I have been spending a lot of time this week researching about my topic. I have found a lot of good information about the transition that occurred at the turn of the century towards a thinner ideal of women.
Here is a beginning outline of what I want to talk about in may paper and also the subjects that I need to research more:
Pre 1890: voluminous
1890: Gilmore Girls Era- Charles Gibson (small waist, corsets)
1920: The Flapper/Progressive Era (thin, boy-like figure, bound breasts)
1940: Christian Dior, "The New Look" (thin, big breasts, girdle, change from post WWII)
1950: Marilyn Monroe Era (voluminous)
1960: Twiggy (thin models)
1970-90: progression of the thin ideal, the super model.
I have really started to question why it was in the 1900s that there was this first shift EVER in the ideal body. Some possibilities that I have been thinking that I need to research more about that may have caused this:
- the industrial revolution, (the change in how goods are produced, movement to the cities)
- women suffrage (equality with men)
- free thinking by women (the need to oppress this)
- the development of the media, (the ability to control/change the ideal easily)
Here are a bunch of articles that I have found for my research. These are the article that helped me come up with my beginning outline.
Sounds like a nice start to an interesting paper! I haven't read the articles you linked, but I like how you've focused in on a certain time period and are going to seek to explain something that has connections to psychology, philosophy, sociology, and technology.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that will be valuable in the weeks to come is to identify certain sources that will be most important in this terrain. My guess is that there will be certain theorists whose explanations are widely discussed, and you may want to link in to those as soon as we can identify them (possibly Umberto Eco, for example).
Finding those sources may help you focus your topic as well.
Ok Holly,
ReplyDeletenow you're cooking! Terrific, and I agree with everything Chris notes in his comments above.
I'm particularly struck by the fact that you seem to have landed on THE question that will motivate your thesis project: "why it was in the 1900s that there was this first shift EVER in the ideal body." That's a well-focused, doable research question with interesting possibilities, some of which you and Chris have already pointed out.
What you will be doing, as you research this question, is a kind of cultural history. One way to keep from being overwhelmed by your sources as you accumulate them (especially the theoretical heavyweights that Chris suggests are out there): Keep an updated list of possible causes for that first big shift, and file your sources as evidence for or against the importance of each cause. Ultimately, you will have a weighted set of influences that you can present in your own argument. Organizing sources by which possible causes they advocate, give evidence for, or criticize would give you a built-in rough structure for your thesis that is exactly what you want by the time you wrap up your proposal at the end of this semester.
I have always been curious to know where and why the shift. I do believe this has to do partly with culture. Your research is great. Keep up the good work. I would love to read your final product.
ReplyDelete