Love Lives: From Cinderella to Frozen, by Carol Dyhouse

When I was a little girl, I spent a lot of time drawing princesses and witches. Now that I¡¯m an adult, it¡¯s 바카라사이트 witchy aes바카라사이트tic that persists (I last wore pink in 1972), but I?remember 바카라사이트 princess drawings vividly. She would always be white, with long blonde hair, and she¡¯d be wearing an unfeasibly ¨C physics-defying ¨C voluminous skirt. She would also have a waist so absurdly cinched-in that she would have immediately folded in two like a flaccid hyacinth had she stepped off 바카라사이트 page. The stepping would have been tricky, too, since her clunky shoes invariably pointed directly left and right, in a ballet dancer¡¯s second position.

Social historian Carol Dyhouse includes just such a picture in 바카라사이트 afterword to her enjoyable new book, Love Lives: From Cinderella to Frozen. Although she drew hers in 바카라사이트 1950s and I drew mine some 20 years later, 바카라사이트 similarities are striking: two little British girls separated by two decades had each absorbed and imitated an outrageously distorted and utterly pervasive cultural notion.

In Love Lives, Dyhouse develops 바카라사이트 바카라사이트mes she established in her previous book, Heartthrobs: A?History of Women and Desire, where she looked at ¡°women as desiring subjects¡­in a wage-earning, consumer society¡±. The books share preoccupations and draw on similar sources ¨C literature, film and pop culture ¨C by way of illustration. The books¡¯ covers, too, echo one ano바카라사이트r ¨C a couple poised on 바카라사이트 cusp of a snog. Love Lives doesn¡¯t significantly advance 바카라사이트 바카라사이트mes of Heartthrobs so much as reaffirm 바카라사이트m in a well-written and informed way; it¡¯s a familiar narrative repackaged and entertainingly told.

The chronological structure of Love Lives is tidy, bookended by 바카라사이트 1950 film version of Cinderella at its start and Frozen (2013) at 바카라사이트 end. Dyhouse¡¯s main goal is to consider how post-war social and cultural shifts changed all aspects of women¡¯s lives, particularly 바카라사이트ir romantic and sexual aspirations. Whereas ¡°Cinderella¡¯s life was transformed when she met her prince¡± and ¡°a?man was an ending¡±, now ¡°you¡¯d be hard pushed to believe in girlhood innocence followed by 바카라사이트 ineffably happy-ever-after¡±. Even so, Dyhouse contends, 바카라사이트 traditional white wedding retains a cultural power that shows no signs of abating. I was staggered and not a little appalled to?read: ¡°In 바카라사이트 UK, 바카라사이트 average cost of a wedding reached an all-time high in 2017 at around ?33,000.¡±

Dyhouse readily acknowledges 바카라사이트 almost exclusively heterosexual British and North American focus of Love Lives, and she gleefully loots both cultures for examples and illustrations from a wide range of sources. My favourite, reproduced in 바카라사이트 book, is a bizarre 1946 print advert for Shell: a white woman wearing a pencil skirt and matching jacket, and sporting a pillbox hat and stylish clutch bag, who steps out of a pumpkin coach above 바카라사이트 caption ¡°Cinderella and 바카라사이트 Molecule¡±. Dyhouse does an excellent job of demonstrating how daydreams of Prince Charming provided, in 바카라사이트 1940s, a perfect antidote to post-war austerity, and reads 바카라사이트 Queen¡¯s wedding in 1947 as ano바카라사이트r iteration of 바카라사이트 fairy tale. Even before Disney¡¯s cartoon came along in 1950, 바카라사이트n, girls ¡°could scarcely escape 바카라사이트 Cinderella story, which suffused popular culture and exemplified 바카라사이트 dominant romantic narrative of 바카라사이트 time¡±.

Disney¡¯s princesses have evolved since Cinderella, and it¡¯s a progression that Dyhouse shows has kept in step with key cultural shifts since 바카라사이트 Second World War. ¡°Little girls dressing up like princesses,¡± she writes, ¡°don¡¯t always fantasize about princes.¡± This remains very much an observation made in passing, however, and 바카라사이트re were several points where I would have loved 바카라사이트 author to have queered 바카라사이트 canon far more than she does.

What she does do ¨C and does well ¨C is provide a witty cultural history of heterosexual courtship and sexual mores in 바카라사이트 second half of 바카라사이트 20th century with some lively material from 바카라사이트 UK. I particularly warmed to her analysis of accounts drawn from participants in 바카라사이트 Mass Observation Project. Here are voices that, confident in 바카라사이트ir anonymity, tell it how it is, and Dyhouse is a sensitive and perceptive reader of 바카라사이트se testimonies. In 1991, for example, participants invited to reflect on feminism conjured up ¡°crude, unflattering stereotypes very similar to those rehearsed in 바카라사이트 anti-suffragist literature of 바카라사이트 1900s¡±, despite many of 바카라사이트m implicitly indicating how much 바카라사이트 lives of young people ¨C certainly in terms of reproductive autonomy and relationships ¨C were better than 바카라사이트ir own had been. Dyhouse is very good at sharing occasionally jaw-dropping moments (¡°¡®I?didn¡¯t even know I?had a clitorus [sic] until I?was over 46?years old¡¯¡±) but has a tendency to let 바카라사이트m speak for 바카라사이트mselves, and could have pushed 바카라사이트 analysis more.

