Dancehall Queen | Analysis

Dancehall Queen from an Inclusive Stereotypical perspective

Film Summary

Dancehall Queen is the story of a woman called Marcia, a street vendor living in the inner-city slums of Kingston, Jamaica. A single mother living with her two daughters and her younger brother Junior, Marcia worked selling snacks in the daytime as a means of earning a meagre income for her family. Uncle Larry, a wealthy friend, contributed financially to her household and paid for the children’s education, food, clothing, etc. Marcia’s daughter revealed to her one day, that Uncle Larry had been molesting her. Marcia reluctantly recommended to her daughter that she should comply with his wishes lest they would lose his necessary financial contribution. After her daughter’s rape and subsequent denunciation of Uncle Larry, he angrily withdrew his support from the home and Marcia was left with bills to pay, no food, no money, and a broken vending cart. Marcia’s problems were compounded when she and her brother, Junior witnessed the murder of a friend. Before the police arrived, Marcia fled the scene and beckoned to Junior to do the same, but he remained behind and was apprehended by the police for questioning. He told the police nothing and consequently, was beaten and terrorized by them day after day. In addition to the police, Junior was threatened by the murderer himself, who had taken a liking to Marcia and stalked them both on a regular basis. Junior eventually lost his mind and was sent to the country to live with his parents, leaving Marcia alone to defend herself along with her children and to earn a living to support them. Marcia had to resort to working a second job in order to make ends meet for her family. This was a night job, in a dancehall, night club-like arena where women would dance and compete for money. She was inspired by their affluence and in desperation, she started to teach herself how to dance and enlisted the help of a seamstress to aid her to create an alter-ego and thus became a dancehall queen. One day while she was in the dress shop she ran into Uncle Larry where he unwittingly fell in love with her and started to shower her with expensive gifts and money, which she used to help pay for her children’s schooling and household expenses. By the end of the film, Marcia used her street smarts and resources to rid herself of both Uncle Larry and the murderous gangster and won a major dancehall competition with a prize of $100,000 US which she used to reunite her family and secure their future.

Critique

This movie gives a full spectrum of social commentary and it represents the daily drawback that some people in present day Jamaica have to endure. In the social world of Jamaica, not much emphasis is placed on equality and the equitable treatment of all human beings as a basic right. Some groups have less than others; some are able to do more and see more and say more and eat more; while others are able to do much less and never have the chance to experience anything else. As a result, more often we are placed into in-groups and out groups, categorized by our differences and similarities. It also recognizes that some groups are more favoured than others, in that they have more access to resources and power and it also examines large-scale social, structural and institutional phenomena, instead of individual circumstances. It holds that some groups have more power than others and these power relations have been established historically. One group, which has consistently experienced the effects of power imbalances in society, is women. One can see how oppression, victimization and degradation of women are compounded by and linked to social categories and constructs such as race, class, and gender. This was illustrated through an analysis of the 1997 film Dancehall Queen (Letts & Elgood) which focused on stereotypes and its contribution to these consequences for minority women.

Marcia was a poor, black, single mother who was like many other women in her community, yet her freedom to govern her life and to access resources was limited by her gender and class, and as a result she was oppressed continually by external macro-level structures, such as patriarchy, capitalism, and sexist dominant ideologies. To gain an advantage over these forces, it was not enough that Marcia had to work outside the home both as a street vendor in the day and a dancehall queen at night, but she also had to depend on the income of men, Uncle Larry and her brother Junior, in order for her and her children to survive. This falls in line with Du Bois’ theory of the double-consciousness. For Marcia, her economic social structure was working against her, and her gender, sexuality and status as a mother combined to intensify her problems. She was measuring her circumstances through the eyes of (in this case) Uncle Larry who held her in contempt or disdain. And to grow up as a woman, seeing oneself through the eyes of those who assume that women are incompetent, is to be saddled with a potentially damaging sense of one’s overall worth. The more a woman incorporates female characteristics as part of her identity, the less positively she is likely to view herself and be viewed by others. Women, who have been targets of prejudice, confront a serious conflict in being a woman or being successful. Evidence of this was present when Larry refused to contribute to the family’s expenses and was no longer in contact with her children; Marcia was left to depend solely on the meager earnings from her vending business.

