The Blaze of Glory of American Housewives in the Sixties

Institute of Political Studies – Aix en Provence Dissertation Comparative Study: Are and suggesting that the Sixties embody the blaze of glory of the American housewife’s role model? Author: Julien LAFAYE Dissertation Supervisor: Michel FAURE 1

Extract from a comparative study: are Mad Men and Bewitched suggesting that the Sixties embody the blaze of glory of the American housewife’s role model? The American housewife role model shaped right after World War Two, and set as an example for the rest of the world. Within the American leading economy at the time, housewives were both the crux of the massive consumption and the Queens of the private sphere. As commercials showed them, they were the very embodiment of happiness and comfort, contrary to the USSR. TV shows Bewitched and Mad Men both portray the ideal of housewives in the Sixties. Respectively set from 1964 to 1972 and from 2007 to 2015, they share many similarities. Therefore, they complete one another, which give us the opportunity to moderate the common vision of the housewife’s happiness in the Sixties. The following study lays the emphasis on the various aspects of the housewife role model in the Sixties and the issues that it raises. To a certain extent, we will question our modern depiction of the American housewife’s role model, trying to catch how it would have changed over the past few decades. 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS : I. THE HOUSEWIFE’S ROLE MODEL IN THE SIXTIES, THE UNBREAKABLE PARADIGM: A. THE SOCIAL IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS OF THE AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS HOUSEWIVES’ S ROLE MODEL IN THE SIXTIES B. THE AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE IN THE SIXTIES, THE EMBODIMENT OF THE AMERICAN HEGEMONY II. AMERICAN HOUSEWIVES IN THE SIXTIES SLIGHTLY TRANGRESSING AND RESHAPING THE ROLE MODEL : A. « THE PROBLEM THAT HAS NO NAME » MEANING THE FAILURE OF THE INJUNCTION TO HAPPINESS B. THE CONTEXT OF FEMININE LIBERALIZATION RESHAPING THE ROLE MODEL 3

“Oh mother’s love- no one can despise: Wondrous bread, which a god divides, yet multiplies! Perpetual food in the parental hall: Each has a share, and each one’s share is all!” Victor HUGO, “This Century was Two Years Old”, Autumn Leaves, 1831 Those lines were written as Victor Hugo was facing a terrible sorrow caused by the loss of his father, mother and first born son. In this short excerpt, extracted from the poem entitled “This Century was Two Years Old”, the poet manages to encapsulate the very essence of the housewife role model. By opposing the two first feminine rhymes to the two next masculine one, Victor Hugo makes a distinction between men’s role and women’s role in society. Thanks to such a process, he puts the loving mother figure and the alpha male figure face to face. The housewife is confined to a loving and feeding individual. Like Demeter, goddess of corn, grain, and the harvest, she makes sure food keeps abounding. By laying the emphasis on motherhood, Victor Hugo also refers to the Virgin Mary. th This poetic syncretism sounds like an allegory of the 19 century’s way of thinking about the housewife role model. Such a presumption has not been evolving much over the past century. “Each has a share”, meaning one’s has a define role and, therefore, expectations to live up to: he is the “breadwinner”, the “head of the family”, while she is the “household”. He is the executive, and she executes his orders. th Still considering the same time period, that is to say the 19 century, it is essential to come back on the American Frontier which shaped the role of the American housewife. Indeed, pioneers, among which can be found many puritans, gave women the opportunity to work, since there clearly was a lack of labor force. Nonetheless, women keep being confined to motherhood, embodying guardians of morality and purity. The two World Wars allowed them to acquire many essential rights, like the right to vote in 1920. That’s being said, as soldiers were coming back from the battle front in 1945, women were pushed back to their previous role: being 4

