Stereotyped Gender Roles

Stereotyped Gender Roles Portrayed in the National Comedy Play Papichulo

Marycruz Campos LM-1482 Rhetoric IV University of Costa Rica September 6, 2010

Stereotyped Gender Roles Research Proposal Topic: Stereotyped Gender Roles in the National Comedy Play Papichulo Setting: The current research will be carried out in the commercial- tendency

theater Moliere, in San Jos, as well as in the school of Dramatic Arts of the University of Costa Rica. Participants: The participants will be divided in three groups. The first group will include the director as well as the cast of the play, the second one will be conformed by the audience, and, finally, students, professors, and other specialists in the field will participate in the last group. Costa Rica is a country with stereotypes deeply rooted in the society; for instance, the theater has been working as a dual tool that has a tendency, on one hand, to reinforce those stereotypes, and on the other, to criticize them. Some of the stereotypes usually staged are related to gender and minority groups such as black people, immigrants, and low classes. As seen in recent theater guides of our country, most of the names of the plays on stage suggest, in advance, that stereotyped roles of women and men are going to be performed during the hour and a half that they last; these comedies, far from questioning the granted gender perspectives, support them. The long lines outside the theaters that show plays like Tres Romeos pa' una Julieta, Papichulo, Las mujeres son cosa de hombres, and Dos arriba y una abajo, prove that there is an increasing demand for these kind of plays and that their themes are profitable and create a trend. For many people,the standards presented in the

Stereotyped Gender Roles

show go unnoticed and they do not even care about how their own gender is been represented; in fact they laugh at the limited roles of women and at the permissive roles of men. On the other hand, artistic plays, which have not only a director but also an author, are pushed into the background. For instance, Penelope Bloom by James Joyce, El Vestidor by Ronald Harwood, and Julius by Rubn Pagura were in the guide for a month while this is the sixth consecutive year on stage of the comedy Dos arriba y una abajo. The aim of this study is to determine how the performance of stereotyped gender roles in the national comedy play Papichulo reinforces and promotes, in a negative way, traditional images of gender identity. As a complement to the writing data on the fields of social roles and theater, the audience, the director, the performers of the play as well as some drama students and professional actors and actresses will participate in this research. In addition, some of the methods of collecting data that will be used are interviews, observations, tally sheets, scales, questionnaires, and play analysis. These instruments will show the reasons why the audience prefers these kind of plays, the most outstanding traits of the play in terms of gender as well as the ways in which stereotypes influence and affect people's perceptions ad behaviors.

Main Question: How are stereotyped gender roles depict in the national comedy play Papichulo? Subquestions: What elements does this play include to stereotype gender behaviors?

Stereotyped Gender Roles Which characteristics of Papichulo does the audience prefer? How do the characters of the play reinforce stereotyped gender roles?

How do the characters of the play confront/ question stereotyped gender roles (if they)? Do these stereotypes promote any negative behavior and serious gaps between genders?

Stereotyped Gender Roles Literature Review's Ouline

Topic: Stereotyped Gender Roles Portrayed in the National Comedy Play Papichulo Thesis Statement: The performance of stereotyped gender roles in the national comedy play Papichulo reinforces and promotes, in a negative way, traditional images of gender identity. I. Introduction: Hablemos de lo inmemorable: los espectculos de tendencia comercial y la crtica teatral en Costa Rica Bonilla, M.(2007). Hablemos de lo inmemorable: los espectculos de tendencia comercial y la crtica teatral en Costa Rica. In NAME OF THE EDITOR (Ed.), NAME OF THE BOOK (pp.00-00). (CITY OF PUBLICATION). Presente, futuro y teatro costarricense Bonilla, M.(1992). Presente, futuro y teatro costarricense. SRING, 59- 65. Retrieved September 3, 2010, from https://journals.ku.edu/index.php/latr/article/viewFile/921/896 Mara Bonilla, the former head of the school of Dramatic Arts of the University of Costa Rica, affirms that the theater is a human activity which has three functions: aesthetic, ethical, and social. Giorgio Strhler: The most important function of theater is that it is an option to question and transform societies. Mara Bonilla classifies the theater according to three tendencies: commercial, artistic, and experimental.

