The Underground Spring 2013

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Spring 2013 Volume 3, Issue 1

THE

Underground ____________ A Peer Reviewed Academic Journal of Undergraduate Research Spring 2013 Volume 3, Issue 1

ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSIT Y CANTON, NY

EDITORIAL POLICY THE UNDERGROUND is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes the work of students whose creative endeavors reflect issues in mediums of representation discourse (i.e. PCA, Film, Gender, Fine Arts, Art History, etc.). This semester the journal has changed its ideological scope to focus on the inclusion of more multimedia submissions such as posters, videos. The goal of this journal is to provide an outlet which allows St. Lawrence students to share the results of their work with the rest of the academic community. All submissions must be original and reflective of the learning goals in the above mentioned fields and of St. Lawrence University academia. The journal will be published online once a semester. Each submission will undergo a rigorous editorial process based on series of blind peer reviews. Submissions may be subject to a series of revisions. Each submission must be solicited by a faculty sponsor. Professors can either recommend works directly to the journal, or individual authors may earn sponsorship by asking professors with whom they produced the work that they would like to submit. All submissions must reflect the critique and feedback of the faculty sponsor before they are submitted. All work must be submitted in an electronic copy. Students are limited to submitting up to 2 pieces of their work per semester. Submissions may include but are not limited to written pieces (plays, research papers, creative pieces) and visual art (photography, video of performances, etc.). It is recommended that submissions be sent in by the time determined and announced by the editorial board and should be addressed to Jessica Prody (jprody@stlawu.edu).

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Zachary Choquette ‘13

EDITORIAL BOARD Renee Lavigne ‘14 Joshua Cameron ‘15 Hannah Chanatry ‘15

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Corey Hahnl ‘14

ACADEMIC ADVISERS Jessica Prodi, PhD

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LETTER to the READER

Welcome reader! The Underground is back again this spring with its fifth volume.

This semester we have decided to expand the ideological scope of the journal further to include analytical and artistic pieces that touch upon position and/or performance.

Our editorial board will continue to accept any traditional student works that critically and/or creatively explores communication, identity, culture and performativity. We are excited to announce that our Creative Director has created a new online journal format that will include multimedia pieces and captured performances! As a peer reviewed academic journal we adamantly believe this issue’s contents will embody the finest student works, and we hope to continue to collect a diverse assortment of academic works each semester in order to promote standing within St. Lawrence academia.

In this issue of the UNDERGROUND, Ann West and Abigail Moss explore the confines femininity through the lens of a poetry performance; Mary Baucom sheds light upon the disparate representation of women in Western European political regimes, Tate Gillman examines the evolution of communication technology and its permeating influence on political campaigns, Miriah Atwood presents her Milo Award winning film A Day at Le Jammer, from the 2013 St. Lawrence Film Festival, Allison Hall artistically portrays Tennessee William’s play A Streetcar Named Desire as representative of clashing ideologies that create alienation in society, Ella Smith creatively portrays Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman as a representation of the struggle of man in accepting his positional reality in contradiction to his dreams and ambitions, and Elle Lucas concludes this issue of the UNDERGROUND with a discussion of the search for identity through Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver as medium of urban isolation.

We would like to congratulate all our authors, filmmakers, artists and performers for their captivating work. On behalf of all of us here at the UNDERGROUND we hope you find the contents of this springs issue enjoyable and inspiring.

Sincerely,

Zach Choquette ’13 & Renee Lavigne ‘14

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TABLE of CONTENTS PHENOMENAL WOMAN Ann West & Abigail Moss.......................................................Page 1 THE DISPARITY OF WOMEN IN POLITICS: Why some West European Countries have more Female Legislators than Others

Mary Baucom......................................................................Page 2-14 TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS IN COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON POLITICAL ELECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE Tate Gillman......................................................................Page 15-25 A DAY AT LE JAMMERS Miriah Atwood.................................................................Page 26-27 THE MELTING POT Allison Hall.......................................................................Page 28-30 MASKING REALITY Ella Smith..........................................................................Page 31-32 THE CAB AS A COFFIN: Travis Bickle’s Alienation in Taxi Driver

Elle Lucas...........................................................................Page 33-40

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Phenomenal woman | West & Moss

PHENOMENAL WOMAN Ann West and Abigail Moss

This video is viewable at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQTDuWQXUMQ —1 —

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THE DISPARITY OF WOMEN IN POLITICS: Why some West European Countries have more Female Legislators than Others Mary Baucom

Abstract: Women, although accounting for the majority of the world’s population, are underrepresented in parliament. What is even more alarming is that the disparity in the percentage of female representatives is vast, especially in West European countries.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the main reasons behind this disparity and to establish and analyze the common characteristics that countries with higher percentages of female representatives possess which enable women to run for office and hold political positions. After appropriate study, research, and testing, this paper concludes that the year in which women were granted the right to vote and female labor force participation rates affect the percentage of female representatives in West European national legislatures, while proportional representation does not.

Keywords: women, representation, politics, legislature, Western Europe, suffrage, female labor force participation, parliamentary system

From earning the right to vote to becoming elected officials, the progression of female political participation has been a slow and uphill battle. One of the main issues today in regards to establishing and maintaining a more balanced democratic government is this notion of female representation and the lack thereof. Because even though women make up a majority of the world’s population, according to Inter-Parliamentary Union, women “form only a small minority – 18.4 per cent – of all members of parliament worldwide” (citd. in Krook 162). This disappointing statistic, according to political scientist Mona Lee Krook, is proof that both the supply of women aspiring to be elected parliament members and the demand for women filling these elected positions is low (162).

While many may assume that certain areas of the world perform better overall in terms of female representation in national legislatures, this is not always the case. In particular, there is a vast disparity in the percentage of female representatives in West European countries—ranging from a distinguishable 45% to a mere 14.5% (“Women”).

With only nine countries in the top twenty-five world classification for the percentage of national parliaments, it appears that Western Europe’s rise as a forthcoming powerhouse is stunted in part by the lack of women in national legislatures (“Women”). By Western —2 —

Disparity of Women in Politics | Baucom

Europe, I am referring to the largest, most dominant countries west of the German-Austria border. These include: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The following table displays the percentage of women legislators in these seventeen countries for both the lower or single house and the upper house or senate; in addition, the table provides each country’s corresponding world ranking in terms of female representation:

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As identified in the preceding table, Sweden leads Western Europe with 45% of its national legislature consisting of female representatives, and is ranked third in the world, trailing only behind Rwanda and Andorra (“Women”). While many may consider this a major accomplishment for such a small country, it illustrates that women cannot even obtain half of the legislative representation in Europe (“Women”). What has led to this disappointing turnout of female legislators in Western Europe? And what common qualities do the countries with higher proportions of female legislators possess that their counterparts lack?

Before answering these questions, it is necessary to look back at women’s initial struggle with politics—earning the right to vote. Arguably, one of the simplest methods of political participation, and one of the only ways to have one’s voice directly heard is through voting. As is well known, however, women were not automatically given this right, but instead feminist leaders and followers had to fight for it. Traditionally, women were expected to be dependent on their husbands, and one of the initial arguments against women’s suffrage was that “women did not need the vote—for they were already represented by their husbands” and that “women should be protected from the vote – for it would threaten their purity and innocence” (Childs xx-xxi). Likewise, if women were granted suffrage, their vote essentially would be invalid because they would either vote in the same way as their husbands or vote together as a group – either way, a woman’s vote would reveal her “lack of agency” (Childs xxi). Eventually, women’s voices were heard, and beginning in the early 20th century, countries started to grant women the right to vote, which led to their political representation as elected officials.

But does the opinion of women, either through voting or through political representation, really matter? While this may appear to be an unreasonable question, especially with the strides women have made over the last century in achieving these rights, the overall absence of women in national legislatures prompts this inquiry. Specific examples from several West European countries prove that women in politics do make a difference. For instance, the stronger presence of women in Norwegian countries has made this particular area a “leading champion of human rights as well as women’s rights, a force for peace, environmental protection and sound development assistance programs,” according to women activists Bella Abzug and Mim Kelber (xv). In particular, women legislators in Sweden are given credit for preventing their country from entering the nuclear arms race, while the increased presence of female legislators in Iceland has led to an overall improvement in their social legislation policies (Abzug xv).

Not only is the value of women as national representatives beneficial to the country’s citizens, but it is also beneficial to the women who are fortunate to hold these positions.

