As if a rejoinder to today's questions about the present-absence of women in the works of cold war culture East and West, we get Ruth Zernova and Slavenka Drakulic to speak back with a distinctly Soviet flavor. Please focus your questions on "Elizabeth Arden," and consider connecting them to Nekrasov's travelogue, "On Both Sides of the Ocean," or the woman's perspective provided in Mad Men, incidentally expressed at the beauty salon in both pieces.
Why does Ruth Zernova address the audience in the middle of her story? (131) As Ruth is addressing the audience, she imagines a woman just like her in America getting the same call which she finds as terrible. How this section portray how bad it is to live in this time in Russia?
ReplyDeleteIn the story, Elizabeth Arden products are depicted as highly desirable and luxurious; they were at first banned from trading publicly in Russia. But as "life gets better", they became available in the Russian market. How does this loosening on Western products regulation tell us about the relationship progression between USSR and the west in that time span? Ruth also uses Elizabeth Arden products as an escape, living a life style very similar to that of an well-off middle class lady in the west, how does this compare to the American life Nekrasov sees? Finally, how does Ruth's well-off life contrast with the Communist way of living in Russia that we generally assume?
ReplyDeleteIn Ruth Zernova's Elizabeth Arden, the narrator states on the first page that she has "dreamed of an income of three thousand rubbles", immediately setting the story up in a materialistic light. She discusses everything she can pay now for and the all of the new clothes she has bought. The narrator then takes it a step further to in talking about her appearance and her disgust with her freckles. Why do you think the narrator chose to depict women in such a vain and materialistic light? What does this say about women during the Cold War period, or rather, what people thought of women?
ReplyDeleteOn page 132 of "Elizabeth Arden," Zernova pleads the reader to "spend some time together in Leningrad ... even if you lived in an alley in Porokhovye and know every crack in the old, prewar pavement- still for you, Leningrad won't be Porokhovye, but these ten or twelve streets." How does Zernova's connection with the reader server to de-familiarize the setting and set up the passage to follow?
ReplyDeleteOn page 126 of "Elizabeth Arden", Zernova states, "Elizabeth Arden had begun to be afraid. Well, that only meant that now she'd become a Soviet women." What insight does this give about life behind the iron curtain for women.
ReplyDeleteZernova discusses how the Russians seem "dim" but Nekrasov makes the argument that Americans are the ones who have been become dumber because of the media and cheap detective novels. Why are these two view so conflicting?
We know that during the Cold War period Western way of life and Communism were at odds. Why, then does the narrator, who plays the role of the wife in the story, seem to be obsessed with western beauty products like Elizabeth Arden? Does she believe that the west is more fancy and luxurious than her beloved mother Russia? What comparisons can be made between the beauty sloan scene in the Mad men episode and the narrators time spent at the Cosmetician? In the narrators mind, or perhaps even the authors, are the terms "rich" or "wealthy" glorified more as a Western way of life in comparison to what is possible to achieve economically in the Soviet Union?
ReplyDeleteWere problems with seemingly mundane items such as the availability of foreign facial products in Russia, "Elizabeth Arden", or having discussions in the beauty salon in Mad Men, a way to demonstrate how women also felt the effects of the cold war in a time when men were the prominent figures in diplomatic matters?
ReplyDeleteIn "Elizabeth Arden," women's lives seem to be pretty normal. They also seem to be even pretty normal in Mad Men. They are able to go out, they have jobs, they enjoy leisure and luxury by going to places such as the beauty salon. What is the importance of the author describing the lives of mostly women in "Elizabeth Arden?" And why do these scenes happen to take place at the beauty salon, is there any significance to that?
ReplyDeleteNear the end of the story, the main character not only accepts the idea of being sent to prison but almost desires it. She also considers buying a bird but decides not to and notes that she would have set it free (138). What does this acceptance mean in comparison to the civil rights movement in America or any other protest of the time against the government? What can be said about the two different societies and the way they relate to their government?
ReplyDeleteWhy does the main character and narrator call the "western cosmetician" Elizabeth Areden? How is this related to the beauty products of the company? How is it related to the title?
ReplyDeleteSimilar to the paranoia that was experienced in the hair salon in Mad Men, it is evident that this same paranoia also exists in "Elizabeth Arden." However, what exactly did it mean when it was stated that Elizabeth Arden had become a Soviet woman? Furthermore, how does Elizabeth Arden’s fear connect to the fear that the women in the hair salon were experiencing in Mad Men?
