Department of English, University of Louisville
Phone: (502)852-6770 or (502)852-6801. Fax: (502)852-4182.
On the Olympics and class: I agree w/ Potter Palmer, but I have two
supplements: 1) the class lines were also drawn along body type and skating
style, w/ Harding as the "athletic" but "ungraceful" one and Kerrigan as the
more ideally "feminine." It was convenient for this narrative that Kerrigan
was thinner. But then 2) here in KY, at least, there was a backlash--the
public began to favor Harding as someone who "worked for what she got" and who
was, in effect, a "self-made woman," rather than a child of privilege. Just at
the moment that it seemed the Kerrigan image was backfiring, I began to hear
about her playing hockey with her brothers, and I heard at least one report
mentioning that she was the daughter of a welder. Interesting how fast images
can be reshaped, or at least revised, in a postmodern context. I guess this
has to do w/ the fact that both women are, in media, simulacra anyway.
 
bitnet tbbyer01@ulkyvm; internet [log in to unmask]
Thomas B. Byers
Department of English/University of Louisville
Louisville KY 40292