View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by TopSCHOLAR Western Kentucky University TopSCHOLAR® Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Honors College at WKU Projects Spring 5-12-2011 Masculinity in Musicals: A Comparison Between the 1950s and Present Day Emily M. Eisenbrey western Kentucky University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/stu_hon_theses Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Eisenbrey, Emily M., "Masculinity in Musicals: A Comparison Between the 1950s and Present Day" (2011). Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects. Paper 299. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/stu_hon_theses/299 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors College Capstone Experience/ Thesis Projects by an authorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. MASCULINITY IN MUSICALS: A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE 1950S AND PRESENT DAY A Capstone Experience/Thesis Project Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Bachelor of Arts with Honors College Graduate Distinction at Western Kentucky University By Emily M. Eisenbrey * * * * * Western Kentucky University 2011 CE/T Committee: Approved by Dr. Kate Hudepohl, Advisor Professor Tracey Moore ___________________________ Dr. Angela Jones Advisor Department of Anthropology Copyright by Emily M. Eisenbrey 2011 i ABSTRACT This project compares and contrasts ideas of masculinity in musicals from the 1950s to those of present day. Current musicals have allowed for more expressions of masculinity while musicals from the 1950s provided a narrower definition of masculinity. This paper explores the current perception that straight men don’t enjoy musicals and breaks down why this perception exists.