Feminism and Rebellion

Although Medovoi asserts that he will address this issue in more detail later, I found one of the most persuasive parts of his argument to be his discussion of the rebel in relation to feminism. Medovoi spends a great deal of time addressing the male persona within the culture of the 1950s. One of the emerging male roles became the rebellious one in which a male attempted to set himself apart from the rest of his peers. The element that was missing within this argument was something that I had not previously considered until Medovoi brought it up. How does this rebel male impact the behavior and thoughts of the women of the 1950s? Medovoi discusses this in the context of female characters in King Creole and Rebel. He writes, “For both Judy and Nellie, the experience and expression of erotic desire seems liberating. Judy is released from the feminine need to ‘be loved’ that is repeatedly thwarted by her father. Nellie in turn escapes the tedium of her alienated life at the shop. Suspended in these moments from the bad-boy narrative are feminist possibilities…”(Medovoi 209). I was struck by this quotation because it cast a different light upon the subject than I am used to. During this portion of the reading I was reminded of one of the strongest images of the 1950s that I have been presented with. In the 1970s sitcom Happy Days Fonzie is considered the rebellious male especially when viewed in the world of such clean-cut and respectable males as Richie, Potsy, and Ralph. Fonzie merely has to snap his fingers and a woman (or several) comes running into his arms. They giggle, look at him with doe-eyes and most significantly do not say much of anything. It has always been difficult for me to understand how these women would be so alright with being used in such a manner. I am certainly not saying that this behavior is appropriate, but I found some clarity within Medovoi’s claim that casting aside the need to be loved and instead favoring the freedom that come from expressing their desires. When I think about the 1950s, especially because I recently completed a course on feminist literature, I can hardly believe that the submissive role of women is all there was present in the decade. Despite what June Cleaver may have us believe about that time period, I have seen far too many works written by women of the time who were anything but submissive. These strong women may have been the type that Medovoi is discussing within Nellie and Judy. The freedom to express herself is currently and was in the 1950s, something crucial to women. The idea that the rebels of the time created an outlet for female expression is intriguing and encouraging. The discussion of what women desire is not necessarily something I would automatically connect with the time period. I am interested to see exactly where Medovoi takes this argument, and how he deals with contradictory examples who do not seem to want the rebel male. However, I agree with the initial claim that he makes that the rebel perhaps allows a part of feminist empowerment to be expressed.