Lepore Response:
Although I am not writing about a person, I initially thought I wasn't going to gain very much from reading Lepore's essay. However, I found a lot of what she said to be very relatable to my piece. I especially connected with her discussion of biography versus microhistory on page 133. Lepore states: "...however singular a person's life may be, the value of examining it lies not in its uniqueness, but in its exemplariness, in how that individual's life serves as an allegory for broader issues affecting the culture as a whole." While I am not writing about a single stewardess but rather the stewardess as a historical group (as well as highlighting a few various stewardesses), I found this passage really struck a chord for my piece. Although every stewardess has a unique story about why she joined this exciting new profession as well as possesses her own undoubtably fascinating stories of her travels and the passengers she met, my focus is not on the life of the stewardess but rather how the stewardess can serve as an example of the cultural shifts (or lack there of) brought on by the Cold War and furthered by explicit State Department action.
I thought the "Love and Betrayal" section of Lepore's essay the most relatable to my usual issues with writing but not for this particular piece. I have found that I am removed enough in time and do not have a personal stake in the subject matter that I am writing about. Usually I definitely fall in love with my subject if writing about one person (my worst case was in a paper about Abigail Adams and how much cooler she was than her husband...).
Primary Source:
Small Town, USA (U.S. Information Service/Pathescope Company of America/Eurovision, 1957 -sponsored documentary)
youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5oM6CuuZUY
The documentary follow families in Amamosa, Iowa. The US Government would make many documentaries like this as a way to promote the American Way of life during the Cold War. It was intended for foreign audiences. It highlights American iconic images such as independence day fireworks, churches and gardens, small town America main street, and picturesque farms and country sides. I am going to use this source as an example of the how the US Government was directly handling the creation and projection of American ideals through culture.
Rachel,
ReplyDeleteLooking at some of those YouTube comments, it's amazing how well that these videos seem to have worked on the American imagination. I think using Cold War propaganda like this to explain airline hostesses' role in broadcast an American image will be a particularly effective tactic. I would love to see a discussion in your essay of the strategic rationale behind soft power, why the American government felt they needed/wanted to export a specific kind of America during the Cold War. I guess that may just be a short discussion of what it meant to fight an ideological war?
Looking forward to reading more.
Adding on Dan's comment about the role of soft power... It would be fascinating to know on what demographic the documentary worked best. Did propaganda become cultural aspiration? Who did the documentary/ideology of the Cold War exclude?
ReplyDeleteRachel I think this is great -- totally with Dan that an analysis of soft power is very relevant to your topic. I think using this topic to further investigate the role of the women in society at large would be excellent.
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