MARLENE DIETRICH:  FROM CABARET PERFORMANCE TO

FEMINIST EMPOWERMENT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Thesis

 

Presented to

 

The Faculty of the Department of Television, Radio, Film and Theatre

 

San Jose State University

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Partial Fulfillment

 

of the Requirements for the Degree

 

Master of Arts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by

 

Elizabeth Anne Taylor

 

May 2009

 

 

 

ABSTRACT

 

MARLENE DIETRICH:  FROM CABARET PERFORMANCE TO

FEMINIST EMPOWERMENT

 

By Elizabeth Ann Taylor

            This thesis addresses the multivalent icon Marlene Dietrich in her first two films The Blue Angel (1929) and Morocco (1930), which were directed by Josef von Sternberg.  It examines the complex roles of the two cabaret performers that Dietrich played through the lens of feminist philosopher Amy Allens theory of empowerment articulated in her book:  The Power of Feminist Theory:  Domination, Resistance and Solidarity.  Specifically it analyzes how the cabaret personas developed personal empowerment cultivated out of two specific elements of mise-en-scne, gestures/body language and costume and how those aspects uplift the characters of Lola Frlich (The Blue Angel) and Amy Jolly (Morocco) into situations where these women resist heteronormative assumptions about women as sexually objectified performers existing solely for the male gaze.

 

 

 

Table of Contents


Chapter 1:

Literature Review..................................................................................2-19

Chapter 2:

Methodology........................................................................................20-27

Chapter 3:

A Frlich Towards Empowerment:
Naughty Lola and Her Resistance to Domination...............................28-53

Chapter 4:

For Shes A Jolly Good Fellow:
The Performance of Independence .....................................................54-73

Chapter 5:

Conclusion.......................................................74-78

Works Cited...................................................................................................79-81

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

Allen, Amy.  The Politics of Our Selves:  Power, Autonomy, and Gender in

            Contemporary Critical Theory.  New York:  Columbia University

            Press: 2008.

 

--. --  The Power of Feminist Theory:  Domination, Resistance,

            Solidarity.    Westview Press.   1999.

 

Atkins, Thomas R.  Sexuality in the Movies.  Bloomington:  Indiana

            University Press: 1975.

 

Appignanesi, Lisa.  The Cabaret.  New Haven and London:

            Yale University Press.  2004.

 

Bach, Stephan.  Marlene Dietrich, Life and Legend.  New York: Da Capo Press, 1992.

Baxter, John.  The Cinema of Josef von Sternberg.  London: C. Tinling & Co. 1971.

Baxter, Peter. Sternberg.  London: British Film Institute.  1980.

Bell-Metereau, Rebecca.  Hollywood Androgyny.  New York:  Columbia

            University Press 1985.

 

Berry, Sarah, Screen Style:  Fashion and Femininity in 1930s Hollywood.

            University of Minnesota Press 2000.

 

Bronfen, Elisabeth.  Seductive Departures of Marlene Dietrich:  Exile and Stardom in

            The Blue Angel.  New German Critique.   2003: 1-10.

 

Constable, Catherine.  Reading in Images, Feminism, Film Theory and Marlene Dietrich

            British Film Institute, 2005.

 

Coward, Noel.  Marlene.  Marlene Dietrich Live at Caf Paris.  1954.  Sony

            Masterworks,   1991.

 

DelGaudio, Sybil.  Dressing the Part:  Sternberg, Dietrich and Costume

            London and Toronto:  Associated University Press, 1993.

 

Dickens, Homer.  The Complete Films of Marlene Dietrich.  New York: 1992.

 

Dietrich, Marlene.  Marlene.  New York:  Grove Press, 1989.

 

-- --. Marlene Dietrichs A B C.  New York:  Doubleday & Co. Press, 1962.

Gems, Pam.  Marlene.  London: Oberon Books, 1998.

Gemnden, Gerd, Desjardins, Mary R.  Dietrich Icon.  Durham and London. Duke

            University Press.  2007.

 

Hanut, Eryk.  I Wish You Love, Conversations with Marlene Dietrich.  Berkeley:  Frog

            Ltd.  1996.

