In the late ’90s, some students told me that she reminded them of Bea Arthur, who played Dorothy Zbornak on “The Golden Girls.” My old students said I looked like actress Joanne Woodward. I was also compared to Glenn Close. And to Lorraine Bracco, who played Tony’s psychiatrist Dr. Melfi on “The Sopranos.”
What do all these actors have in common? They are white women who were born a long time ago and learned about World War II as a current event. Whether they look like me or not depends on how they appear in the eye of the beholder. They also represented cultural waves, and students of all ages connected me to the women on screen at the time. Today’s students are probably asking, “Who is Joan?”
Making connections between the familiar and the unfamiliar helps us understand new people and things. When sea-accustomed settlers moved to the prairies of the Midwest, the term “grass wave” was coined. That’s an appropriate explanation. If you’ve never seen a prairie, you can imagine it better if you imagine it moving like the waves you see at home.
pattern recognition
The same is true for humans. We use pattern recognition to focus on similarities in faces, colors, shapes, voices, and mannerisms between strangers and people we know. It’s a bit of a social simile. We can relax around people who remind us of others. we know what will happen.
I think the new students thought I looked like Joanne Woodward and decided they could trust me. Glenn Close has the same color as me and a slightly similar jawline. I share a vocal pattern with Lorraine Bracco. In Bea Arthur’s case, it was probably attitude in addition to looks.
Conversely, we are constantly wondering how to deal with people who don’t fit our cultural patterns, whether they have a different skin color, larger or smaller facial features, or are just plain wrong. I don’t understand. Perhaps their voices are too loud or too soft. They are either too feminine or not feminine enough. We often label these people as untrustworthy and even unlikable, usually unconsciously. They exist outside of our bubble.
Advances in media expression
Fortunately, we have made great strides in media representation of people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, women, and other groups, moving beyond the narrow 1950s “Leave It to Beaver” tropes. This reflects the diverse planet we share. Viola Davis and Sandra Oh are on the screen. My hope is that this will increase the likelihood that students will have a recognizable role model when a woman of color appears in front of the classroom. This expands our bubble and connects us rather than separates us.
I often felt too big, clumsy, and too loud to be socially appropriate. So thank God Bea Arthur, a tall, opinionated Eastern European like me, has made a career of playing strong women who break down social barriers. She stood up to the racist and sexist Archie on All in the Family, and her character on Maude gets pregnant at 47 and has an abortion, a decision that It showed how painful and complicated it was. In 1972, such truths were rarely told on television, and the backlash against the show never subsided.
Bea Arthur, who passed away in 2009, continued to play women who stood up and stood out. I’m proud that my students saw that part of her in me. Maud and Dorothy Zbornak get the job done. It’s a pattern I’m happy to repeat.
Copyright Patricia Prijatel, 2024
