Abstract
“Let them eat cake, she says”: Assessing Marie-Antoinette’s Image examines key historical moments in which the ill-fated French queen appears in the mainstream popular culture of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, such as the rise of Austro-Fascism in the late 1920s and 1930s, the Great Depression, or the Women’s Liberation (uman ribu) movement in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s. By analyzing the aspects of her representation in films, books, anime, and manga, and the political and economic circumstances in which these cultural works were created, we can see that during moments of political or economic upheaval or a major shift in gender roles, Marie-Antoinette appears as a figure of dignified motherhood, royalty, or simply as an ordinary woman thrust into extraordinary circumstances.
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Notes
- 1.
Robert Brent Toplin, History by Hollywood: The Use and Abuse of the American Past (Urbana & Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1996), vii.
- 2.
Of course, the kingdom of Austria-Hungary had existed prior to 1867. The Austrian Habsburgs had ruled in the area since the middle ages, but it was not until 1867 that the Austro-Hungarian Compromise was signed. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken up in 1919 by the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, one of the many treaties crafted at Versailles after World War I.
- 3.
David Clay Large, Between Two Fires: Europe’s Path in the 1930s (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1990), 60.
- 4.
Large, Between Two Fires, 61.
- 5.
Large, Between Two Fires, 63–64.
- 6.
Large, Between Two Fires, 65.
- 7.
Large, Between Two Fires, 66–74.
- 8.
Large, Between Two Fires, 74–77.
- 9.
There do not seem to be any documentary sources to point to why, exactly, he found Marie Antoinette so fascinating. There is little rhyme or reason to his biographies, as his own biographer pointed out, “The subjects he chose were a continual source of speculation and criticism.” Elizabeth Allday, Stefan Zweig (London: W. & J. Mackay Limited, 1972), 16.
- 10.
Stefan Zweig, Marie Antoinette: Portrait of an Average Woman, trans. Eden Paul and Cedar Paul (New York: The Viking Press, 1933), 220, 203, 381.
- 11.
Zweig, Marie Antoinette, 203.
- 12.
Zweig, Marie Antoinette, 203.
- 13.
Zweig, Marie Antoinette, 381.
- 14.
Michelle Pautz, “The Decline in Average Weekly Cinema Attendance: 1930–2000,” Issues in Political Economy 11, Summer (2002): 54–65.
- 15.
Pautz, “The Decline in Average Weekly Cinema Attendance,” 1.
- 16.
Important to note—Television significantly contributed to a decline of movie attendance, as media consumers could simply achieve that escape in the comfort of their own homes.
- 17.
Although they did recreate the French royal residence, they did so on a much larger scale, especially for the ballroom scenes. Douglas W. Churchill, “Hollywood Cake,” The New York Times, May 22, 1938, sec. Screen. Douglas W. Churchill, “Hollywood Turns Back the Clock,” The New York Times, August 15, 1937, sec.
- 18.
Screen. “Casting Started on Shearer Film,” The New York Times, October 8, 1937, sec. Amusements.
- 19.
“Van Dyke, The Trouble-Shooter,” The New York Times, August 14, 1938.
- 20.
“Van Dyke, The Trouble-Shooter,” The New York Times, August 14, 1938.
- 21.
Alice Kessler-Harris, In Pursuit of Equity: Women, Men, and the Quest for Economic Citizenship in 20th Century America (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 35.
- 22.
Kessler-Harris, In Pursuit of Equity, 59.
- 23.
Abraham Epstein, Insecurity, a challenge to America; a study of social insurance in the United States and abroad (New York: H. Smith and R. Haas, 1933), 101.
- 24.
Kessler-Harris, In Pursuit of Equity, 59.
- 25.
Kessler-Harris, In Pursuit of Equity, 59–60.
- 26.
Zweig, Marie Antoinette, 139.
- 27.
Zweig, Marie Antoinette, 140.
- 28.
Antonia Fraser, Marie Antoinette: The Journey (New York: Doubleday, 2001), 68–69.
- 29.
Lesley H. Walker, A Mother’s Love: Crafting Feminine Virtue in Enlightenment France (Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses, 2008), 15.
- 30.
Walker, A Mother’s Love, 130.
- 31.
Bosley Crowther, “The Queen was in her Parlor-at the Waldorf,” The New York Times, August 21, 1938.
- 32.
Zweig, Marie Antoinette, 454.
- 33.
Zweig, Marie Antoinette, 454.
- 34.
Robert O. Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), 96.
- 35.
“Japan in Nanking,” The New York Times, December 19, 1937.
- 36.
Manga is a Japanese comic, and a manga-ka is the writer/artist who creates manga.
- 37.
