NOTE TO USERS This reproduction is the best copy available. UMI' The Spectacle of Gender: Representations of Women in British and American Cinema of the Nineteen-Sixties By Nancy McGuire Roche A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Ph.D. Department of English Middle Tennessee State University May 2011 UMI Number: 3464539 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMT Dissertation Publishing UMI 3464539 Copyright 2011 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 The Spectacle of Gender: Representations of Women in British and American Cinema of the Nineteen-Sixties Nancy McGuire Roche Approved: Dr. William Brantley, Committees Chair IVZUs^ Dr. Angela Hague, Read Dr. Linda Badley, Reader C>0 pM„«i ffS ^ <!LHaAyy Dr. David Lavery, Reader <*"*%HH*. a*v. Dr. Tom Strawman, Chair, English Department ;jtorihQfcy Dr. Michael D1. Allen, Dean, College of Graduate Studies Nancy McGuire Roche Approved: vW ^, &v\ DEDICATION This work is dedicated to the women of my family: my mother Mary and my aunt Mae Belle, twins who were not only "Rosie the Riveters," but also school teachers for four decades. These strong-willed Kentucky women have nurtured me through all my educational endeavors, and especially for this degree they offered love, money, and fierce support. And for my daughter, Anjelika, whom I hope will continue to grow as strong, independent, and fearless as the women I write about in this work. I also dedicate this dissertation to my husband, Trip, who has endured and encouraged all my academic endeavors, often supporting, single-parenting, and keeping our family together with his singular patience and wit. And finally, for all women, everywhere, who have stormed the gates of the "boys' club" to gain admittance. n ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to thank my dissertation director, Dr. Will Brantley, for his support and help not only during the writing of this dissertation, but also for the several years I studied both film and literature in his classes. Dr. Brantley taught the first film class I took, shares my passion for modern poetry and literature, and helped me to formulate many of my ideas about gender and liminality which inform this work. I would also like to thank the members of my committee: Dr. Linda Badley, who fueled my passion for film and generously shared her knowledge of the subject to create a film professor from a cineaste. Dr. Jill Hague, who shares my love of all things British and popular culture, and who taught me to teach British film. And to Dr. David Lavery, who fostered my love of culture, media, and television, and encouraged me to write about these topics. I must also thank Dr. Allen Hibbard, my first professor at MTSU, who encouraged me to stay for the party. Dr. Hibbard not only shares my love of the Beat Generation, he also taught me postmodernism and literary theory; I could not have written this work without his influence. As friends and colleagues, we stood together in Paris at 9 Rue Git-le-Cceur at the dedication of The Beat Hotel. I wish to thank and acknowledge Middle Tennessee State University for awarding me a Provost Writing Fellowship, which enabled me to write this dissertation. And 1 also appreciate the Joint University Libraries at Vanderbilt University which granted me library privileges. iii I must also thank Edmund Valentine White, friend, mentor, and teacher. In the last twenty years we have shared adventures and intellectual pursuits, often from a distance, but never from too far away. I want to thank Dr. James Francis who has been my champion, inspiration, and companion for most of this process, and also Stephanie Graves and Dr. Cynthia Burkhead, compatriots extraordinaire. And finally, I want to express my gratitude for my family who has been there for me throughout this entire process which has spanned half of my daughter's life and one third of my marriage. I could not have completed this degree without their love and support. IV ABSTRACT Early feminist film critics asserted that cinematic narratives structure women's roles into images that serve to reinforce patriarchal agendas. To challenge these theories, cinema of the 1960s can be analyzed to emphasize historical events and to acknowledge the power of popular culture and mass media to affect film texts. The 1960s marked the beginning of identity politics, and films of the era illustrate new ways of thinking and being. Early feminist theory did not always register these seismic shifts, nor was the study of single films extracted from their context an adequate instrument to assess the changes taking place. This work therefore provides an overview of film texts of the 1960s to gauge their significance within the spectacle of the decade. Representations of women in American and British 1960s cinema may be viewed as