| To what extent have The Spice Girls
distorted feminist ideology for young women? In-depth independent study by Tanya Blackwell |
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Spiceworld: the Movie
The film opens with the girls leaving the Top of The Pops studio to an ocean of screaming fans. The level of idolatry is exhilarating to the spectator, suturing the viewer into the heady world of fame, money and power. They proceed to climb aboard their customised double decker bus, and drive it, emblazoned with union jack and the CND symbol, through the streets of London.
The text sets itself up as a manifesto for modern feminists. In her book Five Ages of Film Feminism, Laura Mellencamp writes, "As in intellectual feminism, women enter a man’s world, the arena of male subjectivity. They often move the narrative, take action, and possess ‘the look’. Sexism is uncovered, often via a tactic of role reversal. Rarely in the end is ‘she’ coupled. And she exists across genres." Spiceworld succeeds on all of these points. Turning The Beatles anti-establishment romp into their manifesto. They fight and struggle through a world where they are controlled, betrayed and bullied by men, but little time is spent lamenting or reflecting on this. They take action; shouting, arguing and running from men, rather than to them, to find something better; freedom. Freedom to choose and control: their manager (‘fascist slave-driver’); their record producer; the media mogul and the paparazz;, the documentary maker and the Hollywood producers are all grotesque caricatures of male ego. Their pregnant friend Nicky may have been left behind as the girls pursue their path to fame, but she is not forgotten; much of the narrative is moved by their desire to be with her - for their sake as well as hers.
They revel in their roles as co-conspirators in a male dominated world. It is about unity and sisterhood. The rabble- rousing anthem 'D’ya Wanna Be In My Gang?' could so easily have been the number one that followed the release of the film, if it had not carried with it such heavy connotations of Gary Glitter’s paedophilia charge looming in the courts. It does however, set the heart racing with characteristic force and energy, encompassing all their sorority values, as does the army training chant, "We’re The Spice Girls, yes indeed. Just girl power is all we need. We know how we got this far: strength and courage and a wonder-bra." When they tire of doing what they are told, when they are told (‘you don’t have lives, you have a schedule; you are part of a well oiled machine’), they decry ‘let’s go do our own thing’ and spontaneity follows. It’s about ‘self respect and freedom’, ‘commitment and friendship’.
Of Thelma and Louise Mellencamp writes "They are coming together rather than running away (from male authority), facing reality rather than escaping it ... The journey, more than the destination, is what matters." This is true also of Spiceworld. Role reversal is also apparent. No reference is made to personal relationships other than the comment that ‘men should be ‘wheeled in’, or ‘ordered - like pizzas’. The script is fresh, funny, silly and perceptively witty. The mass media, the music industry and men come under fire, as well as the girls themselves. Roger Moore, Richard E. Grant, Barry Humphries, MeatLoaf, Elton John and Jonathan Ross are just a few of the men who parody themselves to make the Spices look the epitome of nineties cool; even a backing musician comes in for a tongue-lashing for not playing up to standard.
One thing the film manages to ignore entirely, however, is the sexual overtones of the group. It is clearly written for the main body of fans, the girls who buy the records, rather than the males who are happy to consume the images that are free, on television and poster campaigns. In Spiceworld they are feisty and funky, but also fluffy. While The Spice Girls material has not been in the same fetishist vein as the body of Madonna’s more recent work, the use of their sexuality to promote themselves has by no means gone unnoticed. American rap singer Eminem on his debut single My Name Is... suggests that every man has an opinion on ‘which Spice Girl you wanna impregnate.’
Freud believed that woman symbolised the very real fear of castration to men. Laura Mulvey argues that ‘turning woman into a fetishised object is one way to control male anxiety.’ "Women in their traditional exhibitionist role are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact.".
In stark contrast today’s feminist thinking is a matter of psychology; of personal choice and vision. We are only the passive party under the male gaze if we to choose to be. A woman who is looked at can either be held by the active power of the male gaze, or she is the controller of his gaze. After all, it is she who is producing it - making her active and him passive. The message today is that women can be anything they want, and that includes sexual. But all too often today it means nothing but sexual, and this is where much of the problem lies. According to The Spice Girls, girl power is when you "wear high heels and think on your feet." But just who is teaching these girls how to think, and what to think? And who is educating young men about how to react to these modern women, and the contradictory signals they are emitting?
FHM magazine (the nineties man’s Cosmo) has emerged as the top selling men’s magazine in the latter half of this decade. British female celebrities have queued around the block to pose on the front cover in increasing states of undress - stopping at naked because there is nowhere left to go. Further pictures inside delineate these ‘strong’, ‘new’ women in a variety of passive-aggressive poses. Feminism has reached a halt. Women’s magazines in particular have highlighted sexual health, needs and rights, but now the Cosmo reading, orgasm-demanding, girls of the nineties, are caught in a dilemma and don’t know which way to turn. They have been sold a myth that they can have it all, but ‘all’ is still not available.
As Natasha Walter points out, "We lack the commitments to parental leave and flexible working that would make men and women equal players in the workforce. We lack support for women facing grinding poverty, for women bringing up their children alone in miserable circumstances. We lack training and education for women in dead-end jobs. We lack legal support and refuge housing for women fleeing violence. We lack women’s voices in the highest courts and debating chambers of the country." Today’s woman is at ease with herself. She is proud of who she is; of her needs and desires. But the fulfilment of her needs and desires is still a long way off.
Furthermore, suicide amongst young men is higher than ever before; girls are out-performing boys in school. A whole generation of males has grown up without fathers as role models, and it is not just abandoned mothers, but the whole of society, that is paying the price. Thousands of single mothers are stuck in a poverty trap, with little chance of getting out, not simply because opportunity is lacking, but because guidance is absent. Role models are lacking. Melanie Brown and Victoria Adams should not be held up as role models for young mothers simply because they are mothers themselves. Madonna should not be held up as a role model for single mothers. These women have money. This buys them time and support and the freedom to choose.