Museum lecture on pop culture set for Wednesday
MOSES LAKE — How television and movies have reflected the changing roles of women is the subject of a lecture at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center, 401 South Balsam St.
“The Struggle is Real: Romance Fantasies, Fighting Females and the Strong Woman Ideal in Post-Feminist Culture” is part of the Winter Salon series sponsored by the museum. Admission is free.
Allison Palumbo is the speaker. Palumbo is an instructor in the English department at Big Bend Community College. The lecture is based on research for her doctoral dissertation, which she’s turning into a book, she said.
Pop culture has always had its share of strong independent women, Palumbo said; the girls who gave as good as they got in 1930s screwball comedies and tough chick reporters and sidekicks in 1940s mysteries. But there was a change in the 1970s and 1980s, she said. Women began to play a bigger role in movies and television, and women started defending themselves in ways they hadn’t before – fighting back or using a weapon if necessary, what Palumbo calls the “fighting female.”
She cited the television show “Remington Steele” as an example. Laura Holt, played by Stephanie Zimbalist, was a girl gumshoe and a good one, but had trouble getting clients because – well, girl gumshoe. So she hired a guy (Pierce Brosnan) to act as the front man.
Palumbo said pop culture influences how people see the society around them, and in turn it’s influenced by what’s going on in society. Producers (and writers and actors, for that matter) want to make money, so often they will go for what Palumbo called “the safe bet.”
And “the safe bet tends to be the proven bet, which is why so many stories coming out of Hollywood are similar, why sequels and remakes abound.” When a story does take a chance – and is successful – the door opens for more stories of the same kind, she said.
As a result Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) ran the detective agency in “Moonlighting,” Cagney (Sharon Gless) and Lacey (Tyne Daly) worked together as street detectives. Palumbo said “Cagney and Lacey” and “Romancing the Stone” were not expected to be as popular as they were, which in turn influenced writers and producers when coming up with new ideas.
Palumbo joined the BBCC faculty for the 2016-17 school year, and is a graduate of Weber State University, with a master’s degree from Florida State University and a PhD from the University of Kentucky.
People who have questions can contact the museum, 509-764-3830.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.
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