CONFLICT UNRESOLVED: MEN'S RESPONSES TO SECOND WAVE FEMINISM IN WENDY WASSERSTEIN'S “ISN'T IT ROMANTIC” (1983) AND “THE HEIDI CHRONICLES” (1988)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24193/subbphilo.2017.1.01Keywords:
feminist theater, Wendy Wasserstein, feminism, men’s movements, American women playwrights.Abstract
Conflict Unresolved: Men's Responses to Second Wave Feminism in Wendy Wasserstein's Isn't It Romantic (1983) and The Heidi Chronicles (1988). This article focuses on Wendy Wasserstein’s (1950-2006) social commentary through drama in order to draw attention to the impact of feminist and men’s movements on men. Specifically, it explores the role of men in terms of their relationships with women and their responses to the Second Wave of Feminism under the influence of men’s movements in the 1980s through two Wasserstein plays, Isn’t It Romantic (1983) and The Heidi Chronicles (1988). The analysis concludes that men failed to understand the aspirations and demands of women. Feeling that their manhood was threatened by feminists, men attacked and attempted to control them while using the gains of female liberation to their advantage at the same time.
REZUMAT. Conflict nerezolvat: reacții masculine la al doilea val de feminism în Isn't It Romantic (1983) și The Heidi Chronicles (1988) de Wendy Wasserstein. Acest articol analizează comentariul social în teatrul lui Wendy Wasserstein (1950-2006) cu scopul de a atrage atenţia asupra impactului mişcării feministe şi a mişcării bărbaţilor asupra bărbaţilor. În fapt, se cercetează rolul bărbaţilor în privinţa relaţiilor lor cu femeile şi reacţiile lor la valul al doilea al feminismului sub influenţa mişcărilor bărbaţilor din anii 80 cu ajutorul a două piese de Wasserstein: Isn’t It Romantic (1983) şi The Heidi Chronicles (1988). Simţind că masculinitatea este ameninţată de către feministe, bărbaţii contra-atacă şi încearcă să redobândească controlul folosind câştigurile eliberării femeilor în propriul lor avantaj, de această dată.
Cuvinte cheie: teatrul feminist, Wendy Wasserstein, feminism, mişcările bărbaţilor, dramaturgii femei americane.
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