show’s realism.

26From the outset the atmosphere of the period informs the show. As Ben Hawkins is about to bury his mother, who has just died of dust pneumonia, a bulldozer moves into the frame. Ben steps in between his mother’s body and the bulldozer, frantically trying to prevent the destruction of his home, but the driver tells him he has been appointed by the bank to expropriate him and destroy his farm: “This is the property of First Merchants Trust. Now you’ve been warned. Law’s on its way.” Because of the Great Depression many farmers failed instalment payments as a consequence of which banks repossessed their farms throwing them and their families onto the roads in search for a better life. This type of situation was, at the time, an everyday occurrence. Numerous stories recount similar dramatic cases. One example is to be found in Studs Terkel’s book, Hard Times (1970):

• 38 Studs Terkel, Hard Times. An Oral History of the Great Depression (1970), New York-London, The New (…)

One morning a giant tractor came in, like we had never seen before. My daddy used to do all his work with horses. So this huge tractor came in and began to knock down this corral, this small corral where my father kept his horses. We didn’t understand why. In the matter of a week, the whole face of the land was changed […]. We all of us climbed into an old Chevy that my dad had. And then we were in California, and migratory workers38.

• 39 Studs Terkel, op. cit.: “I think the Depression had some kind of human qualities with it that we la (…)
• 40 See Pierre Borhan, Dorothea Lange. Le cœur et les raisons d’une photographe, Paris, Éditions du Seu (…)

27Meanwhile, the side show caravan appears and the carnies, who will pick up Ben, help him bury his mother. This particular scene underlines the sense of mutual aid, which, according to some of Terkel’s witnesses, has disappeared nowadays39. The ubiquity of poverty at the time is made clear from the very first episode of the series as we see Ben walking along the railroad tracks where the poor migrants have set up their encampment recalling the photos taken, at the time, by Dorothea Lange40 who chronicled the lives of the migrants and displaced people during the Dust Bowl.

• 41 “The wind grew stronger, whisked under stones, carried up straws and old leaves, and even little cl (…)
• 42 Woody Guthrie, Country & Folk Roots, London, Sanctuary Records Group Ltd, 2003.

28In the fourth episode entitled Black Blizzard, the Dust Bowl is the main character of the plotline and bears a strong resemblance to the description of the storms in the opening chapter of The Grapes of Wrath41 and in Woody Guthrie’s song entitled The Great Dust Storm (Dust Storm Disaster)42 in which he portrays the storm which occurred on April 14 1935.

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29Because of the storm, the protagonists are held in camera, therefore inducing moments of great tension creating at times a stifling and claustrophobic atmosphere as is the case for the trio: Samson, Osgood and the prostitute, Miss Jolene. Not to mention the duo: Lodz, the blind mentalist, and Ben Hawkins who find refuge from the storm in an abandoned house. Lodz takes advantage of the situation to test Ben’s powers. For others the storm provides a moment of rest and relief as it does for Sofie and Harlan, the café owner. Yet the Dust Bowl may also be read as something supernatural and viewed, from a religious viewpoint, as a punishment from God, which is exactly how Brother Justin views it in Milfay:

Latter days version of the vile plagues that rained on Egypt, the fires that consumed Sodom and Gomorrah, scourges of the Old Testament, yes, but even now brothers and sisters, even now, droughts and pestilence fester in the very heart of this great land […] Titanic sandstorms, the likes of which man has not seen since the days of the prophets. And I ask myself, what are these things? What are they if not evidence of God’s fury? What are they if not harbingers of the Apocalypse?

30A network of cultural references also contributes to conveying the atmosphere of the Thirties enhancing the show’s realism. The names of Theda Bara, Caruso, Dempsey, Valentino and Bela Lugosi mentioned by Samson and Jonesy are all evocative of the period.

31Some historical events are mentioned now and then during the show. In Babylon, Lila, the Bearded Lady, reads the newspaper headlines to Lodz and informs: “Austrian Chancellor, Engelbert Dolfuss, was assassinated last night by nazi insurgents” – consequently locating the events in July 1934. In Alamogordo, NM (2, 2) the camera lingers on one of the roustabouts sleeping, his face covered by The Daily Chronicle whose headlines inform us of the Italian annexation of Tripoli, also situating the action in 1934. But in Creed (2, 5), while arriving at their destination the rousties are discussing the upcoming “fight of the century” between Joe Louis and Max Baer in September 1935. Thus, while these historical events anchor the fictional narrative into historical reality, by distorting them so they fit the narrative pattern, the producer blurs once more the boundaries between fiction and reality. Yet, while fictionalizing history the show creates its own fictional reality.

• 43 Robert J. Brown, Manipulating the Ether. The Power Of Broadcasting Radio in Thirties America, Jeffe (…)
• 44 Matthew Teorey “Metadrama in Old Time Radio: ‘Abbott…What Page Are You On?’”, The Journal of Americ (…)

32The other main feature of the series I would now like to dwell on is the radio. The radio was a social and cultural force which dominated America in the Thirties, a period which has often been referred to as the “Golden Age” of radio. As Robert J. Brown notes, by “the mid-1930s [the] radio became a pervasive influence in American life43”. The radio’s great popular appeal was partly due, as Matthew Teorey avers, to the fact that “its fictional characters entered the listener’s world44” in the same way that, nowadays, the heroes of Carnivàle enter our own world. Hence, while contributing to what Barthes termed the Reality Effect, the radio will also provide for the show’s meta-fictional aspect.

• 45 The mp3 recording of this programme can be found on the following website: <Erreur ! Référence de l (…)

33Although the radio played a major role in making the country more homogeneous, it was also used by some as a pulpit to spread venom throughout the ether. So, despite the atmosphere it contributes to creating throughout the show notably by playing Ruth Etting’s song “Love Me or Leave Me” as well as music by Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and Tommy Dorsey, it is used as a pivotal element of the show’s narrative structure. In Milfay the radio denotes the contrapuntal function of objects in fiction as it provides us with a narrative counterpoint to Brother Justin’s nightmare. As Justin awakes, the radio is broadcasting the famous radio show The Shadow, and we can hear the popular radio character addressing his opponent, Joe Brecker, a convict who is about to be executed: “So you weren’t expecting me, and yet prisons are filled with shadows, shadows in the minds of men walking in the shadow of death itself. ” Brother Justin, like The Shadow’s foe, is a prisoner of his own dreams and visions, which recurrently come to haunt him at night, bestowing upon his shadowy character an aura of mystery. It is, however, worth noticing here again the anachronistic feature of this scene. The Shadow was a famous radio show all throughout the Thirties. However, the episode used in this short segment is entitled The Silent Avenger45, and was broadcasted on March 13, 1938. Yet, Carnivàle is supposed to take place in 1934. This throws light once more on the way in which the authors manipulate and distort historical facts to suit the narrative pattern.

34During his errand as he wanders the roads of California Justin will become the hero of a radio show entitled True Tales on the Road, a show produced by Tommy Dolan on KZAK radio station. The radio creates a mise en abyme effect in the narrative structure, as the fictional character of Brother Justin becomes the hero of a fictitious show within the diegesis. His errand is punctuated by the recurrent question raised at the end of each broadcast: “And what about Brother Justin? Where is he? Where are you, Brother Justin?” This mise en abyme effect is enhanced in Pick a Number (1.6). As we hear Tommy Dolan’s recurrent question, an old garage owner is sitting listening to the radio. Meanwhile, the viewer sees through the open garage doorframe Brother Justin walking by in the distance and disappearing into the night, signalling to the viewer the beginning of his dark and solitary errand into the wilderness.

• 46 The programme was broadcasted in the evening on October 30, 1938.
• 47 Robert J. Brown, op. cit., p. 238.

