Readings (both available on Blackboard):
- Keir Keightley (1996) “’Turn It Down!,’ She Shrieked: Gender, Domestic Space, and High Fidelity, 1948-1959,” Popular Music
- Liner notes to The Esquire Album of Music for the Continental Host (RCA Victor, 1957)
Also, study the album cover above.
7 comments:
Question for discussion: What was the cause and what was the effect: Did men intend to make hi-fi a male-dominated sphere of influence and consequently women resented it, or did women first complain about the excessive volume and space required by the hi-fi equipment and then men sought to create a “secret fraternal organization from which women were barred”?
Artifact Discussion:
The artifact for this set of readings was the album cover for “The Esquire Album of Music for the Continental Host: Guy Lupar and his Orchestra.” This relates to the readings for the day in that one of the readings was the liner for this album. The album cover art portrays a man serving wine to a seductive woman, who is lying down on a couch in a dress. The album cover represents sensuality and lavishness. In the liner notes for the album, the focus is on beautiful women, lovely fragrance, the rays of the early moon, and other romantic descriptions. The mood is set by an elaborate dinner, fancy wine, and subtly low lights. Furthermore, the phonograph plays music at a dim, haunting level. The music itself is deemed to be the perfect touch for an evening of romance.
The other reading for the upcoming class was Keir Keightley’s “’Turn It Down!,’ She Shrieked: Gender, Domestic Space, and High Fidelity, 1948-1959.” In this selection, the focus is on a distinct male-dominated sphere of hi-fidelity. Men pride themselves on having this sphere apart from women. They relish in the fraternal organization of the hi-fi equipment. Furthermore, excessive volume characterizes hi-fi as a surrounding, encompassing experience. White middle-class men used hi-fi to reclaim domestic space from their spouses. Men convinced women that they could not understand the workings of the complicated hi-fi equipment; men wanted to keep this realm to themselves.
Two distinctive differences emerge between the album cover/album liner and the Keightley reading. First, the Esquire Album focuses on soft, seductive music, whereas the hi-fi equipment aimed at loud sounds and an immersive experience. Also, while the Esquire Album portrays the music as helping to win women, the hi-fi music attempts to alienate women.
Post by Emily Chang
- Question:
The Keightley article focuses on the label of husbands wanting to escape from their domestic lives, especially their disruptive wives, by withdrawing into their own hi-fi world. This depicts such men as being unhappy, in denial, and perhaps even selfish. What about those husbands in that era (1948-1959) that were not into the loud, personal hi-fi listening experience? It would be interesting for Keir Keightley to include this group of men in the article to see how they viewed themselves and the “audiomania” afflicting many men of that time period?
- Article discussion:
The album cover posted on the blog visually illustrates several of the points made in the two readings for Tuesday regarding gender differences in music. First of all, the Liner Notes to “The Esquire Album of Music for the Continental Host” mentions that Esky, who is a symbol of Esquire Magazine, is “always urbane” and “represents the smooth, sure approach to good living or to anything else which has the slightest connection with wine, woman or song” (Liner Notes). The man in this album cover has a confident, if even suave demeanor, while the woman lies on the lounge chair. The way the man stands over the lounge chair and the beauty of the woman reflect the idea in the Liner Notes that charming men can attract beautiful women with the right music: “It is this music – more important than the food and wine – the perfect continental touch for an evening of any kind” (Liner Notes).
Also, the Keightley article relates to this album cover through its discussion of hi-fi being a “male” realm that gives men a means of escape, expression, and exerting power over women. Although the man in this album cover is not physically tormenting the lounging woman, his standing position makes him look superior to her spatially. This could figuratively imply that men, with their refined taste in music, are superior to women. Similarly, the Keightley article includes the idea that “men are associated with music, thought and civilization, women with furniture, talk and the hypersensitivity of animals” (Keightley 167). Therefore men are able to use their “civilized” music to control their wives in a metaphorically inhumane manner. Indeed the album cover in the blog post implies a sense of dominance in the man over the woman.
Question:
Did the use of hi-fi players in conjunction with LPs help formulate what we consider to be a great album today? Would the Beatles have released fifteen to twenty songs albums if they were using other technologies as children? Would Pink Floyd’s Time be so popular if listening to sound effects were not so popular?
Discussion:
The magazine article in Esquire seems to be an advertisement for liberty.