Stereotyped Gender Roles

This source is valuable because I will use this classification to evaluate Papichulo, according to the characteristics of those tendencies, Papichulo is a commercial play because it: 1. It is an adaptation of a play of Dario Fo called No hay ladrn que por bien no venga; however, they did not pay the copyrights, so they change the name of the play and the director or the person who did the adaptation takes the credits. 2. Most of the times the actors and actresses are not professional. 3. Estos espectculos estimulan, por medio de la risa y el doble sentido de carcter sexual, los estereotipos tradicionales, clasistas y sexistas de los roles masculino y femenino que refuerzan las versiones mticas de la familia, el matrimonio y Dios. 4. Their adds show sexual connotations and they promote la carcajada segura. History and Thought of Western Man J,M.(n.d.). History and Thought of Western Man. Retrieved August 31, 2010, from http://www.richeast.org/htwm/Greeks/gwomen/gwomen.html These source is important in order to analyze how, since the beginning of history, the roles of women and men in the plays have not really changed. It gives as examples the stories of Antigone, Cassandra, and Medea. The Development of Women in Shakespeare's Comedies Bagley, C.(n.d). The Development of Women in Shakespeare's Comedies. Retrieved August 31, 2010, from http://www.helium.com/items/818209-shakespeares-portrayal-of-women

Stereotyped Gender Roles

This essay is a good example of how gender roles were portrayed in Shakespeare's comedies, it will be useful to describe some of the roles that were depicted by men and by women as well as to differentiate and compare them with the ones in Papichulo. II. Body: Mujer, realidad social y ficcin Galn, E. ((2007, March). Mujer, realidad social y ficcin. Chasqui, 97, 44-49. This magazine article is very valuable because it shows how the image of women has been changing, but the author also affirms that in our cultures, gender stereotypes are so granted that they are transmitted in an indirect and unconscious way. This article supports my thesis saying that fiction is not only to entertain but it can also present models of identity which imitate and promote stereotyped representations of gender. Socializacin y estereotipos sexuales en Costa Rica Mndez, Z.(1988, January- March). Revista de Ciencias Sociales, 39, 29-45. This article shows how, even though there have many technological and scientific improvements, the traditional roles of men and women are still present in our society. This source is going to be useful to compare the stereotyped roles in the 80's and 90's to nowadays. Handbook of Socialization Leaper, C., & Kay, C. (2007). The Socialization of Gender. In J. Grusec & P. Hostings (Ed.), Handbook of socialization (pp. 561-587). New York: The Glilford Press, from www.ebookee.com/Handbook-of-Socialization-Theory-and-ResearchStereotyped Gender Roles 8

Tools_649684.html This book describes the process of acquisition of gender identity, this is important to evaluate if Papichulo can influence or reinforce,in a negative, this process.

The Authorship of Gender Roles in Early TwentiethCentury Postrevolutionary Mexican Theatre Lee, L.(2009). The Authorship of Gender Roles in Early Twentieth Century Postrevolutionary. Latin American Studies Association, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from lasa.international.pitt.edu/members/congress-papers/.../SaborioLinda.pdf It is about Mexican women dramatists from the early twentieth century who contributed to the foundation of a national theater and impacted regional concepts of gender identity through their theatrical productions. The Portrayal of Gender and a Description of Gender Roles in Selected American Modern and Postmodern Plays Ball, B. (2002). The Portrayal of Gender and a Description of Gender Roles in Selected American Modern and Postmodern Plays. East Tennessee State University, from citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.111.8762... This study was based on the symbolic interaction theory of gender that suggests that social roles are learned over time and are subject to constant reinforcement. Gender behaviors were divided into four categories: Behavior Characteristics, Communication