35In Hot and Bothered (1.10) Iris convinces her brother of the fantastic potential of the radio: “100,000 people listen to his show every week and those listeners could be the backbone of your new church”, while Dolan insists on the great advantages he could have spreading his word thanks to the new medium: “30 million people have radios in this country Brother Justin. It’s a new age.” It is to be noted that his programme is an evening show: as Robert J. Brown argues, while discussing the reason for which Orson Welles’s broadcast “War of the Worlds46” was so conclusive in inciting panic among the listeners, “tuning late was a strong conditioning factor47”.

• 48 For a more detailed study on Roosevelt’s use of the medium see Robert J. Brown, op. cit.
• 49 We may perhaps draw a parallel here between the character of Brother Justin who claims to be “the l (…)

36Therefore, at the end of the first season and all during the second one the radio will become the instrument through which Brother Justin will mould and manipulate people’s minds, underlining the major influence of the medium in the Thirties. Franklin D. Roosevelt was probably the first American politician to recognize the radio’s full potential48 notably through his “fireside chats” as the medium gave him direct access to the people. Yet Roosevelt was not the only talented radio orator who understood the power of the new medium. Such was also the case of one of America’s most potent radio demagogues, the so-called Radio Priest, Father Charles Edward Coughlin, who greatly inspired the character of Brother Justin. The radio progressively becomes the medium through which Justin will manipulate minds and convert his flock of listeners to his cause with his religious evening programme: Brother Justin’s Church of the Air49. The radio’s potent influence is illustrated by the way in which Justin enrols Varlyn Stroud – Los Moscos (2.1) – who is in prison, while his radio show is being broadcasted. We hear Justin’s voice in a subliminal message call on Stroud – “You will be my apostle” – as he sets him free, a way of demonstrating the radio’s hold over the listeners and the power exerted by those who mastered that medium.

• 50 Ibid., p. 18.

37Let us now consider Brother Justin’s rhetoric in his fire-and-brimstone sermons. Justin’s rhetoric owes much to that of Roosevelt who would routinely refer to himself in the first person and address the American public as “you” allowing for his words to come over as a friendly conversation50 conveying a sense of close interaction with the public: “And though I am alone in this studio I can sense your presence. You are with me and I am with you” (Los Moscos, 2.1).

• 51 Donald Warren, Radio Priest. Charles Coughlin the Father of Hate Radio, New York, The Free Press, 1 (…)
• 52 Ibid., p. 63. This is an excerpt of a speech given on January 27, 1935.
• 53 Ibid., p. 60. Coughlin was the first to coin the word “banksters”, p. 54.
• 54 See Brown, op. cit., “Sam Rosenman admired the ‘attractiveness’ of his voice; its fine shadings and (…)

38Yet, the rest of his speech clearly recalls the rhetoric and themes developed by Father Coughlin whose speeches mingled politics and religion which would rivet public attention by creating what Donald Warren terms “an ecumenism of discontent51”: “This land, your land, has been stolen. Stolen by the international bankers. Stolen by the crooked politicians. Stolen by cheap immigrant labour” (Los Moscos, 2.1). This sermon clearly echoes some of Father Coughlin’s: “Keep America safe for Americans and not the hunting ground of international plutocrats!52”; “the international bankers of ill repute53”, which highlight both features of anti-semitism and populism. Both Roosevelt54 and Coughlin had outstanding voices, which proved a significant asset for an aural medium like the radio. Yet, Justin’s warm, enthralling and mesmerizing voice, which has an almost sexual tone to it, seems closer to that of Coughlin’s than of Roosevelt’s. Donald Warren quotes the writer Wallace Stegner’s detailed description of Father Coughlin’s voice in 1935:

A beautiful baritone… his range was spectacular. He always began in a low rich pitch, speaking slowly, gradually increasing in tempo and vehemence, then soaring into high and passionate tones… His diction was musical, the effect authoritative.

39Hence, the character of Brother Justin, who will progressively ensnare the impoverished masses in his spiritual web as the plot unfolds, stands as a subtle blend of two major historical figures of the Thirties – Franklin D. Roosevelt and Father Coughlin – emphasizing once more the interplay between fiction and reality.

• 55 Knauf was vying for creating a new form of television viewing in which the viewers would involve th (…)

40The last aspect I would like to focus on is that of the circus which had, as Sofie tells Ben, an important role to play at the time: “The people in these towns, they’re asleep. All day at work, at home, just sleepwalkers. We wake them up55” (Milfay). The circus motif symbolises illusion. While illusion is conjured up for the circus spectator, this illusion rests on the following paradox: to be effective it must be denied yet considered real in itself. Thus (like the circus spectator) the viewer, while escaping into the realm of illusion, must accept the show’s deceptive illusionary totality. The way in which Knauf mingles historical and fictional reality in Carnivàle subtly outlines this tacit agreement between the producer and the viewers.

• 56 Charles Philip Fox and Tom Parkinson, The Circus in America (1969), Santa Monica, Hennessey + Ingal (…)
• 57 Janet M. Davis, The Circus Age. Culture and Society under the American Big Top, Chapel Hill & Londo (…)
• 58 Ibid., p. 27-28.

41As Fox and Parkinson note, excitement and anticipation permeated the towns and cities when sideshows or circuses would arrive in town56, “coming from nowhere and vanishing into nothing57”, while time would be suddenly set in abeyance as a world of fantasy and illusion sprung up into the real world. As Janet M. Davis contends: “[d]uping was a central part of the circus; consequently audiences were always vulnerable as they unwittingly became part of the ‘show’58”, establishing, therefore, a link between the audience and the show.

• 59 Lincoln Highway, UT (2.9) opens as we see Brother Justin looking straight ahead at a spider web spa (…)

42The way in which the sideshow, and particularly the ten-in-one (Milfay, 1.1), is shot by hand-held camera suggests unrehearsed filming of reality and conveys an impression of dizziness and disorientation. The audience feel as though they are part of the scene rather than viewing it from a detached and remote position, which contributes to engulfing the viewer in a world of confusion and doubt, hence entrapping him/her in the carnival’s spider web symbolized by the Colossus Ferris Wheel just in the same way it eventually ensnares Brother Justin59.

• 60 Davis explains that, at the time, a lot of the circus people “were social outsiders”, op. cit., p.  (…)
• 61 The Man Eating Chicken plays on the double-entendre of the expression illustrating carny promotiona (…)

43The sideshow also encompasses the themes of errand, estrangement, alienation and marginality60. The eerie and murky atmosphere of the series focuses on the dark side of the human experience. The mysterious Management, the real freaks (Samson and Sabina the Scorpion Woman) and the fake ones (Turtle Boy and The Man Eating Chicken61), contribute to the show’s unsettling atmosphere while inviting the viewer to reflect on human nature.

• 62 David J. Skal and Elias Savada note that “[f]reakishness, deformity, and disability had taken root (…)

44If the show62 inevitably brings to mind Tod Browning’s famous movie Freaks (1932), the oneirological, dark and disturbing atmosphere reminds us of two other of Browning’s movies: The Unholy Three (1925) and The Show (1927). In The Show the persuasive voice of Cock Robin, the spieler of the Hungarian freak emporium called The Palace of Illusions, draws the crowds to his bally stand while their insatiable curiosity keeps the tents filled. Most of the attractions are fake freaks, especially women with lower-body anomalies: Arachnadia the human spider, Neptunia the phony mermaid and Zela the truncated half-girl. The sideshow’s main attraction depicts Salome’s dance of the seven veils, which reminds us of the Cooch show performed by the Dreiffus women in Carnivàle.

• 63 Charles Philip Fox and Tom Parkinson, op. cit., p. 165.
• 64 Ibid.
• 65 Janet M. Davis, op. cit., p. 41.