The movie focused on the story of a struggling woman trying to get by, against the forces of masculinity around her. Uncle Larry, the don, wanted to use her, the pimp wanted to use her (and her children) and her male friends were either unconcerned or ineffectual. This was evident in the film when Uncle Larry stated that because he paid for most of the family’s expenses, he should be referred to as the breadwinner and Marcia should be responsible for the daily upkeep of the home. This emphasized the male stereotype as competence and the woman seen as the dependant, and subjective. Despite the fact that both Marcia and her brother worked outside the home for an income, Uncle Larry’s contribution was still greatly needed if the children were to attend school and to eat a proper meal. This need confirmed both Kurt Lewin and Du Bois’ theory that one of the primary effects of being the target of prejudice is to see one and to measure one’s self worth through the despairing eyes of the dominant majority. As seen by Marcia, she allowed this man to steal her identity which had her feeling self-denigration and rejection. Her participation in the dancehall arena as a dancehall queen was a counteraction to this feeling in order for her to feel empowered. This conflict intuits the conflict of ‘twoness’ which remains a dilemma where Marcia as a minority women had to dwell in a world defined by those in dominant positions such as Uncle Larry and having to make ends meet. Marcia’s work in the dancehall also granted her self-determination. She uses her female body and female sexuality, as well as conventional attitudes, towards the display of sexualized images of the female body, and reproducing the perspectives and concerns of the dominant society. In other words, Marcia was experiencing what we call ‘alternation’ which is a strategy that allows an individual to move back and forth between two contrasting and often disparate identities; which often times results in a commitment to neither.

In the Jamaican dancehall culture, Marcia was able to have the freedom to play out an eroticised role that may not have been ordinarily able during her everyday social conventions. Therefore, she plays the submissive women by day and dancer by night. Although the dancehall scene is more of an erogenous zone in which the celebration of female sexuality and fertility is ritualised, Marcia was not inspired by this. It was not the promise of sex/romance that tempted her but rather the prize money which would guarantee a measure of economic independence, however temporary. She was motivated to succeed in her bid for the crown of Dancehall Queen by her recognition of the power and to create a fusion which emerges both lifestyles. The sexual nature of being a dancehall queen led Marcia to disguise herself for fear that, if she was discovered, she would be discredited as a dancer and shunned by her community. However, her occupation was a choice that she made which allowed her to be empowered and have an agency. They were shock but inspired because she was able to merge the two divergent cultural identities in which produced an entirely new fused social identity for all people. When Marcia, won the crown of Dancehall Queen it was essential that she resumed the lifestyle of a street vendor in order to reclaim her own sense of identity.

This film also displayed some social forces that were combined to impact women who are victimized not only by individuals, but also by their communities, the state and society as a whole. In the past, women have often times been the target for violence and persecution as a result of their gender and assigned social roles, but when race and class are added to the equation, those most susceptible to victimization have traditionally been those with the least access to resources and power in their communities. The victimization of poor minority women does not always have to be physical to be considered violent, but can also include workplace harassment and discrimination. Violence against women can be covert and concerned more about the dehumanization of the individual in order to gain power. In the case of Marcia, violence and victimization came in the form of Priest, the murderous gangster, who murdered her friend and stalked her brother. Priest’s constant presence in Marcia’s life after the death of Sonny, a man who protected both her and her daughters, was not due only to his sexual attraction to her and the way she resisted him, but also to ensure that she and her brother remained silent about the murder and his identity. Never once did Priest attack or physically hurt Marcia for he did not have to. Her subjugation was easily forced when he stalked her brother, isolated her from those who could help her, stole her products for sale effectively limiting her financial resources, and by monitoring her contact with outsiders such as Uncle Larry. Priest also targeted Marcia’s children, entering her home one evening and playing with her children until she returned from work and discovered.

Violence against women can also occur on an ideological level, where, while it may be more subtle, it can remain severe and lasting. In other words, Stereotypes don’t disappear; they can become implicit, and as they reside in the unconscious, can result in an automatic operation. Marcia experienced self-stereotyping, as she felt that the only way to make ends meet for her and her family was to exploit her body. Furthermore, a dancehall queen normally engages in costumes to disguise themselves; by putting on wigs, weaves and extensions in various hues. ‘Picky-picky head’ women go through all lengths to claim the sex appeal that is perceived to reside naturally in ‘tall-hair’ women – as was evident in the dominant images of pin-up female sexiness in the mainstream media in Jamaica and elsewhere. In other words the extension adds a movie look to her, and this portrayal of women is used as a symbol of sexual pleasuring. The dancehall diva, appropriates as a border-crossing potential of disguise, and simultaneously undermines the beauty of African-Jamaican women and devalues their self-esteem. For many African Jamaican women, the politics of beauty is complicated by stereotypes and prejudice. Unlike their African sisters, for whom beauty was traditionally defined in indigenous terms, many African women in Jamaica are judged by standards of beauty based on non-African phenotypes. Faced with these marks of elimination, many African Jamaican women have had to settle for being sexy, instead of being beautiful. As seen in the film this dancehall disguise gave Marcia an extreme status. The disguises of the dancehall – the hair, clothes, make-up and body language that are assumed – enhanced Marcia’s everyday self into an eroticised sex object.