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Disparity of Women in Politics | Baucom

Among those is former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, one of the few females elected to an individual position of power. Even with her predominantly ceremonial role, Robinson experienced the impact of women in politics, stating in a 1992 public address how women in leadership positions are changing the definition of leadership: ‘When women lead and articulate their purposes, it seems to me that they work together not only as individuals but with a sense of community and networking in a healthy way . . . Women have fresh and imaginative skills of dialogue and are setting a more open, flexible and compassionate style of leadership.’ (Abzug xiv) Robinson’s experience of bringing forth new ideas translates to women elected to national legislative bodies as well, as Heather Hurlburt, Executive Director of the National Security Network, articulates in her recent article “The Feminine Realpolitik.” Hurlburt reports that since women are advancing academically, oftentimes outperforming men, governments are “missing brainpower” when women are not present. In essence, the lack of women in politics is hindering both the advancement of countries and women as a legitimate force, jeopardizing countries’ future position and contributing to the universal classification of women as “special interest” groups (Abzug xv).

There are two main consequences related to the underrepresentation of women in politics. First, is the idea that without women, democracy itself is invalid. This brings into question the notion of equal human rights, and is discussed by Political and Gender Theory Professor Anne Phillips in The Politics of Presence: The Political Representation of Gender, Ethnicity, and Race: “Democracy is not paternalism: it is not only government ‘for the people’ but government ‘by the people’ as well” (28). Phillips furthers this argument by asserting that “when those charged with making the political decisions are predominantly drawn from one of the two sexes . . . this puts the others in the category of political minors” (39). The main result of being political minors is that the group is not respected by society, and thus the lack of women in national legislatures can potentially lead to society’s oppression of women in general. While extreme, women may not be viewed as equals to men if a country’s legislature does not represent gender equality.

This topic of political minors relates to the second main consequence of underrepresentation of women: women are likely to have different opinions from men, and their voices are lost amongst a primarily male legislature. From their focus on equal pay and equal employment opportunities to familial issues, there is evidence that overall women tend to be more socially progressive than men. But without their representation, these issues are, for the most part, unaddressed (Stevens 172). Likewise, women are —5 —

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“prepared to be relationship-builders and nurturers” and their underrepresentation is only hurting their own governments who may be struggling to negotiate with other parties both domestically and internationally (Hurlburt).

With these two consequences in mind, it is evident that female representatives are a necessary component of government. Moreover, as a whole, women are a resource that has not been fully unexploited, a talent that has gone to waste as men continue to command the political sphere (Henig 108). The objective of this paper, therefore, is to establish and analyze the common characteristics that countries with higher percentages of female representatives possess which enable women to run for office and hold political positions.

The Problematic: What separates those countries with a larger proportion of female legislators from those with lower numbers? Moreover, what common qualities or characteristics do the countries with higher levels of female representation possess?

Hypothesis: If a West European country granted women’s suffrage in the early 20th century, conducts elections via a proportional representation voting system, and has a high level of female labor force participation, then the country has a greater likelihood of having a larger proportion of female legislators compared to other West European countries who do not possess these characteristics.

Theory:

I believe the qualities of early women’s suffrage, proportional representation, and level of female labor force participation affects the number of women who will hold a seat in their country’s national legislature for the following reasons. First, the longer women have had the opportunity to vote, the longer females have been identified with the political process, and thus the more likely a country will have female representation in their national legislature. By early women’s suffrage, I am referring to those European countries that granted women the right to vote in the early 20th century, from 1900 to 1920. Since women were granted the right to vote after men, they felt removed from the political process, and thus women were less likely to visit the voting polls. It has taken a longer time for women to feel a part of the political process, and because of this women continue to be underrepresented in national legislatures. If I find that the West European countries who granted women the right to vote earliest also have the highest percentages of women legislators, then the characteristic of early women’s suffrage as a determinant of female representation in national legislatures is true.

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Disparity of Women in Politics | Baucom

Second, a proportional representation voting system allows more individuals to be winners, as opposed to just having one winner in a winner-take-all system. By proportional representation, I am referring to those countries whose electoral systems allow a proportion of the candidates associated with a particular party to win seats in their national legislatures. Women are more likely to be represented in countries with proportional representation because more winners means women have a higher chance of being elected. Yet, the number of women in politics depends upon the number of women who come forward and run for election. In countries with plurality voting systems, such as the United States, women are denied from office more often because only one individual wins the seat. In countries with proportional representation, however, individuals earn seats based on the percentage in which their party was elected by the constituents. Due to this, women have a better chance of becoming elected. If I find that the West European countries with proportional representation also have the highest percentages of women legislators, then the characteristic of proportional representation as a determinant of female representation in national legislatures is true.

Third, because being a member of one’s national legislature is a career, female labor force participation rates reflect the number of women who are legislators in a country’s government. By female labor force participation, I am referring to women over the age of fifteen who hold money-earning positions and are currently employed in their country.

Female labor force participation rates indicate how acceptable it is for women in a particular country to work, which also relates to the number of women as legislators. If a country has low female labor force participation, then women will feel less motivated or provoked to run for political office, and as a result, there will be fewer women in the country’s legislature.

Men have always been associated with being the breadwinners of the family and have taken this ideology with them to the political sector, dominating most countries’ national legislatures. And since women still traditionally place household/family responsibilities above their own individual success, women will only enter the labor force if they feel they are able to successfully run a household/family while holding a job or career. If I find that the West European countries with the highest female labor force participation rates also have the highest percentages of women legislators, then the characteristic of female labor force participation as a determinant of female representation in national legislatures is true.

Research Strategy:

Through the use of current statistics, studies, and surveys I will test these three factors—women’s suffrage, proportional representation, and female labor force participation—in order to either successfully prove or disprove my hypothesis. I plan to —7 —

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use scatter grams to effectively show the qualities of women’s suffrage and labor force in relation to the number of women in national legislatures. I will use data collected by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to form this scatter gram and to create a table displaying the West European countries and the years in which women were granted the right to vote. The World Bank Organization has collected and compiled statistics for female labor participation rates for individuals over the age of fifteen for every country since 1981.

I will use their most recent statistics from 2009 to form a scatter gram displaying the West European countries and their corresponding female labor force participation rates.

The Friends of Democracy website has a list of all the countries that utilize proportional representation, and their entire website was most recently updated in September 2011.

This list will be used to form a table, displaying those countries that have proportional representation and the percentage of women in these countries that are members of national legislatures.

Data:

To evaluate these three variables, the most recent statistics were gathered and compiled to illustrate each factor in the most effective manner. The percent of women represented in national legislatures—the dependent variable—was taken from the InterParliamentary Union. First, in measuring the relationship between women’s suffrage and female representation in national legislatures, statistics on women’s suffrage were also taken from the Inter-Parliamentary Union to form the following scatter gram:

Information from “Women’s Suffrage” and “Women in Regional Parliamentary Assemblies” Note: Belgium and the Netherlands are represented by the same point on the scatter gram because both countries granted women the right to vote in 1919 and have 39.3% female representation in their national legislatures today.

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Disparity of Women in Politics | Baucom

This scatter gram shows that granting women the right to vote in these seventeen West European countries spanned a total of fifty-eight years, beginning in 1913 and ending in 1971. Between 1915 and 1920, an overwhelming nine countries granted women the right to vote, while only seven countries granted women the right to vote after 1920. The negative slope of the scatter gram’s trend line illustrates that there is a negative relationship between the year a country granted women’s suffrage and the percent of women representatives in their national legislature today. This means that the later a country granted women the right to vote the more likely that country will have a lower percentage of female representatives in their national legislatures today.

Second, in measuring the relationship between proportional representation and female representation in national legislatures, statistics on the voting systems of these seventeen West European countries were taken from the Friends of Democracy Society to form the following table:

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This table shows that a majority, fourteen out of seventeen, of these West European countries have proportional representation. The three countries that do not have proportional representation – United Kingdom, France, and Greece—are in the bottom five countries in regard to proportional representation and are ranked thirteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth respectfully. But Ireland, which has the lowest percent of female representatives, has proportional representation. The mean/average percentage of female representation in national legislatures for those countries with proportional representation is 33.9% and the mean/average for those countries without proportional representation is 19.4%, a difference of only 14.5%. This means that the fourteen countries with proportional representation have a higher average percentage of female representatives in their national legislature, but by a reasonably narrow margin.

Third, in measuring the relationship between female labor force participation rates and female representation in national legislatures, statistics on female labor force participation were taken from the World Bank Organization to form the following scatter

gram: This scatter gram shows that female labor participation rates range from 38% to 72%.

Seven of these West European countries fall in the middle with 45-55% participation rates.

The median percentage of female participation rates is 55%. The positive slope of the scatter gram’s trend line proves that there is a positive relationship between a country’s female labor participation rates and their percent of women representatives in their national legislature today. This means that a country with a relatively high participation rate is more likely to have a higher percentage of female representatives in their national — 10 —

Disparity of Women in Politics | Baucom

legislatures today.

