Nine
Set in the 1960's, this musical describes the romances of Guido Contini, a
struggling film artist. Throughout the show, nine different women profile
themselves as stereotypical trophies to this film maker. Altogether the piece
is visually stunning, but morally limiting from a feminist perspective. Be Italian
Oklahoma
The cliché story of guy going after a girl is the fundamental plotline of
this musical. The woman in this piece has no free expression and lives completely
in her gender guidelines. This show altogether revolves around the moral idea
that woman should obey men. Oklahoma
Grease
This musical is a typical choice for most high schools across America.
However, the storyline explains that if a young woman changes herself for a man,
they will fall in love. This show altogether disregards equality among genders. You're The One That I
Want
-Written by Michael Herman
3 Bold Feminist Musicals
Rent
This 1990's rock opera musical embodies the spirit of expressing gender and
sexuality. Throughout the show, the audience meets heterosexuals, homosexuals,
transvestites, etc. Because of this, one of the major themes throughout the
musical is free expression and openness toward gender and sexuality. La Vie Boheme
Avenue Q
Avenue Q is a contemporary musical about puppets having sex, coming out, and
finding their purposes in life. Altogether, the show looks like a bizarre combination
between Jeff Dunham and Sesame Street.But nevertheless, it proudly embraces
diversity. If You Were Gay
The Sound of Music
The first curtain for The Sound of Music was in 1959.And with it, the world was shocked. In this
show, we see a simple postulant disobey a military landowner as she tries to
teach his children how to live and love. Never before had nuns ever been so
bold. Sixteen Going on
Seventeen
Theatre is a reflection of
life.Acting by definition attempts to convince
audiences that characters are alive and ultimately real.In this way, theatre represents our passions,
behaviors, and desires.This being said,
much of our behavior is defined by our genders and sexualities.The different characters in a show will react
to various genders and sexualities in drastically different ways (as we do in
society).
Furthermore,
the subject matter of theatre seeks to draw attention through controversy.Gender and sexuality studies are some of the
most controversial subjects to discuss or perform.In addition, it would be impossible to
discuss the concepts and themes behind a theatre performance without touching
on gender and sexuality.
So…theatre (and especially musical
theatre) fundamentally relies on gender and sexuality to hook audiences and
replicate life.Theatre and life reflect
each other.This was wisely summarized
hundreds of years ago.In the wise words
of Shakespeare, “All the world’s a stage.”
Gender and sexuality is shown through the lyrics, dress, and attitude of country music stars. If you think about it, a country music star has to fit a certain criteria, as almost all famous country music stars do. White, rough childhood, tough, and strict. A male singer typically swears, sings about his love that left him broken, and how he vows revenge to anyone that’s wronged him. A female singer speaks much of the same, she sings about love, or the hope for love, and more times than not about getting back at another woman that stole her man. The country music world and the people in it are very set in their ways. Of all the music genres in the world, country music is the least genre willing to adapt to a changing society. You frequently see the tabloid or online gossip sites stating that so-or-so is predicted to come out of the closet, but it doesn’t happen frequently. There have been sparked rumors that Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, and even America’s sweetheart Taylor Swift are gay, though none of these claims has been proven. Some of these stars have even braved the tabloids and have written lyrics depicting life in America where not all are free to marry. Take for example Garth Brooks’ song “We Shall Be Free.” In it, he not so subtlety states his support for freedom of marriage to all people, singing, “Cause we shall be free/ When we’re free to love anyone we choose.” Not to anyone’s surprise, he was later accused of being homosexual, which he denies. What has the music world come to if an artist can’t state what they believe in throughout their songs without media scrutiny. Hopefully in the next few years, this genre that is very set in their ways will adapt and give change a chance.
Hey, this is Sarah and this semester I'm going to be talking about gender and sexuality as it relates to punk, rock, metal, industrial and basically anything that has a guitar. Rock is a many-headed beast and there are probably as many kinds of rock as there are rockers. Because of this, analyzing the relation it has to gender and sexuality is an endless process. I'm going to focus mainly on punk rock because I know it best, but I will occasionally delve into other sub-genres.
In order to understand gender and sexuality as they relate to punk, it is important to know just what punk is. According to thefreedictionary.com, punk is " A young person, especially a member of a rebellious counterculture group," "an inexperienced young man," and "a youth subculture closely associated with punk rock music in the late
1970s; in part a reaction to the hippy subculture; dress was optional
but intended to shock (plastic garbage bags or old school uniforms) and
hair was dyed in bright colors (in Mohican haircuts or sometimes spiked
in bright plumes)". This last definition fits most closely with how I will be using the term punk when referring to the subculture and "rock music with deliberately offensive lyrics expressing anger and
social alienation; in part a reaction against progressive rock," is the definition I will use when referring to the music itself. Interestingly enough, an alternate definition offered of the word punk is "a young male homosexual." Obviously this is not the common usage anymore, but the fact that two separate definitions imply that punks are male is very intriguing. It is well known that the punk subculture is mostly male, and has a close tie with violence, independence and other traditionally masculine elements. Despite this however, there are many female punkers and in my experience the punk culture is very accepting of women, though not necessarily feminine qualities. I'll be discussing this in more detail in the future.
As punk is meant to question the mainstream and frequently harmful
standards of society and rebel against them, lyrics frequently contain
shocking, offensive and just plain silly phrases. Sex is treated very
casually and often as a joke. In addition, bodily noises, growls and
spitting are not uncommon. But enough of my blathering! Here's a link to
a classic song by the Dead Kennedys that has these principles. Heads
up, there is explicit language in this song, in case it isn't obvious
from the title, Too Drunk to Fuck.
Until next time,
Sarah
There are different ways that hip hop music expresses gender issues. One main issue is that many guy rappers refer to having sex with women and not having anything more. some of the rap songs are degrading to women. One main example is Lil Wayne, he has a song named "Every Girl in the World". The the point of the song is to f*** every girl in the world. There are other songs that talk about wanting only girls with big a**. Many rap songs today only talk about sex. Again, this is very degrading to women. Another way that gender issues are shown is that there are not many woman rappers. Many woman rappers are seen as being lesbians, which also refers to sexuality issues. Why can't woman rappers just be heterosexual women in people's minds? Woman rappers are discriminated against. Hearing a song by a female rapper is a huge thing compared to songs by men. Why is this?
In today's society I feel as though rappers need to talk about gay guys as being "faggots" and constantly saying "no homo". Those phrases are very degrading. Many male rappers say these things in their songs. When a rapper says these things, people think they are cool lines and they want to repeat them. The horrible phrases are, then, being spread. Throughout this semester, I will be researching different videos, articles, lyrics, etc to express these point in depth.
By Toni
Saturday, January 21, 2012
When "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" was released in 1975, it
single handedly causes an uproar. Adapted from the British rock musical, this
show depicts a transvestite (Tim Curry) and his wild nightlife.To date, this show is a cult classic that was
made famous for its audience participation.
The following blog is a conglomeration of various essays, music videos, and clips that relate to music, gender, and sexuality. We are a network of four bloggers who are dedicated to researching and further exploring how our world connects. Sarah will focus on punk/rock, Michael will explore musical theatre, Toni will be researching hip hop, and Kelly will cover country music. Check back every week for a new post.
