Gender Portrayal in 1950s Musicals
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Literature Review
Gender Roles in Musicals
Women in Musical Theatre
Women have often played stereotypical roles in musical theatre. These can be seen in many musicals, regardless of how old the musicals themselves. From My Fair Lady to The Phantom of the Opera gender stereotypes comprise many female roles. Many of these characters are criticized because of their lack of independent action. Plotlines are largely driven by male characters. Women are too often under-developed reactionary characters (Wolf). One common story line that exemplifies this is the “boy meets girl, boy loses girl, and boy eventually gets the girl in the end.” (Green) . In these situations, women are often the driving force behind the main male characters actions, but lack a storyline separate from being the object of the protagonist’s affections. This is a very common theme and can been seen as the main storyline in many musicals.
In addition to regularly being portrayed as reactionary characters, female characters are often “caretakers”(Wolf, Green, Lewis). This is especially common in earlier decades such as the 1940s and 1950s in musicals such as The Sound of Music, Oklahoma! and The King and I. Marriage is often considered the ideal and part of a happy life for female characters (Cuskey, Eisenbrey, Blackstone). Female characters are given domestic roles like housekeeping and caring for children. In How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, a musical that takes place in the 1950s, the entirety of the song “Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm” is about how Rose, the female lead, wants nothing more then to become a housewife with domestic duties and marry a rich man who is focused on moving “onward and upward” in the business world (Loesser). Although Rose already has a job as a secretary, she would gladly quit if she were to marry (Eisenbrey). Another example of this is in Fiorello! , in which Marie happily quits her job to marry the man she works for (Eisenbrey). Married women were rarely portrayed as the breadwinners for their own households. Women are often characterized as expressive- meaning nurturing, emotional, gentle and non ambitious (Eisenbrey). Women were given domestic roles and plotlines rarely focused on them.
Men in Musicals
This is a sharp contrast to men who are often characterized as the exact opposite. Male characters are often aggressive, rational, and competitive (Buchbinder). Male characters are often the protagonist. These characters are often instrumental to the plot, are well developed and can have multiple motives (Copenhaver, Eisenbrey). Male protagonists often have goals separate from wooing their romantic interest.Male characters were also supposed to want marriage (Eisenbrey). This was often a reflection of earlier decades in which being a single male might indicate homosxuality, which was frowned upon (Eisenbrey). Male characters are repeatedly workers who provide for their families and can often be characterized as aggressive and tough (Eisenbrey, Blackstone). Given the fact that male characters are typically more well developed and more time is spent focusing on them and their motives, there are fewer stereotypes (Blackstone).
However, the 1950s brought a new wave of musicals in which female characters were the protagonists. This was an unprecedented occurrence (Kendrick). Female characters had their own scenes, songs, and monologues. While this did make the characters more well developed and less passive, in general, female stereotypes did not go away. These musicals just put more emphasis on the motives behind the female caretakers and the feminine ideal (Cuskey). Nonetheless, it is important to acknowledge that these musicals did lead to more modern ones, like Wicked where female characters can have storylines independent of their romantic interests (Pollard).
Gender in the 1950s
The 1950’s were a decade of stability and conformity (Gardiner, Lewis). Women were pressured to stay within their homes and were looked down upon if they did not conform (Baughman,Little). Even through education, women were pushed into studies that were family and community oriented, if they were pushed to study at all (Baughman, Gardiner). Men were pushed to get married and be the breadwinners within their families as well. This type of hypermasculinity consequently meant devaluing the role of women in society (Burkhart).
The 1950s had particularly rigid gender roles. Although women were often the main caretakers of their children, fathers still were considered to have greater authority within the home (Voight). This sentiment is reflected especially in the media of the time period, including shows entitled Father Knows Best (Desjardins, Voight). The 1950s are often characterized as a decade of traditional family values. These traditional family values reinforced these strict gender roles (Kennedy).