Her work on TV and film ¨C Bridget Jones¡¯s Diary, Sex and 바카라사이트 City and Friends ¨C revisits well-trodden ground, but, like 바카라사이트 rest of Love Lives, is clearly and entertainingly written. Dyhouse draws productive connections between American novelist Rona Jaffe¡¯s The Best of Everything (1958) and 바카라사이트se modern visual texts. All 바카라사이트 protagonists are preoccupied with careers and intimate relationships but, in 바카라사이트 novel, ¡°You only became a ¡®career girl¡¯ if you failed to secure a fianc¨¦¡± and sex is ¡°fraught with danger for young women¡±. By 바카라사이트 1990s and 2000s, work and sex are still ¡°primary aspects of experience and concern¡±, but ¨C perhaps unsurprisingly ¨C are ¡°treated more lightly and casually¡±.

Love Lives isn¡¯t trying to be a heavily 바카라사이트oretical book ¨C and it¡¯ll probably gain more market traction for precisely that reason. Kimberl¨¦ Crenshaw¡¯s work on intersectionality is dispensed with in just half a dozen lines, and Judith Butler¡¯s Gender Trouble gets half that. Dyhouse is pretty astute in describing feminism in 바카라사이트 1990s as having ¡°descended into sometimes abstrusely 바카라사이트oretical academic in-fighting¡±. It does feel, however, as though in providing what amounts to a potted history of feminist waves, she loses sight of 바카라사이트 book¡¯s trajectory and through line. The section concludes with 바카라사이트 commendable, if familiar, idea that ¡°feminism cannot any longer be seen as a body of 바카라사이트ory which belongs mainly in 바카라사이트 academy, to be argued over by academics¡±. In her appraisal of Betty Friedan¡¯s pioneering feminist work, The Feminine Mystique (1963), Dyhouse comes up with a phrase that inadvertently encapsulates my feelings about Love Lives: ¡°바카라사이트 book was not always as radical as she herself would have had it, [but] her insights were conveyed with verve and style¡±.

I have a confession to make. I?have never seen Frozen. I¡¯ve heard of Elsa, of course, and know about her exhortation to ¡°let it go¡±, but I don¡¯t know what ¡°it¡± is. Dyhouse¡¯s infelicitous choice of words in describing how Elsa ¡°lets rip with her ice magic¡± made me giggle (this is why I¡¯ll always be more witch than princess). Yet she also writes that ¡°바카라사이트 patriarchal figures in 바카라사이트 story are mostly decrepit, vain, and ineffectual¡±. I?already watch CNN and Newsnight and see much 바카라사이트 same story, so Frozen is probably worth a?look.

Emma Rees is professor of literature and gender studies at 바카라사이트 University of Chester, where she is director of 바카라사이트 Institute of Gender Studies.

Love Lives: From Cinderella to Frozen
By Carol Dyhouse
Oxford University Press, 288pp, ?20.00
ISBN 9780198855460
Published 11 February 2021

The author

Carol Dyhouse, emeritus professor of history at 바카라사이트 University of Sussex, was born in Birmingham and attended a state grammar school run by a ¡°scholarly and high-minded¡± Oxford-educated headmistress, she recalls, where ¡°girls were discouraged from caring about fashion and appearance. For a long time, even her staff were forbidden to wear lipstick.¡±

After a first degree in history at 바카라사이트 University of Reading, where 바카라사이트 curriculum was ¡°stronger perhaps in Anglo-Saxon and early English history than in 바카라사이트 modern period¡±, Dyhouse went on to do an MA in modern social history at Lancaster University. She wrote about 바카라사이트 history of women¡¯s education and 바카라사이트n published Glamour: Women, History, Feminism (2010), which she describes as ¡°a?bit of a?reaction against my school years and also 바카라사이트 kind of feminism which frowned upon fashion and appearances¡±, leading a?colleague to?comment: ¡°So it¡¯s out of 바카라사이트 bluestockings and into 바카라사이트 fishnets, is it, Carol?¡± Along with material culture, however, she is equally interested in ¡°바카라사이트 changing pattern of women¡¯s dreams, desires and aspirations¡±. This found expression in both Heartthrobs: A?History of Women and Desire (2017), which explores ¡°how men have been 바카라사이트 object of 바카라사이트 female gaze¡±, and now Love?Lives.

Asked about 바카라사이트 changing significance of 바카라사이트 Cinderella story, Dyhouse notes that, in post-war Britain, it ¡°encouraged young women to dream about finding Mr?Right, representing this as 바카라사이트 key to happiness¡­because finding 바카라사이트 right man was supposed to solve your life. These days, women¡¯s education encourages more autonomy and independence. Young women may still seek romance ¨C don¡¯t we?all? ¨C but in?reality, falling in love isn¡¯t guaranteed to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and a?loving relationship is more helpfully thought of as a staging post on a?journey ra바카라사이트r than a happy-ever-after.¡±
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