10-09-2021, 08:24 PM
A bit ago, I was looking for something to watch on TV. I stumbled on PBS’s American Masters, with the subject or the week being Rita Moreno. Rita Moreno? My first thought was that as time goes by they would have more and more trouble finding a ‘master’ who they have not already covered. Who the heck was Rita Moreno?
I found out soon enough. She is a singer, dancer and actress, one of the few who has picked up Emmy, Oscar, Tony and Grammy awards. She played the king’s favorite concubine in The King and I. She played the absurdly accented pre sound star in Singing in the Rain. She notably played the dominant Shark female in the movie version of West Side Story. She went on with appearances on Electric Company and Sesame Street. Ok. Yep. They aren’t out of masters yet.
Her notable grumble was typecasting and stereotyping. There was one point in her career that she couldn’t get a part without make up to make her skin darker, wearing a wig, and assuming a foreign accent. She was the cute foreign love interest. It was common in the 1950s that men ran roughshod on the projected stupid, foreign, dark woman. She spoke of having a common not-English accent. It didn’t matter if she were playing a Pacific Islander, a Native American, an Asian, a Hispanic or whatever. So long as she was cute, devoted seeming to her male counterpart, and spoke with her phony accent, she kept being hired. No other part was offered.
That trend broke with West Side Story. She got to play a spitfire who spoke her mind, danced her heart out (America), and to play a hispanic coming from her own background of Puerto Rico and the West Side of New York City. She got to throw away the stereotypes, to break the typecasting, and by the way pick up an Oscar in the process. Among the clips shown were several actresses saying thank you Rita for breaking the mold, for being the example, for leading the way.
A few nights later, there was a YouTube video on the movie Live and Let Die featuring the film’s Bond Girl, Solitaire, played by Jane Seymour. Jane was white, as easy to look at as Rita, and had a related complaint. Women in those days constantly needed to be rescued and were generally three steps behind the male lead as he did the rescuing. She contrasted it with the modern Bond Women, who were shown in clips from the new Bond movie. The mostly had submachine guns shooting villains dead, not noticeably missing, while wearing sexy clothing.
What is a desirable woman other than cute and a good shot? In West Side Story there was one girl who wanted to join the Jets, and was rejected and ridiculed by the gang. How dare she aspire to play a male role? Who was it that saved Tony when he was hurt and all the real male Jets had run? How do we vote with our dollars to see women portrayed by Hollywood?
I have a feeling that this shift in stereotypes has something to do with the Red Blue divide. What do we expect the minority or female to be? How much does one do what one is expected to do, to be what one is expected to be?
I found out soon enough. She is a singer, dancer and actress, one of the few who has picked up Emmy, Oscar, Tony and Grammy awards. She played the king’s favorite concubine in The King and I. She played the absurdly accented pre sound star in Singing in the Rain. She notably played the dominant Shark female in the movie version of West Side Story. She went on with appearances on Electric Company and Sesame Street. Ok. Yep. They aren’t out of masters yet.
Her notable grumble was typecasting and stereotyping. There was one point in her career that she couldn’t get a part without make up to make her skin darker, wearing a wig, and assuming a foreign accent. She was the cute foreign love interest. It was common in the 1950s that men ran roughshod on the projected stupid, foreign, dark woman. She spoke of having a common not-English accent. It didn’t matter if she were playing a Pacific Islander, a Native American, an Asian, a Hispanic or whatever. So long as she was cute, devoted seeming to her male counterpart, and spoke with her phony accent, she kept being hired. No other part was offered.
That trend broke with West Side Story. She got to play a spitfire who spoke her mind, danced her heart out (America), and to play a hispanic coming from her own background of Puerto Rico and the West Side of New York City. She got to throw away the stereotypes, to break the typecasting, and by the way pick up an Oscar in the process. Among the clips shown were several actresses saying thank you Rita for breaking the mold, for being the example, for leading the way.
A few nights later, there was a YouTube video on the movie Live and Let Die featuring the film’s Bond Girl, Solitaire, played by Jane Seymour. Jane was white, as easy to look at as Rita, and had a related complaint. Women in those days constantly needed to be rescued and were generally three steps behind the male lead as he did the rescuing. She contrasted it with the modern Bond Women, who were shown in clips from the new Bond movie. The mostly had submachine guns shooting villains dead, not noticeably missing, while wearing sexy clothing.
What is a desirable woman other than cute and a good shot? In West Side Story there was one girl who wanted to join the Jets, and was rejected and ridiculed by the gang. How dare she aspire to play a male role? Who was it that saved Tony when he was hurt and all the real male Jets had run? How do we vote with our dollars to see women portrayed by Hollywood?
I have a feeling that this shift in stereotypes has something to do with the Red Blue divide. What do we expect the minority or female to be? How much does one do what one is expected to do, to be what one is expected to be?
That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.