Reclaiming Feminism in Popular Culture: Subversive Humor And
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Reclaiming Feminism in Popular Culture: Subversive Humor and Satirical Reappropriation of Female Stereotypes in the Film Comedies Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2 by Archontia Leivada A dissertation submitted to the Department of American Literature and Culture, School of English, Faculty of Philosophy of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki November 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements .……………………………………………………………….... ii Abstract ...…………………………………………………………………………… iii Introduction …………………………………………………………………………..1 CHAPTER ONE: Deconstructing Film Comedy and its Sexist Stereotypes: Satire, Mockery, and Feminist Subtext in Pitch Perfect ...………………………………………………….16 CHAPTER TWO: Reclaiming the F-word: Elizabeth Banks’ Pitch Perfect 2 ...………………………..49 Conclusion ...…………………………………………………………………………77 Work Cited ...………………………………………………………………………...83 Leivada ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Domna Pastourmatzi for her continuous support and guidance throughout the course of this project as well as for her mentorship throughout my studies at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. I would also like to thank the professors that I have had the luck to work with during the course of this truly inspiring for me graduate programme. Despite the practical difficulties of the recent years, they have managed to make the four semesters of my studies a genuinely creative and exhilarating experience that has enhanced my understanding of literature and culture, among other things, and has shaped my professional aspirations and ethics for the times to come. Moreover, I would like to thank my MA family, my classmates and companions in the journey of this constructive experience, who have- free of charge- provided me with their always welcome and life-saving psychotherapy. I would like to thank my closest friends for their ongoing support the last 15 years of my life, and during the writing of the MA thesis when I was utterly insupportable. Thank you guys and gals. I would particularly like to thank my family and acknowledge the support of my grandparents. Thanks to them I have managed to complete my MA studies as well as fulfill many more dreams of mine that would have remained dreams without their help and support. Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my parents who have faith in me even when I do not understand why, who support, encourage, and help me rediscover the strength they have instilled in me, even when I think I have lost it. Thank you for everything. This thesis is dedicated to all the empowering women who have influenced me, my female role models whose strength has provided me with the inspiration for this project and who I hope will continue to inspire me for the projects to come. Leivada iii ABSTRACT In my MA thesis I examine the recycling of Hollywood female stereotypes in the popular American film comedies Pitch Perfect (2012) and Pitch Perfect 2 (2015). I investigate the cinematic narrative as well as the style of the directors, who appropriate these stereotypes and turn them into a form of satire which aims at their deconstruction and at the subversion of patriarchal assumptions of femininity. Employing feminist, cultural, and film theories, I argue that the female director, producer, screenwriter and the all-female cast of these two movies collaborate to provide a feminist statement. Together they subvert the conventions of the comedic genre and at the same time they construct positive messages about female independence, women’s empowerment, and social equality. In this way they resist against the established Hollywood sexism that traditionally excludes female voices and experiences both in front and behind the camera. I also comment on the fact that because of their success these two movies have initiated and contributed in opening a public dialogue about feminism in Hollywood and popular culture; a dialogue about the rare existence of female filmmakers that has been recently exposed as a real problem that underlines an entrenched sexism in the reigning Hollywood studios that form and shape the biggest part of the film industry and influence audiences worldwide. Lastly, I argue that these two film comedies have opened up a cinematic space in the genre of popular comedy, a space for the promotion of a female and/or feminist comedic tradition. In other words, women’s comedic art can be the source of a cultural revolution. Leivada 1 INTRODUCTION Popular comedies with an all-female cast, written, directed and produced by women are a rare phenomenon in Hollywood. However, in recent years Elizabeth Banks (a director) had the courage to produce two female-driven comedies that had great success in American society. Pitch Perfect (2012) and Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) proved to be highly successful at the box office and very popular in the United States. The original movie was written and produced by women but had a male director. The sequel was written, directed, and produced mainly by women. The popularity and impact of these two movies can be seen in the fact that they have inspired an active fan base comprised of American young girls who call themselves “Pitches”; these fans communicate with each other on numerous occasions, mainly on social media but also during the fan conventions they organize themselves, to discuss how these two movies have helped them feel empowered and accepted. The unexpected but overwhelming success of these two movies, as well as the rare, almost exclusive, participation of women in front and behind the camera have inspired me to investigate the reasons why they have had such an appeal to female audiences and to discover the political message underlying the representation of the female characters in each film. It is well-known to filmmakers that popular Hollywood comedies depend heavily on female stereotypes. These stereotypes are most of the times outrageously sexist and racist because they try to satisfy patriarchal assumptions about gender and cater to the male gaze that they usually address. The Pitch Perfect movies appropriate the recycled female stereotypes of Hollywood in order to foreground their sexist implications and to gradually deconstruct them through a subtle yet potent satire. Besides criticizing the persistence of sexism in popular cinematic culture, these films recognize the need for positive representations of diverse femininities, for the inclusion of a variety of female voices, and for Leivada 2 the empowerment of the female audiences they address. They use satire to challenge sexist cultural assumptions about femininity. Through the emphatic and hyperbolic performances of the actresses, these films subvert the Hollywood stereotypes and provide a space for the construction of alternative models of femininity, usually absent from popular cinema, which very often conforms to the patriarchal expectations of gender roles. Lois Weber, the first female director of a feature film and a woman who is still considered one of the most important directors in the American film industry, firmly believed that “film could change culture” (qtd. in Dowd). This is why she has directed movies about female issues (such as contraception in the early 20th century), although addressing such topics could easily have her burned at the stake. The main reason why I chose the Pitch Perfect movies as the subject of my thesis is because I share Weber’s conviction about popular movies and their powerful impact on contemporary American culture. As Rob Schaap asserts, “for the cultural theorist Hollywood is a producer of culture” (152). Considering this, I strongly believe that the Pitch Perfect films constitute a significant chapter in recent Hollywood history. They are movies created by women who consciously choose to multiply the number of women not only of those appearing on the screen as characters but also of those working behind the camera. They address a female audience and deal with issues affecting women’s lives, undermining at the same time the ridiculous Hollywood myth that women filmmakers do not earn money for the film industry. With their films, the creative minds behind the Pitch Perfect movies—Elizabeth Banks (the director) and Kay Cannon (the scriptwriter)—have contributed to the recent phenomenon in the film industry to talk about female issues and raise awareness about the importance of feminism. Partly why I find it of great importance to critically analyze the two movies from a feminist perspective is the fact that they belong to a period in Hollywood when highly successful actresses (like Patricia Arquette, Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, and Jennifer Lawrence) began to address feminist Leivada 3 issues; for instance, job opportunities and wage equality in Hollywood. These women actors connect the importance of wage equality in the film industry with women’s wages in other businesses. They share the belief Madeline Berg expressed in Forbes magazine that “with powerful visibility and an ability to spark public debate, Hollywood has an opportunity to set an example for every industry.” This is the Hollywood era of Lena Dunham, an actress, writer, and director, who struggles to make feminism both popular and accessible through her Lenny newsletter which focuses on women’s issues and which has a huge following by an online community of women from all over the world. This is the era of the world-renown actress Emma