https://www2.stetson.edu/library/green/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/prize_2010Formisano.pdf
" Her female protagonists often take on empowered roles where
they rise up against oppression and fight for both sexual and political equality. The actions
of these women are direct reflections of the feminist movement that took place in the 1970’s"
While it cannot be denied that Carter is most definitely a “glam rock” feminist, using
colorful imagery, sensuous prose, and her outrageous imagination to portray her message, the
controversial aspect is whether this style is successful. Using her female protagonists to
enact her feminist beliefs, critics such as Patricia Dunker and Avis Lewallen, argue that she
takes her feminist activism too far in the sense that her stories become too fantastic to serve
as an effective tool to promote feminism.
Although classified as “glam rock,” Carter is still a highly
effective feminist author because she uses her intense, extravagant style to literally shove
feminist ideals into the face of the audience. By doing so, she makes it impossible to ignore
her feminist message.
Carter attended the University of
Bristol from 1962 to 1965 where she studied psychology, anthropology, science fiction and
horror comics (that's a neat selection of things)
'Radical-libertarian
feminists stressed that just because a woman’s anatomy deems her female, that does not
necessarily means she can only possess the usual characteristics of beauty, ignorance, charm,
serenity, and peaceful. They argue that patriarchal society uses rigid gender roles to keep
women passive and men active. ' [suggests women don't need to reject 'characteristics associated with femininity, but they can take on 'masculine' characteristics (power etc.) without compromising femininity - characteristics shouldn't be gendered in this day and age but society is still pretty patriarchal soooooo]
'Carter portrays the female heroine as
resourceful, clever, and persistent young woman, characteristics that were foreign to women
at the time under patriarchal roles, who are able to succeed without any assistance from a
male figure'
In Carter’s re-write, her radical-libertarian message about empowering women
is enhanced when the victimization of women is overturned by Blue Beard falling victim to
the mother and daughter instead of the other way around, which was usually the scenario
because of males supposedly dominant status over women (Makinen 6). As Carter describes
in this tale, Blue Beard saw his “dolls,” women, break free from their “strings” and live their
lives for themselves (Carter 39). Here, Carter is promoting the radical-libertarian idea that
women need to break free from male oppression and become empowered. Only after they
are empowered will they be able to live for themselves or live their own life.
Carter continues to promote her radical-libertarian beliefs specifically in The Bloody
Chamber, where Carter’s female protagonists are pursuing their sexual desires and redefining
8
their sexual identity as well as fighting for sexual equality with men, which was the biggest
goal for radical-libertarian feminists during the feminist movement. Carter promotes
sexuality by not letting the male sexual desires take dominance. Instead, Carter pays
particular attention to reinforce the equality of the sexual transactions between her male and
female characters. This equal transaction is seen in “The Tiger’s Bride” between “Beauty”
and the tiger. In the scene when Beauty and the tiger go down to the river, the tiger strips
naked for her and in return she strips naked for him revealing to him the “fleshly nature of
women” (Carter 65). The tiger does not declare that “Beauty” get naked for him and get
nothing in return. Instead, by both of them stripping naked, Carter is asserting an equal
transaction (Makinen 6). Merja Makinen notes that the beast figure, the lion, is symbolic of a
sensuality that women have traditionally been taught harms them (6). When they embrace
this sensuality, however, it empowers them and gives them a new strength and awareness
regarding their own self and their other, in this case the lion (Makinen 6). Another example
of equal transaction between men and women is seen in “The Company of Wolves,” when
Little Red Riding Hood tears off the wolf’s clothing and throws them in the fire because his
are also gone (Carter 118). From the scene, Carter puts women on an equal plane with men;
Little Red Riding Hood returns the feeling of violation that the wolf, man, inflicting upon her
(Manning 4). The equality that evolves from the equal sexual transactions between man and
woman, as Carter depicts in “The Tiger’s Bride” and “The Company of Wolves” is
significant and important in women’s fight for freedom from patriarchal roles and sexual
oppression.
Critics like Makinen argue that in “The Tiger’s Bride”, the beast, in this case the
tiger, is a direct representation of female sexual desires (7). The beast represents the sexual
cravings of women. In “The Tiger’s Bride” when the tiger licks off each successive layer of
skin until the woman is transformed into a tiger herself (Carter 67). The protagonist
acknowledges and acceptes her autonomous sexual desires (Makinen 6). By accepting her
sexual wants, she is making them part of her being, which is seen by her becoming a tiger, a
beast, since the beast is symbolic of female sexual desires (6).
I still maintain that Carter’s re-writes do not promote women re-enacting male pornography,
but instead women searching for and regaining possession over their libido (Makinen 7).
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/angela-carter-glam-rock-feminist-6097243.html
[Carter Was] well able to imagine women as flawed and imperfect,
[this is good as it doesn't idealise women as sparkling flawless beings as they are often portrayed in the media; a false presentation of women which erases integral parts of existing as a female human. Giving women in media flaws supports the fact that women are in fact multi-faceted people and not personality-less dolls put around for male attention]
Her subject-matter is not outdated. Her take on sex, for example, still has something to offer us. Even as we see a return to the sentimental-domestic ideals of the 1950s, sex saturates western culture as never before. Sex on whose terms? Sexual freedom remains problematic. Freedom on whose terms? Women have been offered the chance to become the makers and users of pornography. Women who decline are labelled prudes.
[double standards on sex for women, women who have sex are branded as whore's women who don't have sex are prudes. There's a virgin/whore thing going on, where women are either angelic and flawless or absolute satan "games like this claim to have multiple choice but really it's between mother teresa or baby eating, i'm just saying some middle ground would be good"]
"I've read lots of her books. She was a pioneer who created imagery about female space and female storytelling. She's not just a magical realist. She was female and used magical realism for female purposes. She opened doors for me through which I could walk to enter a new space and own lots of bits and pieces of culture. For example, she took the music hall tradition and delighted in how women could own that and play with it.
Reading these articles have helped me get some more insight into Carter's writing and feminist stance
I had been told that Carter herself did not call herself a feminist, but I cannot find a source for this so far so I don't know. I did read that The Bloody Chamber was not intended as 'feminist' interpretations of fairytales, but creating new tales from the latent content of fairy tales. Anyway I'm a raging feminist and will be exploring the project from a feminist viewpoint!
I'm pretty interested in this term 'Glam Rock Feminism' - it sounds like something I can get behind.
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