Fine Arts Doctoral Program Faculty Research Lectures
Tuesday, March 3, 2015, 6:30 PM in Art B-01
KRISTI HUMPHREYS, PhD., assistant professor in Critical Studies and Artistic Practice
"Dark Wigs and Beauty Marks: The Evil Alter Egos of 1960s Television and The Feminine Mystique
This study examines the “evil women” of the shows Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie—Samantha’s cousin Serena Stephens and Jeannie’s sister Jeannie—as representations of the voice that Betty Friedan claimed in her 1963 work, The Feminine Mystique, housewives suppress—“that voice within women that says: ‘I want something more than my husband and my children and my home’”.
Friedan claims the image of the American woman is split in two, with the “good, pure woman on the pedestal” on one side, and the other woman, whose “evil includes every desire of the separate self” on the other. In Bewitched, Serena, also played by Elizabeth Montgomery with a dark wig and beauty mark, is the antithesis of Samantha, as she is mischievous, self-serving, and wild, and in I Dream of Jeannie, Jeannie’s sister, also played by Barbara Eden in a dark wig, is the antithesis of Jeannie, as she is flirtatious, devious, and selfish. It is the contention of this study that these characters are portrayed as “evil women” because they are direct responses to Friedan’s text and are thus visual representations of both the split of the American woman image and of the evil manifestations of that voice when unsuppressed—the voice of housewives saying “I want more”—and as direct responses, served as warnings to housewives of the consequences of indulging that voice. Perhaps most significantly, this study investigates the differences between female-written and male-written depictions of these characters and their relationships with each other.
This is the second of three Fine Arts Doctoral Program faculty research lectures presented this spring by College of Visual & Performing Arts.