Discussion:

The three main findings of this research are as follows: first, the year in which countries granted women the right to vote negatively corresponds with the percentage of female representatives in national legislatures today; second, proportional representation is not a significant determinant in the percentage of female representatives in national legislatures today; third, female labor participation rates positively correspond with the percentage of female representatives in national legislatures today. It is apparent from this research that my hypothesis is partially correct because the variables of women’s suffrage and female labor participation rates significantly affect the percent of female representatives, but proportional representation does not. Although the mean percentage of countries with proportional representation is 14.5% higher than those countries without proportional representation, this data was collected from only three countries that did not have proportional representation. Because of this, it is impossible to determine with this research if my findings were merely a coincidence, or if proportional representation is indeed a significant determinant in regards to the percentage of female representation in national legislatures. Relatively speaking, 14.5% is not a remarkable difference, and therefore, it is better to err on the side of caution than to assume that proportional representation is a major determinant.

Given that the percent of female representatives in national legislatures is not due to proportional representation, I think further research should look at more countries, without proportional representation and their corresponding percentages of female representation. This research should include countries outside of Europe to see if my findings correlate or match with countries in other regions of the world. With this in mind, I think further research should be done to investigate the United States’ position/ stance amongst these West European findings; by weighing these same three variables, a comparison could be made in regards to female representation in the Senate and House of Representatives.

Although further research is always possible and will enhance these findings, previous research and studies support my findings concerning my first and third variables. In regards to my first variable, in 2005, political scientist Mercedes Mateo Diaz researched the years in which women and men were granted the right to vote in fifteen West European countries and compared it to their representation in Parliament.

Diaz reported a similar finding to mine in Representing Women? Female Legislators in West European Parliaments, stating that “the earlier men and women obtained the right to vote and to stand for election, the better their balance in Parliament is” (67). While my study concentrated on female representation, Diaz’s study looked at statistics for male — 11 —

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representation as well. In conjunction with my own research, Diaz’s study further suggests the impact of the year in which women were granted the right to vote and their political representation today.

In regards to my third variable, in 1987 political scientist Wilma Rule found that there was a significant correlation between female labor force participation rates and female representation, which she presented in “Electoral Systems, Contextual Factors, and Women’s Opportunity for Election to Parliament in Twenty-Three Democracies” (494).

More recent research also supports these findings as Torben Iversen and Frances Rosenbluth presented an essay in 2007 titled “Work and Power: The Connection between Female Labor Force Participation and Female Political Representation.” In this essay, Iversen and Rosenbluth reiterated the impact of female labor force participation rates and political representation, but also stated that the significance of this correlation varies between regions: “In some countries, such as in Scandinavia, female labor force participation and female political representation are powerfully correlated, whereas in other countries, such as the US, the slope of the curve is much flatter” (27). As previously suggested, further research should investigate the correlation between female labor force participation rates and female political representation in other countries, such as the United States.

Although my study found that in regards to my second variable, proportional representation was not a significant determinant, many researchers, including American University Government Professor Jennifer L. Lawless and author Richard L. Fox (2005) and Manon Tremblay (2008) have emphasized previous findings that proportional representation systems result in more women being elected to political office than winnertake-all voting systems. Also, after comparing the European proportional representation electoral system with the United States’ winner-take-all electoral system, American author and political reformer Steven Hill claims “proportional representation electoral systems have produced better representation, more electoral competition, and much higher voter participation rates because more voters actually have viable political choices that appeal to them” (252).

While this may be the case, Mona Lee Krook summarizes in “Why are Fewer Women than Men Elected? Gender and the Dynamics of Candidate Selection,” that most of the previous research has been based around gender quotas (165). Citing evidence from many of the world’s regions, Krook suggests that further research should trace individual parties and their roles in creating an atmosphere that is conducive for women to run for political office and be elected (165). The research I gathered for this second variable was limited, as fourteen out of the seventeen West European countries I looked at had proportional representation. Due to this, it is hard to determine if it is a mere coincidence that those countries that do not have proportional representation (United Kingdom, France, Greece) — 12 —

Disparity of Women in Politics | Baucom

also happen to be in the bottom five for the percentage of female representation. Alongside Krook’s suggestion that further research should look at individual political parties, I think that researching and testing more countries without proportional representation would also be beneficial, as it would solidify the results, thereby eliminating the possibility for a finding to be a coincidence.

Conclusion:

The year in which women were granted the right to vote and female labor force participation rates affect the percentage of female representatives in West European national legislatures, while proportional representation does not. These findings are significant because the two qualities that demonstrated to be the most noteworthy—women’s suffrage and labor force participation rates—revolve around the concept of integration. Granting women the right to vote was a direct endeavor of integrating women into political society.

In a similar manner, encouraging women to join the workforce directly integrates women into the employment sector. It can be implied that the better integrated a country is, the higher the demand for women in political positions because these countries are accustomed to the incorporation of women. Therefore, the supply of women wishing to fulfill these roles is also generally higher.

While countries can still increase the number of women in the workforce, the year in which women were granted the right to vote is a predisposed and unchangeable characteristic. Therefore, as West European countries look to have higher percentages of female representation in their national legislatures, it is possible that better and stronger means of integration will accommodate for the year in which women’s suffrage was granted as well as low levels of female participation rates.

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Works Cited Abzug, Bella and Mim Kelber. Women and Government: New Ways to Political Power.

Ed. Mim Kelber. Westport: Praeger Publishers, 1994. Print.

“Benefits of Proportional Representation.” Proportional Representation. Friends of Democracy Society, 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.

Childs, Sarah. “Introduction.” Women and British Party Politics: Descriptive, Substantive, and Symbolic Representation. London: Routledge, 2008. xviii-xxvii. Print.

Diaz, Mercedes Mateo. Representing Women? Female Legislators in West European Parliaments. UK: University of Essex Print Centre Press, 2005. Print.

Henig, Ruth and Simon Henig. Women and Political Power: Europe Since 1945. London: Routledge, 2001. Print.

Hill, Steven. Europe’s Promise: Why the European Way is the Best Hope in an Insecure Age. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010. Print.

Hurlburt, Heather. “The Feminine Realpolitik: Breaking Down the Walls of Micah Zenko’s ‘City of Men.”” Foreign Policy. Foreign Policy Magazine, 18 July 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.

Iversen, Torben and Frances Rosenbluth. “Work and Power: The Connection between Female Labor Force Participation and Female Political Representation.” Yale. Yale University, March 2007. Web. 7 Dec. 2011.

Krook, Mona Lee. “Why are Fewer Women than Men Elected? Gender and the Dynamics of Candidate Selection.” Political Studies Review 8 (2009): 155-168. EBSCO Host.

Web. 10 Oct. 2011.

“Labor participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15+).” The World Bank.

The World Bank Organization, 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.

Lawless, Jennifer L. and Richard L. Fox. It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don’t Run for Office. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Print.

Phillips, Anne. The Politics of Presence: The Political Representation of Gender, Ethnicity, and Race. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995. Print.

Rule, Wilma. “Electoral Systems, Contextual Factors, and Women’s Opportunity for Election to Parliament in Twenty-Three Democracies.” The Western Political Quarterly 40.3 (1987): 477-498. JSTOR. Web. 6 Dec. 2011.

Stevens, Anne. Women Power and Politics. New York: Palgrave Macmillian, 2007. Print.

Tremblay, Manon, ed. Women and Legislative Representation: Electoral Systems, Political Parties, and Sex Quotas. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008. Print.

“Women in Regional Parliamentary Assemblies” Inter-Parliamentary Union. IPU, 31 Aug. 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.

“Women’s Suffrage.” Inter-Parliamentary Union. IPU, 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.

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Communication Technologies and Political Elections | Gillman

Technological Advancements in Communication Technologies and Their Influence on Political Elections - Past, Present and Future Tate Gillman

Abstract: This paper examines the influence of technological advancements of communication in political elections that had significant impacts on the ways in which voters connected with candidates. Additionally, it compares the theories of Marshall McLuhan to the connecting abilities of modern communication technologies to reinforce the “global village.” This is examined in a number of contexts where communication and technology worked hand-in-hand to make extremely influential changes in how politicians would approach campaigns and attract the American people. Starting with “front porch campaigns,” various authors and researchers unravel the tools used to connect the decision-making elites with the American public. Furthermore, research suggests that Franklin D. Roosevelt’s use of the radio medium to connect with Americans from his election throughout his presidency, sparked change in identifying the importance of the medium in presidential elections and throughout one’s time in office. The next change in communication technologies came with the first televised presidential debate between Nixon and Kennedy, which induced many studies suggesting that this debate changed politics entirely. Studies have shown that viewers of the debate and listeners via the radio found different winners and therefore, this reinforces the significance of appearance in presidential races. Finally, authors look to social media as the driving force behind the success of Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. He undoubtedly took communication with voters to a new level by reaching a virtually untapped segment of the population by moving his campaign to the virtual world. By analyzing the significant landmarks in communication strategy in presidential elections combined with the theories of McLuhan and his predictions for modern day technology, this paper weaves together the arguments that support the idea that advancing technologies have a clear impact on politics from past to present.

Keywords: Marshall McLuhan; social media; global village; presidential elections.

