Melding Fiction and Reality in HB The show was cancelled by HBO after two seasons not only because viewing rates had dropped significantly but also for financial reasons. The numerous cultural, historical and geographical references create a blurred area located between fiction and reality. Things are never what they seem.
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. 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.
As the camera moves into one of the cards 10 , the viewer is transported through a fictional world of paintings 11 , which transitions seamlessly into the real world, denoted by historical footage of the Thirties The camera then moves back out before entering another card, and so on. The prologue not only evokes that of J.
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. Immediately after the prologue there is a brief and abrupt flash of light.
Moreover, the economy of the dream segments enabled Knauf to pile up information in a condensed narrative form. The dream ends almost as abruptly as it began with Ben waking up in his home.
