The rise of popular culture in the 1950s shaped certain ideologies on gender stereotypes and American consumerism, which consequently prompted a wave of rebellion and dissatisfaction against these social conventions. The economic power taken over by women while their husbands were on duty during World War II enabled them to move beyond their subversion and realize their feminine identities. Meanwhile, the popularity of television incentivized Hollywood studios to experiment with various techniques to attract more audiences. Coming from this borderline era, Howard Hawks’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)—starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, whose public images were often conceived as erotic female representation—is highly aware of its status in a changing climate of cinema. Nevertheless, their performances in the film affirm an embodied female subject, in which their roles challenge and ironize standardization, ultimately evoking sympathetic feminist identification. In addition, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes possesses a vibrant style of the 50s, in which each scene looks like a harmonious painting, colorful costumes matching its set design. This paper will, therefore, explore the gender politics in the 50s in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes—the concept of the male gaze, American consumerism, female assertion and solidarity; as well as the film’s lively mise-en-scene and technological advancement through diagnosing specific musical sequences and scenes.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes simultaneously provokes and perverts the idea of the “male gaze”, with two female protagonists, Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw, fully dictating their power over men—the camera finds them as objects of visual fascination, looking at others without acknowledging themselves being observed. Laura Murvey’s Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema states that “In a world by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness” (Murvey 841). To be specific, since it is a gaze of both desire and anxiety, the “male gaze” that organizes the cinematic glamorization of women necessarily signifies the possibility of aggression that realizes male activity and female passivity as physical violence. This gaze is not just the visual attitudes of empirical men, but virtual spectator position determined by narrative cinema’s conjunction of scopophilic pleasure (the pleasure of seeing without being seen). The camera’s point of view in most Hollywood films often comes from a male cinematographer’s perspective, regarding women with fetishistic excitement; thus Gentlemen Prefer Blondes undoubtedly serves as an iconic example of women objectification, in which it equates women as precious goods, symbols of male’s success. One of the film’s most memorable songs, “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend”, is often mistaken to celebrate materialism, yet it indeed triumphs a woman’s desire for financial independence. Lorelei sings and dances in a fancy pink gown with long glove, accompanied by a group of gentlemen in a matching color background stage. Throughout the sequence, the viewer is shown from the perspective of the traditional male gaze, allured into Lorelei’s performance. The moments when Lorelei looks directly into the camera, delivering the line “But get that ice or else no dice...” and when the viewer sees a reverse shot of her fiancé, Gus in the audience watching as she tosses him a belt of diamonds seem to confront the gaze and push back this concept. These shots underline the importance of viewership during that period, while also offering a social commentary on the male gaze. In this scene, Lorelei is conscious of Gus’s gaze as well as others’ and she is taking full advantage of it. Another scene of Dorothy also demonstrates this flipping of the male gaze: She wanders around a gym, freely takes pleasure in looking and flirting with the Olympic team. The camera displays massive fleshly male bodies in various exercises, as she manages to resist the temptation and sort her way through a maze of indifferent individuals. By and large, she seems disaffected by this dehumanized spectacle, since all of her erratic glances, whether yearning or skeptical, are treated by apathetic and aloof stares. In the beginning of the sequence, the camera sets Dorothy apart in long and middle shots, emphasizing her isolation from the labyrinth of athletes. However, towards the end, when she sits near the edge of the swimming pool and gets knocked into the water, Dorothy suddenly becomes a part of that estranged community. A group of men pulled her out and put her onto their shoulders, while a waiter serves her a drink. The song “Ain’t There Anyone Here For Love” also implicitly directs its messages to the offscreen Lorelei, whose absorption in materialism equates the longing for love conveyed here. Without a doubt, this scene gives much authority to Dorothy and validates female aspiration, ultimately proving its effort in claiming women’s changing status in society. In summation, spectacle has always been an indispensable element in Hollywood 50s films, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’s marvelous production design with extravagant costumes and choreography not only generates one of the most impressive musical segments in film history, but also constructs an accurate representation of femininity in the 1950s, uncertain between sexualized conformity and liberated expression.
