The Blue Jean as Cultural Metaophor :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Blue Jean as Cultural Metaophor It may seem odd to consider items of clothing critical components of pop goal. Contemporary clothing is a key element in the construction of personal identity it is used to denote an individual style and a nature unique to its wearer. Yet from the corset to miniskirt, such items serve not only as practical coverings, but also as indicators for the current values and doctrine systems of a society. Thus I wish to examine what has become a most popular article of clothing the blue jean1 1 - in an attempt to unearth some of the socio-cultural phenomenon that is popular culture. According to Raymond Williams definition, the blue jean qualifies as an object of popular culture due to its (a) wide-spread accessibility, (b) popularity, and (c) construction as an object intended to be popular.2 2 But perhaps the blue jean is not only a product, a piece of commercialism. I assert, rather, that this cultural motion picture has become a gauge of changing interpretations of masculinity in mainstream American culture. The blue jean, symbolically, is the white, middle-class, All-American man. I would like to examine what, specifically, makes the blue jean stereotypically virile. Historically, fashion has upheld socially constructed notions of gender the corset, for example, helped contain a womans uncontrollable body, while the suspender maintained coverage of a mans unmentionables. Similarly, from its design as a durable work pant for working men and laborers (farmers, railroad men, gold and coal miners, etc.), 33 the blue jean is closely associated with a muscular, super-virile He-Man.4 4 First made wildly popular by the Western films of the 1930s, jeans became identified as a standard item of apparel worn by the cowboy.5 5 Even mainstream advertising for these durable denim pants featured manly rangers, taming their horses and lassoing the competition (image 1a). The concept of a heroic, blue-jeaned Lone-R anger-esque cowboy seems to have remained in popular American psyche, as it is nostalgically associated with a notion of old-fashioned, well-mannered, moral man (image 1b). Authentic cowboys wearing Levis at this time were elevated to fabulous status, and the pant was now associated more with a rugged American, symbolized by John Wayne. 66 (Wayne, for example, always seemed ready for action with a holster comfortably around his jeans image 1c).