One of my sources is an article published in Popular Music and Society by Linda Lister regarding the deification of women in music. Her article discusses three specific types of "divas;" put bluntly, the 'actually vocally talented ones,' the ones 'famous for the visual performance,' and the 'renaissance performer,' who sings, plays instruments, and writes music. She named a mascot for each group - 'the voice' is personified by Barbara Streisand, the 'visual diva' is personified by Madonna, and the 'renaissance performer' is personified by nearly everyone who performed at the Lilith Fair Festival. She briefly discusses the cyclic resurgence of this 'deification' phenomenon occurring every hundred years, first in the mid 19th century with the popularity of bel canto, then in the mid 20th century, specifically with Maria Callas as the main 'diva' of the time period, and currently (rather, as current as 2001) the women in popular music are elevated to 'diva' status.
The first thing I noticed upon reading this article was how clear the author's opinions of each of the specific groups were. It was almost unsettling seeing her loaded words. In specific, "....recognized primarily for sheer vocal talent, however wisely or inanely utilized,' when discussing the prima donna, and 'this category may reveal the most positive prospects for women in pop music. Instead of simply being celebrated for their physical or vocal beauty, .......also revered for [intellectual gifts.] And discussed how 'uniting female singers in a music festival may help to combat the prima donna stereotype of 'bitch.' She later goes on to categorize several of the 'Divas' of this generation.
She labels Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion as the 'Prima Divas,' and pokes fun at the media's portrayal of Mariah Carey, which at some point went so far as to say that her vocal range exceeded the range of a piano. She also criticizes Celine Dion, saying that she "seems to suffer from an identity crisis," saying her vocal effects emulate the style of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, even going so far to say that her voice sounds 'eerily similar' to Barbara Streisand, and that her performances are too intense and 'self-flagellating,' yet are distinctly uniform and lack subtlety, blaming it on 'an inability to fully express herself in something other than her native tongue.' Lister nearly insults her fans/audience saying that despite how 'little personality" is present in her voice, her fans 'still react to the visceral thrill of ornate vocal feats.' "Her premature exit from the industry may have ensured her position as a deified diva" simply because she never petered out, much in the way that Britney Spears did.
Very little is positively said about any of the women in the 'prima diva' category, except for the given that they have vocal ability.
The 'Madonna's receive little more than acknowledgment of their image-based fame. She flippantly describes Madonna herself as constantly reinventing herself for the sake of her audience. She discusses her highly sexualized image, and I have a difficult time discerning rather she is stating this neutrally or negatively, although"Only she knows if her exhibitionism is sincere self-expression of carefully engineered self-promotion' seems to speak volumes. She seems to respect Courtney Love at least, for growing from the death of Kurt Cobain, rather than 'going the way of The Bell Jar,' but clearly does not believe she is a worthwhile musician, going so far as to quote someone's description of her voice as " the amelodic howls of [a] caterwauling ex-stripper. Harsh. Just harsh.
After this - she discusses the 'Liliths,' which is a group Lister clearly has a great respect for. Rather than her largely negative critiques of the members of the other groups, her words about these renaissance women are significantly more supportive, saying that "the Lilith festival served as a celebration and collaboration of female artists who sometimes hve trouble finding a forum in the male-dominated world of rock music." I did find it a little funny however, that in discussing Jewel, who Lister labeled as one of the "Liliths," she spent a fair amount of space on her appearance and musical ability, as she previously said that these women were the ones who were talented in all the musical areas.
I would have felt worth mentioning in this paper the origins of the name of the Lilith Fair. She did mention that some religious figure called for a boycott of Lilith Fair in 1999, however she neglected to discuss why the boycott happened, which makes Reverend Jerry Falwall seem like a misogynist jerk. While he may have actually been a misogynist jerk, he called for the boycott because of the demonic connotations of the name Lilith. In some translations of various religious texts, she's a demon, akin to a succubus, and goes around generally being a bitch. In other translations, she was Adam's first wife, before Eve. She was created the same as him, rather than being taken from a piece of him, and as such refused to be subservient to Adam. Now, of course, we can't have women doing THAT, so she either got kicked out, or shacked up with the angel Samael (depending on your translation) and refused to come back. It would seem that Lister would most likely go with the 'shacking up with Samael' translation, as doing so effectively catapults her to a more 'godly' status,' and the entire point of her paper deals with the 'deification' of women in the pop music world. Maybe she figured we already knew this, but personally I would have put things in context.
Is the "Lilith Cult" a form of Goddess worship? Maybe - certainly the amount that people fawn over these 'divas' is a bit ridiculous and can border on fanatical, but maybe those that subscribe to the 'cult' mentality are lacking a more realistic version of what they believe their diva represents to them. If I respect Madonna for being so free and open about her body and being a sexual being, perhaps I am sexually repressed and lack a healthy dose of respect for my body. I applaud her optimism that the deification is starting to remove the negative stigma attached to divas, however I doubt that it's the case. As any Saturday morning/after school cartoon will tell you, it's usually better not to meet your idols, because they're almost all jerks and full of themselves.
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