Table Of Content

y/: ; Southern Academic Review A Student Journal of Scholarship Editor Cassia Nunnally Glass Layout Editor j Mark Osborne Q, £-'/' Selection Editors ^>^(o I Benjamin Bolton 19% Sarah Merritt FacultyAdvisor Dr. Matthew Levey SOUTHERN ACADEMIC REVIEW is published every spring by students of Birmingham-Southern College. It is funded by the Student Government Associa- tion and operates under the supervision of the Student Publications Board. SAR seeks to publish material of scholariy interest to the students and faculty of Bir- mingham-SouthernCollege, and theeditorialscopeencompasses allacademicdis- ciplines. Fully annotatedresearchpapers and shorteressays receiveequalconsid- eration for publication. It accepts submissions from any currently enrolled student oralumnus ofthe College. No submission will be considered ifit has previ- ouslybeensubmitted foracademiccreditataninstitutionotherthanBirmingham- Southern. Althoughmost ofSAKs content consists ofstudentwork, submissions fromBirminghamSouthernFaculty and guestlecturerswillalsobeconsidered for pubUcation. Manuscripts should be sent to: Editor, SOUTHERN ACADEMIC REVIEW, BSC Box A-46, Birmingham Southern College, Birmingham, Alabama 35254. c Copyright 1996 by SOUTHERNACADEMICREVIEWand Birmingham-Southern College Printed by EBSCO, Birmingham, Alabama PublishedAnnuallyat BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN COLLEGE Volume 63 Spring 1996 Number 10 Contents The Woman Warrior in American Film: Duality and Societal Constraint GinnyPhillips 5 The Time of the Messiah WadeRoberts 15 ZiNEs: Do-It-YourselfJournalism K. Braden Phillips 25 In Pursuit of the American Dream: Enhanced Race Relations Norman Atkins,Jr. 55 Refugla in the Pleistocene: A Look at Possibilities and Functioning Brian Mathews 47 The Daffodil and theJimson Weed: Alice Walker and WiLLL^M Faulkner Cultivate the Southern Self JenniferButts 55 Domestic Violence: Causes, Prevention, and Legislatfve Responses JennyLarkin 61 A LrviNG Legend: A. G. Gaston and His Effect on the Black Community in Birmingham PaidFancher 75 Female Short-Term Mating Strategies JinaAlley 85 Colorstruck: The Role of Beauty in African-American Literature AnnaFroula 95 3 The Woman Warrior in American Film: duauty and societal constrae^^ts Rather th^ a sense Ginny Phillips ofholy mission. In The American Monomyth, Jewett and Lawrence cite these standard John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Charles Bronson heroines films,amongothers,asexhibiting "ourmostdistinctive Ameri- " can melodrama—the violent crusade by shootists who prom- sense ot ise to rid the world of villains—so that freedom, well-being, andlovemayprevail'' (241).While the"saintlyshootist" theory self-doubt. proposed by Jewett and Lawrence proves remarkably accu- rate for male pop heroes, the role of violence in the psychol- ogy of the female protagonist in film functions differently. In Qi^^y Phillips The Shootist, Wayne plays a dying gunfighter with a "destruc- ^ junior tive but morally purifying mission" (238); the sense of purifi- Political cation of society and of the hero through violence echoes 5^/^^^ major throughoutpop film. Ona "missionofrighteouskilling'' (235), intends to typicalWayneheroesexperienceineffecta discipleshipwhich, tmrsue a though violent, they believe to be God-driven and morally career in sound. However, this sort ofpurification through violence in journalism female protagonists cannot occur without a degree of inhibi- ^^^ presented tion by societal standards. ^^^ ^^^.^ ^^ In Maxine Hon Kingston's novel The Woman Warrior, ^^^ jpp^ evenintheauthor's fantasyaboutbecoming awarriorwoman, National sheneverdisassociatesherselffromher traditionallyfeminine Conference of role as wife and mother. After years ofbattling and proclaim- jj^der^aduate ing herself as "a female avenger" (Kingston 43), the woman Research and warrior returns to her parents-in-law, son, and husband after continues to her mission is accomplished. Kneeling at her parents-in-law's incorporate feet as a bride would, she promises, "Now my public duties Catwoman are finished. . . .1 will stay with you, doing farmwork and ^^^^ academic housework, and giving you more sons" (45). The warrior research woman's tale concludes with a wish that the villagers