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Entertainment December 14, 2016
When was the last time a song impacted your emotions – whether it made you cry like “Hello” from Adele or feel ready to party like “Work” from Rhianna? Most likely, it wasn’t that long ago. The truth is, humans have always been captivated by the emotional effects of well-written music. Ballads that move listeners to tears or anthems that shake the apathetic have always taken an important place in the repertoire of history.
A long time before the popular music scene today was dominated by superstars like One Direction or Taylor Swift, operas were a very popular form of entertainment. These musical dramas weren’t just for the social elite; operas were entertaining for everyone who watched because they balanced real life with the dramatic appeal of death, duels and swooning maidens.
READ MORE: Summer Watson: Beauty, Grace and Opera
This swooning maiden trope, among others, appears commonly in historical operas. Despite the fact that some women made names for themselves as composers or famous performers, female tropes have persisted within Western European opera for centuries. What are three common female stereotypes that dominate the opera stage? And what do these historical characters say about today’s woman? Keep reading to find out the (troubling) truth.
This kind of woman wants power and will do what she can to get it. Using her body, she will manipulate people and make them think she loves them.
An example of this woman Poppea in the opera by Claudio Monteverdi, “L’incoronazione di Poppea.” Poppea starts the opera in a relationship with another man, but she has her eyes on a higher prize. She becomes the lover of the infamous Roman emperor Nero. Octavia, Nero’s wife, is obviously jealous of her husband’s terribly kept secret and she convinces Poppea’s former love to murder Poppea. Basically? Poppea, Octavia and Nero are the typical high school love-triangle with a side of murder.
What do these tropes say about women today? Unfortunately, they reflect a double bind that has haunted women for centuries: Whether a woman chases power or a man, she can face backlash for her decision. A 2011 study by the University of London found that female bosses who try to “act like a man” and use aggressive management techniques are less successful in creating a cohesive staff.
And while jealous wives are harder to nail down, there are still plenty of wife tropes on the modern big screen – most famously the “nagging wife” character seen in Claire Dunphy on “Modern Family,” Brandi from “Storage Wars” or Gretchen on “Boardwalk Empire.” The problem with these depictions? As feminist blogger Rebecca Jane Stokes explains, “You are cheating you audience of the chance to see a richly developed character.”
READ MORE: Why Do We Stereotype?
The power hungry woman and jealous wife may sound like old news; however, they still exist and haunt women (in the workplace or on TV) today.
This is the woman who just can’t bear the pain of loss, usually the loss of her love. So she lays down and sighs away her last living breath out of grief.
One particular example of this is the famous “Dido’s Lament” from Henry Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas.” Leading up to this sad death, the hero of the opera, Aeneas, is on his way to fulfill his destiny to find Troy when he is shipwrecked and introduced to the queen of Carthage, Dido. The two fall in love, but Aeneas leaves soon after arriving at Carthage. Once Aeneas is gone, Dido sings her famous lament, “Remember me, but forget my fate,” as she lays down and dies.
If you’ve experienced your own share of heartbreak, you might agree that losing your soulmate can feel like dying. And while TV characters might not be keeling off when a loved one leaves, there are still plenty of cultural implications that a woman need a man to survive. Just think back to your last family gathering: How many times were you asked how your love life was doing or if you were getting a ring soon?
READ MORE: How to Turn a Breakup into a Career Breakthrough
Underneath all the drama, there are truly dangerous effects of equating love with life. As Lady Gaga once famously said, “Some women choose to follow men, and some women choose to follow their dreams. If you’re wondering which way to go, remember that your career will never wake up and tell you that it doesn’t love you anymore.” Of course, there’s plenty of value in finding a partner to explore life with. However, #WomenThatDo know that they can still rock at life on their own.
Claudio Monteverdi’s opera “L’Orfeo” is about the hero Orfeo and his beloved Euridice. Soon after the two are married, Euridice is bitten by a snake and dies. In an effort to bring her back, Orfeo travels to the Underworld and overcomes dangerous obstacles in order to convince Hades to let Euridice return with him to the real world. Hades agrees, but only if Orfeo promises not to look back at Euridice while the two are escaping the Underworld. During the return trip, Orfeo accidentally looks back at Euridice and she disappears back into the Underworld in front of him.
The real question this opera raises for the modern woman? Why are women suddenly 10 times more attractive when they’re off limits? While researchers haven’t agreed on a conclusion just yet, they have a few ideas. Some credit the “ironic process theory,” which is basically a fancy name for thinking more about something when we’re told not to. Anthropologist Helen Fischer also suggests that levels of dopamine (a chemical that contributes to feeling pleasure) increase along with the time it takes for that pleasure to be fulfilled.
READ MORE: The Secret Behind Why People Cheat
So what does this forbidden fruit trope really say about women today? On the one hand, science points to the fact that being “forbidden” boosts your attractiveness. On the other hand, this trope isn’t without its consequences. Research also found that when people are told to not observe attractive members of the opposite sex, they think about them more and view infidelity in a more positive light. The next time you see a “forbidden” female character on TV, you might want to think of how that trope could negatively impact the real world.
Having these stereotypes does not detract from the skill of these composers or the beauty of the music. In fact, some of these scenes are beautiful and gut wrenchingly sad. But, as Jen Doll at The Atlantic eloquently writes: “The important thing is that we learn to recognize and call out such stereotypes when they’re being used, because they’re not just ‘funny’ or stupid; they’re a way in which women can continue to be belittled, undermined, or told they’re doing it wrong.”
There’s an old saying that history repeats itself. It’s our job to make sure that these female tropes don’t keep landing on the big screen … and being projected the real lives of women as a result.