Keightly mentions that men of this time period could feel trapped by their wives and children in their suburban homes. Their worlds become dominated by togetherness. Esquire promotes the use of music as the remedy for this entrapment. The ad provides a perfect example of how men struggled to live in a world where they were forced to conform, especially after leaving the army. It contrasts the trapped “corned beef hash” man with one who appreciates “wine, woman and song.” The writer employs many French words and seeks men that want to be “daring” and “urbane.” Additionally, the music provides a “continental touch” and removes the boring American man from his living room. He becomes exciting and suave, just the man Hugh Hefner seeks to create with Playboy. The piece conjures images of the perfect bachelor pad. The room is sophisticated but not at all feminine. It is completely detached from wives and children.
But what is interesting is the lack of anger found in this advertisement/article. There is no battle of the sexes; the scene is completely calm, sexy and fun. The article ignores the struggles that men have with the monotonous workdays. It also does not mention that many women dislike the loud music or how it takes up space in the shrinking living room. Here the Hi-Fi record player has become a tool for attracting women, not a tool for escaping them. The writers have conjured a paradise where male taste can be unchecked but also classy. The man in the album cover sports a classy tuxedo while drinking wine. He may be cartoonish but with his musical tools he can lure the classy woman on the couch.
Question:
I was struck by Keightley’s description of the typical hi-fi enthusiast as male. For example, Keightley quotes a Life magazine article which states, “One of the strangest facts about both hi-fi bugs and audiophiles is that they are almost exclusively male…women seldom like high fidelity” (Keightley 150).
Is this assertion accurate? I would like to challenge this assertion that audiophiles were mostly male because men enjoy high fidelity more than women do. If most of the audiophiles were male, it was likely because women were saddled with household responsibility that prevented them from spending their time listening to music. It is also possible that women were socially discouraged from spending money on their own hobbies, which may have been deemed “frivolous” as opposed to men’s past-times, which may have been regarded as “worthwhile.”
Artifact Discussion:
As soon as I saw the cover art for this album, I thought of John Berger’s book called Ways of Seeing in which he asserts that men act and women are seen. The same principle is at work in this artifact. A woman is sprawled on a couch. She is clothed in such a way that part of her legs and breasts are visible. She is gazing at the viewer with a sultry look. The way her body is positioned and the way she is dressed are suggestive. On the other hand, the man is looking at the woman. She seems to exist for his visual pleasure. He does not exist to be seen; his clothing covers all but his hands and face. He is also positioned sitting up while the woman is lying down. All of these characteristics suggest that in this illustration, the woman is subordinated to the man.
Keightley develops an assertion that parallels Berger’s. Keightley describes how the male culture of high fidelity developed to provide men an escape from the domestic space. As is described in the article, men came home from work and wanted to escape the responsibilities of parenthood and marriage. In order to justify this, the wife who insisted that her husband keep up his share of household responsibilities was cast as emasculating and oppressing him. The implication is that men are entitled to pleasure without responsibility, while women are not. Keightley describes how the Yogi Enclosure was developed not so that men could enjoy music without disturbing their children but so that his wife could not interrupt him save for feeding him, which she is presumably obligated to do even whilst he is not contributing to the household (Keightley 149).
Not only that, but women are obligated to fulfill male desire. This is demonstrated in the cover art and lining. Per the writing in the lining, Esky represents what is glorified as male desire, that is, wanting a version of romance without any responsibility or reality. Esky represents sexual attraction, physical pleasure, and “the good life.” After all, “what red blooded American male beyond the age of innocence does not want to act as the continental host?” In this lining, there is a connection made between the ideal life in which the suave man gets the beautiful woman and high fidelity music. When coupled with Keightley’s argument that the wife who objected to hi-fi was cast as “oppressive,” a larger picture emerges: one in which only the women who exist to satiate men’s sexual desire and thus, to enable “the good life,” as described in the lining, are acceptable. The rest are vilified.
Question: I found it interesting that Keightley attributed media and society to molding the idea of hi-fi being used to combat women and was, in the domestic sense, their enemy. However, were there women who enjoyed hi-fi just as much as the men depicted in Keightley’s article and conversely, where there men who loathed hi-fi as much as Keightley suggests? Do we have evidence for both sides?
Artifact discussion:
The Esquire album cover illustrates a couple points that were expressed in the assigned reading. Most importantly, the album seems to suggest that the refinement and pleasure that would be evoked from listening to this album. The liner notes suggest that Esquire is for men who are “dapper,” “urbane,” and even “daring.” The apparent sensual position of the woman in the album and the refinement of the man, as displayed by his formal clothing and raised pinky finger on a wine glass, suggest the romance from the “champagne cooling and the blood warming” that would ensue that evening. Essentially, the listener/consumer should connect the pleasure he would receive with the music he is hearing. This obvious ploy to speak to the desires of men suggests the power that hi-fi has over personal and financial decisions of men.
