Monday, September 22, 2008
Molly or Margaret Brown: Independent Woman
Like Rashiel, I only really knew about Molly Brown from Titanic. I always seem to end up getting a large amount of my information from movies, television and other not so factual places. I need to really be wary of that, especially surrounding the election and really being able to decide for myself what is true and what is made up about a candidate. For instance, a lot of the campaign ads are pretty overblown and absurd, but I see them all the time and there is no way that they cannot be permeating my consciousness and making me form all sorts of opinions. Anyway, on the Margaret Brown front, I really enjoyed the presentation on Molly Brown. First of all, the fact that both the director and curator were SO protective and in awe of Molly Brown made the presentation really interesting. It was almost as if they were talking about one of their close friends from the past. I guess the fact that I am calling her Molly Brown, instead of Margaret, just goes to show how much the media really is affecting my beliefs on her. I forgot to ask why she was called Molly in the play and the movies when it seemed like no one in her life actually called her by that name. I must have a different idea of what the early 20th century really was like because I found it fascinating that it was acceptable for Margaret Brown to travel without her husband and live on her own. I really appreciated hearing from Professor Bateman about how it was acceptable for women to not marry in that time and live together because it was seen as almost innocent and pure. Today, women absolutely still deal with those kinds of stereotypes and pressures from society. It is seen as acceptable to get married, but not too early and not too late. If you never marry, people assume there is something wrong with you. If you’re not allowed to marry, people really believe there is a valid reason for that. Personally, I would like to get married in the future. Right now there is no one I have met that I would marry, but I believe that marriage is for some and not for others. It’s a partnership, not a becoming of one. I really like that Margaret Brown was confident enough in herself and her abilities to run for office and be on her own in the world.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
After learning a little more about Margaret Brown, I agree with Rashiel and Eliza on this one. Since attending last Wednesday's special guest lecture and visiting the Molly Brown House/Museum I was also surprised to learn that there are so many myths and unknown facts regarding her legacy. It seems as if there are two entirely different personas being represented depending on which name is used. Consequently I suppose this is another simple example of how the media has a tendency of spinning things to produce various representations depending on how they want the public to perceive it. Along these lines I still can't believe how much gender is played in terms of portraying an individual as either a man with a stiff collared shirt and cigar or take for example the political campaign portrait of Margaret Brown in soft sepia tones, a gentle look and classic hairbrush in hand. Then again consider today the talk of simple wardrobe differences between Sarah Palin's cute skirt suits and Hillary Clinton's powered up pants suits... Ultimately I still believe that society's view of gender has still not strayed too far from those old fashioned ideals of what stereotypically identify a man and a woman.
I asked the docent this weekend where "Molly" came from. She said it rhymed with some song for the holiday movie. She also mentioned how upset her kids were that no one in the film production consulted with them. So interesting how a whole historic legend was dubbed by a bad holiday movie.
Post a Comment