Marcia’s daughter, Tanya, is equally incredulous when she discovered her mother rehearsing the role of dancehall queen: “Mama, is that you?” The eroticisation of motherhood is the ultimate manifestation of the abandonment of traditional definitions of woman as desexualised caregiver. In ‘Dancehall Queen’, motherhood is a condition that conceals the erotic potential of the woman. The sexuality of the older woman that is usually disguised by her role as mother is released in the taking on of the persona of dancehall queen. This re-eroticisation of motherhood challenges the presumption that after a certain age and especially after child-bearing the woman naturally loses her sex appeal and must be replaced by a younger woman – oftentimes her very own daughter becomes the target for her putative mate who is normally sexually attracted to his supposedly step-daughter. In the film, Marcia makes a difficult decision and advises her daughter to comply with Uncle Larry’s sexual advances in order to please him and ensure his continued financial support for the family. On one hand, she regretted leading her daughter down such a path but on the other was motivated by a need to provide her girls with the education she never received and still could not afford. Later in the film when she realized her error in the event of her daughter’s rape, Marcia finally decided to take matters into her own hands and earn another income in the dancehall. The “Good Mother” does not parade around in revealing clothing, leaving her children at home at night and frequenting nightclubs where she competes in dance contests for money, but for Marcia the alternative was grim. Her family was already poor, yet things had the potential to worsen if more money could not be made and her daughters could not attend school. Thus, Marcia used her sexuality as a means of providing for her family, and in a sense, victimized herself by reassigning her personal value. It was no longer the fact that she was a black woman -and mother, capable of production and possessing personal value and power, but instead a sexual object to be associated with money.

In addition to stereotyping, poor women are often degraded and devalued as a group, often because of individual circumstances related to their race, gender, sexuality and/or sexual orientation, class, and age, and also because of ideologies which deem the poor to be inferior and disposable. Such ideologies have permeated social institutions and thus are perpetuated throughout generations and thus womanhood became associated with dependency because men usually earned the wage for the family. For poor women, however, this male breadwinner trend was unrealistic as women had to work to support themselves and their families because the men in their lives were often absent. This was evident in the film in that Marcia worked as both a vendor and a dancehall queen because the men in her life (her brother and the fathers of her children) deserted her and disregarded their responsibilities. In doing so, she was demanding equality and equitable treatment from the Jamaican society which did little to help her or the many other women in her situation, but sanctioned male absenteeism. Poor women with children, who live in deprived, crime prominent neighbourhoods, are especially susceptible to degradation and collapse as mothers because of the circumstances under which they live and raise their children. These mothers face structural and systemic barriers which work to simultaneously prevent them from emerging from poverty and degrade them further.

These conditions were experienced by Marcia in the film when she was forced to rely upon her daughter’s boyfriend for baby sitting services while she worked in the dancehall, and when she argued with her eldest daughter who claimed that she was unable to love, because she was not married and could not keep a man.

The social and structural forces that contributed to the degradation of Marcia and continues to degrade other poor, minority women and mothers was a concept which describes how access to beneficial resources are related to a person’s social location in a social structure and in relationships. It includes forms of knowledge, specific skills, and one’s education and explains how and why some people are more successful in particular situations than others. Marcia was a respected member of her community, but she was still a poor, black, female, and uneducated in the academic sense, a mother, and single, which placed her at a specific level in the lower end of her social hierarchy (the typical stereotype). At the end of the film when her identity as a dancehall queen was revealed to the public, the story of her struggle and her perseverance granted her respect from her peers and ended the degradation she experienced in the past, giving her a chance to transform her life and her children’s future.

Dancehall Queen is a film which speaks about the perseverance, courage, and eventual triumph of the poor over their circumstances and stereotypes. It is inspiring, yet it remains simply a film, however, realistic and somewhat practical when applied to the real world. It gives insight into the conditions and trials endured by the poor and sheds light on specific issues which affect poor minority women with children. Using the inclusive understanding of stereotype perspective, it is evident that all poor people do not share in the same problems, but instead are affected differently by larger social forces and institutions based on their unique characteristics. While addressing each of these characteristics may seem to be a difficult feat, analysis of the larger problems may give insight into the smaller ones and therefore, while stereotypes do combine with individual characteristic to victimize, oppress and degrade the poor, equality can be found in ideologies which attempt to examine and expose the reasons why some are more privileged than others, and how such problems can be resolved in the future.