Gender portrayal in musicals (Critical Literacy)

Focus-representations
Vocab-stereotypes, construction, bias, gender, masculinity, femanity

Masculine:
woodcutting/lumberjack
barbeque, rugby, alcohol

Feminine:
the colour pink
raising children, cooking and cleaning


LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS: (1960s) Somewhere Green (interpretation)
 How does the text depict age, gender, and cultural groups?
In 'Somewhere Green', the woman is portrayed as soft, pink, delicate - a complete stereotype of women and femininity. It's almost as if she wants everything to be perfect, 'somewhere green' after reading a magazine where everything is perfect, and she longs for a life like that, a future just slightly out of her reach. 

Whose views are excluded or privileged in the text?
It's the woman's views who are privileged in this text, the man and children are mentioned only very briefly. As this is a song written purposefully to depict the emotions many women in the 60s maybe felt, it is only natural for the woman to sing it. The men and children's perspectives have been left out purposefully. 

What if this text was told in a different time period?
If this text as told in a different time period, or if it were made now, it may have seemed that the director was challenging gender stereotypes back in the 60's, by making it 'satirical' or emphasising the stereotype that now seems very wrong in modern-day society. 

Why has the composer of the text presented certain people in certain ways?
The director composed the woman to be very stereotypical as it is how women were viewed, or had to be like, in the 60's. Women often had to cook and clean and raise the children whereas men had the high-paying jobs and owned the fancy cars and houses. Women were literally there to do the work only. 

LEGALLY BLONDE (2010's) I'm So Much Better (interpretation)

In Legally Blonde the woman's goals are much bigger and better, and they are achievable because of how the world has changed in contrast to what stereotypical women were actually able to do. 
Back in the 60's, women definitely did not go to law school, whereas in Legally Blonde, times have changed and so this woman is able to achieve her dreams. 
The women from Legally Blonde and Little Shop of Horrors each have goals, but they are very different.