housewives. Therefore, the fifties, especially through to the skyrocketing advertising industry, focused on shaping the image of a blissfully happy American housewife. To define the word “housewife” is a tough task. It is indeed a very composite term which refers to both gender’s theories and economic factors. Combining the two words “house” and “wife” is, in itself, relevant in terms of people’s expectations about what being a wife means. In French, the word “housewife” has different synonyms, which is not the case in English. However, the word “household” insists more on the economic aspect of the housewife role model. She is the one who rationalizes time and energy within the house in order to maximize profits brought by the breadwinner. Such profits are invested in different fields dealing with the family’s needs. This economic definition helps us to frame the post World War Two American housewife role model. During the fifties and the sixties, she embodies the matrix of the American leading economy, symbolizing comfort and happiness. Like Victor Hugo’s lines say, she is the loving mother, exclusively devoted to her family. Moreover, she is a weapon of massive consumption, dealing with the family expenses. According to Liliane Fiori, “housewives do not either make the headlines, or 1 embody a matter of interest for sociologists.” Nevertheless, they have been drawing television’s attention for decades, especially through TV shows. This particular field allowed show runners to portray many different contemporary aspects of their time. Generally speaking, a serial is “a saga composed by several episodes broadcasted over several months or years, organized in seasons. As the audience gets older, so does the 2 show.” Therefore, such a medium seems like a relevant frame of analysis to 1 FIORI Liliane, Les Femmes au foyer : objectivation et subjectivation d’une invisibilité sociale, University of Metz’s Thesis, 2006, 346 pages, p. 7 2 BOSSENO Christian, « SÉRIES TÉLÉVISÉES », Encyclopædia Universalis [online], February 6th 2014, URL : http://www.universalis-edu.com/encyclopedie/series-televisees/ 5

understand what the society’s viewpoint is, about a particular issue. A serial is similar to a social sample at a precise time period. As TV spread across the United States in the Sixties, TV shows started emphasizing the housewife role model. Such propaganda intended to persuade women to stay at home and to consume more and more thanks to the salary of the breadwinner. Unlike commercials, serials are more likely to criticize its topic. Bewitched, broadcasted from 1964 to 1972 is a relevant example. Samantha is supposed to embody the ideal American housewife but in fact, she is a witch. This very particular asset is the crux of the serial’s plot. Magic is a tool used by the show runners to shade the American housewife role model in the Sixties. Obviously, over the past few years, TV shows reused the same theme. Mad Men, broadcasted from 2007 to 2015, sets his plot in the United States in the Sixties. Depicting a slice of life of Don Draper, the TV show raises many burning questions about the several milestones in terms of women liberalization, American disenchantment after The Vietnam War and so on. Don Draper’s wife, Betty, is shown as a neurotic housewife, struggling to find her path within the very misogynistic society she lives in. Unlike the strong headed Samantha, Betty looks incapable of understanding her “problem that has no name.” Both Mad Men and Bewitched describe a typical American housewife in the Sixties, but put in perspective two very different viewpoints about women’s liberalization and the housewife role model. The fact that Mad Men has been kicking up a vast cloud of discussions over the past seven years demonstrates that the American housewife role model remains a burning issue. Nonetheless the audience tends to consider such a role model obsolete, even anachronistic. Effectively, according to Ginette Castro, the Sixties were a “detonator” in terms of women liberalization in the United States. “The problem that has no name”, raised by Betty Friedan in 1963, was supposed to push housewives into emancipating themselves. Consequently, the Sixties should have been both the apex, and the downturn of the housewife role model. Such an observation raises the 6

following question: are Mad Men and Bewitched suggesting that the Sixties embody the blaze of glory of the American housewife’s role model? In order to answer that question, we will implement a comparative study of the TV shows Mad Men, and Bewitched. By drawing a parallel between different extracts from several episodes, we will confront the scenes with major theories of various authors such as Pierre Bourdieu, Elizabeth Badinter, Betty Friedan or Christine Delphy. The first Chapter will deal with the definition of the American housewife role model in the Sixties, by analyzing both terms of “House” and “Wife”. Secondly, we will question the relevance of the role model imposed to women and the contemporary viewpoint about such a social frame. 7

You may find the complete dissertation in French by clicking on the link below http://online.pubhtml5.com/jejr/dsur/ 8