45If the sideshow is fraught with references to the fictional world created by Tod Browning, it is also rooted in historical reality, giving once more credibility to the diegesis. Fox and Parkinson argue that the “truck shows63” first appeared in 1918, almost at the time when Henry Scudder found refuge with the Hyde & Teller Co. travelling circus (Insomnia, 1, 9), when Management bought it out – “just after that Scudder took the power” (Samson, 1.9). Consequently, the roving circus becomes the means through which Belyakov begins trailing Scudder. With its capacity to move about, the sideshow has complete freedom: “the truck circus was free to go as it chose64”, making “the country a chess board, [as it] move[d] [its] attractions from one point to another65”. However, as soon as Ben arrives on the scene, the side-show’s circuit is disrupted:

Ben. Do you have a regular circuit?
Jonesy. Circuit?
Ben. Yeah.
Jonesy. Used to. Now it’s just town by town, catch as catch can, and that ain’t hardly nothing!
Ben. Since when?
Jonesy (a beat). Since you showed up.

46A point confirmed, in the same episode, by Lodz who tells Samson: “The circuit’s just an excuse. You know that” (Tipton, 1.3).

• 66 Brian Jarvis underlines the link between geography and history in postmodern American culture: “Giv (…)
• 67 Daniel Knauf in an interview, “Something Cryptic this Way Comes”, by Pam Casellas, The West Austral (…)

47Thus, although the plot is embedded within history, the topographical and geographical reality is of utmost importance66, as Daniel Knauf explains: “I had to take something logical and figure out the topography and in venturing into the unknown as they move from one ‘crappy little town’ […]67” to another. By anchoring the narrative into spatial and territorial reality, Knauf enhances the plot’s credibility.

• 68 The only living creatures the carnies meet in Babylon, Stangler, tells them “there’s a lot of souls (…)
• 69 However, the only clear geographical indication is that of Lincoln Highway also known as the “Main (…)

48Fourteen episodes out of 24 bear either a geographical indication or the name of a real or fictitious town (Milfay, Tipton, Babylon, The River, Lonnigan, Los Moscos, Alomogordo, Ingram, Creed, Damascus, Lincoln Highway, Cheyenne, New Canaan), underlining the importance of space while also mirroring the oscillation between wilderness, small towns and the open space. Indeed, most of these towns are either like Milfay (Oklahoma) a small unincorporated community, or like Babylon an eerie Texas mining ghost town68, which the Navarro county maps do not even show and which is located on an unnumbered county road somewhere between Dawson and Purden, or Cheyenne (another Texan ghost town). Other towns like Creed are not even mentioned on any map of Oklahoma. New Canaan, the carnival’s final destination, is a small town located in San Benito County, south of Salinas. One soon gets lost in this geographical maze69 and begins to lose track of the route followed by the wandering sideshow as it becomes impossible to map the space represented by the lines and nodes of the towns, which appear and disappear in the fissures and fault lines of the landscape. Yet, when the sideshow reaches Lincoln Highway (Lincoln Highway, UT, 2, 9) the unfolding of events suddenly picks up speed, accelerating the narrative’s rhythm as both plotlines finally merge.

• 70 Daniel Knauf, “The Making of a Magnificient Delusion”, op. cit.

49To conclude, the narrative reality of Carnivàle is filled with cracks and flaws through which surreal and mysterious events find their way, disrupting the narrative pattern yet enhancing its complexity, leaving the viewer at times disoriented and dazzled. While embedding fiction into the historical template of the Thirties, Daniel Knauf deliberately adds a layer of confusion as he distorts and conflates the chronological course of events. Hence, while the realms of history and fiction collide, “The Grapes of Wrath meets David Lynch”70.

• 71 See Jane Feuer, “The MTM Style”. Feuer gives an insightful definition to what is implied by the exp (…)
• 72 Brian L. Ott, “Introduction: The not TV text”, in It’s not TV. Watching HBO in the Post-Television (…)
• 73 Pierre Bourdieu, Contre-feux. Propos pour servir à la résistance contre l’invasion néo-libérale, Pa (…)

50Like OZ, The Wire, or John from Cincinnati, Carnivàle is a perfect illustration of HBO’s Golden Age. This hybrid show whose themes and numerous subtextual references may have seemed surprising at first clearly corresponds to what critics have termed “quality television71”: the cinematic quality, the costumes, the detailed historical reconstruction but especially its intricate narrative structure in which fiction subtly melds into reality, “demanded an intertextual literacy and activeness not typical of television viewers72” which contributed to the making of a true work of art. Carnivàle contributed to the advent of new type of viewer which Pierre Bourdieu ironically defined as a kind of “post-modern hermeneutist73”.

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Notes

2 “Carnivàle Fans Besiege HBO with E-mails”, ZAP 2 it, zap2it.com, July 19, 2005.

3 “TV Guide Weighs in on HBO’s cancellation of Carnivàle”, TV Guide, June 1, 2005. 

4 “Dan Knauf Interview”, The Bally, February 15, 2005, <http://www.carnycom/bally/dan.html > April 11, 2011.

5 See Henry Jenkins’s book Fans, Bloggers and Gamers. Explore Participatory Culture, New York & London, New York University Press, 2006. Henry Jenkins, who explores the concept of the active audience and fan culture notes that “[t]he past decade has seen a marked increase in the serialization of American television, the emergence of more complex appeals to program history, and the development of more intricate story arcs and cliffhangers. To some degree, these æsthetic shifts can be linked to new reception practices enabled by the home archiving of videos, net discussion lists, and web program guides”, p. 145.

6 Discussing Twin Peaks, Mark Jancovitch and James Lyons suggest in the introduction of their study on “quality television” that the show “was instrumental in provoking television producers to rethink their relationship to fans and cult audiences” thus underlining the growing importance of interplay in recent television shows. Mark Jancovitch & James Lyons, Quality Popular Television. Cult TV, the Industry and Fans, London, B.F.I. Publishing, 2003, p. 2.

7 See Jason Mittell, “Narrative Complexity in Contemporary American Television”, The Velvet Light Trap, November 58, Fall 2006, p. 29-40. Mittell gives an extremely convincing definition of narrative complexity: “At its most basic level, narrative complexity is a redefinition of episodic forms under the influence of serial narration – not necessarily a complete merger of episodic and serial forms but a shifting balance. Rejecting the need for plot closure within every episode that typifies conventional episodic form, narrative complexity foregrounds ongoing stories across a range of genres”, p. 32.

8 In an interview concerning the main title sequence Scott Boyajan explained: “Our goal was to create a title sequence that grounded viewers in the mid 1930s, but that also allowed people to feel a larger presence of good and evil over all of time”, “A52 Masters Fate in New Main Title Sequence for HBO’s Carnivàle”, darnellworks.com. September 15, 2003, <http://www.darnellworks.com/a52/nr0052.html>, April 15, 2011. The influence of Carnivàle’s opening title sequence can also be traced in the opening title sequence of Showtime’s series Huff (2004-2006).

9 David Marc, “Carnivàle. TV drama without TV genre” in It’s not TV. Watching HBO in the Post-Television Era, edited by Marc Leverette, Brian L. Ott and Cara Louise Buckley, New York and London, Routledge, 2008, p.  101-107, p. 101.

10 Each card figures a famous painting, which changes anamorphically into a news reel.

11 Peter Brueghel the Elder’s Fall of Rebel Angels (1562) and Peter Brueghel the Younger’s The Peasant Dance (1568), Michelangelo’s fresco The Last Judgement, Saint Michael Vanquishing Satan by Raphael, War in Heaven by Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1500), Gustave Doré’s The Archangel Michael and his Angels Fighting the Dragon (1865-1866)…

12 The news reels show historical footage of the Bonus Marchers approaching the Capitol, Mussolini, Roosevelt, Molotov and Stalin, Jesse Owens and Babe Ruth and the Ku Klux Klan.

13 Hélène Duccini lays emphasis on the importance of music, which signals the switch from reality into fiction in opening title sequences, just in the same way it does in television commercials: « La musique des génériques d’émission joue un rôle analogue [à celui du spot publicitaire]: prévenir les téléspectateurs, peut-être éloignés du récepteur, que l’émission commence ; c’est un signal d’appel.  » In Hélène Duccini, La télévision et ses mises en scène (1998), Paris, Armand Colin, 2010, p. 17.