constructs which expose a changing culture and transitions in societal norms. Female characters achieved greater agency and were often represented in innovative and sometimes even astonishing ways. A liberalization of sexual mores led to previously untested images of women in film that dislodged meta-narratives while expanding the scope of acceptable behavior. The agents of gender "rupture" include Jo in A Taste of Honey (1961), Holly Golightly in Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961), Alexandra Del Lago in Sweet Bird of Youth (1962), Diana Scott in Darling (1965), Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966), Pherber in Performance (1968), and Gudrun Brangwen in Women In Love (1969). v The transformations charted in this study were fueled by the European New Wave, by art house, exploitation, and underground films, and were directly related to the demise of the Production Code Administration and a liberalization of the British Board of Film Censors. The decade of the 1960s witnessed the beginning of a new cinematic grammar that undermined the binary of social codes that relegated women to the status of other. Striking blows against censorship modalities and established constructs of femininity—and therefore the patriarchy—American and British filmmakers created new identities for women of their own era, and also for the future. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER I: FILM CENSORSHIP, FEMININITY, AND THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION OF THE 1960S 7 THE RISE OF A REIGNING PARADIGM 20 "THE LINE IT IS DRAWN/ THE CURSE IT IS CAST" 35 CHAPTER II: THE GAZE: BOND GIRLS, DOLLY BIRDS, MOD GIRLS, AND SWINGING SINGLES 58 ANGEL-HEADED HIPSTERS 70 FLY GIRLS AND SPY GIRLS; PARADOX AND PARODY 75 "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WELCOME TO VIOLENCE" 90 SUGAR AND SPICE AND EVERYTHING NICE 96 STARK RAVING MOD 102 CHAPTER III: THE MONSTROUS FEMININE: HAGS, PREDATORS, HORROR, AND WOMEN OF A CERTAIN AGE 112 AN ARRANGEMENT OF LIGHT AND COLOR 122 "BABY, I'M MOTHER COURAGE" 132 BUT WHEN SHE WAS BAD, SHE WAS HORRID 143 SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES 152 CHAPTER IV: THE MASQUERADE: GENDER AS SPECTACLE 164 "I THOUGHT YOU WERE IN PARIS. IAMINPARIS" 171 "SHE'S A DRAG. A WELL-KNOWN DRAG." 197 "WAR, CHILDREN, IT' S JUST A SHOT AWAY" 205 vii CHAPTER V: ONE IS NOT BORN A WOMAN: GENDER TROUBLE ON THE SILVER SCREEN 214 THE PINK COTTON PENITENTIARY 227 VICE. AND VERSA. GENDER IN PERFORMANCE 238 AN OBSTINATE THEORY OF PERVERSION: "YOU CAN'T HAVE TWO KINDS OF LOVE." 254 CONCLUSION 263 WORKS CITED 275 CHRONOLOGICAL FILMOGRAPHY 286 Vlll 1 INTRODUCTION It is undeniable that 1960s cinema is marked by a particular degree of pushing against and breaking down of censorship codes from previous decades. In this investigation, I contend that female roles of this era work as a catalyst to enhance the disintegration of censorship regulations, acknowledge modalities of American and British censorship mechanisms, and mark their significance in cinematic history. This work also examines representations of women in British and American 1960s cinema as constructs which reflect cultural transitions and a liberalization of social mores. Furthermore, I assert that during the 1960s women achieved greater agency and were often characterized in innovative, astonishing ways previously unexplored in cinema. Fueled by the European New Wave and art house films, exploitation films, and underground and cult films, a new cinema evolved which would rupture the traditional narratives of Hollywood. As the decade progressed, films of the 1960s began to constitute a seismic undercurrent in cinema. This revolution was directly related to the dawn of "New Hollywood," the advent of television as a popular medium, an era of expanding independence for women, the demise of Hays Code and BBFC censorship regulations, and a global rebellion in youth culture. I also defend the idea that a cinematic revolt was begun in the "Swinging Sixties," which led to major changes in film narratives by the early 1970s. Furthermore, I propose that a liberalization of sexual mores in the 1960s led to previously untested images of women in film. These depictions served to reject and dislodge the meta-narrative of traditional cinema, and therefore to affect gender representations. By the end of the 2 1960s, a kind of gender "slippage" is revealed in mainstream cinema, and locators which depict masculinity and femininity begin to change and intersect. This study argues that early feminist film critics overlooked the larger significance of women's roles in 1960s cinema and provides evidence that particular characterizations of women, which may seem stereotypical, dismissive or overtly sexualized, are also a form of transgression against the status quo.