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We communicate through language, symbols, and meanings that cultivate and construct our cultures and societies. It is an ongoing life process that reflects the interconnection of people, messages, information, and meanings. This communication and cultural construction is perpetuated through various advancing mass communication technologies. These technologies change our communication with one another in every aspect of our everyday lives and “we use different media based on our different value systems” (Berger, 1995, p. 93). Politics and political campaigns are fundamentally based on mass communication and are heavily influenced by changing communication technologies.

In evaluating the political history within the United States and the connection between the President’s and American citizens, research suggests that technology has played an important role in connecting the people with the powerful elites and decision makers.

“Mass media and politics have gone hand-in-hand since the founding of this nation” (Hendricks & Denton, 2010, p. 1). The President’s have developed a clear understanding of the human need for social engagement and how this ultimately helps them achieve goals and make change. When the communication of social groups was restricted by transportation methods such as horse and buggy or smoke signals, social groups interacted, communicated, and shared ideas in very different ways. Eventually, new technology like the locomotive and the steam engine changed all of that and “suddenly, societies and social groups which were far apart seemed to be close together” (Amerland, 2012, p.

24). Essentially, these new technologies that brought the people” closer together opened opportunities for politicians to finally have a strong connection with their constituents.

In the nineteenth century, “dialogue between leaders and voters was much more meaningful” and the communication between candidates and the American people was at the forefront of every campaign (Calhoun, 2008, p. 1). When the railroad was starting to really take off as a new means of transportation and thus, a new way to communicate, trains were still slow and tickets were expensive. At the same time, “communications technology had advanced little beyond the telegraph, and politicians could reach voters only through public speeches or print” (Calhoun, 2008, p. 10). Presidents were getting into the swing of using newspapers and pamphlets and recognized the obvious benefits of traveling by train to different locations to meet with voters. However, some candidates took a more local approach. The 1888 election between Cleveland and Harrison was one of the first where technological advancements played an important role in campaigning for the Presidency. Harrison took advantage of the “front porch campaign” where he would literally stand on his porch and give speeches to the local people. Meanwhile, other members of his campaign would travel around the United States promoting the campaign and recruiting followers. Newspapers would cover these “front porch campaigns” and “the — 16 —

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next day, the nation could read Harrison’s words at their breakfast table” (Calhoun, 2008, p. 133). Essentially, the newspaper medium along with the accessibility of social groups through advanced technologies played the first major role in determining the outcome of a presidential election.

The next milestone in the advancements of political communication technology is said to be the work of Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR). Roosevelt’s “Fireside Chats”, use of the radio and constant communication with the American people, would further change politics. “Among all of the traits and skills that made up his persona, none was more important to him or put to better service than his unique ability to communicate with the American people” (Buhite & Levy, 1992, p. xiii). He was able to create a personal relationship with citizens as his voice bellowed through their living rooms every evening.

Even though the medium had been used before by fellow politicians, “it is arguable that FDR understood the essence of the medium better than any major political figure” (ibid., p. xiv). These personal relationships created through the radio medium became an essential part of every politician’s communicative strategy from then on.

In 1960, the Presidential debate between Kennedy and Nixon aired on television, marking it as the next stepping-stone in political communication to be analyzed for its influence in presidential campaigns and elections. Within 24 hours of the first televised debate, a commercial research firm, Sindlinger & Co., polled citizens on which candidate “won”. “They found that radio and television audiences differed in their assessment”—radio listeners thought Nixon won and television viewers’ thought Kennedy won (Kraus, 1996, p. 78). This sparked discussion over the vastly different appearances of both candidates.

Kennedy looked handsome, tall and strong while Nixon appeared old, sick, and pale.

Whether or not this was an example of the power of TV over the messages or whether it simply meant that radio listeners paid more attention to the dialogue is still widely debated.

Although the answer is still unclear for some, “what must be recognized is that television has increasingly become the medium through which the great majority of voters get their news and develop their impressions of the candidates” (Kraus, 1996, p. 84). Additionally, there have been claims that support the notion that “without television, Kennedy would have been neither nominated nor elected” (Rorabaugh, 2009, p. 4). This new medium ultimately changed the ways in which candidates approached not only political debates, but also campaigns entirely.

Each of these technological changes in communicative and transportation technologies from railroads, to radio, to television, can all be connected to a critical change in political campaigns and Presidential communication with the American people. Additionally, theories from Marshall McLuhan and Joseph C. R. Licklider can be applied to each historical milestone in mass communication. Marshall McLuhan, a — 17 —

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professor of English, is known for his theories—the medium is the message, the global village and media as an extension of our bodies—which take a technological deterministic approach to media and its relationship to the human experience. He first examines the notion of media as an extension of “some human faculty—physic or physical” (McLuhan & Fiore, 1967, p. 26). Essentially, “media doesn’t bring the world to us, but rather permit us to experience the world with a scope and depth otherwise impossible” (Baran, 2012, p. 274). Furthermore, “the medium is the message” claims that “the personal and social consequences of any medium—that is, of any extension of ourselves—result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves or by any new technology” (McLuhan, 1964, p. 7). He ties these theories together by making the claim that “the globe is no more than a village,” further supporting his utopian predictions of technology and society.

Joseph C. R. Licklider, a psychologist and follower of McLuhan’s, who “thinking about the power of communication technology, foresaw linked computers creating a country of citizens ‘informed about, and interested in, and involved in, the process of government’” (Baran, 2012, p. 263). Both men anticipated the importance of technology in everyday life and recognized that with the proper use of this communicative technology in the realm of politics, significant changes were to be made.

By looking at the theoretical framework established by McLuhan regarding technology and communication in combination with the studies on various media outlets and past political campaigns, parallels can be drawn to suggest changing technologies have played a vital role in the political spectrum. Furthermore, the 2008 presidential election between Barack Obama and John McCain allows us to proceed with these technological deterministic assumptions of mass media’s power to spark an everlasting change in an old system.

The Social Media Mind, by David Amerland, explores social media and its popularity among the masses because of its ability to give people a sense of community they inherently long for. His psychological approach to uncovering the importance of social media can be used to support its necessary application in the political realm. He looks into the reasons we as humans strive for communication and the need to feel included, as well as how new media of today allows us to accomplish that, even when we are alone.

Social groups are the product of a collective culture with shared values of beliefs and systems of meaning. For thousands of years, the ways in which our social groups have communicated with each other have varied due to the social norms and to some extent, technological boundaries. The key to tapping into these social groups comes with the ability to communicate interpersonally and through a medium, which is mutually advantageous. Social media today allows us to communicate with one another on an — 18 —

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instantaneous level. Yet, as Amerland describes, “whether we like it or not, we are locked into a two-tier universe”—the first tier being biology and biological processes and the second tier being “technology which is the main engine powering the core changes of our civilization” (Amerland, 2012, p. 22-23). We have allowed technology to take the reins in determining what comes next for our society and its communication.

Furthermore, this relationship shows that while change itself is not the problem— “the rate of change and the acceleration we achieve each time we change that becomes a problem” (Amerland, 2012, p. 23). This can be connected back to when McLuhan as he examined the importance of becoming aware of technological changes and how they affect aspects of our lives, for they are direct responses to our actions. Essentially, Amerland claims that “the internet is shaping the evolution of human intellect” and is taking social constructions of communication and relationships and moving them to a medium through which information can flow quickly and without boundaries. Thus, he encourages us as media consumers to become literate in these new media by developing this “social media mind” which is obtained through “adopting a mindset which understands the medium and its nuances, feels at home within it and best allows us to take advantage of what it has to offer” (Amerland, 2012, p. 28).

By combining the theories of McLuhan and the practices Amerland promotes to successfully become media literate, social media “empowers us to do things, to create, organize, promote, develop and connect on a scale which prior to the web, would have been unthinkable” (Amerland, 2012, p. 45). We are essentially able to create the “global village” foreseen by McLuhan so many years ago. Amerland focuses on how these virtual and social experiences allow us to connect with one another easily. Politicians have jumped on the social media bandwagon following studies like these, which clearly outline the benefits of labeling oneself as part of the “global village.” By immersing in the social media world, politicians have to become aware of the implications of using this new medium as it is essentially “an extension of himself ”—the theory explored by McLuhan. This means, they have to be more transparent, become more media literate, and be willing to become close with their audience. Amerland sums this point up: “Social media may not be the magic bullet which instantly makes all the worlds entrenched woes vanish, but it certainly is a means of calling for and providing greater transparency in every sphere of human activity, than ever before” (Amerland, 2012, p. 171).

Following on the notion of creating communities and global villages through social media sites, journalist Ellen McGirt interviewed one of the most influential people in social media today—Chris Hughes—about his work on the Obama election campaign and the reasoning behind applying the idea of a global village to politics. Hughes met Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, while at Harvard and following graduation, he — 19 —

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moved to California to work with Zuckerberg to develop Facebook. When he heard about Obama and his campaign for change, Hughes reached out to the movement and offered his knowledge of the social media world to help the cause.

