Gender and the Cold War ((4 Credits))

Catalog description

The 1950s was a decade of conformity, typified by the rise of suburbia, the man in a gray flannel suit, as well as an underlying dissatisfaction with gender roles – simply, blandness. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the 1956 film directed by Don Siegel and based on Jack Finney’s novel of the same name, presents a statement with regard to collective paranoia – a fear of conformity, conspiracy, and constraint. Yet if we consider this film as a social commentary, then we must look at how it reflected upon a growing concern of Americans over the respect for authority and rigid gender roles. The rise of contemporary feminism threatened a patriarchal system by loosening traditional restraints on women. Opponents of female reform, in turn, invoked domestic ideology to return women to the home. They feared women, who easily slid from a nurturing influence to emasculating power. We will explore the issues that shaped Siegel’s film through its viewing and via a select body of readings that span the disciplines of history, anthropology, literature, and film studies, resulting in a robust discussion on gender, sexuality, and yes fear, within the mid-twentieth century.