14 Daniel Knauf noted in an interview: “I’m a big fan of Tolkien”, in “The Making of a Magnificient Delusion”, <http://www.hbo.com/carnivale/behind/daniel_knauf.shtml>, April 11, 2011. See also David Knauf’s interview by Kate McCallum, « The Great Idea. HBO’s Carnivàle », Scriptmag.com, May/June 2004, <http://www.bridgeartsmedia.com/img/Carnivale.pdf >, April 15, 2011: “I loved The Lord of the Rings. I loved epic fantasy […]”, p. 32.

15 As Gilles Deleuze notes, “the close-up extracts the face […] from all spatio-temporal co-ordinates”. Gilles Deleuze (translated by Hugh Tomlinson and Barbara Habberjam), Cinema 1 The Movement-Image (1983), Minneapolis, The University of Minnesota Press, 2009, p. 108.

16 Daniel Knauf, “Magic and Myth. The Meaning of Carnivàle”, Carnivàle. The Complete Second Series, HBO Home Video, 2006.

17 “Dan Knauf Interview”, The Bally, February 15, 2005, <http://wwwcarnycom/bally/dan.html >, April 11, 2011.

18 The way in which this scene is filmed is reminiscent of the atmosphere depicted in Edward Hopper’s painting Nighthawks (1942).

19 Samson tells Ben: “I reckon Henry Scudder is your daddy”,The River, season 1, episode 7.

20 Daniel Knauf notes that Justin and Iris are “the children of Belyakov” in “Magic and Myth. The Meaning of Carnivàle”, op. cit.

21 In the series the Avatars are portrayed as human-like beings with supernatural powers. Each generation gives birth to a Creature of Light and a Creature of Darkness.

22 Daniel Knauf, “Behind the Scenes. The Making Of Carnivàle”, Carnivàle. The Complete First Series, HBO Video, 2004.

23 Roland Barthes, “The Reality Effect” (1968), in The Novel: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory, 1900-2000, edited by Dorothy J. Hale, Oxford, Blackwell Publishing, 2006, p. 229-234, p. 233.

24 Ibid.

25 Brother Justin, “I have journeyed into the wilderness”, 1, 10. In the same episode Brother Justin is filmed walking down the church’s central aisle revealing some of the darkest secrets about certain members of his congregation. This scene seems to echo ABC’s miniseries Storm of the Century written by Stephen King and produced in 1999. The evil character, Andre Linoge (anagram of the demon Legion), is seen walking slowly up the church aisle revealing the town folks’ darkest secrets, creating havoc within the island’s small community.

26 Michael Strang, Fan and Carnivàle mythologist in “Magic and Myth. The Meaning of Carnivàle”, op. cit.

27 In the mythology of Carnivàle, the Omega is, like the Alpha, a female who is the only other known exception to the male restriction in Avatar succession and because of the allusion to “the Beginning and the End” in naming, the Omega is commonly accepted as the last Avatar. The Usher of Destruction is a harbinger of the End of Times to usher in the Armageddon.

28 Daniel Knauf, “Magic and Myth. The Meaning of Carnivàle”, op. cit.

29 Ben is told by Management in The Day that Was the Day (1, 12): “To restore a life, you must take a life… That is the way of our kind.”

30 “Albrecht tells reporters that the second season of Carnivàle was originally supposed to conclude with a satisfying and close-ended conclusion […] but that producers decided to add a cliffhanger, leaving the show’s small, but passionate legion of devotees at a loss”, “Carnivàle Fans Besiege HBO with E-mails”, ZAP 2 it, July 19, 2005. Yet, in an interview, Daniel Knauf notes that he understood Chris Albrecht’s decision; see “Dan Knauf Speaks about Carnivàle’s Cancellation”, Wednesday, May 11, 2005. <http://savecarnivale.blogspot.com/2005/05/dan-knauf-speaks-about-carnivales.html>, April 11, 2011. There is another piece of evidence underscoring the circular structure of the narrative. During the first episode Jonesy seats Maddy and her brother in the Colossus Ferris Wheel and in the final episode he will make sure that both Iris and Justin are firmly seated in the wheel. This could possibly be read as parable of the fall from innocence (childhood) to sin (adulthood), from the Age of Wonder to that of Reason. This is corroborated by the fact that the atomic bomb also stands for a metaphor of this dramatic change, as Daniel Knauf explains, “[t]hat event marked the end of man as a child. That’s when man entered his adulthood”.

31 “Dan Knauf Interview”, The Bally, February 15, 2005. <http://www.Carnycom/bally/dan.html>, April 11, 2011.

32 Ibid.

33 Daniel Knauf in “The Museum of Television & Radio’s William S. Paley Television Festival. Carnivàle”, March 16, 2004, in Carnivàle. The Complete Second Series, op. cit.

34 The historical setting of Carnivàle required significant research and the presence of a historical consultant who greatly contributed to reviews praising the show’s depiction of the period.

35 Daniel Knauf explains that he “wanted to do something with the aspect of more long ago and far away. I think [the show] would have lost a certain amount of its mystique if it were [set in the present]”, Scriptmag. Com, op. cit., p. 33.

36 See this segment on YouTube, <http://www.youtube.com?v=WSLFXzjhEM8>, January 10, 2012.

37 Management to Ben in Los Moscos 2.1).

38 Studs Terkel, Hard Times. An Oral History of the Great Depression (1970), New York-London, The New Press, 2005, p. 53. See also of course The Grapes of Wrath: “The tractor cut through again; the uncut space was ten feet wide. And back he came. The iron guard bit into the house-corner, crumbled the wall, and wrenched the little house from its foundation so that it fell sideways, crushed like a bug. And the driver was goggled and a rubber mask covered his nose and mouth. The tractor cut straight line on, and the air and the ground vibrated with its thunder. The tenant man stared after it, his rifle in his hand. His wife was beside him, and the quiet children behind. And all of them stared after the tractor.” John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (1939), New York-London, Penguin Books, 2006, p. 38-39.

39 Studs Terkel, op. cit.: “I think the Depression had some kind of human qualities with it that we lack now”, p. 53; “The farmers were almost united. We had penny auction sales. Some neighbour would bid a penny and give it back to the owner”, p. 218.

40 See Pierre Borhan, Dorothea Lange. Le cœur et les raisons d’une photographe, Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 2002, p. 54 et p. 94. See also Studds Terkel, op. cit., “Here were all these people living in old, rusted-out car bodies. I mean that was their home. There were people living in shacks made of orange crates. One family with a whole lot of kids were living in a piano box. This wasn’t just a little section, this was maybe ten-miles wide and ten-miles long. People living in whatever they could junk together”, p. 51.

41 “The wind grew stronger, whisked under stones, carried up straws and old leaves, and even little clods, marking its course as it sailed across fields. The air and the sky darkened and through them the sun shone redly, and there was a raw sting in the air”, John Steinbeck, op. cit., p. 2. See also Studs Terkel, op. cit.: “Oh, the dust storms, they were terrible […]. These storms, when they would hit, you had to clean house from the attic to ground. Everything was covered in sand. Red sand, just full of oil”, p. 46.

42 Woody Guthrie, Country & Folk Roots, London, Sanctuary Records Group Ltd, 2003.

43 Robert J. Brown, Manipulating the Ether. The Power Of Broadcasting Radio in Thirties America, Jefferson, North Carolina and London, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2004, p. 2. My study owes much to Robert J. Brown insightful study on the major influence of the radio during the Thirties in America.

44 Matthew Teorey “Metadrama in Old Time Radio: ‘Abbott…What Page Are You On?’”, The Journal of American Culture, Volume 34, Issue 4, December 2011, p. 357-371, p. 357.

45 The mp3 recording of this programme can be found on the following website: <Erreur ! Référence de lien hypertexte non valide>. March 11, 2011.

