1950s Pop Culture Analysis - Which Ones Specifically Connect To My 22th CE Views
I particularly enjoy Roman Holiday because it is a reflection of a woman’s free spirit and desire to being free from traditional standards that subdue the definition of femininity as submission, especially with the intensity of these values in the confines of this time. This film is an embodiment of the influx of feminism in this period. She is a princess in a literal sense, but figuratively she is caught. It feels ahead-of-its time in ideological differences and fashion trends despite being a romantic comedy. It feels as if to romanticize the women’s rights movement for the population and give hope and respite to the yearning – to incite fervent activism inside people. This movie feels organic, colloquial, a taste of feminist ideals assimilating into media without feeling strange, alien.
This movie also blurs the lines between the often transient, fleeting definition of men and women in this timeline, softening the rigid stereotypes of men and showing the inner emotions of women by allowing both genders to rely on eachother. This breaks down the expendable archetype of women by showing how she – or the main character - was emotionally necessary for men. This female character created a parasocial relationship with the viewer without breaking the 4th wall – not inert, but fluid and incremental like a rising water table, showing their presence and entanglement with the constructs of society, and in this case, the male audience. The shock value of her leaving at the end of the movie showed that despite women persistently staying in relationships that may be unsatisfactory or even abusive – with a divorce rate of about 2.3 per 1,000 people in the 1950s – a woman’s significance was never taken away, just taken for granted due to it only coming to light at divorce, rarely experienced therefore rarely represented. Divorce, heartbreak and death creates a legacy for a person, however this was more of the essence of a woman interlinking with the world than a quiet, hidden divorce. A sense of remembrance more potent than falling in love shaped individuality for the person fleeing and a sense of longing and respect for the person undergoing loss. This movie’s ending pushed people to weigh the impact of women in society and relationships against how women were perceived and treated, the meaning not overt but subconscious, through longing, yearning, and rewatches of the movie to fill the ending.
I connect to this on a personal level, as a woman I yearn a lot. I yearn to feel my short and impulsively cut hair in the breeze, to embrace my body – my flat, unshapely figure as if to emphasize my presence, the strangeness of feeling feminine by rejecting
traditional femininity. I express the feminine side of my personality in my boldness, in small actions, daringness and risk-taking, even if that means the lack of doing something – not covering up, not wearing shaping clothes and wired undergarments - just existing, admiring myself; but admiring more of the rebelliousness in the action of ‘admiring myself’ than enjoying the way I look.
To break people hearts just to feel missed, an intrusive, guilty thought. Is it the only way for a woman to be wanted? Her romantical control over men instead of disciplinary and decision-based positions? Conversely, the main character in Roman Holiday needed as a princess and essentially a celebrity, a reflection of how women are a major influence in theatre, entertainment, and music, conducive to it not being worthwhile without them. This movie covers the eclectic roles of women in this time, an emissary of women’s power from this quaint, ephemeral time.
Another song I admire is “I only have eyes for you”. It highlights the extent to which someone can be in love with another person to the point of obsession, and coincides with topics discussed in Roman Holiday. This is not spontaneous or coincidental, but a reflection on the exploration of deeper love in the 1950s as an implication of a woman’s character beginning to be more intimately understood. This song displays a prolific sense of attachment to a loved one where the world fades away, attested in the line “maybe millions of people go by, but they all disappear from view, and I only have eyes for you.”
This concept resurfaces in Roman Holiday, where her relatives and interviewers disappear from the film’s screen for a few hours, flaunting this sort of close-knit love – almost encouraging the viewer to devotion with their partner. These two romantic pieces of film and music are a reiteration of both my personal taste and the era they were made. Despite the bygone years since these pieces were released, these are beautiful pieces of media which many people find relatable despite the generational divides, which prompts inquiry to if the severity of the divergence between generations is to such an extent - if generations are separated as much as people talk about.
