“THE GREATEST SHOWMAN” – A Constructive Developmental Context
“The Greatest Showman” is definitely my most favorite musical movie after “Sound of Music.” It is an exciting family and love story. The casting is gorgeous. The songs are encouraging and beautiful. That is a perfect match of dance, music, and drama. The 105 minutes fly so fast. Just like “Sound of Music,” the movie reflects the historical context, so it is worthy of watching over and over again. The movie is based on the life of Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891.) Barnum was an American showman, businessman, politician, and even author. It is said that his book “The Art of Money Getting” made an influence on Donald Trump’s “The Art of the Deal.” Among his diversified activities, he is widely known as a circus impresario, especially famous for his “The Greatest Show on Earth.” He succeeded in his business by providing opportunities for “oddities” to shine and show their true self.
The movie starts with a boy, Barnum, daydreaming to be a showman in a highly appraised circus. In reality, he is a son of a poor tailor, and soon later he becomes an orphan after his father passes away. He falls in love with Charity, a girl of his father’s client, but it is a forbidden love because she is from a wealthy family and her father will never accept the relationship. Barnum works so hard that he can offer a well-off life to Charity. They get married and have two girls. When they spend a happy life, the trading company Barnum worked for goes bankrupt and he loses his job and income. Then he decides to start his dream of show business. He spends his dramatic life full of ups and downs, but in the end, he identifies the true meaning of life and happiness.
In this essay, I explore the developmental process of the two main figures in the movie, Barnum and his wife Charity, using the human developmental framework. I will apply Robert Kegan’s constructive developmental theory in my analysis of their growth throughout the movie.
Barnum’s Development
When his tailor father takes Barnum to his client’s house, Barnum sees Charity, a beautiful girl, taking a lesson in table manners. He falls in love with her at first sight. When Barnum makes Charity laugh to attract her attention, he confesses it to her father, Mr. Hallett. He notices Barnum’s interest in his daughter and replies Barnum, “Thank you for your honesty,” and gives him a hard slap across his face. Then, Mr. Hallett orders Barnum not to come close to her ever again. It is a forbidden love, but Barnum secretly takes Charity to a nearby abandoned mansion and told Charity about his future dreams. Charity is sent to a finishing school far from her house. Barnum becomes an orphan after his father died but never gives up his love for Charity. They deepen their relationship by exchanging letters.
At this moment, Barnum is in Stage 2: The Imperial Balance. Barnum defines himself by a very concrete orientation to his wants, purposes, and interests; to stay in touch with Charity and to want love from her. He also clearly perceived Charity’s father as an obstacle to his wants as well as an enemy of himself. He holds strong dualistic thinking: a love or an enemy.
When Barnum turns into an adolescent, he decides to work for a high-paying job to save money so that he could marry Charity someday. He succeeds and eventually goes to her house to get married to her. Mr. Hallet, Charity’s father, is still hesitant about her marrying Barnum. He gives Barnum a cutting remark “Charity will come back soon because you won’t be able to give her the life she deserves.” In fact, Charity and Barnum spend a modest but happy life and have two daughters. Charity is satisfied but Barnum has more aspirations. The trading company Barnum worked for suddenly goes bankrupt and he loses his job. In order to make money to give Charity the life she deserves, he decides to make a big bet and opens Barnum’s American Museum in Manhattan, NY. With his family’s support, his show business becomes a big success, which makes Barnum wealthy enough to buy the luxury mansion where he showed Charity during their childhood. His circus troop is even invited to meet Queen Victoria, but Barnum is not satisfied with just wealth. He especially wants high regard from people in high society. Therefore, he decides to invite Jenny Lind, one the most highly regarded opera singers of the 19th century in Europe, to the USA to tour around the country.