What is important to note about the missions of both Facebook and the Obama campaign was that they were “dedicated to proposition that communities, and the way we share and interact with them are vitally important” (McGirt, 2009). Essentially, the ways in which we communicate online speak volumes about our character, values, morals and missions, and the communities we belong to. Whilst with the Obama campaign, Hughes completely revamped the entire social networking department and was a driving force throughout the campaigns Internet technology push.

As with previous advancements and changes in political communication, studies continue to cite the importance of looking at the societal influences at the time and to understand the context in which these technologies have developed and progressed. The article “A Celebration That Defined a Generation: Grant Park, New Media, and Barack Obama’s Historic Victory of the US Presidency” outlines the qualities of the generation that sparked change through the use of social media. The “millennial generation” is labeled as being responsible for the social media push in the Obama campaign as these are the people “born roughly between 1982 and the late 1990’s” who already spend most of their daily lives online (Jackson et al., 2010, p. 43). “The Obama campaign understood this generation, using digital technology to create new forms of political mobilization attractive to these new voters” (Jackson et al., 2010, p. 41). By targeting a young audience already entrenched in the digital world, the Obama campaign was able to reach a social group that before hadn’t participated much in political elections.

Additionally, this study shows that “millennials have outnumbered the nation’s seventy-six million post-World War II baby boomers” now making it the biggest generation in history (Jackson et al., 2010, p. 43). This sector of the population has grown up with new technologies and they use Internet and social media to facilitate everyday interactions.

“They use technology as a device to define them, draw them together, bond them, and effectively organize last-minute gatherings” similar to what McLuhan predicted with the “global village” (Jackson et al., 2010, p. 43). Even during his era, McLuhan was able to predict the very happenings of today’s media and how it would influence all aspects of our culture and communication.

Furthermore, this article analyses how Obama and his campaign staff acknowledged this important demographic in American culture and launched a full-fledged campaign directed right at them. He saw that more and more of America’s youth were looking to the internet and social media to find information and reaffirm their beliefs—they don’t “tend to think about asking experts for opinion…they ask each other, and then that becomes — 20 —

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the truth” (Jackson et al., 2010, p. 44). By reaching these subcultures through their chosen media platforms, Obama was able to create a buzz that spread like wildfire throughout the social media world and drew the millennial generation in.

As the generation who sparked this political and communicative change has been uncovered along with the purposes of social media and their mission to create a global village through political action, the book Communicator-in-Chief outlines how the Obama campaign in fact used social media and the Internet to promote the presidential nominee.

First and foremost, this book starts off by stating that “human communication has long been an essential element of politics” which reiterates the starting point that human connection, personal relationships, and the medium through which these experiences are developed influences elements of the political spectrum (Hendricks & Denton, 2010, p. 1).

Starting with radio and television, John Allen Hendricks and Robert E. Denton Jr. analyze how these new media technologies found their place as becoming the dominant source of political communication. “New technologies promise better citizen issue understanding and political engagement and furthermore, create more personal relationships between candidates and voters as technology becomes faster” (Hendricks & Denton, 2010, p. 3). This book also relates the social responsibility of media outlets to provide voters with unbiased information. While this has always been the case, the ways in which they achieve this goal change with digital innovation.

The book goes on to specify the types of digital and internet based strategies the Obama campaign pursued in order to reach the coveted millennial generation. For example, one could receive texts from Obama straight to their phones. Additionally, Obama was the first presidential candidate “to buy ad space in online video games” (Hendricks & Denton, 2010, p. 12). In the book Introduction to Mass Communication—Media Literacy and Culture by Stanley J. Baran, he talks a great deal about these “advocacy games” which are in-game advertisements used by “companies or organizations wanting to get their noncommercial messages out” (Baran, 2012, p. 253). The Obama campaign “spent nearly $45,000 placing advertising in 18 different games leading up to Election Day” (Hendricks & Denton, 2010, p. 12). By advertising in video games, Obama was able to “attract the player demographic and build loyalty among the same voters” (Otenyo, 2010, p. 128).

In addition, Obama’s campaign staff, now fully equipped with some of the best social media experts in the business, focused on Twitter and its ability to connect followers directly with Obama. The Twitter world is another prime example of the “global village” envisioned by McLuhan. Twitter users have access to people from all over the world with different ideas by simply using a # and starting a global “trending topic”. Obama used Twitter to engage voters in discussion, update his location, and would reference his campaign in over half of his tweets. Twitter has brought word-of-mouth to a virtual environment and — 21 —

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has provided it a platform for instantaneous delivery of messages to consumers.

Lois Kelly suggests that the use of social media during the 2008 campaign changed politics in three ways; firstly, the way candidates raise money has given the middle class citizens a larger role, second, the role of traditional media has diminished because new media allows voters to go directly to the candidate and lastly, the power of traditional advertising is diminishing (Hendricks & Denton, 2010, p. 13). Additionally, “new media was the engine that drove the campaign and that engine pumped both energy and money into Obama’s election effort” (Smith, 2010, p. 140). The power of the Internet to change politics while theorized years before, could not have expected the outcome during the 2008 election.

Furthermore, Yes We Did by Rahaf Harfoush, looks at how with the combination of the millennial generation, the need for a social media mind and the different media used to promote Barack Obama, changed politics forever. The point of the book is to “capture the role that plat technology played in mobilizing people to achieve real and significant change” (Harfoush, 2009, p. 132). Essentially, how the millennial generation used the community making aspects of digital communication to drive the campaign.

As described in the article, “A Celebration That Defined a Generation,” Harfoush reaffirms the belief that “nothing is more convincing or more powerful than hearing a story from someone just like you” (2009, p. 230). From Obama’s website my.barackobama. com to Twitter to Facebook and individual grassroots campaigns, people were encouraged to help make a change by simply accessing a social media site you visit daily. In addition to finding support through Internet and digital technologies, Harfoush emphasizes the point that the Obama campaign encouraged people to get offline and help the community to make a difference. The campaign not only thrived by using the new medium, but allowed citizens to extend themselves offline—similar to McLuhan’s description of the idea that media is an extension of the body and its power extends far beyond our immediate location.

Essentially, in all aspects of social media and internet and digital technologies, the millennial generation changed “how money is raised, how people campaign, how organizers organize and how the electorate comes to understand the issues, make choices, and become engaged in political action” and permanently changed the way we interact with politicians (Harfoush, 2009, p. 67).

Concluding Remarks:

As our world becomes more connected through modern digital technologies, researchers, authors, and journalists continue to examine how technological advancements affect our everyday communication in our private, social, political, and business contexts.

We are more connected to our nation’s leaders than ever before, yet we forget that when we use a medium, it is an “extension of ourselves” and should be used with caution. In order to — 22 —

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understand where political communication is going in the future, it is important to look to the past and follow previous media outlets that provided an immediate change in political communication. McLuhan and other communication theorists predicted the immanent rise in our communication via digital technologies, although some critics believe that we have far exceeded these expectations, and the ways in which we approach communication and especially political communication is changing entirely. The way politicians campaign, organize, and structure their policies and tactics to the clothes they wear revolve around the communication between themselves and the voters—“contact between a candidate and voter may be via handshake or a television commercial, but it is the single most important element of politics” (Swerdlow, 1988, p. 58). Various studies across the years have sought to prove this importance of communication with the American people.

Today, “it is only a slight exaggeration to say that if you don’t exist in the media, you don’t exist politically” (Wolfsfeld, 2011, p. 1). While the significant changes in communication technologies can be correlated to the success of past presidents, there are of course objections to this technological deterministic approach. Especially today, because the Obama campaign was so recent, the studies that are out surrounding social media and its impact on political communication are limited. Yet, this campaign is directly comparable to the Kennedy/Nixon debates and FDR’s use of the radio as the medium significantly impacted the message. While there are many contributing factors to Obama’s victory in 2008, even his biggest enemies can’t deny that his social media platform and strategic implementation had at least something to do with his success.

Furthermore, I will be paying attention to the new information that arises about social media and politics. While many of the sources today outline the benefits of social media, most fail to recognize the pitfalls such as transparency and security that will also play a large role in political communication via the web. As part of the “millennial generation,” I feel it is my social responsibility to become well informed on political matters and political communication and I will continue to find sources on a variety of media outlets in order to obtain a well-rounded perspective of significant issues. Luckily, another very important election is coming up this year, and if I were to do a study, I would look at the impact social media had with Obama’s competitor Mitt Romney and see if he and his campaign staff did more than McCain to bring their messages online. I would compare the numbers and statistics of users, followers and viewers of both candidates content online, and especially how Obama’s tactics have changed from 2008.