Another scene from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes that possesses a political allegory, exposing glimpse of colonialism behind typical exoticism is when Lorelei meets Piggy, a wealthy owner of a diamond mine. Following the end of World War II, with promising socio-economic growth, affording to buy expensive goods was considered as possessing a stable quality of life. Piggy’s character represents an American view towards consumerism that was pervasive in this decade. The fact that the diamond mine he owns is in Africa also refers to the Civil Rights movement and racial discrimination at the time. A specific shot of Peggy’s face, when Lorelei realizes his occupation, resembles a large diamond, which demonstrates a literal interpretation of him by Lorelei. Similar to the scene when Dorothy observes the Olympics athletes, this scene plays out as a reversal of the conventional objectification of women, indicating their shifting status in society. An article on “Times Higher Education” notes that “Lorelei literally turns her back on the "monuments" of culture to admire the icons of consumerism and luxury, and this definition of the blonde as brainless and materialistic quickly became entrenched as a stereotype”. Without a doubt, she is not objectifying Peggy for sexual desire, but rather the materialistic gain that she wishes to attain from him. Later, Piggy’s wife arrives and shows Lorelei her tiara, yet she doesn’t know how to put the tiara around her neck, and doesn’t believe Dorothy’s advice about wearing it on her head. When she finally wears it the right way, she is enamored of its stylistic presence and exclaims: “I just love finding new places to wear diamond”. Eventually, Lorelei decides to strategize her charisma to seduce Piggy and get the tiara for her luxurious jewelry fantasy. As a result, the sarcastic allusion in this scene shows the hypocrisy of capitalism, whose unrealistic American Dream of owning material goods was only accessible to white privileges.
Despite all of these social terrain and gender inequality, Dorothy and Lorelei’s charming solemnity of friendship and support for each other still shines. The most defining feminist moment occurs at the end of the film when the two swap their identities: Dorothy, disguised as Lorelei, appears in court testifying for the stolen diamond tiara. This brilliant scene carried out by Jane Russell somehow exhibits the inauthenticity of Lorelei’s dumb-blonde characteristics, the lack of difficulty in which a false appearance by another woman can deceive oblivious men. Dorothy takes off her fur coat, reveals the flamboyant outfit and “attacks” the judges with Lorelei’s classic song “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend”. Oddly, the men in the courtroom quickly enjoy her impromptu performance and turn into attentive audiences. What can be clearly seen is that Dorothy’s appealing aggressiveness and confidence has brought seriousness and justice to collapse. The last scene of Gentlemen Prefer Blonde marries the two allied women by removing the men from the frame, connecting the image of Lorelei and Dorothy as partners—this eventually certifies their companionship and rapport, which is remarkably liberated during this supposedly patriachal time period. Dorothy and Lorelei enter the great hall in two identical bridal dresses, veils, and bouquets. Each character has a separate close-up with her fiancé before the camera frame narrows down, zooming into the two women’s close-ups. Dorothy and Lorelei give a satisfactory glances at each other, then turn back to the marriage officiant as the ending title “The End” appears on screen. The film’s construction of female sovereignty subverts and overturns the gazing males—they act on their own endeavors and motives: While Monroe's character chases money, Russell's character wants love. Yet, both of them are determined and indomitable about their actions, and do not let the surroundings influence their thoughts or intentions. Douglas Sirk’s melodrama All That Heaven Allows (1955) also revolves around a couple struggling under the 1950s’s societal repression and offers a comment on class and conservative ideas. The fact that a widow who has an affair with a young gardener is alienated by her high-status friends reflects the close-mindedness of the community during post-war America. Cary, as played by Jane Wyman, is a woman torn between the desire for romance and the preconceived obligation she has always inhabited. Nevertheless, towards the end of the film, Cary’s pursuit of happiness releases her from all norms and strings of pleasing other people’s expectations to fight for her own life. Likewise, the radiant enchantment and bonding between Lorelei and Dorothy provide Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with a profound feeling of female empowerment, revolutionized against the patriarchal values of its time. As a consequence, Hawks’s portrayal of female solidarity through building up two fearless central characters has added a solid element to the film’s feminist message.
In conclusion, overshadowing the male gaze with women’s fierce attitudes and sex appeals, criticizing American consumerism that only pays attention to superficiality, strengthening female solidarity and navigating the constraints of a patriarchal world—all of this aforementioned themes have made Gentlemen Prefer Blondes an unforgettable musical comedy piece of the 1950s. The fact that Howard Hawks grants his female characters ownership of their own desires makes Gentlemen Prefer Blondes a surprisingly quintessential film that still resonates with many of today’s problems. In the 21st century, the feminist movement in Hollywood has witnessed several sexual assault survivors from various religions, races, beliefs standing up and overthrowing powerful figures. In the era of silence breakers such as “Time’s Up” and “Me Too”, the impact of Howark Hawks’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes from post-war America has built up a rudimentary, compelling cinematic study on the issue of gender roles, breaking away stereotypes of the male gaze, materialism, and powerlessness that have long been imposed on women in the society.
Works Cited
Murvey, Laura. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Braudy, Leo. Cohen, Marshall. Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. Oxford University Press. 2004.
Hammill, Faye. They're called dumb, materialistic sexual predators - but millions are dyeing to join them. Times Higher Education. January 2003.