Gender, Sexuality, and Female Performers Maisie Hayden Spring
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Fashion in Twentieth-Century Stage Acts: Gender, Sexuality, and Female Performers Maisie Hayden Spring 2016 First Reader: Barbara Mennel Second Reader: Maureen Turim Table of Contents 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..1 2. Chapter One: Cross-Dressing and Stage Acts in Marlene Dietrich’s Early Hollywood Films………………………………………………………………………………………4 3. Chapter Two: Feminine Dress and Sex Appeal in Tina Turner’s Biopic and Live Performances…….............................................................................................................18 4. Chapter Three: Madonna and Cross-Dressing in Past and Present Live Stage Shows…..30 5. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….45 1 Introduction When Marlene Dietrich exploded on the big screen with her portrayal of the alluring German cabaret performer Lola-Lola in Josef von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel (1930), she sparked a public discussion about how women are portrayed in film. This debate continues in scholarship today, focusing on the role on-stage performance plays in liberating women and communicating the dimensions of gender and sexuality. The rendering of female performers on stage and screen has remained a topic among the public and scholars alike since the early twentieth century and continues to evolve in accordance with changing feminist ideals. Fashion in particular serves as a vehicle for expressing gender and sexuality, highlighting how explicit performances in a film communicate ideas that would otherwise be deemed inappropriate and subversive. Through moments in Hollywood filmmaking that demonstrate the ways contemporary popular culture reflects and advocates feminist ideals, this thesis addresses how female performers are presented on-screen and the ways their provocative performances communicate gender and sexuality. Gender-defying, promiscuous female characters in film have been the focus of a scholarly debate since Dietrich invaded Hollywood with her foreign sex appeal and risqué performances in the 1930s. The influx of second-wave feminism and development of women’s studies in the 1960s and 1970s led scholars to develop feminist theories about the cinema. Feminist scholars now analyze how depictions of women on-screen reflect society’s view of women by looking at how female characters contribute to film narratives and genres. As a result, a number of recent books, scholarly articles, and films demonstrate how the portrayal of women on-screen relates to the historical context in which films are made, shedding light on how 2 popular points of view make their way onto the screen to capture society’s social, political, and economic climate. In correspondence with the history of feminist film theory and criticism, this thesis evaluates how Marlene Dietrich’s, Tina Turner’s, and Madonna’s fashion choices have contributed to their continuous relevance in entertainment and society. In Dietrich’s work with Josef von Sternberg in the 1930s, fashion plays an important role in creating memorable characters and influential star personas. Her characters’ on-screen cabaret performances in Morocco (1930) and Blonde Venus (1932) in particular convey the tendency to dress in drag for stage shows while resorting to more feminine looks in her off-stage life. Dietrich plays with gender in each performance, embracing masculine clothes while exuding femininity an ambiguous sexual attitude. Turner, on the other hand, prefers tiny dresses, like the one that gives her character an overly feminine look in What’s Love Got To Do With It (1993), in addition to tight, form-fitting outfits such as her leather bodysuit in One Last Time Live in Concert (2001) that the star herself sports on-stage. She adds a contradictory nature to these looks, however, by using other means of evoking masculinity, as she forces out a deep singing voice and makes a point of interacting mainly with her female spectators. Madonna encapsulates both approaches to displaying gender and sexuality in her Blonde Ambition World Tour Live (1990) and Madonna: The MDNA Tour (2012). She borrows from her two predecessors by combining masculine and feminine looks with contradictory sexual advances toward her back-up dancers. Because of the precedent that Dietrich and Turner set by serving as agents for their own images, Madonna continues to challenge the construction of female star personas by reflecting society’s views on feminism, gender, and sexuality. 3 In this evaluation of how female stars present their star personas on-screen, fashion serves as the starting point for understanding the significance behind each performer’s clothes, mannerisms, gender identity, and sexual preference. The term fashion in this body of work relates to a popular style of clothing, accessories, or make-up that the star wears to enhance her live performance, as well as the practice of using her body to evoke ideas about gender and sexuality. In addition to the distinctive way each female performer dresses and acts, the term style further connotes her wardrobe choices as well as the corresponding behaviors that work together to present a controversial on-stage persona. Finally, this thesis details how fashion catalyzes depictions of gender and sexuality in musical performances and draws attention to the larger implications Dietrich’s, Turner’s, and Madonna’s notoriety has for female entertainers and their fans around the world. 4 Chapter One Cross-Dressing and Stage Acts in Marlene Dietrich’s Early Hollywood Films Introduction In the midst of diverse forces within the entertainment industry, the role fashion plays in shaping popular culture has strengthened over the past century. The importance of stars has increased through different forms of media, extending further the impact elements of fashion have on popular culture and society as a whole. Cinema and its stars exemplify the influence clothing choices have on society, as well as the power of costume to represent social, political, and economic situations. Marlene Dietrich’s key cabaret performances from her 1930s films offer insight into the significant components of her style and way of dressing while on stage. Fashion works alongside style, gender, and sexuality in Dietrich’s film roles, calling attention to the subversion that arises from cross-dressing and her ambivalent acting style. Through cross- dressing, gender-bending, and androgyny, the German star challenges the norms of how females are expected to dress and behave, while her innovative outfits and detailed costumes contribute to her on-stage performances and the construction of her star image. Dietrich in the 1930s A number of Dietrich’s acting roles in the 1930s portray her as a precarious woman during the day and a vibrant stage performer at night. This character exemplifies how she cultivates her on-screen style in a way that charms her audience and signals trends in society. Her ability to capture the spirit of underground movements in society through dress and then mainstream it in film led to several signature outfits and behavior that brought her much notoriety during this period. Dietrich’s most memorable outfits occur during subversive cabaret club performances, where she dresses in men’s clothing and exercises both masculine and 5 feminine traits and behavior. As the stage grants each character the illusion of the ability to act freely, Dietrich embraces male-oriented personas in these critical moments that temporarily shed the limitations associated with being a woman. Each instance of cross-dressing, therefore, proves important to our understanding of how and why she inspired generations of performers. Because she established the notion that freedom of expression and control over her body and image exist most strongly in film, especially in on-stage performance settings, these key moments demonstrate how stars may cultivate their personas by embracing fashion and glamour while simultaneously cross-dressing and defying proper gender and sexual behavior through dress and provocative actions. The 1930s serve as an important starting point for evaluating how Dietrich secured the importance of fashion in film and the influence her style has had on popular culture and later generations. This period bred controversial film stars who, according to Brett Abrams, openly demonstrated their “non-normative gender” as well as “same-sex interests” in a way that stretched society’s interpretations of gender and sexual norms and popularized the notion of rebelling against fixed ideas of how men and women should present themselves and behave (1). Dietrich’s career in particular blossomed from this increasingly popular notion of freedom of expression in the media, using her clothes and performances as a way of reflecting society’s increasing openness to displays of gender and sexuality at a time when doing so was not mainstream. By promoting ideas attached to this newfound modern culture, Dietrich eroded rigid gender and sexual lines by mainstreaming cross-dressing and making it sexy. Furthermore, magazines, newsreels, and other forms of media reinforced the image of a woman dressed in men’s clothing that appeared in film. Dietrich’s diverse representations of gender and sexuality 6 thus paved the way for her success and served as a popular representation of the time period and changes in German and American culture. Dietrich’s European origins played an important role in establishing her as an influential performer. German society offered an encouraging environment for her provocative on-screen ways, while her foreign