A Hard Day’s Night and Viva
Las Vegas were both released in 1964 and featured stars of unbelievable
fame who made fans literally hysterical. However, these films took very
different approaches to capitalizing on the fame of The Beatles and Elvis. The
stardom of both have some obvious differences, but as Doss discusses in his excerpt
from Elvis Culture, they also have
some key similarities that may be responsible for their massive fan followings.
Some scholars
argue that The Beatles were such an extreme obsession for young girls because
of their non-threatening sexuality, which was particularly symbolized through
their long, floppy hair. Their physicality suggested a certain level of
androgyny, which made young fans more comfortable with admiring them,
especially at a time in the development of fans when their relationship with
their sexuality was confusing and complex. On the other hand, Elvis displayed
his sexuality in a much more aggressive manner with his gyrating hips and clear
sex appeal. However, Doss addresses the presence of an androgynous aspect to
the image of Elvis Presley as well.
We have also
discussed the androgyny of Rudolph Valentino, another huge star amongst the
female population. While we have witnessed Marlon Brando’s extreme masculinity
as a desirable type of male persona, there seem to be many instances of androgyny
going hand-in-hand with huge fame. Harry Styles of One Direction is a
contemporary example of this type of mixture of masculinity and femininity, as
seen in examples on social media (see below). There seems to be something
inherently non-threatening and attractive about an androgynous male star,
although traditional masculinity is still consistently reflected in the stars
of today.
However, it is
interesting to consider the concept of “traditional” masculinity, particularly
in consideration of the persistence of the androgyny of a few extremely famous
male stars of the past hundred years. Perhaps people require less tradition in
their stars than we might think. The fame of Elvis Presley and The Beatles
certainly weren’t traditional and we still analyze their fame today.
I love your take on male androgyny. I did my midterm on Ruby Rose and female androgyny, but haven't considered androgyny from a male celebrity perspective other than through Valentino and others we've studied. I think there's a delicate balance that male stars walk; at least more delicate than the line that female stars must balance to retain their sexual allure to both men and women. I think that fine line for males is largely a product of homophobia - AKA - a guy can still have 'feminine' aspects, but being too feminine might mark him as gay, which, although society is becoming more accepting of queer individuals, is still somewhat frowned upon.
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