Stereotyped Gender Roles

Patterns, Sources of Power, and Physical Appearance. Using narrative analysis techniques, the plays were analyzed for the specific traits in each category. The former researches are going to be valuable because I will use a similar division to analyze Papichulo, as well as to prove that this tendency stereotyping gender roles does not happen only in our country but also in the stagings of developed countries and to analyze how they have been treating to eliminate their stereotypes. III. Conclusion: recommendations and possible solutions La representacin positiva de la imagen de las mujeres en los medios Garca, N., & Martnez, L.(2009, March 15). Comunicar, 32, 209-214. It is a way to illustrate how the products of cultural industries are part of the audience's social imagery and how it is able to identify and asses constructive representations of gender. The media and audience as agents of social change suggest ways of teaching on gender issues. Finally, the text encourages us to think about the possibility of creating and enhancing educational strategies to form a critical audience that generates proposals, guidelines, a discourse on gender according to social reality. Co- educar la mirada contra los estereotipos de gnero en TV Belmonte, J., & Guillamn S. (2008, October 1). Co- educar la mirada contra los estereotipos de gnero en TV. Comunicar, 31, 115-120.

Stereotyped Gender Roles Literature Review

These days commercial tendency plays quadruple the number of artistic plays being exhibited in our country, commercial plays based their plots in traditional stereotypes about social classes, nationalities, and gender roles, among others, which lead to root them in our society. In order to see the different professional opinions and facts related to the traditional models regarded gender, this research focuses on a thematic discussion of historical, social, and theatrical sources. First, historical research is focused on the role of men and women in plays during its early years; then, social studies develops criteria about gender roles in our Costa Rican society; finally,texts about theater concentrate on the characteristics of commercial plays. The former studies show that gender roles can be consciously or unconsciously promoted by different means, which leads people to imitate and support them, for that reason, the information on the three fields will be evaluated and analyze to find not only the ways in which roles are transmitted but also to suggest solutions to the problem. Historical works emphasize the fact that the roles of men and women in the plays have not really changed since the origins of theater. In History and Thought of Western Man, the author gives the examples of Antigone, Cassandra, and Medea, three tragedies that show how women who revealed against the Patriarchal system were punished and repulsed. The article titled Gender pursues a similar analysis in terms of three Aristophanes comedies: Ekklesiazusai, Thesmophoriazusae, and Lysistrata, where women portrayed the roles of drunks, gluttons, adulterous, deceitful and obsessed by sex (p.1). On the other hand, men in Aristophanes plays seem to have the

Stereotyped Gender Roles

typical roles of husbands, they are the providers and the heads of their families. What Aristophanes did was to take those traditional images of gender and from his own perspective,the point of view of a man, he created a play that made people laugh at the representations of their own gender conflicts. These historical views overlooks the idea that plays that show funny scenes about gender differences and stereotyped identities have created a trend throughout history. Some studies have taken other periods to analyze in terms of gender. Cyn Bagley's The Development of Women in Shakespeare's Comedies contributed to state the predominance of gender inequality in theaters by affirming that In the Medieval and Renaissance Ages, many women were considered chattel and property. Women were the weaker sex, not educated, and considered weaker not only of body but also of mind (p.1). In fact, current plays also use the same elements to sell their shows. In the opinion of Mara Bonilla, the former head of the School of Dramatic Arts of the University of Costa Rica, the theater is a human activity which has three functions: aesthetic, ethical, and social; however what the producers of these plays care about is to find traditional stereotypes and sexual connotations that stimulate people's laugh without thinking it these comedies contain a social component that questions or transforms the society. In the social field, evidence reveals that even though there have many technological and scientific improvements, the traditional roles of men and women are still present in our society, this situation affects the process of acquisition of gender identity. Research by Zinnia Mndez (1988) points out that even though there have