46 The programme was broadcasted in the evening on October 30, 1938.

47 Robert J. Brown, op. cit., p. 238.

48 For a more detailed study on Roosevelt’s use of the medium see Robert J. Brown, op. cit.

49 We may perhaps draw a parallel here between the character of Brother Justin who claims to be “the left hand of God […] I am no longer his servant” (1, 8) and the main character of Flannery O’Connor’s novel Wise Blood, Hazel Motes, whose church “is the Church Without Christ”. Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood (1952), London, Faber and Faber, 2008.

50 Ibid., p. 18.

51 Donald Warren, Radio Priest. Charles Coughlin the Father of Hate Radio, New York, The Free Press, 1996, p. 29.

52 Ibid., p. 63. This is an excerpt of a speech given on January 27, 1935.

53 Ibid., p. 60. Coughlin was the first to coin the word “banksters”, p. 54.

54 See Brown, op. cit., “Sam Rosenman admired the ‘attractiveness’ of his voice; its fine shadings and nuances, [and] the infinite variety he knew how to give it – strength, sarcasm, humor, volume, charm, persuasiveness”, p. 20.

55 Knauf was vying for creating a new form of television viewing in which the viewers would involve themselves in the ongoing process of the story. See “Freaking Hell”, December 16, 2004, in which Knauf argues that “[a]udiences are just starving for something different. If we think about sleepwalkers, there’s sleepwalker TV […]”, <http://www.theage.com.au/news/TV–Radio/Freaking-hell/2004/12/14/1102787083353.html>, April 11, 2011.

56 Charles Philip Fox and Tom Parkinson, The Circus in America (1969), Santa Monica, Hennessey + Ingalls, 2002, p.  10-21.

57 Janet M. Davis, The Circus Age. Culture and Society under the American Big Top, Chapel Hill & London, The University of North Carolina Press, 2002, p. 45.

58 Ibid., p. 27-28.

59 Lincoln Highway, UT (2.9) opens as we see Brother Justin looking straight ahead at a spider web sparkling with droplets of water. The web progressively materializes into the carnival’s Ferris Wheel as the centre of the web/Wheel glows. An obvious ill omen as Justin’s brutal awakening attests to. The Ferris Wheel also symbolizes the magical atmosphere of those kind of fairs.

60 Davis explains that, at the time, a lot of the circus people “were social outsiders”, op. cit., p. 26.

61 The Man Eating Chicken plays on the double-entendre of the expression illustrating carny promotional strategy: as the curtain is drawn the viewers discover a man eating chicken. See Lonnigan, Texas (1.8).

62 David J. Skal and Elias Savada note that “[f]reakishness, deformity, and disability had taken root as a staple of American entertainment in the years following World War I”, in David J. Skal and Elias Savada, Dark Carnival. The Secret World of Tod Browning. Hollywood’s Master of the Macabre, New York, Anchor Books, 1995, p. 89.

63 Charles Philip Fox and Tom Parkinson, op. cit., p. 165.

64 Ibid.

65 Janet M. Davis, op. cit., p. 41.

66 Brian Jarvis underlines the link between geography and history in postmodern American culture: “Given the structural inseparability of space/place/landscape and social relations there can be no geographical knowledge without historical narrative. In other words, all spaces contain stories and must be recognised as the site of an ongoing struggle over meaning and value”, in Brian Jarvis, Postmodern Cartographies. The Geographical Imagination in Contemporary American Culture, New York, St Martin’s Press, 1998, p. 7.

67 Daniel Knauf in an interview, “Something Cryptic this Way Comes”, by Pam Casellas, The West Australian, Perth, December 15, 2004.

68 The only living creatures the carnies meet in Babylon, Stangler, tells them “there’s a lot of souls in Babylon”.

69 However, the only clear geographical indication is that of Lincoln Highway also known as the “Main Street Across America”.

70 Daniel Knauf, “The Making of a Magnificient Delusion”, op. cit.

71 See Jane Feuer, “The MTM Style”. Feuer gives an insightful definition to what is implied by the expression “quality television”: “Intertextuality and self-reflexivity operate both as the normative way of creating new programmes and as a way of distinguishing the ‘quality’ from the everyday product.” In Jane Feuer, Paul Kerr and Tise Vahimagi (eds.), MTM “Quality Television”, London, British film Institute Publishing, 1984, p. 32-60, p. 44.

72 Brian L. Ott, “Introduction: The not TV text”, in It’s not TV. Watching HBO in the Post-Television Era, op. cit., p. 97-100, p. 98.

73 Pierre Bourdieu, Contre-feux. Propos pour servir à la résistance contre l’invasion néo-libérale, Paris, Éditions Raisons D’Agir, 1998, p.  84.

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Jean Du Verger, « Melding Fiction and Reality in HBO’s Carnivàle », TV/Series [En ligne], 1 | 2012, mis en ligne le 15 mai 2012, consulté le 13 septembre 2022. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/tvseries/1504 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/tvseries.1504

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Auteur

Jean Du Verger

Jean Du Verger enseigne actuellement l’anglais à l’ENSMM à Besançon après avoir enseigné à Paris V – René Descartes et Paris XI – Orsay. Il a aussi enseigné à l’université de Paris IV – Sorbonne où il a donné des cours sur le théâtre britannique contemporain (Harold Pinter et Tom Stoppard). Il est l’auteur de trois article sur l’œuvre de Shakespeare intitulés: « Hamlet and Melancholy » dans Hamlet (CNED-Didier Erudition, 1997), « Shakespeare’s Anatomy of Madness in Context » dans « The true blank of thine eye ». Approches critiques de King Lear (Presses de l’université Paris-Sorbonne, 2009) et « Influence and Resurgence of Cinema and Cinematic Motifs in Two French Stagings of Antony and Cleopatra » dans Shakespeare on Screen: The Roman Plays (Presses Universitaires de Rouen et du Havre, 2009). Il est aussi l’auteur d’un article intitulé « Géographie et cartographie fictionnelles dans l’Utopie de Thomas More » publié dans la revue Moreana (décembre 2010). Il a par ailleurs écrit un article portant sur les séries télévisées « So many traps to set »: Subversion and Subversiveness in Profit » (GRAAT On-Line issue no. 6 December 2009 http://www.graat.fr/tv15duverger.pdf) ainsi que d’un article portant sur la contre-culture « Sex, Drugs and Protest: The Film Industry and the Counterculture » à paraître dans la revue électronique EOLLE. Il prépare actuellement une thèse sur la parodie dans le théâtre de Tom Stoppard sous la direction d’Elisabeth Angel-Perez.

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Photo: Carnival is back in Notting Hill after a two-year break

28 August 2022

Photo credit, PA Media

Photo caption,

The first day of the carnival is family-friendly, many children take part in the processions

The legendary Nottinghill Carnival has returned to the streets of London for the first time since 2019. The giant costume parade will last for two days and is expected to attract millions of visitors.

Traditionally, this is the largest street festival in Europe and the second largest carnival in the world after Rio. Its goal is to unite society by bringing together people of different views and ages.

Photo copyright, Anadolu Agency

Photo caption,

Thousands of people gathered for the first carnival after the pandemic

This celebration of loud music, colorful costumes, dancing and food with Caribbean roots has more than 50 years of history. It takes place on the last weekend of August in Notting Hill, West London from 1966 years old, but had to take a two-year break in 2020-2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Image copyright, PA Media

Image caption,

No carnival for two years due to the pandemic

Notting Hill’s first street party was foreshadowed by an event called “Caribbean Carnival”, organized in 1958 by a Trinidadian human rights activist Claudia Jones.

Photo copyright, Dan Kitwood

Photo caption,

Both adults and children participate in carnival processions

She wanted to unite the local community in the aftermath of racist attacks on Caribbean Islanders who, at the invitation of the government, immigrated to Britain en masse in the post-war era. The first carnivals were held under the slogan “Freedom of the people gives birth to its art.”