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Bibliograhy Amerland, David. Social Media Mind: How Social Media Is Changing Business, Politics and Science and Helps Create a New World Order. Cool Publications Imprint, 2012.

Baran, Stanley J. Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture. 7th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2012.

Berger, Arthur Asa. Essentials of Mass Communication Theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 1995.

Buhite, Russell D., and David W. Levy, eds. FDR's Fireside Chats. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1992.

Calhoun, Charles W. Minority Victory: Gilded Age Politics and the Front Porch Campaign of 1888. Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas, 2008.

Friedenberg, Robert V., and Judith S. Trent. Political Campaign Communication: Principles and Practices. New York, NY: Praeger, 1983.

Harfoush, Rahaf. Yes We Did: An inside Look at How Social Media Built the Obama Brand. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2009.

Hendricks, John Allen, and Robert E. Denton, Jr. “Political Campaigns and Communicating with the Electorate in the Twenty-First Century.” In Communicator-In-Chief.

Ed. John Allen Hendricks and Robert E. Denton, Jr. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2010. 1-18.

Jackson, Kathy Merlock, Harold Dorton, and Brett Heindl. "A Celebration That Defined a Generation: Grant Park, New Media and Barack Obama's Historic Victory of the US Presidency." The Journal of American Culture 33.1 (2010): 40-51.

Kraus, Sidney. "Winners of the First 1960 Televised Presidential Debate Between Kennedy and Nixon." Journal of Communication 46.4 (1996): 78-96. Print.

McGirt, Ellen. "How Chris Hughes Helped Launch Facebook and the Barack Obama Campaign." Fast Company. Fast Company, 1 Apr. 2009. Web. 1 May 2012. <http:// www.fastcompany.com/magazine/134/boy-wonder.html>.

McLuhan, Marshall, and Quentin Fiore. The Medium Is the Massage. Bantam, 1967.

McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. 1st ed. McGraw-Hill, 1964.

Otenyo, Eric E. “Game ON: Video Games and Obama’s Race to the White House.” Communicator-in-Chief. Ed. John Allen Hendricks and Robert E. Denton, Jr. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2010. 123-38.

Rorabaugh, W. J. The Real Making of the President: Kennedy, Nixon and the 1960 Election.

Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas, 2009.

Smith, Melissa M. “Political Campaigns in the Twenty-First Century: Implications of — 24 —

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New Media Technology.” Communicator-in-Chief. Ed. John Allen Hendricks and Robert E. Denton Jr. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2010. 13956.

Swerdlow, Joel L., ed. Media Technology and the Vote: A Source Book. Washington, DC: Annenberg Washington Program [in] Communications Policy Studies [of] Northwestern University, 1988.

Wolfsfeld, Gadi. Making Sense of Media & Politics. New York, NY: Routledge, 2011.

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A DAY AT LE JAMMERS Miriah Atwood

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A Day at Le Jammers | Atwood

Artist Statement: A Day at Le Jammer is an experimental narrative piece about a "French" man contemplating what to do with his day, but not actually accomplishing anything.

The piece was inspired by filmmakers Jean Luc Goddard and Herzog. I made this piece last summer while attending Maine Media Workshops and College with a full filming crew. I wrote, directed, and edited the film.

This video is viewable at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysnl9GAopbw

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A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams

Directed by Allison Hall

St. Lawrence University Department of Performance and Communica:on Arts December 5 th -­‐8 th , 2012 Black Box Theater — 28 —

The Melting Pot | Hall

THE MELTING POT Allison Hall

Artist Statement: A Streetcar Named Desire written by Tennessee Williams is set in the 1940s in New Orleans.

The plot centers around Blanche DuBois who moves to New Orleans with her sister Stella and her brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski. She is hoping to start a new life after she loses her inherited mansion, her job, and her reputation in her hometown of Mississippi. Stanley is a working-class man who is suspicious of Blanche’s character and seeks to destroy her reputation. Her pretentious attitude and inability to grasp reality infuriates him. By the end of the play Blanche is mentally unstable from Stanley’s cruel treatment.

This is an important performance because within A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams reveals clashing ideologies ultimately lead to destruction alienation within society. This play exemplifies the new heterogeneous America post-WII. Blanche is from an aristocratic, wealthy southern past that is no longer relevant in the new melting pot of America. Stanley represents the new America as his family is from Poland but he now lives in America and was a decorated soldier in the war.

Stanley and Blanche represent the past and the future America and these two attitudes clash.

Blanche puts on airs to try to appear better than Stanley and his friends and Stanley sees through her lies. Stanley and Blanche also represent opposing representations of intellect and culture.

Blanche was an English teacher and attended college whereas Stanley went to war and has a job that utilizes his physical instead of mental strength. It is interesting to imagine how different the dynamics between Blanche and Stanley would have been different if both had come from a privileged background or vice versa.

My central production metaphor was that A Streetcar Named Desire is a melting pot, in the manner of a more homogeneous society with different elements melting together into a harmonious whole with a common culture. To emphasize the melting pot that the city of New Orleans has become during the 1940s, post WWII I want to make changes to the cast of A Streetcar Named Desire. Stanley will be played by a black actor instead of a white actor to emphasize the more homogeneous and diverse society of New Orleans. Stanley will be cast with an actor who looks similar to the black actor Paul Robeson, with handsome looks and a strong build. This will highlight the difference between Stanley and Blanche and how the values of the old South are no longer relevant in this society. Stanley will physically embody the new ideals of America and how hard work and confidence will triumph over the romanticism of the old South. Instead of Blanche making references to Stanley as being a “Polack” she will make racial slurs instead. Blanche is still holding onto her aristocratic past but it is useless to her in this society. I will also be making a cast change in regards to Eunice. Eunice will be cast as a Hispanic woman instead of a white woman. Eunice will represent the racial diversity of New Orleans and the blended culture that it has become. Because of the cast change of both Stanley and Eunice the only white characters that remain in the play will be Blanche, Stella, and Mitch. In the character list William’s lists that — 29 —

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there is a “negro woman,” a “Mexican woman,” and Pablo who is also Hispanic as characters in the play. These characters will help to emphasize the diversity and melting pot of the new America but the cast change of Eunice and Stanley will make this idea even more clear.

The color scheme of Florene Welebny’s Melting Pot painting will be incorporated into the design elements of the play, representing the metaphor of the melting pot. The Chinese paper lantern that Blanche uses to cover the light bulb in Stanley and Stella’s apartment will be a mixture of yellow, orange, purple and red colors. The Chinese paper lantern will be illuminated by the light bulb emphasizing the melding together of the different colors. Within the sparse apartment I want to incorporate the different colors represented within the painting. The placemats at the kitchen table during Blanche’s birthday dinner will be made of rough fabrics and each a different color, a yellow placemat for Stanley, orange for Stella, red for Blanche, and a purple placemat placed at Mitch’s empty seat.

In the play Stanley often wears a vivid green silk bowling shirt. Instead of Stanley’s shirt being green it will incorporate the color scheme of the melting pot. The bowling shirt will be red and the bowling team emblem will include the colors of orange and purple. The bowling team lettering will be bright yellow. Stanley’s buddies also wear this bowling shirt when they drink and go bowling together. The bowling team is made up of men of different races but they will all wear the same shirt accentuating the metaphor of the melting pot.

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Masking Reality | Smith

MASKING REALITY Ella Smith

Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller’s

Classic American Tragedy Directed by Ella Smith

St. Lawrence University Department of Performance & Communication Arts Edson R. Miles Black Box Theatre Thursday-Saturday December 13-15, 2012 @ 7 pm

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Artist Statement:

In Death of a Salesman, Willy shows through his contradicting illusions and goals that one cannot always achieve success or happiness attempting to live the life of another. I plan on having my production of Death of a Salesman take place at St. Lawrence's black box theatre. I plan on setting my production of Death of a Salesman in present day to show that despite the time period, Willy's suffering is still relatable to the human condition. The reason Death of a Salesman was as successful as it was is because Willy's problems are relatable to the audience.

A lot of people struggle with problems in contradicting personalities and life goals and these contradictions may bring people to madness. Furthermore, I plan on making Willy's financial standing different in this production, instead of being lower class I plan on making Willy a middle class character. This will show that his problems would still be relevant even if he were more financially comfortable. Willy would still be envious to be wealthier because he feels that if he were part of the upper class he would be better liked and would have higher social standing. Even if Willy was wealthier he still would be dissatisfied and would continue to "desire to live the life of another". I plan on having Willy wearing a white, dismal looking mask in parts of the play. I think by having him wearing a mask it would show how Willy is masking himself away from the reality of his world. I would have Willy wearing the mask during his illusions and day dreams to show that the visions he has are not part of his reality.