Stereotyped Gender Roles

many technological and scientific improvements, women is still in a subordinated position because our culture creates wide gaps between genders, which also generates sexual stereotypes. Pursuing a similar analysis, Galn's (2007) explains that, most of the times, women are represented under the same emotional and passive images, while men images are more related to reasoning and action. Since theater is one of the means that presents traditional roles like the ones previously mentioned, it is not only a way of entertaining but it also presents models of identity that promotes the imitation of stereotyped representations of gender. As seen before, the process of acquisition of gender identity is linked to the kind of gender behaviors to which children are exposed during this process. Leaper (2007, p.565) indicates that children apply their developing representations of gender , known as gender schemas, to interpret the world around them... researches differentiate between children's schemas for the self and their schemas for other... between domains of gender typing such as traits, activities, and roles...and between the knowledge and the endorsement of gender stereotypes, besides that, mass media is a source of cultural features acquisition. For that reasons, some of the main gender characteristics that can be learned trough national comedies such as how men and women communicate, how they wear, how they behave, can be risky transmitters of stereotyped gender roles to children between the ages of one and ten years old, depending on the way these features are portrayed. The sources about theater show how women in other countries have revolutionized theater plays. In Mexico, actresses and women directors founded companies that

Stereotyped Gender Roles

portray new concepts of gender identity with the purpose of express the change in the performance of women and men suffered in theatrical productions after the Twentieth Century. Ball (2002) bases his investigation on the symbolic interaction theory of gender that suggests that social roles are learned over time and are subject to constant reinforcement. Gender behaviors were divided into four categories: Behavior Characteristics, Communication Patterns, Sources of Power, and Physical Appearance. Using narrative analysis techniques, the plays were analyzed for the specific traits in each category. Both former researches are valuable to make a similar division to evaluate Papichulo, as well as to prove that this tendency stereotyping gender roles does not happen only in our country but also in the stagings of developed countries and to analyze how they have been treating to eliminate their stereotypes. The literature review above manifests that since the beginnings of theater, it has been used as an aim to transmit gender roles as a way of social control, some of these features depict women as subordinated who depend on men because they are rational beings. Those mistaken ideas about the differences of gender identity can generate false perceptions about what to be a women and a mean means; however, some people have proposed means to overcome and thwart the effects of stereotyped identity roles. Finally, these perspectives encourage us to think about the possibility of creating and enhancing educational strategies to form a critical audience that generates proposals, guidelines, a discourse on gender according to social reality.

Stereotyped Gender Roles References

Bagley, C.(n.d). The Development of Women in Shakespeare's Comedies. Retrieved August 31, 2010, from http://www.helium.com/items/818209-shakespeares-portrayal-of-women Belmonte, J., & Guillamn S. (2008, October 1). Co- educar la mirada contra los estereotipos de gnero en TV. Comunicar, 31, 115-120. Ball, B. (2002). The Portrayal of Gender and a Description of Gender Roles in Selected American Modern and Postmodern Plays. East Tennessee State University, from citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.111.8762... Bonilla, M.(2007). Hablemos de lo inmemorable: los espectculos de tendencia comercial y la crtica teatral en Costa Rica. Bonilla, M.(1992). Presente, futuro y teatro costarricense. SRING, 59- 65. Retrieved September 3, 2010, from https://journals.ku.edu/index.php/latr/article/viewFile/921/896

Galn, E. ((2007, March). Mujer, realidad social y ficcin. Chasqui, 97, 44-49. Garca, N., & Martnez, L.(2009, March 15). Comunicar, 32, 209-214. Gender. Retrieved August 31, 2010, from http://www.reocities.com/Athens/stage/9803/gender.html J,M.(n.d.). History and Thought of Western Man. Retrieved August 31, 2010, from http://www.richeast.org/htwm/Greeks/gwomen/gwomen.html Mndez, Z.(1988, January- March). Revista de Ciencias Sociales, 39, 29-45. Leaper, C., & Kay, C. (2007). The Socialization of Gender. In J. Grusec & P. Hostings (Ed.), Handbook of socialization (pp. 561-587). New York: The Glilford Press, from www.ebookee.com/Handbook-of-Socialization-Theory-and-ResearchTools_649684.html Lee, L.(2009). The Authorship of Gender Roles in Early Twentieth Century Postrevolutionary. Latin American Studies Association, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from lasa.international.pitt.edu/members/congress-papers/.../SaborioLinda.pdf

Appendix Section

Stereotyped Gender Roles Appendix A Tally sheet for observation of the play Papichulo Men: 1. What kind of language do they employ? 2. What kind of clothes do they wear?