Image copyright, Getty Images

Image caption,

Carnival actually starts at dawn – with paint and talc fights

Sunday festivities begin at dawn – before the official start of the carnival. As in previous years, people impromptu gathered on the streets of west London to dance, throw paint and talc on each other in the Caribbean tradition.

Image copyright, Reuters

Image caption,

Notting Hill and surrounding area closed to traffic during Carnival

Notting Hill has 39 mobile sound systems and two live music stages this year.

• Notting Hill Carnival: Can you party near Grenfell Tower?

All roads in the Notting Hill area are closed to all traffic and there are thousands of police on the streets.

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption,

Many locals and shops took precautions before the carnival by protecting their windows with plywood

Many shop windows in the area were covered with thick sheets of plywood in advance, and the authorities asked the authorities not to sell bottled drinks.

Image copyright Antony Jones

Image caption

DJs have their own platforms

The local government, along with Age UK, a charity that helps the elderly, sent 40 local pensioners to the seaside town of Eastbourne during the carnival to protect them from the noise and crowds.

Photo copyright, EPA

Photo caption,

Organizers say the goal of carnival is to bring society together

“Carnival is a wonderful celebration and we’re thrilled to have it back on our streets this year, but we also recognize that that sound systems and crowds are not for everyone,” said local council spokeswoman Emma Will.

Photo copyright, Dan Kitwood

Photo caption,

Spectators also do not spare paint

As in 2017, 2018 and 2019, at 15:00 each day of the carnival, its participants honor the memory of the victims in silence fire at the Grenfell Tower. Silence lasts 72 seconds – so many people died in a high-rise building in June 2017. Grenfell Tower is located in North Kensington, neighboring Notting Hill.

• “Stay where you are.” There may have been significantly fewer deaths at London’s Grenfell Tower

Photo credit: Dan Kitwood

Image caption

These are not real cops, but a child doesn’t care who they get candy from

“We ask everyone who plans to attend the festival this year, all musicians and all sound systems to help us as organizers and members of the local community and pay tribute to the dead together,” the organizers of the carnival wrote on Twitter.

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Another deuce

An evening of ballets by Mikhail Fokine at the Mariinsky Theater

An evening of ballets by Mikhail Fokine is a small but expressive example of how fat years at the Mariinsky Theater were replaced by skinny ones. And it’s not about the money. Previously, the theater was not lazy (for which, I believe, ordinary workers cursed the dismissed head of the ballet Makhar Vaziev). This year is a double anniversary. One hundred years of “Russian Seasons”, the cradle from which the entire modernist ballet of the twentieth century emerged, starting with this very choreography by Fokine. Well, and so, one might say, on trifles: eighty years since Sergei Diaghilev died in Venice, the man who invented The Seasons, launched and supported on the go for two decades. So these eighty years are also from the date of the death of the enterprise as a whole. Considering how ballet rushes about with its history and myths, how it loves to celebrate anniversaries, at least something was expected from the Mariinsky Theater. So what? Look: as if nothing had happened, we are shown a collection that has been accumulated for a long time, so that many of the exhibits are still not very cleaned. Where is the premiere? Where is the reconstruction of some archival issue, since in twenty years Diaghilev’s entreprise has produced dozens of hours of excellent ballet spectacle?

In general, the fact that the modern theater does not care about some guy who whooped a few years ago, rather speaks of mental health. But for some reason it makes me sad. The former ballet manager Mahar Vaziev had many shortcomings, but they had something to forgive. And the current theater and forgive nothing. There is nothing to complain about, however, either: he is impeccably boring. It is somehow especially evident that the choreography of the early twentieth century – unsteady, fluid, flirting, spicy, like the conversations of poets in Stray Dog or Vyacheslav Ivanov’s Tower, the Mariinsky Theater is probably not worth dancing at all now. The girls of the Mariinsky Theater are famous for the fact that they honestly close their heels with a toe in the fifth position, twist all the tours, stretch their knees – this is ideal for the classical choreography of the industrial 19th century. For modern ballet, their honesty is too straightforward. And even a little dumb. Like a person who first tells a joke and then explains why it’s funny.

And now – why do you have to get up early on December 6 and drag Fokine’s choreography to the unsuitable Mariinsky Theater at an inconvenient time, because the performance is scheduled for everything in the morning. There are two reasons. The first is Daria Pavlenko, and she is the soloist in Chopiniana, a pseudo-classical vignette arranged in the fashion of the 1840s (Fokine was curious to do something in the Parisian romantic style). Daria is a ballerina uneven and nervous. But when you’re in the mood, it seems that you see the incarnation of Tamara Karsavina, the legendary Diaghilev prima, a black-eyed peri with languid grace, gloomy temperament and elegant laziness. And the second reason is Irma Nioradze. She is from the older generation, but the Swan is now dancing in the program, and all ages are submissive to this miniature – as the example of Maya Plisetskaya shows. Is it a matter of the Georgian breed, but such a decorative effect is usually unusual for transparent northern fairies. Irma dances Fokine’s birds – a dying swan or a blazing Firebird – so that you see a panel of Alphonse Mucha in front of you, with its tints of orange, gold and pink. How she manages to do this by wearing a white tutu is a mystery.

November 24, 2009

The best reviews about the performance “Carnival”

1

Katrin Filippova

8 reviews, 8 ratings, rating 6

7

Continuation of the Carmen Suite no less bright and colorful! The costumes are incomparably beautiful and clear. Acting on stage in ballet is quite interesting and unusual. Funny production, short, as it should be! Very right balance of music and dance.

November 9, 2011

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  The Venice Carnival is the world’s most famous and oldest festival of masks and reincarnations.

  The history of the Venetian carnival

  Masquerade has its origins in the pagan traditions of worshiping deities and idols. The word “carnival” itself is translated by some researchers from Latin as “ceremonial cart”. This indirectly confirms the origin of the tradition at the time of idolatry and pagan deifications of inanimate objects.

  It was on the chariots that the figures of idols were carried, in every possible way begging for various life realities: so that the year would be fruitful, people would not die from epidemics and cataclysms would not fall on the earth. At the same time, the pagans accompanying the wagon dressed as brightly and funny as possible so that the idol had a good mood, and he condescended to their requests.

  Other versions of the origin suggest that the word “carnival” means farewell to animal products, which refers the holiday to religious festivities on the eve of Great Lent. One way or another, the carnival today has a rolling schedule and directly depends on the dates on which the seven-week fast days begin.

  Not a day without a mask

  Masquerade costumes themselves were invented by the ancient Romans. And this is connected not only with the game of “guessing”. In the days of worship of the god of fertility Saturn, Roman high-ranking persons organized large-scale festivities, which were attended by both the elite and the poor. It was believed that the equalization of the rights of the poor with the rich on such days had a positive effect on achieving the goal for which the celebration was held. And so that the masters themselves would not be embarrassed and did not embarrass their slaves, carnival costumes were invented.

  Thanks to the free painted robes and masks covering the face, the inhabitants of ancient Rome reveled at the same table and did not make out where the rich man was and where the beggar was. Carnival costumes were especially in the hands of the “cream” of society, because they did not have the opportunity to behave so freely in ordinary life.

  Since carnivals began to be held in Venice, the idea of ​​the mask of the Romans has firmly entered first into the paraphernalia of the holiday, and then into the everyday life of the townspeople. Judge for yourself, even today Venice is not such a big city, but in ancient times everyone knew each other by sight. The mask served as a good protection from prying eyes and possible gossip. After all, many are wondering why you came home so late and with whom you spent tonight. And the mask did its job, hiding the face and still equalizing the poor with the rich, the famous with the unknown.

  The masks became so popular that chaos and disorder gradually began to reign in the city. Hiding under a fictitious image, one could easily and with impunity commit illegal acts and create various lawlessness.

  When the city authorities and representatives of the church realized that further encouragement of masquerade paraphernalia would not lead to good, they issued a law. This decree provided for the punishment for wearing masks outside of carnival events.