would makea legend ofher, notfor herprowess inbattle or her lead- SOUTHERN ACADEMIC REVIEW ership role,but forher "perfectfiliality" (45). Eveninher fantasylife,where she can distance herselffrom the limitations ofreality, the author creates an alter-ego that, though empowered and confident, remains tied to gender- based societal expectations. Societal expectationsandmoralobligations maintainahold overfilm heroines as well. Unlike the typical crusading male figures, the heroines in the films Batman Returns, Attackofthe50-Foot Woman, and Fried Green Toma- toescannotbreakcompletelyfree fromsocietal andmoral constraints; rather than a sense of holy mission, they experience a sense of self-doubt. As the heroine experiences rebirth through violence, two separate entities emerge within the one woman—one entity which embraces the violence and one which abhors it. The persona which regrets the violence, the passive self, must distance itself from the actions of the violent self. Through the use of alter-egos, the women isolate the violent persona from the morally-obli- gatedpersona—inSelena Kyle's case, averyphysical alter-ego inthe formof Catwoman. In Attack ofthe 50-Foot Woman, Nancy Archer's massive physi- cal change allows her to make a conscious break from her previous mental andemotionalstate. EvelynCouchusesthepersonaofTowanda theAvenger to focus her previously unexpressed anger and hunger from control. Considering thesewomen's violent impulsesstemlargelyfromwant- ing to break free from an emotionally and intellectually restrictive environ- ment personified by dominating or controlling male authority figures—restrictions that theEastwood/Bronson/ Wayne figures donot feel—the heroines' senseofguiltbecomes moreironic. According toJewettand Lawrence, the heroic drifter of countless cowboy films and his modern counterparts have no family, no relationships to tie them to any place or group. How- ever, thewomenarevirtuallystifledby theircommitmenttofamily, toplace, and toexpectations.Whereas the maleheroes oftenhave nopast, thewomen are embedded in their culture, and each transforms from trying to mold into their suppressing, inflexible environments to trying to shatter the rules and rule-makerswho have tried tomold them. Before thealter-egos emerge, the actions and the symbols of the women highlight their lack of identity and their self-perceived lack of importance. In Selena Kyle's first appearance, she nervously pours coffee for her employer. Max Shreck, and for the members ofhis all-male board of direc- tors. Uncomfortable trying to stay in the background and notintrude on the meeting, she attends to the wishes of the men but does not speak beyond asking them whether or not they require anything. When she does try to offer a business suggestion, her hesitant comment is met with laughter and shock, and with Shreck's withering remark to the board that Miss Kyle has SOUTHERN ACADEMIC REVIEW not been "properly housebroken/' but ''she makes a great cup of coffee/' Any attempt by Selena to break from her strictly-prescribed submissive- attendantrolemeetswith disdainfromher employer,yetevenacting within his expectations ofher role, she remains less-than-human to him. After for- getting to bring notes for his speech, Shreck tells his son to remind him to chastise "what's-her-name"; Selena exists as an abstract idea to him, a fixture in the background rather than a person. To associate her with a name would give her too much importance. Shreck's view of Selena does not clash with her own self-view; she perceives her non-importancepossiblymore intensely than does Shreck. As he threatens to shove through the window, Selena cries, "How can you be so mean to someone so meaningless?" Shreck's dismissal of her as a person engulfs Selena all the morebecause ofthe absence oflife outside ofwork for her. Only a few seconds after sitting on the couch at her apartment, she plays a message from herself on the answering machine reminding herself to pick up information at the office; therefore, she must return to the work- place. Her lack of a personal life leads her to depend on work for personal interactions, and with Shreck as her primary source of interaction, her own low self-esteem grows from his blatant scorn. At the beginning of Attack ofthe 