My matrix and metaphor in this production and project is that, Death of a salesman is a classic American tragedy of a man wearing a mask that hides him from reality and what would bring him happiness. One of my favorite poems by poet Ellen Bailey writes, "Trying to live the life of another is a mistake, it is a masquerade nothing more than a fake". This is my metaphor for Death of a Salesman, Willy is trying to live a life in which he cannot obtain and it is causing him extreme unhappiness. Willy is masking himself from facing the reality of his situation and the mask will show the effect of this.

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The Cab as a Coffin | Lucas

THE CAB AS A COFFIN: Travis Bickle’s Alienation in Taxi Driver Elle Lucas

Abstract: This research is an analysis of the film Taxi Driver, directed by Martin Scorsese.

The goal is to show how the protagonist Travis Bickle uses violence and sexuality to escape his urban loneliness as a cab driver in New York City in the 1970s. The sources for this project were a cumulation of texts including analyses by critics, interviews with Scorsese, and works highlighting the cultural context of the film's setting in order to gain a deeper understanding of Travis's character and the motives behind his creation. Through identifying the causes of Travis's loneliness, it becomes clear how and why his character turns to obsessive violence.

Keywords: Obsession, Loneliness, Sex, New York City, Scum

The release of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver in 1976 influenced lives both imagined and real, as it changed the cinematic landscape for future films and decided the fate of John Hinckley III after his assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan. It received more than four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, along with twenty-five other nominations and awards for, but not exclusive to, Best Original Score, Best Actor and Actress, and Best Director. The film has been billed as a psychological thriller crossed with a horror film, and emphasizes urban loneliness in 1970s New York City. Protagonist Travis Bickle captures the confusion of the turbulent environment as the storyline traces his downward spiral from an honorably discharged Vietnam veteran to a cabbie in a cesspool. Travis’s urban isolation is a catalyst for his obsessions of sex and violence, both of which manifest themselves in his attempt to clean the streets of the decaying society.

Taxi Driver came to be as a direct result of screenwriter Paul Schrader’s personal downward spiral. During his lowest point, (being hospitalized for a gastric ulcer after excessive drinking) Schrader read the coverage the attempted assassination of Alabama Governor George Wallace (Taubin 10). The failed attempt left Wallace paralyzed from the waist down, alleged shooter Arthur Bremer convicted with a 63-year prison sentence, and Schrader inspired for the character of Travis Bickle. Ten days after his release, the screenplay for Taxi Driver was complete. “ ‘The theme,’ he says, ‘was loneliness, or, as I realized later, self-imposed loneliness’” (qtd. in Taubin 10). Schrader struggled to find support for his anti-Hollywood film about an estranged cab driver, but knew after a screening of Martin Scorsese’s 1973 film Mean Streets that Scorsese and lead actor Robert De Niro would be the “natural triumvirate of talents for Taxi Driver” (Keyser 66).

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In the decades leading up to the blockbuster thriller, America was highly volatile and under great duress. The sixties and seventies played host to movements of liberation and freedom, but also was a time of war and conflict. Violence mounted in cities across the United States in spite of the free-loving ideals of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the subsequent murders of Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert Kennedy, and Malcolm X, the notion that “anyone could be eliminated” amplified violence as the solution to cultural issues (LoBrutto 189). In response to the erratic times, crimes against the state increased along with drug and alcohol abuse. Vincent LoBrutto argues that white males were at “the center of this disillusionment” (190). He asserts that they became especially alienated during this time period as a result of the changing cultural norms and “unfamiliar experiences” such as “The Women’s Movement, Gay Liberation, [and] Black Power” which “drew Americans into ideological groups” that men couldn’t relate to (190). Masculinity, then, became threatened as the idea of powerlessness entered the minds of Caucasian males.

The sentiment only intensified as the added tumult of the raging Vietnam War pushed America deeper into an ideological crisis, diving the country with the slogan “America Love it or Leave it.” Political corruption reached the forefront with the exploitation of the Watergate scandal, driving “distrust and the collapse of the infrastructure of American cities. New York was in a downward spiral: massive unemployment, a rise in the murder rate, and violent crime” (LoBrutto 191). White males that had grown up in the “postWorld War II idealism...experienced feelings of dread, acute loneliness, and boiled over with anger depression, and hopelessness” (LoBrutto 192). Travis Bickle encapsulates this white male as a victim of the degradation of society and further threatens his position by subjecting himself to the night duty shift driving a taxi. In the following decades of the film industry, Travis would become an “emblem of that masculine anxiety,” paving the way for the films of the nineties that focused on “white male backlash and white male paranoia” (Taubin 15).

The setting for Taxi Driver is in the heart of the foundering society of New York, which not only fuels Travis’s anger and isolation, but also parallels his own collapsing self. Production began in the hot summer of 1975 in New York City in what Scorsese calls “an atmosphere... that [was] like a seeping kind of virus.

You could smell it in the air and taste it in your mouth” (Thompson and Christie — 34 —

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54). The economic downswing of the 70’s hit New York hard. Unemployment was at a peak, and the nightlife of prostitutes and drug dealers was rampant. Times Square, which is known today as the epitome of the bright-lights metropolis of pop culture, was then a haven for the dregs of New York, home to pornographic theaters and streetwalkers. In an interview with Roger Ebert, Scorsese remembers Andrew Sarris when asking “how many times can you use 42nd as a metaphor for hell?” (Ebert 43). This hell that Scorsese refers to “goes on and on”; preventing Travis from any kind of escape, and perpetuating his crude lifestyle in the society he abhors (43). According to Keyser, this is exactly what the director intended, for the film “to have the surrealistic aura of a New York out of control, chaotic and threatening, a New York that reflected Travis Bickle’s tortured psyche” (68).

Taxi Driver describes one summer in the life of Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), a lonely ex-marine who arrived in New York City after the Vietnam War. An insomniac, Travis figures he should get paid for his time awake and takes a job as a cabbie, willing to work “anytime, anywhere.” Amy Taubin states that because the film is told from Travis’s point of view, “this background sketch may or may not be true, since we only have Travis’s word for it” (10). Nonetheless, the viewer is obliged to follow Travis as he drives his cab through the “scum” of the city streets, which, in turn, propel him toward his two female obsessions: Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), a campaign worker for a presidential candidate, and Iris (Jodie Foster) a twelve-year-old prostitute. “Betsy is the Madonna Travis wants to turn into a whore, while Iris is the whore he wants to save,” writes Taubin (11).

The narrative then follows Travis throughout the city, outlining his descent into psychosis in three stages. At first, Travis has yet to fully develop his rage toward the city.

Though angered by what he witnesses on a daily basis, he fails to take any action against it. In the second stage, he is able to target his rage, having found a mission and object on which to project his anger. Finally, Travis becomes a man of action and pursues his target (the presidential candidate); however, when that attempt fails, he turns his gun to an alternate target, Iris’s pimp Sport (Harvey Keitel). The final scenes of the movie are of ultimate carnage, but, as Taubin declares, “the entire film has been built so that this eruption of violence would seem both inevitable and more horrific than anything we might have imagined” (11).

In the first act of the movie, Travis’s desire to clean the city becomes clear as he witnesses a variety of scum, from the fares he picks up to the trash in the street. Through his narration (reading his own journal), a true stream-of-consciousness of the mind of an alienated cabbie, the viewer learns that “all the animals come out at night - whores, skunk pussies, buggers...” and that each is seen not as a threat to Travis (“Don’t make no difference to me”) but rather the grime that infests his life. He desires that “someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets,” so he no longer feels the — 35 —

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responsibility. Like Arthur Bremer, Travis’s writing is “fueled by loneliness, frustration, and longing”, that pushes him to the edge (Taubin 38). Nevertheless, Travis attends porno flicks after his shifts, and does nothing to contribute to the cleansing of the masses.

The seething life of prostitution and porn that surrounds Travis are the first hints at the sexual motifs that are an undercurrent for the film: sexual desire, rejection, and violence. His attendance to porn flicks is fueled by his loneliness and desire for something more. And yet, Travis receives nothing. At one showing, he is rejected by the candycounter girl, who absentmindedly serves him and upon Travis’s invitation to join the film, threatens to call the manager. He proceeds to watch the film, alone, which “garners the audience’s sympathy” an effect Scorsese wanted the scene to have (Keyser 74). The director comments that he sees much of himself in Travis’s character, and that “there are deep, dark things in all of us that come out in different ways” and while most people release them sexually, “Travis can’t even do that” (Keyser 74).

The presentation of Betsy offers hope for Travis as a possible cure to his sexual rejection and as hope for the city itself. He first sees her walking into the office of presidential candidate Palantine, narrating through his journal that she “appeared like an angel of the open sewer. Out of this filthy mass. She is alone: they cannot touch her.” Blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and wearing a white dress, Betsy is a metonym for perfection, Travis’s savior from the muck of the city. This first glance is also Travis’s first notion of obsession in the film. Travis becomes hopelessly devoted to Betsy, as his life depends on nothing else.

Shortly thereafter Betsy agrees to get coffee with Travis and then later go to a movie with him not because she likes him but rather because she is intrigued by how “strange” he is.

