Shelbi Buchholz

 
          For my media critique analysis, I chose the film Chicago. The reason I chose this film is because the film played a significant role in my childhood. Growing up as a dancer, I had many dance routines to the music on the Chicago soundtrack and I have always appreciated the films contribution to dance culture. As an experienced dancer and chorographer, the technical talent of the cast and creativity of the dance choreography presented throughout the film intrigues me. I felt this film was a great example of the ways in which stereotypical depictions in media are reinforced. Additionally, I found whom the movie was produced, directed, and distributed as something to be noted in regards to giving power to hegemony of heterosexist media representations.
          The movie Chicago, originally based upon a 1957 Broadway musical, was a follow-up project for the director of Chicago the musical, Bob Fosse, an Oscar Award winning director. Although Fosse was not alive to recreate the musical into a film, when it was finally modernized in 2002, for the second time, he was credited for his contributions. The movie Chicago was later produced by Martin Richards and directed by Rob Marshall, both heterosexual, white males. The film aimed to draw attention to celebrity criminals and reveal the judicial corruption during the Jazz Age in Chicago. In addition to its focus on scandal and corruption, the hyper-sexualization of characters in Chicago and its overall risqué content was a representation of the era the movie was set in and the rebellious attitudes of the roaring 20’s. Based upon who the producer, director, and distributors are, the intensified sexual nature, and over exaggeration of stereotypes, I believe the particular audience they aimed to target was a white heterosexual male audience.
          As a dancer, Chicago was a film I grew up watching; however, I never noticed the sexual references and cynical tone until more recently, which I felt correlated directly to the direction and production cast of the film. It could be considered that because the film was produced and directed by heterosexual males, the film intended satisfy a heterosexual male audience and support hegemonic views. Also, its distribution by Mirimax, an American entertainment company, founded by two white males, might also add to that notion. Furthermore, the stereotypical roles of characters were highly exaggerated for comedic effect throughout the duration of the film gave power to masculinity through a variety of ways I will discuss within my critique. Additionally, many of the topics we have discussed and explored throughout the lecture and readings in this course were reflected in the film and will be analyzed throughout my critique.
          A stereotypical role that stood out to me in the film was highly reinforced through the over-exaggerated and over-masculinized character traits of Matron Mama Mortin, often referred to as “Mama”. Attributing characteristics that added to Mama as a stereotypical “butch” lesbian, as defined in the Ross book as “similar to a man in dress and mannerisms,” were made easily identifiable and used for comedic relief: this included not only physical characteristics such as her masculine body type and hair cut, but more significantly her occupation associated with mostly males and her hyper sexualized and overtly masculine behavior. In the book, Encyclopedia of Gender in Media, Mary Kosut stated, “through the depiction of masculine women as comical and bizarre reasserts heterosexists gender norms” (Kosut 165). These physical characteristics, hyper-sexualization and over exaggeration of masculinity of Mama reinforce stereotypes of the typical butch lesbian and disrupt heteronormativity.
          The introduction to her character, as doing legal favors in return for sex, was highly over exaggerated through the song “When You’re Good to Mama.” It is important to note that in the song she is clearly singing about the women in the prison doing her sexual favors for legal help; however, during her performance she aims her over exaggerated sexual references only at men. In addition, she flaunts her revealing outfit with a plunging neckline and high slit skirt at her male audience. In an article by Kristin Puhl called “The Eroticization of Lesbianism by Heterosexual Men,” the author writes that “feminine lesbian, long a staple in erotic material, has become a mainstream phenomenon” (Puhl 2). However, what I found to be most interesting in the article was that “Louderback and Whitley (1997) found that men reported placing much higher erotic value ratings on female same-sex sexual behavior than on male same-sex sexual behavior” (Puhl 2). I found this to speak to the intentions behind inclusion of a lesbian character in the film Chicago.
          It is significant to note that although Mama is portrayed as a stereotypical butch lesbian character, which is highly disruptive to heteronormativity, the male producers seemed to be uncomfortable with that as the sole depiction of Mama. Mama’s extremely contradicting behavior in the piece “When You’re Good to Mama,” her overly sexualized references that are only aimed at men show that the inclusion of a lesbian character is used for the pleasure of a heterosexual male audience. These contradicting characteristics of Mama are significant to note because while trying to be inclusive of the LGBTQ community, the characterization is still giving power to heteronormative masculinity.
 
References
Kosut, M. (Ed.). (2012). Encyclopedia of Gender in Media . Retrieved April 6, 2017, from https://books.google.com/books?id=FEB1q_HyvN4C&pg=PA165&lpg=PA165&dq=inclusionofgaycharactersforcomedicrelief&source=bl&ots=bwpznhDuU7&sig=I3Ub07NLukHQo2ejbBSUTARNopc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwimi_GT2ZHTAhVPwWMKHZxrB3cQ6AEIJzAC#v=onepage&q=inclusion%20of%20gay%20characters%20for%20comedic%20relief&f=false    
 
Puhl, K. (2010, May 19). The eroticization of lesbianism by heterosexual men. Retrieved April 6, 2017, from http://cedar.wwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1056&context=wwuet
 
Ross, K. (Ed.). (2012).The Handbook of Gender, Sex, and Media. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
 
 

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