For Barnum, this period is a journey to develop from the Imperial Balance to the Interpersonal Balance. He is defined by an abstract sense of identity, such as the opinions and expectations of others. In spite of the considerable success of his circus business, he wants wider external recognition. He counts on the fame of Jenny, an external authority, for gaining acceptance by people in the aristocratic class. At the reception after Jenny’s first concert in NY, Charity’s parents suddenly visit Barnum to congratulate him on the success of the concert, but Barnum sends them away with cynical comments. This tit-for-tat mentality indicates that Barnum’s Imperial Balance still exists in his meaning-making. Furthermore, at his daughter’s ballet concert, Barnum sees his older daughter being ridiculed by her ballet mates. They call her the smell of peanuts. This experience is destructive to Barnum, and he confirms that he would pursue a more respectful business for his children. Then, he starts keeping a distance from the circus members and even from his family. All these contexts strongly indicate that the Interpersonal Balance is persistent in his mindset.
Subsequently, two disasters synchronically occur in his life. Jenny quits her tour because of her conflict with Barnum. Barnum’s circus is set on fire. Because of these incidents, his mansion is foreclosed by the bank. Charity takes her two daughters to her parent’s home. Barnum loses his fortune and his family at once. On the other hand, the members of his circus come back and appreciate him for treating all members equally and giving them a real family and home. This prompts him to restart the circus. He then understands the true meaning of his family to him. He runs to Charity’s home and apologizes to her for being obsessed with chasing fame and acknowledges his greed that he wanted to become more than who he was. Charity replies that all she wanted was the man she fell in love with. After reopening the circus, Barnum handed over the role of ringmaster to Carlyle so that he could spend time with his family. And the movie ends with the scene where Barnum riding on an elephant comes to his family in front of the ballet theatre.
This process indicates that Barnum shifts himself from the Interpersonal Balance (Stage 3) to the Institutional Balance (Stage 4.) He eventually establishes his self-authorship and his own identity as a husband of his loving wife and father of his daughters as well as a leader of his troop members. He is not any more concerned with his own ego or his reputation. He is now more concerned with his own identity and his own vision of what a husband/father should be like. He completes the Institutional Balance.
As I explained so far, the movie is about the life story of P.T. Barnum, the arguably greatest showman in American history. He starts from the Imperial Balance (Stage 2) and ends in the Institutional Balance (Stage 4.)
Charity’s Development
Charity has been generally more mature than Barnum throughout the story. She has been strictly educated to be a well-disciplined lady. She well understands social expectations, especially her parents’ expectations, which she needs to live up to, since her childhood. Thus, she completes her Interpersonal Balance (Stage 3) at her early age. But at the same time, she holds some frustration and even tries to keep her distance from such traditional values. Knowing Barnum, a boy from a completely different socioeconomic class, triggers her to objectify such an Interpersonal Balance. Through the interaction with Barnum, Charity starts transcending the Interpersonal Balance.
Charity chooses to marry a man with whom she falls in love against her parents’ opposition, which clearly indicates that she completes the transition from the Interpersonal Balance to the Institutional Balance (Stage 4). She nurtures the capacity to hold contradictory feelings between her parents and herself, and she commits herself to follow her own internal authority and ideology rather than being influenced by others.
After the marriage with Barnum, she is satisfied with the humble but happy life, but Barnum wants more. The developmental difference becomes larger and larger, but she accepts Barnum’s view about the meaning of life and embraces it even if it is different from hers. She even consents to Barnum’s financially risky decision to go on a nationwide tour with Jenny, because she can understand his decision is made for his family including herself. Therefore, she can locate and even welcome difference or otherness as parts of self, located within herself. She can tolerate emotional conflicts with Barnum. These indicate that she might be moving toward to the Interindividual Balance (Stage 5). However, we might need more data to accurately assess this. Although she leaves Barnum once, she eventually accepts his apology and succeeds in creating a higher level of meaning regarding family and happiness with her partner.
From the constructive developmental lens, Charity’s comparatively higher level of complexity helps Barnum to find a true meaning of life and to succeed privately as well as professionally. Therefore, this movie shows one example in which a higher level of complexity works positively in leadership and partnership.
Conclusion
As I demonstrated in this essay, the constructive-developmental theory provides us with a unique framework to interpret the development of the protagonists in the movie. We can analyze the personal growth of the characters and explore various leadership challenges that they face in the movie through the theoretical lens.