The Dixie Chicks Have It All, Sort Of May 13, 2007
Posted by priyanka in dixie chicks, morality, motherhood.1 comment so far
I wanted to bring up one aspect of Shut Up and Sing that we didn’t get a chance to discuss in class, which is the Dixie Chicks as mothers. This movie is in many ways about being a performer and a parent, entire families going on the road, the negotiation of their marriages, etc. That was one of the most compelling parts of the film for me, and it seemed like these women’s clear investment in their families and friends gave them some kind of edge over their professional situation.
They had strong relationships with one another and dozens of family members, friends, and crew all out on the road together, in what seemed to be a pretty warm, supportive community. It got me thinking about the work+family problem that we’ve discussed so many times. Of course the movie addresses many of the familial tensions that result from such high-powered careers (especially in the segment starting around 57:54). Emily Robison talks about the struggle of not always getting to see her youngest child and having to do work in Los Angeles when she just wants to be at home at their ranch in Texas.
But for the most part I think the emphasis on family in this movie indicates that these women have worked out some kind of functioning system (I love the part where they walk offstage at the end of a show and immediately ask for their babies). Clearly they have a TON of money, and it is that money that enables them to stay together as friends and as family without compromising their professional lives (what happens to the families of their crew, we might wonder). But also we get the sense, at least from the movie, that they have a clear sense of what matters most to them. They were upset by the boycotting and threatening and the decline in ticket sales, etc., but they also seemed to care more about their relationships with one another, their families, and their artistic integrity. We’ve talked some about girl power implying a stronger moral compass, often granted to women by motherhood, and I think Shut Up and Sing sends that message (offset, of course, by Natalie Maines’s fabulous pottymouth).
Also, check out this ThinkProgress piece on how NBC refused to play the Shut Up and Sing trailer because it disparaged Bush. (You can watch the trailer on the site.)