Methodology
For as long as musical theatre has existed, the portrayal of gender in musicals has been a highly discussed topic. However, the portrayal of gender in 1950s musicals and how these musicals may or may not reflect 1950s gender roles, is a new topic. In order to research this topic, I will implement a qualitative method and use secondary data. More specifically, I will perform content analysis on the five most popular Tony award winning shows of the 1950s. I determined the popularity of these shows by looking at the number of performances and the critical reception of all Tony award winning shows in the decade. I will concentrate on main characters due to how important they are to the plot of the show as well as the time constraint of this research project. I will focus on the portrayal of both male and female characters in terms of their behavioral characteristics, communication patterns, source of power, and physical appearance. After determining the five most popular shows, I read each of the scripts so I would not be influenced by any actor’s portrayal of any character. This content analysis will be based off of the traditionally male and female characteristics in each of these categories in the following tables. I have chosen these characteristics due to their popularity in other studies researching 1950s gender roles (Copenhaver, Cuskey, Lewis). The presence of these characteristics will be indicated by a plus sign on the table. I will be using the results of the content analysis to perform correlational research in an attempt to locate biases and determine if 1950s musicals mirror the traditional gender roles of the decade.
TABLE ON FEMININE VS MASCULINE IN MUSICALS
Behavioral Characteristics
FEMININE
MASCULINE
Emotional/Excitable
Subjective
Non-competitive
Illogical/irrational
Sneaky
Not self-confident
Non-ambitious
Neat
Need security/stability
Self esteem from relationships
People oriented/others considered first
Fearful
Gentle
Intuitive about others' feelings
Non-emotional/non-excitable
Objective
Competitive
Logical/rational
Direct
Self-confident
Ambitious
Sloppy
Provide security/stability
Self esteem from work
Act alone
Fearless
Rough
Less intuitive about others' feelings
Communication Patterns
FEMININE
MASCULINE
Do not talk freely about sex
Do not use harsh language
Talkative
Tactful
Able to express tender feelings
Use talking/communication to build consensus and to hold people together
Talk freely about sex
Use harsh language
Not talkative
Blunt
Do not express tender feelings
Use talking/communication techniques to build dominance and hold/gain position and power in a hierarchy
Source of Power
FEMININE
MASCULINE
Individual resources provide power: beauty, youth, wit, sexuality, reproductive capabilities
Achieves little public recognition for using these skills
Institutional resources provide power and a method to gain status: political office, economic factors, technology, education, legal system, occupation
Achieves lots of public recognition for advancement
Physical Appearance
FEMININE
MASCULINE
Appearance oriented—"Barbie" figure
Smaller physical size and weaker
Beauty is a valuable asset.
Aging is something to be avoided.
Not concerned with appearance
Greater physical size and strength
Strength is a valuable asset.
Aging is considered distinguishing.
Behavioral Characteristics Coding Chart
Show
Traditionally Feminine
Characters present
Female Characters who do not exhibit these traits present
Traditionally Masculine Characters
Present
Male Characters who do not exhibit these characteristics present
My Fair Lady
+
+
+
South Pacific
+
+
+
Music Man
+
+
+
The King and I
+
+
Guys and Dolls
+
+
+
Communication Patterns Coding Chart
Show
Traditionally Feminine
Characters present
Female Characters who do not exhibit these traits present
Traditionally Masculine Characters
Present
Male Characters who do not exhibit these characteristics present
My Fair Lady
+
+
+
South Pacific
+
+
+
Music Man
+
+
+
The King and I
+
+
Guys and Dolls
+
+
+
Source of Power Coding Chart
Show
Traditionally Feminine
Characters present
Female Characters who do not exhibit these traits present
Traditionally Masculine Characters
Present
Male Characters who do not exhibit these characteristics present
My Fair Lady
+
+
South Pacific
+
+
+
Music Man
+
+
The King and I
+
+
Guys and Dolls
+
+
+
Physical Appearance Coding Chart
Show
Traditionally Feminine
Characters present
Female Characters who do not exhibit these traits present
Traditionally Masculine Characters
Present
Male Characters who do not exhibit these characteristics present
My Fair Lady
+
+
+
South Pacific
+
+
Music Man
+
+
The King and I
+
+
Guys and Dolls
+
+
Results and discussion
These results are indicative of the strong bias present in regards to what is traditionally masculine or feminine.