Calamity Jane
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Roosevelt encouraged women to perform deeds of heroism as wives and
mothers, not by gender-bending exploits.
The 1950s were economically prosperous, but the prosperity existed
simultaneously with fears, both real and contrived, of nuclear devastation and
outside forces such as communism. For this reason. World War II’s Rosie the
Riveter needed to doff her coveralls and don an apron. The films of the late
1930s and early 1950s encouraged women not to have careers.^
Calamity Jane appears, at first, an odd choice for a figure to illustrate
normative behavior because she dresses and behaves like a man. Rather than
depicting mainstream femininity, she defines the boundaries of how far a
woman may push. Calamity is, in many ways, a radical figure whose existence
rests on her ability to be something different from the social norms of her time.
When she deviates from proper femininity to do good things for her community
(killing outlaws and Indians, etc.) she retains the respect of her community.
Such exceptions exist for women wiien dire circumstances demand that they act
outside their prescribed social constructs. This explains the popularity of
Revolutionary icons Molly Pitcher and Deborah Sampson and World War ITs
Rosie the Riveter. The crossing must be temporary, though. A true American
Amazon’s heroism rests on not only her extraordinary feats, but also her ability
to step back into the bounds of feminine propriety wiien she finishes them. If she
does not retreat, she suffers social scorn, heartbreak, and destitution. During
years of conservative reaction to drastic social change, such as the 1930s and
1950s, filmmakers used Calamity Jane to show the disastrous effects of feminine
independence taken too far (77?^ Plainsman) and feminine independence
successfully contained {Calamity Jane).
Peter Biskind discusses portrayals of independent women in Seeing is
Believing: How Hollywood Taught Us to Stop Worrying and Love the Fifties.
“Conservative films,” says Biskind, “don’t like career women . . . women had to
return to the home.”^® To decide which films are conservative, Biskind asks
questions about who is in c