  The types of punishments were very severe. The men faced a fine and a two-year prison term. And women were supposed to be whipped in public, which also did not give much pleasure. In connection with the repressions introduced, the daily tradition of wearing masks gradually outlived itself, remaining allowed only on carnival days.

  Varieties of masks

  If we look at old engravings and reproductions depicting participants in carnival processions, we can see that the most popular was a wide narrow-nosed and elongated white half-mask, which completely hid the face. Such a mask was called Bauta, it gained popularity not only during the days of the carnival, but also in everyday life, when the wearing of masks by the townspeople was not yet forbidden.

  Considering that Bauta was often complemented with a wide-brimmed hat, and for women – with a transparent cape that went down to the shoulders, it was almost impossible to recognize its owner.

  The narrow nose configuration on the bauta mask was made for a reason. Thanks to such a cunning move, the wings of the owner’s nose were squeezed. This gave his voice a special distorted “nasal” timbre, which increased the mystery and inaccessibility of the image.

  It is also common to see the participants wearing a round black mask with the same round slits for the eyes. This mask was called Moretta, it was very light, and it was worn exclusively by the fair sex. The peculiarity of the mask is the complete absence of devices for fastening on the face or head. How did she manage, you ask? With the help of … a button sewn to the base, which the owner of the mask clamped with her teeth. That is why Morettas were made of a very light material so that their mistresses would not get tired, doomed to walk with clenched teeth all day.

  This method of wearing masks, which is rather risky for health (after all, a button could be accidentally bitten off, swallowed and accidentally choked on it), nevertheless, made ladies especially popular. A mysterious silence for a long time ignored the questions and proposals hanging in the air from the men. Such behavior gave the female image an impregnability that inflamed passions and desires.

  When the first carnival took place

  There is no less controversy about the time and place of the first carnival in Venice than about the interpretation of the word. There are three main versions today:

  1. One of them takes the events back to the beginning of the second millennium, when trade cooperation between the Venetian Republic and the Byzantine Republic took shape. A mutually beneficial “blow on the hands” could well have been marked by large-scale festivities with fireworks of costumes and other paraphernalia.
  2. The second sees the root of events that happened a whole century earlier. Then the young Venetian women were taken away by pirates, and the girls’ suitors managed to rescue them and return them home. The happy event was marked by massive city festivities.
  3. The third asserts that the first masquerade, which marked the solemn victory of Venice over Patriarch Ulrico, was accompanied by stormy fun and was held precisely in Piazza San Marco.

  Be that as it may, the very last day on the eve of Lent has been declared a lifelong holiday in Venice for many centuries. And the carnival gradually became an integral part in the life of the city. For a couple of centuries, the holiday turned out to be a very popular event, gradually spreading around the world.

  But the Venetian masquerade still remained the main masquerade, so the authorities even created its fund, which accumulated charitable contributions. This money was intended to support the popular event and keep it alive.

  Carnival and modernity

  At the end of the 18th century, Venetian festivities were canceled by decree of Napoleon. For the city, this was a real tragedy, because for many centuries the holiday has already acquired the status of a national one. However, carnivals were forgotten for a century and a half. The Venetians did not remember them so often, when in the middle of the last century, with the development of the Italian tourism business, the idea arose to revive the popularly beloved holiday.

  Venetian sights were in great demand in summer, but during the cold season, the city’s entertainment establishments, cafes and restaurants suffered losses. In addition to gondolas and unique buildings, another idea was needed that would attract a large number of tourists to the city in the winter. And this idea was the revival of the carnival, which took place in the 80s.

  Since then, tourists have been flooding Venice every year to become participants in masquerade events for ten days. Considering that the majority of guests arrive in advance and do not leave the hospitable city immediately, then the noisy fun stretches for almost a month.

  The first day of the carnival is marked by the Festa delle Marie, in honor of memorable medieval events. A whole performance is played out in front of the guests with the release of seven Marys – the most beautiful girls in the city. In addition, a colorful football match is held on one of the days of the festival. The Venetians are very fond of football and are ready to include it even in the carnival program.

  On the last day, on the eve of Great Lent, an effigy is burned in St. Mark’s Square and mass processions and festivities are held.

  Carnival closes to take participants and guests under its wing again in a year. You can visit Venice to participate in a festive event on your own, but if you want to be free from organizing your leisure time, book a carnival tour of Venice on our website.

  Avoski, sneakers, bell-bottoms and other signs of Soviet fashion in the film “Carnival”

  T

  Style in the film: “Carnival”

  TEXT: Anna Bashtova

  which to this day remains one of the most significant and beloved Soviet films. What the success of the film consists of, how Muravyova was “rejuvenated” and where the costumes went after filming, we understand below.

  The film was directed by Tatyana Lioznova, who at that time already had the popularly beloved, but rather serious Three Poplars on Plyushchikha and Seventeen Moments of Spring on her track record. Perhaps that is why at the time the filming of Carnival began, no one could have imagined that the picture would become one of the most successful Soviet films. A musical comedy from the director of Seventeen Moments of Spring sounded at least strange.

  As a result, “Karnaval” became one of the leaders of the Soviet film distribution. As of 1982, the tape was watched by more than 30 million people. In the same year, Irina Muravyova, who played the main role, was recognized as the best actress in a poll of readers of the Soviet Screen magazine, and the song Call Me, Call was the absolute hit of the year. But, of course, the main indicator of people’s love was the phrases from the film, which immediately came into use: “Do you want coffee?” The picture undoubtedly owes such instant popular recognition to its unpretentious, close and understandable story to many – a perky, energetic, slightly clumsy, but very sweet provincial girl goes to the capital to enter the theater and become a star. And, as is usual in such stories, with songs and tears, fire, water and copper pipes pass.

  Director Tatyana Lioznova came up with the idea for the film “Carnival” at the moment when Anna Rodionova’s story about a provincial girl who came to conquer Moscow caught her eye in the magazine Art of Cinema. This uncomplicated plot immediately hooked Lioznova, as he was very close to her. “I realized that many, including myself, can recognize themselves in the main character. For the film, I almost completely rewrote the text, came up with a scene with rollers in the circus and, in general, the whole path of the main character Nina Solomatina to her dream of becoming an actress. I added many moments from my own life. For example, the episode in which Nina drinks ice-cold water from a pump in the cold. The house where I once lived had the same speaker, and my girlfriends and I did the same. The picture turned out to be autobiographical to some extent.”

  Much of what happens to the main character in the film was experienced by the film director as well. Tatyana Lioznova, who graduated with honors from VGIK, was fired from the Mosfilm film studio “due to staff reductions.” In order to somehow make ends meet, she had to work as a cleaner and sew costumes. Therefore, Lioznova eventually added several autobiographical episodes to the picture. “Carnival” is very close to me. I made a film about myself, about my life, in which I had to make wild efforts, overcoming poverty, unemployment, loneliness, many difficulties that young people endure even now. Remember, Nina, my heroine, has a sick mother? It is also biographical. During the filming of the film, my mother was very ill, and I, like Nina, had to work.”

  Unlike the director Tatyana Lioznova, the lead actress Irina Muravva believes that she and the heroine are completely different: “In life, I don’t look like Nina at all. I am a native Muscovite, absolutely a domestic girl. She studied well and did not seek to conquer the capital. Moreover, she never left home anywhere in her life. I never wanted to achieve anything. I am not a leader, but rather a follower.”

  At the time of the film’s creation, the lead actress Irina Muravyova was 18 years old according to the script, and 32 years old according to her passport. “Everyone understood that it would not be difficult for Muravyova to play a young girl,” Lioznova recalled. “It was just a matter of acting technique: she was not the first, she was not the last to play heroines younger than herself.” It was decided to smooth out the age discrepancy with make-up, hair and costumes. So, plaid skirts and white stockings appeared in the heroine’s wardrobe, freckles on her face, and ponytails on her head. These same ponytails, along with the blue rim, eventually run through most of the film. Even when Muravyova imagines herself dancing in a musical troupe, her outfits, regardless of genre, are invariably accompanied by ponytails and a headband. But perhaps the most important element of the “rejuvenation” of the heroine is the videos. Their actress wears almost the entire first part of the film and takes it off only at the moment of moving to Moscow. Thus, as if symbolically parting with childhood. By the way, before filming in Carnival, Muravyova did not know how to roller skate, so all the scenes of the fall in the frame, as well as the bruises on her knees, are quite real.