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3. How do they interact with men and women in the play? How are these relationships different? 4. To which social class do they belong? How their class is related in their relationships? 5. Does the content in their dialogues reflect their position towards their own gender and towards women? 6. How do male characters reinforce stereotyped gender roles? 7. How do male characters confront stereotyped gender roles (if they)? 8. What roles do men perform in the play? Women:

1. What kind of language do they employ? 2. What kind of clothes do they wear? 3. How do they interact with women and men in the play? How are these relationships different? 4. To which social class do they belong? How their class is related in their relationships? 5. Does the content in their dialogues reflect their position towards their own gender and towards men? 6. How do female characters reinforce stereotyped gender roles? Stereotyped Gender Roles 7. How do female characters confront stereotyped gender roles (if they)? 8. What role do women perform in the play? 12

Stereotyped Gender Roles Appendix B Interview with the director of the national comedy play Papichulo

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1. Qu tanto, usted como director, influenci el desempeo de los actores y las actrices? 2. Hubo algn actor que estuvo en contra de la concepcin que usted tena de su personaje? 3. Por qu considera usted las situaciones presentadas en su obra como comedia? 4. Qe elementos de los personajes le llaman ms la atencin? 5. Qu aspectos de la sociedad costarricense pretende desafiar con su obra? 6. Qu aspectos de la sociedad costarricense pretende reforzar con su obra? 7. Qu aspectos de la sociedad costarricense pretende destacar con su obra? 8. Qu elementos de la puesta en escena considera usted que la hacen tan exitosa? 9. Qu aspectos tom en cuenta para elegir el vestuario de los personajes? 10. En qu se parecen los personajes femeninos y masculinos (vocabulario,

vestuario,etc? 11. En qu se diferencian los personajes femeninos y masculinos (vocabulario, vestuario, etc?

Stereotyped Gender Roles Appendix C Questionnaire for the audience of the play Papichulo

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El objetivo de este cuestionario es obtener las opiniones de el pblico sobre la obra que acaban de ver. TODA la informacin proporcionada es de carcter CONFIDENCIAL, y se emplear NICAMENTE con fines didcticos. Por favor, conteste las siguientes preguntas marcando con una equis la opcin que refleje mejor su opinin. 1. Sexo: Masculino _____ Femenino_____

2. Edad: _____ 3. Estado Civil: Casado(a)_____ Soltero(a)_____ Divorciado(a)_____

Viudo(a)_____ 4. Estudios realizados: Primaria completa _____

Unin libre_____

Primaria incompleta_____ Estudios Secundaria incompleta_____ Estudios Superiores incompletos___

Secundaria completa_____ superiores completos_____

5. Cules de los siguientes teatros ha visitado usted? Nacional_____ Del Angel_____ Moliere_____ Melico Salazar_____ Lucho Barahona____ Arlequn_____ Vargas Calvo_____ 1887 (Cenac)_____ Chaplin_____ La Esquina_____ Universitario_____ Sancheto_____ El Triciclo_____ Giratablas_____ Torres_____ Eugene O'Neil_____ Sala Calle 15_____ La Mscara_____ Oscar Fessler_____ Variedades_____ Bellas Artes_____ 15

Stereotyped Gender Roles 6. Cuntas veces asiste usted al teatro durante el ao? 1 vez_____ de 2 a 5 veces_____ de 5 a 10 veces_____ ms de 10 veces_____

De acuerdo a la obra que acaba de ver, usted considera que: 7. Es realista:

1 Muy realista 2 Realista 3 En el medio 4 Poco realista 5 Nada realista

8. Los personajes femeninos se parecen a mujeres que usted conoce:

1 A todas 2 A muchas 3 A algunas 4 A pocas 5 A ninguna

9. Los personajes masculinos se parecen a hombres que usted conoce:

1 A todos 2 A muchos 3 A algunos 4 A pocos 5 A ninguno

10. Es graciosa:
1 Muy graciosa 2 Graciosa 3 En el medio 4 Poco graciosa 5 Nada graciosa

11. La recomendara: Si_____ 12. Por qu? _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ No_____