Song Character Analysis Worksheet - The University of North ...

gossip columns. 17 Exploitation on both sides escalated to such an extent that by 1919
when the Ziegfeld musical comedy Golddiggers satirized the contemporary male view
that “all women of the theatre are chiselers,” the audience accepted it as a given fact and
enjoyed the joke. 18
The stereotype of chorus girls and actresses as being sexually aware and promis-
cuous heightened their onstage persona and the audience’s enjoyment. An actress could
not be taken seriously with a virginal persona, for how then could she interpret passionate
roles or give full weight to the sexual innuendos of musical comedy? This expectation of
illicit passion was not a professional requirement for male actors, however. Women were
portrayed by stereotypes that described physical demeanor or sexual proclivity (blonde
bombshell, femme fatale, vamp, gamine, and sex goddess), while male types were por-
trayed by career specifications (cowboy, gangster, newsman, hero, or villain). 19 This
practice of gender role stereotyping further established the hegemonic view of woman as
a sexual object and provided a socialized excuse for looking.
The Feminine Audience View
The feminine viewpoint of female stage performers was sharply divided by the
uneasy coexistence of traditional Victorian morals and modern New Woman aesthetic.
The stereotype of the female patron was a genteel, middle class puritan who appreciated
17 Eva Rieger discussed this practice in “‘Dolce semplice?’ On the Changing Role of Women in
Music” in Feminist Aesthetics, 145.
of stage personae.
18 The feminine view was “either you work the men, or the men work you.” Mizejewski, 72.
19 See Berlanstein, p. 124, and Fischer, p. 74, for more discussion on gender roles and mythology
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