I found another academic essay on Cher that came out in 2011: "Cher-ing\/Sharing Across Boundaries" by Loran Masan. The synopsis of it is this: Cher\u2019s multiple performances challenge the concept of a fixed or authentic originality for both gender and ethnicity. They are both performative identities. In other words, you aren\u2019t either masculine or feminine; Black or Hispanic or Jewish as a personality (apart from heritage), you perform these identities culturally.<\/p>\n
Some notable quotes:<\/p>\n
\u201cPeggy Phelan argues \u2018the promise of feminist art is the performative creation of new realities.\u2019 Cher\u2019s persona, performances, and acting career are a microcosm through which to explore theories of drag, masquerade, and performativity, and to critically reapply them to ethnic performances in order to bring to light how this icon of popular culture challenges the myth of authentic or originary gender or ethnic identity and potentially creates new realities…Cher\u2019s subversion comes not from individual performances of identities but from the shifting multiplicity of ethnic performances…the excessive femininities of her costumes and wigs\u2019 identities that exposes the manufacturing of ethnic and\/or gendered identities and rejects ideals of naturalness or authenticity…[and] creating incongruities by claiming many different naturalnesses.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201c…the particular disruption that Cher\u2019s persona creates by refusing to ever settle on a solid authentic or original singular ethnic identity…[ex:] Both of Cher\u2019s previous surnames are obviously ethnically marked [me: three of them are actually: Sarkisian, La Pierre, and Bono] and instead of changing them to some Americanized moniker she drops a last name altogether.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cMary Russo in Female Grotesques: Carnival and Theory, reclaims the idea of \u2018making a spectacle out of oneself\u2019 and maintains the spectacle of female masquerade by women creates unruly representations that can be transgressive, dangerous, and produce a \u2018loss of boundaries.\u2019 This loss of boundaries in masquerade is quite similar to that of drag…\u201d<\/em> <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cNeither Cher\u2019s nor Cher drag queens\u2019 feminine performativity can be read as natural. There is no original because the original is consciously performing herself. Cher\u2019s feminine drag produces a subversion of authenticity.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe academic love affair with Madonna in relation to similar arguments about gender, unruly women, and racial or ethnic celebration frustrated me as I began to meld my love of Cher with my feminist ideals. Where were the academic theorizations of Cher\u2019s persona and career? They are few and far between. \u201c <\/em><\/p>\n Amen sistah.<\/p>\n Cher continually questions authenticity in various ways and THAT <\/em>is the what the rock and roll elite really hates. Because they worship the pose of authenticity. How well Cher sings is really irrelevant isn\u2019t it? And I contend that Cher presents an \u201cunruly woman\u201d (in her costumes, her career choices, her conspicuous consumption) that is affront to what amounts to an essentially ridged and judgemental rock and roll establishment.<\/p>\n She\u2019s truly too unruly for them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I found another academic essay on Cher that came out in 2011: "Cher-ing\/Sharing Across Boundaries" by Loran Masan. The synopsis of it is this: Cher\u2019s multiple performances challenge the concept of a fixed or authentic originality for both gender and ethnicity. They are both performative identities. In other words, you aren\u2019t either masculine or feminine; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[102,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cher-in-art-literature","category-scholarship-in-action","wp-image-borders","post-preview"],"yoast_head":"\n