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A Good Night Out for the GirlsWork, Family, Romance and the Utopian Sensibilities of the Chick Megamusical Mamma Mia!

A Good Night Out for the Girls: Work, Family, Romance and the Utopian Sensibilities of the Chick... [In the mid-eighties rock star Freddie Mercury and his band Queen queered domesticity with their iconoclastic pop video accompanying the release of their record ‘I want to break free’. Parodying the working-class and gender credentials and conventions of the British soap opera Coronation Street, a cross-dressed Mercury, complete with false breasts, pink top, black patent mini skirt and stockings, vacuumed a living room carpet, chorusing to the refrain of ‘want[ing] to break free’. Lyrically and visually the performance was open to interpretation as an anthem to gay/women’s liberation. To signify a utopian release from the day-to-day dreariness of domestic labour, the door to an understairs cupboard opened up to a rock opera fantasy featuring writhing, sexually desiring bodies; Mercury, the queered and feminised subject, appears transported by the promise of sexual and romantic pleasure.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Good Night Out for the GirlsWork, Family, Romance and the Utopian Sensibilities of the Chick Megamusical Mamma Mia!

Part of the Performance Interventions Book Series

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Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan UK
Copyright
© Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited 2013
ISBN
978-1-349-32799-7
Pages
114 –133
DOI
10.1057/9781137300140_6
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[In the mid-eighties rock star Freddie Mercury and his band Queen queered domesticity with their iconoclastic pop video accompanying the release of their record ‘I want to break free’. Parodying the working-class and gender credentials and conventions of the British soap opera Coronation Street, a cross-dressed Mercury, complete with false breasts, pink top, black patent mini skirt and stockings, vacuumed a living room carpet, chorusing to the refrain of ‘want[ing] to break free’. Lyrically and visually the performance was open to interpretation as an anthem to gay/women’s liberation. To signify a utopian release from the day-to-day dreariness of domestic labour, the door to an understairs cupboard opened up to a rock opera fantasy featuring writhing, sexually desiring bodies; Mercury, the queered and feminised subject, appears transported by the promise of sexual and romantic pleasure.]

Published: Oct 10, 2015

Keywords: Domestic Labour; Glass Ceiling; Stage Musical; Double Duty; Case Study Material

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