Despite Travis’s apparent gains, he once again is confronted by sexual rejection, this time by Betsy. Disgusted by Travis’s choice of film, a foreign porn entitled The Swedish Marriage Manual, Betsy leaves the theater with Travis trailing behind with vain attempts to win her back, ultimately gaining no concession. The next scene arguably reaches the heart of the movie, says Ebert: Travis is on a pay telephone and then, as Betsy refuses him yet again, the camera slowly pans to a long, desolate hallway. The phone call ends.

Travis enters the still frame and commands attention as the only moving object, walking away, visually shrinking from the camera. Though we cannot see his face, Scorsese says this is the first image he pictured when working on Taxi Driver, and the one he also calls — 36 —

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the most important. “It’s as if we can’t bear to watch Travis feel the pain of being rejected,” Ebert says of Scorsese’s belief (40). The significance lays in the climax of Travis’s isolation, alienated by women, the city, and his own self.

It is the following voiceover that shows, however, that Travis has not given up for good, pushing his obsession to the limit, ultimately driving him towards violence. Travis storms Betsy’s office but is pushed out by a volunteer who is then forced to react to Travis’s aggressive stance. The voiceover begins and Travis says that Betsy is “like the others. Cold and distant. Most people are like that, women for sure.” He creates a generalization that only furthers his isolation, although unbeknownst to him, from what he desires.

This moment is the turning point of the film, as Travis’s psychosis becomes ignited by his loneliness and continual rejection. Travis’s narration directly prior to following scene says he is “God’s lonely man.” His words take immediate form as his “life has taken another turn again” and “suddenly there is change.” This change is Travis’s decision to become a character with dangerous intent. In a sequence of events, the evolution of Travis’s character from sympathetic cabbie to deranged psychotic is highlighted by the shift from sexual obsessions to those of violence. “As if Travis’s murderous thoughts about Betsy conjured the maniacally jealous husband,” so too does the discussion with the husband conjure Easy Andy, the traveling gun salesman (Taubin 50). While the husband plants the seed of using a .44 Magnum to kill his wife and lover, Easy Andy enables the seed to grow, thus reflecting Travis’s obsessions with both sex and violence: the .44 Magnum is the first item he asks for.

The .44 Magnum, then, is a representation of the destruction of loneliness both he and the jealous husband share, and also the violence Travis believes will conquer his problems.

The film begins to accelerate. The purchase of the gun empowers Travis and gives him an outlet to project his loneliness onto others in the form of violence, and it fulfills his desire to clean the streets of people like Palantine, who should be ultimately responsible for this task. Instead, Travis takes it into his own hands, shown in the montages of Travis doing push-ups and pull-ups and practicing draws which escalate the growing sense of danger. On one of the most quoted scenes of all time, Amy Taubin writes: Scorsese stages and edits the scene so that Travis’s disorientation and (mis) identification become our own. The mix of jump cuts, reverse angles and — 37 —

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180-degree swish pans make it difficult for us to distinguish Travis from his mirror image. To add to the anxiety, we are positioned almost in the line of fire. Thus, when Travis inquires ‘You talkin’ to me?’, he’s barely ten degrees away from looking us straight in the eye. It’s as if Travis implicates us in his paranoid confusion of self and other, and of projection and reflection. If we are his mirror, then he is ours. (58) This scene has resonated across the globe because it makes the audience relate to the fantasy life Travis momentarily created and how, though it may not be a conscious realization, it stands as small segment of personal definition. In this scene, Travis’s character becomes defined by violence and aggression.

Travis soon crosses paths with Iris, the pubescent prostitute whom he tries to save as his new means of obsession. Iris is the opposite of Betsy: young and far from virginal. The contrast between the two female characters represents the “goddess-whore” complex as Scorsese calls it in an interview with Ebert (44). “Iris and Betsy are whore and madonna, young lover and older woman, frivolous devil and beatific angel to a confused and frustrated Travis,” writes Keyser (76). The dichotomy creates confusion, indeed, as Travis’s unconscious effort to bring Betsy down to his level, unwittingly taking her to a porn movie without realizing the consequences, is shown as a stark opposite in his attempts to bring Iris out of the decay and into a better life. The two decide to meet for breakfast, derailing Travis, albeit temporarily, from the plan to assassinate Palantine.

When with Iris, it is clear that “Travis needs to be saved as much as [she] does,” as the two provide reprieve from the dangerous paths they are both on (Taubin 63). Travis understands, however, that in order to save her, he must rid Iris of her surroundings, namely her pimp Sport (Harvey Keitel). First though, Travis is set on the assassination of Palantine. In a rapid transformation, Travis shaves a mohawk, straps on his guns, and attends the rally where the attempt fails. It is this failure that provokes the ultimate turn on Sport.

In a confluence of emotions and motives, Travis arrives at the doorstep of Iris’s brothel where Sport stands guard. What would have felt like a dream to any other man consumed by such violent passion feels like a dream to Travis, an insomniac whose would-be dreams are porn movies instead. Travis shoots Sport in the stomach, and “the double entendre clinches — 38 —

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the connection between the bloodletting, the porn movie running in Travis’s brain and the castration anxiety and homophobia erupting from his tortured conscious” (Taubin 69). At last, Travis’s psychosis has reached a peak and his fetishisms toward violence and sex have converged, as it becomes clear this was the movie’s only possible fate. Travis storms the brothel, generating a bloody massacre of Iris’s timekeeper, two of Sport’s money collectors, all of whom lay in pools of blood on the floor of Iris’s bedroom. Two police officers arrive and stare as Travis points a bloodied finger at his head, mimicking suicide.

The carnage can only be witnessed through the overhead shot which shows Travis, covered in his own blood and the blood of his victims, sprawled on the floor, with a sobbing Iris in the corner. The shot continues, suggesting that Travis has left his body and this world for good. As the camera keeps panning backwards, it retraces the massacre, from the bloodied walls of the hallway to Sport’s decrepit corpse lying in the doorway of the building.

Scorsese says his intent was not “to have the audience react with that feeling [of] ‘Yes, do it! Let’s go out and kill.’” but rather to “create a violent catharsis, so that they’d find themselves saying ‘Yes, kill’; and then afterwards realize, ‘My God, no’” (Thompson and Christie 63). Travis never comes to this conclusion and it only came to exist after he had completed his mission. Scorsese commented in interviews that he believes Travis “actually thought that by his killings and his failed suicide attempt New York City [had] been cleansed” (Keyser 83).

As shown in Taxi Driver, success comes in many forms. In the scene following the massacre, Travis sits alone in his apartment, weeks after the massacre, reading a thankyou note from Iris’s parents. The walls are covered with celebratory news stories of Travis’s status as a hero, a vigilante. The recognition and fame that Travis receives is questionable to the audience: what truly makes a hero? Travis is a killer, but successfully breaks Iris’s chains and she returns to her parents. So perhaps, then, it is the “violent catharsis” that was imminent in Travis’s story and necessary for success. The broken moral codes of the sixties and seventies are unable to process any answers and instead only generate the confusion and turmoil witnessed by Taxi Driver’s protagonist Travis Bickle. Subject to a world of absolute scum in New York City, Travis embarks on the quest to cleanse the streets of his hell. Through the prison of his taxicab, he is forced to entertain the likes of politicians to — 39 —

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prostitutes, isolating himself from a life of consistency and regularity. This urban isolation is the impetus of Travis’s obsessions of sex and violence. Able to free himself only through violence, Taxi Driver shows its audience that “the agonizing search for identity” leads to “sacrifices to redeem one’s world,” which in the case of Travis Bickle was a sacrifice of his own sanity in order to save another, giving him the identity and recognition he so needed (Keyser 82). Thompson and Christie assert that “Scorsese deals with people in severe crisis, men and women in the grip of ambition, and his portraits of human relationships only occasionally suggest that fulfillment also brings happiness. More likely, his characters will emerge, as they say, sadder but wiser – an everyday redemption” (xxvii). Though the ending hardly confronts what is right and what is wrong, who is sadder and who is wiser, it can be certain that Taxi Driver reveals loneliness as an inescapable truth for all.

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Works Cited Ebert, Roger. "Taxi Driver." Scorsese by Ebert. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2008. 3947. Print.

Keyser, Lester J. "Taxi Driver (1976)." Martin Scorsese. New York: Twayne, 1992. 65-84.

Print.

LoBrutto, Vincent. "My Voyage Through Hell: Taxi Driver." Martin Scorsese: A Biography.

Westport, CT: Praeger, 2008. 189-93. Print.

Scorsese, Martin, Ian Christie, and David Thompson. "Mean Streets - Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore - Taxi Driver Scorsese on Scorsese. London: Faber, 1996. 39-67. Print.

Taubin, Amy. Taxi Driver. London: BFI Pub., 2000. Print.

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