Student version

The Greatest Showman Online Worksheet

Write brief answers during viewing. Use character choices and scene evidence for your analysis.

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Before viewing

1. How can a musical number make an argument?

2. Why must a historical musical be checked against other sources?

Part A · Building a spectacle

3. How does Barnum’s early experience shape the film’s ambition story?

4. What does his first business attempt reveal about spectacle?

5. How does recruiting performers create a question about power?

6. What does the film’s welcome promise to the performers?

7. How does Phillip’s role connect entertainment with elite society?

Part B · Approval and exclusion

8. What obstacle faces Phillip and Anne’s relationship?

9. Why does Barnum pursue Jenny Lind’s tour?

10. How does the elite-party exclusion contradict the promise of belonging?

11. What does the performers’ response assert?

12. How does the tour affect Barnum’s family relationships?

Part C · Loss and a new claim

13. What does the public controversy reveal about image and conduct?

14. How does the fire change the enterprise’s immediate future?

15. Why does rebuilding require more than Barnum’s ambition?

16. What does his later family choice suggest within the film?

After viewing

17. Analyze one song’s claim about belonging or success.

18. Where does the film leave performers’ agency limited?

19. What claim about Barnum should be checked historically?

20. What limitation should accompany the musical’s inspiring message?

Final written response

How does the musical’s celebration of belonging compare with the power relationships it portrays? Write a paragraph with a clear claim, evidence from two scenes, and reasoning. End with one limitation of the film’s portrayal or one question for further study.

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