Oh Yeah, I’ve Seen Those Takes Too, And I’ve Also Never Really Got Where There Coming From Either?

Oh yeah, I’ve seen those takes too, and I’ve also never really got where there coming from either? Like you said, Dick’s experience would be different from Jason’s absolutely, but the idea that the Grayson’s would’ve had or would’ve left Dick a ton of money is so weird to me? Like, even in modern times (which Dick’s backstory is not originating from - comic books are weird) most performers are not paid amazingly well. Like, being a well known trapeze act is not the same as being a famous singer, those are in completely different stratospheres, which I feel like sometimes gets missed in the whole “the Graysons were the best at what they did” thing? Like they can be that and also poor because literally no one makes money in circus except for like, John Ringling, 100 years ago. 

[full disclaimer: I do/did (hopefully will again, although I’m in the US so probably not anytime soon 😓) perform/teach flying trapeze/silks/lyra, but I’ve never been part of a traveling show so my knowledge about those comes second-hand from family friends/people I’ve worked with] 

Definitely agree with you about Dick being a polyglot, which is actually canon (pre-New52/Rebirth at least - I don’t really read the post-flashpoint stuff). Dick brings up in one of the Nightwing comics that he spoke other languages (French, I think) before Bruce took him in. 

With the homeschooling, this might be one of the more modern updates, but I know a lot of travelling circuses now have schoolteachers who travel with them (at least, I know a couple of the major American ones did - your profile said Dutch so I’m assuming you’re experience is with European circuses, though I could be wrong).

That’s another nuance that I feel like gets missed, is the difference between European circus culture and American circus culture? Which obviously have similarities and crossover and exchanges, but are still kinda distinct things? And like, not even (or not just) in the fan stuff, but in the comics themselves. Like sometimes they’re on point and sometimes they are just soooo far off it’s laughable, and then fans pick up on that and perpetuate it.

Like one of the things I was thinking about recently because it crossed my dash was Devin Grayson claiming she “researched circus” and that was how she decided to make Dick Romani. And like, I’m not Romani, so I’m not going to weigh in on if people think that’s bad or good representation, since people who are Romani have done that on both sides, and they have more right to have a say in it than I ever will, but.

I don’t for one second believe she did any research. I don’t know enough to say about the presence of Romani people in European circus, or in American circus for that matter, but if I was a writer and I wanted to take a character with Dick Grayson’s back story and make them an ethnicity that was not white, I don’t see how with even 5 minutes of research you would miss the incredibly obvious answer of Mexican. There are so many famous flying trapeze families in North America that are Mexican, including Miguel Vasquez and the Vasquez family, aka the first person to throw a quad somersault (that trick Dick was famous for) in real life. And like, I would hesitate to do it now with Dick because I feel like that would play into the idea that representation is interchangeable, which it is definitely not, but if I was going to create a character with Dick’s backstory it feels like, given the prominence of Mexican and Mexican-American trapeze artists in defining and developing trapeze in the US, that would be the natural choice. (And, to be extra super clear about this, I’m not in any way suggesting Dick can’t be Romani. This is solely a comment on Devin Grayson’s terrible research and stereotypes when she decided to add that in. And also I’m annoyed that the Nightwing comic decided to reference the Gaonas but have Alex Gaona (or the madeup character who shares that name) be blond? Like, why?)

Anyway, your original post was super interesting, sorry for rambling on forever. I was just excited to talk circus and comics and circus in comics, and it’s way more fun talking to people than shouting into the void. I’ll stop now. 

People in this fandom have no fucking clue about circus life and the culture surrounding it. And it shows