 

Hunter, Diane.  Seduction and Theory: Reading of Gender, Representation and Rhetoric.

            Urbana and Chicago:  University of Illinois Press, 1989.

 

Jacobs, Lea.  The Censorship of Blonde Venus:  Textual Analysis and Historical

            Method.  Cinema Journal  (1988): 21-30.

 

Lareau, Alan.  The German Cabaret Movement During the Weimar Republic.

            Theatre Journal  (1991): 471-490.

 

Lewis, Jon, and Smoodin, Eric.   Looking Past The Screen:  Case Studies in American

            Film History and Method.  Duke University Press.  2007.

 

Lugowski, David M.  Queering the (New) Deal:  Lesbian and Gay Representation

            and the Depression-Era Cultural Politics of Hollywoods Production Code.

            Cinema Journal  38, No. 2 (1999):  3-29.

 

Martin, Adrian.  Dietrich and Sternberg:  The Fallen Angels.  Senses of Cinema

            (2000):  1-4.

 

McCormick, Richard W.  From Caligari to Dietrich:  Sexual, Social, and Cinematic

            Discourses in Weimar Film  Signs.  Spring (1993): 640-668.

 

Mulvey, Laura.  Visual and other Pleasures.  Bloomington and Indianapolis:  Indiana

            University Press 1989.

 

Naremore, James.  Marlene Dietrich.   Senses of Cinema  (1998):  1-7.

 

Naudet, Jean-Jacques.  Marlene Dietrich, Photographs and Memories.  New York:

            Knopf:  2001.

 

Richter, Simon.  The Return of the Queen of the Night:  Joseph von Sternbergs Der

            Blaue Engel and Die Zauberflte German Life and Letters.

            1 Jan. 2008: 16-45.

 

Riva, J. David, Dir.  Marlene Dietrich:  Her Own Song.  MGM Home Entertainment.

            2001.

 

--.--  Marlene Dietrich:  A Woman at War.  Detroit:  Wayne State University Press:

            2006.

 

Riva, Maria.  Marlene Dietrich.  New York.  Ballantine Books.  1992.

 

Sarris, Andrew.  The Films of Josef von Sternberg.  New York.  The Museum of Modern

            Art.  1966.

Schell, Maxmillian, Dir.  Marlene. Oko-Filmproduktion/Karel Dirka Films.  1986.

Sternberg, Josef, Dir.  The Blue Angel.  UFA-Paramount Pictures.  1929.  DVD, 2000.

 

Sternberg, Josef.  Fun in a Chinese Laundry.  New York:  The Macmillan Company.

            1965.

 

Sternberg, Josef, Dir.  Morocco.  Paramount Pictures.  1930.  DVD, 2006.

 

Studlar, Gaylyn.  In the Realm of Pleasure:  Von Sternberg, Dietrich

            and the Masochistic Aesthetic.  Chicago:  University of Illinois Press, 1988.

 

--.-- Marlene Dietrich and the Erotics of Code-Bound Hollywood. Dietrich Icon.  Ed.

 

Wagner, Geoffrey.  The Blue Angel:  A Reconsideration

            (journal unknown) (1960):      48-53.

 

Walker, Alexander.  Dietrich.  New York.  Harper & Row, Publishers: 1984.

Weinberg, Herman G.  Josef von Sternberg:  A Critical Study if the Great Film Director.

            New York:  E. P. Dutton Inc:  1967.

 

Weiss, Andrea.  Vampires and Violets:  Lesbians in the Cinema.

            London:  Jonathan Cape, 1992.

Weitz, Eric D.  Weimar Germany:  Promise and Tragedy.  New Jersey:  Princeton

            University Press:  2007.

 

Wood, Ean.  Dietrich, A Biography.  London: Sanctuary Publishing:  2002.

 

Zucker, Carole.  The Idea of Image:  Josef von Sternbergs Dietrich Films

            London and Toronto:  Associated University Press, 1988.

 

-- --. Some Observations on Sternberg and Dietrich.  Cinema Journal.  2000.  1-24.