This idea of men and hi-fi was explored in depth in the Keightley article where hi-fi has become the culprit behind domestic issues, gender differences in entertainment, and the masculinization of the audio world. Keightley suggests the gender issues and domestic problems that have ensued from hi-fi and the apparent self-centeredness and selfish nature of how it was played. However, he adds that the “home had become even more oppressive to men than the workplace” suggesting men were the victims in marriage and were entitled to the rampant use of hi-fi in the mid-twentieth century (Keightley 154). The masculinization of hi-fi can be attributed to the desire to use “add-on[s]” to modify the system, thereby mimicking the “manly activities of the workshop” (Keightley 151). This masculinization is again realized in the album where the needs of the man are demonstrated obviously in this marketing strategy. This masculinization and various domestic issues have also led to the marginalization of women in the technical world, both intellectually and socially. The woman was now intellectually likened to “animals” in articles of the time, which obviously contributes to a sense of oppression by their male counterparts (Keightley 167). Their dismissal, at least in the audio world, fortifies the idea of a ”secret fraternal organization from which women were barred” and can even be applied today using other ‘manly’ activities such as automobiles/bodywork or construction as examples (Keightley 158).
Question:
As I discuss in my post below, hi-fi is used in The Esquire album as a quiet and sophisticated setting. However, Keightley argues that hi-fi was originally used by men to regain autonomy in their homes and from their wives. I would like to know where this disparity comes from between Keightley’s article and primary sources such as this album cover.
Artifact Discussion:
The album cover of The Esquire shown above directly illustrates the liner notes that were included in the reading. The album is marketed as lavish and sophisticated. “Esky” is shown to display a great level of class, as the picture of him on the album has him dressed in a tuxedo. His hair is nicely groomed and slicked back, and he delicately holds a wine glass with his pinky raised up. The liner notes explain that this particular album is best accompanied with fine dining and a romantic atmosphere. The notes also claim that this music is sure to aid the continental man in sweeping a lady off her feet and winning her over.
However, in my opinion, this example of a hi-fi recording does not match up well with Keir Keightley’s description of high fidelity’s effects and implications on society when it first came out. Firstly, Keightley argues that the middle class man used hi-fi as an attempt to immerse one’s self in the music and to escape the entrapment felt by the husband in the suburban domestic environment. In this sense, the use of hi-fi has completely separate connotations set up by The Esquire and by Keightley’s article. The Esquire directly markets the music on this hi-fi recording of “Music for the Continental Host” towards the upper-class male looking to escort a lady. The music is described in the liner notes as soft and sophisticated. On the other hand, Keightley’s article conveys hi-fi technology as being very loud and is more directed towards the environment of the suburban living room. It is also meant for the married man looking to escape from the wife rather than allure a woman as The Esquire conveys.
Discussion: Music and manhood
Question: What external forces particularly during that time period were causing men to seek solace or immersion through hi-fi? Why were women seen primarily as antagonistic when it came to hi-fi and male dominion and what parallels have been observed since that truly showed a threatened ideal of masculinity that sought redemption/ freedom in music?
Artifact discussion:
Pleasure, fantasy, escape, romance—these are all words that come to mind when viewing the album cover. From the elegant font of the word “esquire”, also emblazoned in a passionate red, to the sophistication of Esky as he leans against a chair eyes bulging and fastened on a beautiful woman, an “object” almost of beauty and desire, one might be enlightened to the appeal the cover is making to the men of this time, to every “red-blooded American male beyond the age of innocence”: high fidelity music is made for man. The theme of fantasy can be echoed in the fact that high fidelity instrumentation and systems according to Keightley were a means of escape and provided a place where a man could freely express his masculinity.
The darkness and the emptiness even of the album cover outside of the focal points of Esky and the woman embodies the isolation of the event, the immersion meant to come about from listening to this music as it transports men elsewhere, outside of the domestic setting which had begun to seem a place of confinement. It is almost strange that the woman doesn’t “pop” as much as the other colors/ Esky do. This helps to depict the gender divide, the antagonistic relationship described in the article by Keightley as the woman, though beautiful, is quite a faded piece that almost seems to not belong with the bold colors elsewhere on the picture; thus, perhaps she is located outside the sphere of high fidelity sound/ music, where man finds his place.
Finally, the depiction reiterates this music as being present in a domain where man rules, where his fantasies are realities, and where the role that women play is at the whim of the man’s romantic imagination. “Suave music” played by Guy Lupar and his Orchestra, enhanced by a “New Orthophonic” high fidelity sound and production of the disk that ensures “clarity and brilliance” somehow translates into a “suave” man; in this way, through music and the quality of the sound, perhaps a man can begin to formulate a sense of identity based on the way the music is portrayed and what gains are associated with it.
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