ReplyDeleteWhy is Odessa frequently mentioned and referenced? What are the narrator's links with Odessa?
ReplyDeleteAlthough the main character seems to be pro-capitalist with the blatant elizabeth arden imagery, is she really or does she just seem to have this feeling due to her anti-soviet sentiment that is spread throughout the story?
ReplyDeleteThe one commonality between "Elizabeth Arden" and the episode of Mad Men we watched that proved most curious to me was the theme of withholding of truth, specifically within the family. In Mad Men, Betty leaves her children and husband at home to go to a bar and ends up sleeping with another man. It isn't surprising that she doesn't reveal this to her family, but it is a big secret to hold from your loved ones. Also Peggy had hid the fact that she had been pregnant for who knows how long. In "Elizabeth Arden," the narrator blatantly withholds the truth from her daughter when she is picked up by authorities at the end of the story. She knows she isn't coming back, but lets her daughter believe otherwise. In all these cases, it seems that their motive to hide the truth is to guard their loved ones from pain. Given the paranoia and stress of the time, do you think it was common of women to serve as "protectors" of their loved ones from emotional pain?
ReplyDeleteIn both “Elizabeth Arden” and “Meditations in an Emergency,” the coinciding themes of wealth and beauty are present. Both women are married to workingmen who seem to earn stable salaries and are therefore able to indulge in several luxuries. In Mad Men, Betty rides horses, has a maid, and is a regular customer at the salon. In Zernova’s piece, the narrator makes enough rubles on her own to hire a nanny for her children and to visit the beauty salon several times a week. Does the notion of being beautiful truly directly correlate with wealth? On a semi-unrelated note, does the role of wealth by itself affect a woman’s credibility in these societies?
ReplyDeleteIn the story when the main character is curious as to where her cosmetician (who she calls Elizabeth Arden) gets her products from, she mentions that no "foreign products" are allowed in the Soviet Union. What does this say about the immediate and psychological effects of the cold war?
ReplyDelete-Rebecca Sai
A common theme in both works appears to be a lack of choice. For example, Draculic talks about how "the state creates fashion" by limiting the availability of cosmetics. Is this theme significant when understanding Cold War literature?
ReplyDeleteHow are the women in these works held back in their respective countries? How does he restrictions of living behind the Iron Curtain mirror the struggles for women's rights in America around the same time? How does the main character in Elizabeth Arden relate to the women depicted in Mad Men, and do they share similar struggles?
ReplyDeleteAfter the narrator of "Elizabeth Arden" gets arrested, she mentions that she dreams of cosmetician every once in a while. For some reason whenever the cosmetician is in her dream, something good followed the next day. Why do you think the narrator believes some of her luckiest days in prison are a result of the cosmetician appearing in her dreams?
ReplyDeleteWhy do most of the stories that we have read focus on color? Does it portray a political or cultural meaning, or as one of the audience members put it in last nights discussion "was there actually an absence of color in the eastern bloc?" In Elizabeth Arden, the main character suggests that her dark freckles are a "mark of Cain," while she describes the western beautician as having "pink along her rounded cheek bones... and light blue eyes."
ReplyDeleteIn the Mad Men, women seems to be more than regular customers of the salon. The women depicts the salon as a place for gathering and to share their struggles. Therefore, can the salon be consider as a symbolism of female unity? And how can that relate to the gender role struggle in "Elizabeth Arden"?
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the Drakulic's piece, one quote stood out to me. She writes, "Besides, women were equal under the law, why would they need to please men by using all these beauty aids and tricks?" (p 23). I had to read this a couple of times. This is crazy. How did this make sense to women? If you take this thought back to the movie, Circus, how did women seem to get around this problem of not being allowed to use makeup?
ReplyDeleteIn Elizabeth Arden its interesting how the narrator describes the cosmetician with such beautiful and descriptive language and then shortly after states that things will not work out for her "because she is too conspicuous." What is the purpose of this juxtaposition and what can what meaning can we extrapolate?
ReplyDeleteIn "Make Up and Other Crucial Questions," it mentions that it was important for all women to be equal and for one not to stand out more than another through aesthetics. "A nicely dressed women was subject to suspicion, and sometimes even interrogation." How does that differ from the desire of the women in "Elizabeth Arden" and Betty from Mad Men?
ReplyDeleteThe Beauty Parlor/Salon in Mad Men can be seen as a gathering location for Women to discuss their struggles for Women's Rights and fear of missile crisis. How is such situation related to the experiences of Elizabeth Arden?
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