50-Foot Woman, the doctor cautions anaudience ofthe dangerwe invitewhenwe feel "smug inour dominion ." More specifically, the male authority figures in the movie find themselves in great danger because of their smugness in their domination of Nancy Archer. Her father instructs her husband, Harry, that "your job is to keep her inline," and as long asshe remains moldable and passive, the authority figures in Nancy's life are satisfied. Controlled by her father and her husband, Nancy represses her anger towards them throughout her life, imtil the transformation. She explains in the opening scenes of the movie that what happened to her "could have happened to any woman," not any person, and the male-enforcedstrictures on her lifeplay a large role in her later rebellion. Nancy notes that her "days were smothered in routine"; she her- selfwas smothered by a lifetime of holding back her emotions and submit- ting to her father and then her husband. Despite her knowledge ofHarry's affair, she tries to convince herselfand her therapist that she is to blame for his infidelity. When asked what is important to her, she responds that "it's important that I make life easier—easier for Harry, my father." Her therapist asks,"What about you?" and Nancy responds,"What about me?" Al- ways identifying herself, in relationship to her father and husband, Nancy views herself as meaningless apart from them, just as Selena Kyle absorbs Shreck's sense of her unimportance. SOUTHERN ACADEMIC REVIEW In a film that abounds with male-female issues and clashes, Nancy's relationship with the men in her life is paralleled by background images from the movie Yentl (which deals with a woman posing as a man to gain entrance into an all-male university) playing at the town theater to the un- healthy relationshipbetweenNancy's fatherand now-deceasedmother. As domineering toward her mother as he is to Nancy, her father meets with criticism from thebeauticianwho is having an affair withNancy's husband when the father insults her as nothaving enough talent to move beyond the beauty shop. "You talked to her like that didn't you?" accuses the beautician, speaking ofNancy's mother. "Chip, chip, chipping away, making her feeling smaller and smaller." Though he has done the same "chipping" to Nancy, she will recover from his crushing control and will literally grow bigger and bigger. In another stereotype-breaking role, the boyish-looking female deputy, Charlie, speaks to the male sheriff about her love for the smell of gunoil,whichher mother dislikesbecause it is not"a lady like aroma." Her mother also "thinks law enforcement is unfeminine." Despite her subordi- nate role to the male sheriff, Charlie, the epilogue to the moviestates, is later elected sheriff. Similarly, the beautician that is sleeping with Harry clearly does not love him and is sleeping with him only to learn information with which to blackmail Nancy's father. The epilogue notes that she becomes a successfulbusinesswoman. Surroundedwithotherinstancesofwomenwho arefacedwitha male-dominated society, Nancy's ownvictorybecomespart of a larger pattern rather than an isolated instance. In the male-dominated society of her world, even Evelyn Couch's last name in Fried Green Tomatoes summons an image of inactivity. Using food as a buffer, Evelyn numbs herself to dissatisfaction with her life and hermarriage. A friend informs her that "you're livin' in the darkages," and Evelynbecomesincreasinglyaware thatinsomeways her dreamsand goals have remained unrealized as she remains locked in a role that was chosen for her rather than chosen by her. Though her husband, Ed, is not domineering, heseems to regard Evelynas a background fixture,muchas Shreck regards Selena and Nancy's father and husband regard her. Oblivious to her efforts to enliven their marriage, Ed is shocked when Evelyn informs him that she has been attending various meetings not to better herself, but to save their marriage. Without a career, a hobby, or a husband who listens to her, Evelyn questions what value her life has, and only after examining the effect herSouthernupbringing and surroundings have had on her, does she begin to overcome the restrictions by which she has always abided. In the transformationscenesof the heroines, omnipresentsymbols of 8