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Feminism in Musical Theatre

2nd Wave Feminism

1st Wave Feminism

Parade

Jewishness:

  • according to the handout, when Leo finally desires Lucille by the end, he looses his stereotype of the "asexual Jewish man. He has become properly heterosexualized."
  • Lucille's yearning for wealth and comfortable life seem to stand in the way of her Jewishness showing through.
  • By Lucille changing for her husband to stand up and take action, the ending of the show suggests hope for her as a newly empowered southern Jewish wife.

Began in 1968 in a protest against the Miss America pageant. Feminists believed it was a degrading "cattle parade" that showed women were only good for looking good. All the while keeping them at home or on low paying wages.

2nd wave energy focused on sexuality and reproductive rights. Feminists worked to pass the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution which would give social equality regardless of sex.

Caroline, or Change

Handout suggests that during Lucille's "What am I waiting for?" she is "pre desirous, not yet a person.

  • she is a wealthy southern girl
  • passed from mothers house to her husbands house.
  • however, we see Lucille's actions are motivated by Leo's needs.

Last week, we talked about how halfway through the show is when Lucille explodes and starts doing

things to actively release Leo from Jail. The turning

point being "Do it Alone."

The term "feminism" came from France, a "term to support women's rights."

Technically the wave began at a Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, 300 men and women rose to the occasion, demanding equal opportunity for women and to end their suffrage.

Discussions grew from this finally organized movement and people began recording and researching the actual differences between men and women, some even claiming that women would improve government because they believed womens presence was "superior to a mans"

Features Caroline as a complex African American, middle aged, mother of four, poor, working class, and abuse victimed women.

She is unhappy, and notes that she does not have the strength to make a change like others who are fighting for civil rights. It seems as though Caroline moves in and out of the days, waiting till she dies.

Growth through songs:

  • first number: dreams are comfortable and untethered. She has no idea she is missing a crucial action in her life.
  • 11'o clock duet or All the Wasted Time: Leo has allowed Lucille to help and she has solved his prediciment, they are finally equals. They finally understand each other.
  • Solo finale: stressed that although Lucille has grown and changed from this experince, the town has not.

Growth through songs

Caroline's 11o'clock number is full of rage, and then hauntingly beautiful to end.

"Murder me God, down in the basement, murder my dreams so I stop wanting."

The number lacks musical structure to enforce that Caroline has had to make do with life, in everything that happens to her.

Caroline's first number allows us as audience members to hear about her life and what she does and who she is and how she feels about all that.

It also reviles how race, and gender, and class, are themes in this story and "it performs the complex dynamics of power."

  • She does hold an interesting amount of power on the Jewish family she works for (Noah loves her, Rose tiptoes around her).

Caroline's daughter Emmie delivers the final epilogue of Caroline suggesting that there is hope for the next generation.

"Like Parade, Caroline or Change envoices the future in women"

3rd Wave Feminism

1st wave was fought for by middle class, white, cis gender women.

In contrast, we are now seeing women of color join the 2nd wave.

Problematically, colored support was limited, as the Black Movement was also taking place. Colored women were still fighting for their basic rights to sit on a bus let alone getting to focus on their equality with men. Therefore, joining in on feminism, activism was put on the back burner.

The Color Purple

In the Heights

No me diga!

Feminism in Musical Theatre

Ceile's journey to self love and acceptance.

She opporates entirely though a community of African American charaters in this show, vs Jewish like Parade. It is through the characters she interacts with in the show that shapes who she is and how she makes a change.

"Ceile is a normal girl writing her own feminine Mystique"

The first musical written by a latina with an entirety latina cast

The "first musical of the Obama years"

Many women are represented in this musical, Abuela Coudia, Vanessa, however is is Nina that reflects the most growth.

As noted by the handout, 3rd wave attempts to correct 2nd wave feminism, was created by women of color to better incorporate race into the mix.

This wave is our modern day, the one that says "it's possible to have a push up bra and a brain at the same time."-Pinkfloor

"It understands feminism broadly"

Important to note:

Feminism in Muth packet talks about and notes that 3rd wave feminism is a correction of post feminism. Web sources from pop culture.com, and Pacific University, define post-feminism as literally "after feminism" when feminism is no longer needed.

What where your thougts when you read about post-feminism?

Is our reading suggesting that 3rd wave feminism exists to keep feminism alive for those who need it most? Not us with white skin, but rather, those who are already a minority? Black? Latina? Jewish?

Is our feminism packet saying that Caucasians are starting to sit back and relax because we are getting our rights just fine, meanwhile, others with different colors are forming the 3rd wave to claw for the rights we naturally achieve easier because of our lighter skin tones?

Musical Growth

This chapter uses Third Wave Feminism as a "cultural backdrop" when examining the lead females in shows Parade, The Color Purple, Caroline or Change, and In the Heights.

Breathe-Nina's firsts number, giving context to who she is.

11o'clock duet between Nina and Benny reflecting their love for eachother and affirming that they would be together, should this world permit

Growth through songs:

  • "Somebody's Gonna Love You" Expresses who Celie is at this moment in the show, it is least memorable because Celie is "barely a person" yet. Her journey to acceptance and love has yet to really begin.
  • "I'm Here" Celie's incredible 11o'clock number. She is stable and secure, she has broken out of an abusive relationship, found self love and acceptance, opened a business of her own.
  • It is clear through this song that this musical is about Celie coming to her own voice.
  • Feminism can be traced back to ancient Greece, Sappho (d. c. 570 BCE), or the medieval world with Hildegard of Bingen (d. 1179) or Christine de Pisan (d. 1434).
  • Imporant leaders of what lead to our modern day movement were Olympes de Gouge (d. 1791) fun fact who was a French playwrite!! Mary Wollstonecraft (d. 1797) and Jane Austen (d. 1817)

All of these people advocated for "dignity, intelligence, and the basic human potential of the female sex" (Martha Rampton).

However, an organized movement based off the leadership and writings of these women did not occur until the 19th century. These organized movements are known as waves of Feminism.

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