  The second no less important component of the picture’s success, along with vitality, is its musicality. Thanks to bright pop numbers performed by the Rhythms of the Planet dance group and songs by Maxim Dunaevsky based on verses by Robert Rozhdestvensky, Carnival remains a film to this day that, despite a sometimes dramatic plot, gives a sense of celebration. By the way, all the songs in the film are performed not by Irina Muravyova, although the actress has good vocal abilities, but by Zhanna Rozhdestvenskaya, “the main voice-over singer of the Soviet Union”. As Maxim Dunaevsky recalls, after the release of the picture, Alla Pugacheva turned to him with a question why she was not invited to perform “Call me, call”, and admitted that both the picture and the song were emotionally very close to her.

  As for the costumes, when working on them, the main emphasis was on outfits for pop numbers. Perhaps that is why the main characters of the picture change two sets of clothes at most every time, in contrast to the Rhythms of the Planet dance group, which changes clothes for a ribbon at least a dozen times. “All the costumes for the film were specially made,” says costume designer Mariam Bykhovskaya. – Both for the main characters and for the team. True, in some numbers the ensemble performed in their own outfits. But the dancers liked the costumes that we made for filming so much that they bought them for their own concerts. A red dress and a top hat, in which a roller-skating bear flaunted, were also presented to the shaggy artist – already after filming, during one of the circus performances with a full hall of spectators.

  Work on the painting was carried out at the turn of the 70s and 80s, as a result, the trends of the Soviet 70s are actively visible in her clothes: midi skirts, turtlenecks, berets, colorful dresses with a white “naive” collar, T-shirts with a triangular neckline , flared jeans, shirts with massive collars, sneakers and shopping bags. By the way, the latter have recently fully returned to fashion and are present, for example, in various collections from Zara and Mango to Vetements and Michael Kors. In the second part of the film, the heroine does not change clothes at all, remaining all the time in a voluminous gray turtleneck, gray midi skirt, gray coat and gray hat with earflaps, thereby emphasizing her difficult everyday life. An interesting detail is that a bag with the inscription “Aeroflot” is hanging on the heroine’s shoulder. Why the choice of the costume designer fell on this particular accessory, history is silent, but given the global fashion for the Cyrillic alphabet, such a bag could easily appear in the new collection of Vetements or Balenciaga.

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  Venice Carnival 2022 – when the Island is Dressed in Rainbow Colors

  Venice Carnival – the history of the holiday

  The history of the Venice Carnival in the painting by Giandomenico Tiepolo “Minuet”

  Like all popular festivals, the Venetian carnival was not always the way we know it today. Its origins date back to the times of the Roman Empire, but only with the birth of the Venetian Republic does the tradition of the Venetian carnival begin to take on a unique character. The first official document that refers to a public holiday is dated 1296, although the first written mention was as early as 1094 .

  History of the Venice Carnival was suspended for two centuries from the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797 until 1979 , when the traditions of the past were revived. To this day, the Venice Carnival has become one of the most famous carnivals in the world, including the traditions of medieval holidays!

  In 1996, the famous Parisian couturier Pierre Cardin , born near Venice and in love with the city on the water, became the producer of the anthem song for the carnival. He invested a decent amount for its production: text, music and performance – Guido Monge accompanied by several musicians from the Paris Opera. In this way he expressed his true love for the city.

  Venice Carnival 2022: dates and tips, don’t miss the highlights

  Venice Carnival. Fat Thursday – The custom of “Cutting off the head of a bull.” Photo by Anna Krasikova

  Let’s start with the basics: when does the Carnival in Venice start and what are the most important dates on the island? The dates change every year as they follow the liturgical calendar: starting forty days before Easter, you can already see people in fancy dress, confetti-covered streets and donuts (frittelle) in confectionery display cases. But only in 15 days , preceding Ash Wednesday, does a real holiday take place. In 2022, the Venice Carnival takes place during the period from February 12 to March 1, .

  Follow the calendar carefully and try to get to the carnival on the weekend if you don’t want to miss the most spectacular events – most performances and masquerade parties are organized on Friday and Saturday evenings. AT Fat Thursday ” and “ Fat Tuesday ” are also interesting to visit the carnival! After the last day of carnival, Lent begins.

  Carnival in Venice: 2022 schedule

  The schedule of carnival events is very busy, below we tell you the most important ones that should be, on the official website of the Venice Carnival you will find updated information:

  Angel Flight. Photo by Anna Krasikova

  • Sunday 13 February: Venetian feast on the water – from 10.30 and then from 13.00 on the Cannaregio Canal – water parade of rowing associations from Cape Customs, performances and gastronomic stands;
  • Saturday 19 February: procession of the most beautiful girls of Venice – Festa delle Marie , starting from San Pietro di Castello at 14.30 and arriving at St. Mark’s Square at 16.00;
  • Sunday 20 February: “ Flight of the Angel ” from the Campanile of San Marco at 11.00;
  • Sunday 27 February: “ Flight of the Eagle ” from the Campanile of San Marco at 12. 00;
  • Tuesday 1 March: awarding the most kind and graceful Mary of the Venice Carnival 2021 in Piazza San Marco at 16.00 and “ Flight of the Lion ” at 17.00.

  From Thursday, February 24 to Tuesday, March 1 at 11.00 and 15.00 every day on the main stage of the carnival in St. Mark’s Square – competition for the most beautiful carnival costume . The final of the competition is on March 1 (the last day of the carnival) at 14.30.

  Carnival on the island Burano will be held from 15.00 to February.

  Also follow the program Mestre Carnival Street show : jugglers, stilt walkers, theatre, music and other street performers bring the center of Mestre to life! At the weekend during the carnival – exciting performances suitable for all ages! The culmination of the celebration will be Donkey Flight on February 27 in the main square of Ferretto. Carnival processions will also take place in the neighboring areas of Marghera, Zelarino, Campalto, as well as in Lido di Jesolo.

  Carnival of Venice dates: balls, masquerade parties and exclusive cruises on the lagoon

  During the Carnival of Venice, not only outdoor events are held, but also spectacular balls and evenings in palaces when it’s cold outside!

  It’s very popular these days to take part in the Masquerade Ball – it’s really a unique opportunity! We do not tell you about it just because it is a tribute to fashion. There are many private evenings in palaces and not all of them are the same, but in general you can see really impressive performances in an exclusive place: jugglers, fire eaters, dance groups, live music in luxurious Venetian palaces. Even just for the sake of getting into the building (usually closed) it is worth participating in the evening!

  We also advise you to go on a carnival mini-cruise on the Venetian lagoon: an amazing panorama overboard and a celebration that is in no way inferior to the splendor of masquerade balls in the historic center . .. with the only difference that it takes place in a more private setting away from the city hubbub and fun.

  Our advice – read carefully about the dates of the Venice Carnival and choose an event on the main square or a masquerade ball to your liking in order to unforgettably and brightly participate in the most spectacular celebration, famous all over the world!

  Venetian carnival costume and Venetian masks

  Harlequin, Pantaloon, Colombina at the Venice Carnival. Photo by Anna Krasikova

  If you really want to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the holiday, it is very important to disguise yourself. Feel free to leave the house already prepared and wearing a mask and costume, a wig, a cape, decorated with wings, and armed with a sword and confetti – the holiday is already starting on the streets of the city!

  The most famous Venetian masks made of papier mache, of course, those that are part of the magnificent costumes of the 18th or 16th century on the heroes of the Italian commedia dell’arte playwright Carlo Goldoni (Pantalone, Colombina, Harlequin, Dr.