As of the time of this publication, The Rose of Versaillesanime series was available at http://www.crunchyroll.com/
- 38.
The Rose of Versailles, DVD (1979: Japan: Nozomi Entertainment, 2015), Episode 2.
- 39.
The Rose of Versailles, DVD (1979; Japan: Nozomi Entertainment, 2015), Episode 3.
- 40.
The Rose of Versailles, DVD (1979; Japan: Nozomi Entertainment, 2015), Episode 3.
- 41.
Anne McKnight, “Frenchness and Transformation in Japanese Subculture, 1973–2004,” Mechademia 5, Fanthropologies (2010): 118–137, 120.
- 42.
McKnight, “Frenchness and Transformation…,” 120.
- 43.
Setsu Shigematsu, Scream from the Shadows: The Women’s Liberation Movement in Japan, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012), xvi.
- 44.
Shigematsu, Scream from the Shadows, xx.
- 45.
The Rose of Versailles, DVD (1980; Japan: Nozomi Entertainment, 2015), Episode 22.
- 46.
Nobuko Anan, “The Rose of Versailles: Women and Revolution in Girls’ Manga and the Socialist Movement in Japan,” The Journal of Popular Culture 7, no. 1 (2014): 41–63, 48.
- 47.
Riyoko Ikeda. Berusaiyu no bara daijiten. (Tokyo: Shueisha, 2003), 146. Translated by Nobuko Anan.
- 48.
Anan, “The Rose of Versailles,” 52.
- 49.
Fraser, Marie Antoinette.
- 50.
Marie Antoinette. DVD, directed by Sofia Coppola (2006; USA: Columbia Pictures, 2007).
- 51.
Christina Lane and Nicole Richter, “The Feminist Poetics of Sofia Coppola: Spectacle and Self-Consciousness in Marie Antoinette (2006),” in Feminism at the Movies: Understanding Gender in Contemporary Popular Culture, ed. Hilary Radner and Rebecca Stringer (New York: Routledge, 2011), 190.
- 52.
It was also in this bedchamber that Antoinette learned the rigors of French court ritual and the utter lack of privacy that would mark her life as dauphine, “This is ridiculous,” says the dauphine, after waiting in the cold, nude, for her dressing gown, “This, Madame, is Versailles,” replies the Comtesse de Noailles. Sofia Coppola, Marie Antoinette (Sony Pictures, 2006).
- 53.
Chris Tookey, “Pssssst: You’re the Paris Hilton of Versailles,” accessed December 11, 2017, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-411588/Pssssst-Youre-Paris-Hilton-Versailles.html; Susan Grigsby, “Paris Hilton, the Marie Antoinette of Our Era,” last modified April 22, 2014, https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/4/22/1293903/-Paris-Hilton-the-Marie-Antoinette-of-Our-Era; Victoria Moorhouse, “Paris Hilton’s Beauty Routine Isn’t What You’d Expect—It’s Better,” last modified May 05, 2016, http://www.instyle.com/beauty/paris-hilton-interview
- 54.
Paris Hilton (@ParisHilton), “My dogs live in this two-story doggy mansion…,” Tweet, August 25, 2017, https://twitter.com/ParisHilton/status/901082063922769921. Such as this two-story house which she had built for her dog. It also has heating and air conditioning.
- 55.
Yes, this is the line from Queen’s song “Killer Queen.”
- 56.
“I have ever believed,” wrote Jefferson in his autobiography, “that had there been no queen, there would have been no revolution,” Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson, 1743–1790 (New York and London: The Knickerbocker Press, 1914), 149, 150.
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“Casting Started on Shearer Film.” The New York Times. October 8, 1937, sec. Amusements.
Churchill, Douglas W. “Hollywood Cake.” The New York Times. May 22, 1938, sec. Screen.
———. “Hollywood Turns Back the Clock.” The New York Times. August 15, 1937, sec. Screen.
Doyle, William. The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Epstein, Abraham. Insecurity, a Challenge to America; a Study of Social Insurance in the United States and Abroad. New York: H. Smith and R. Haas, 1933.
Kessler-Harris, Alice. In Pursuit of Equity: Women, Men, and the Quest for Economic Citizenship in 20th Century America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Lane, Christina, and Nicole Richter. “The Feminist Poetics of Sofia Coppola: Spectacle and Self-Consciousness in Marie Antoinette (2006).” In Feminism at the Movies: Understanding Gender in Contemporary Popular Culture, edited by Hilary Radner and Rebecca Stringer. New York: Routledge, 2011.
Large, David Clay. Between Two Fires: Europe’s Path in the 1930s. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1990.
McKnight, Anne. “Frenchness and Transformation in Japanese Subculture, 1973–2004.” Mechademia 5, no. Fanthropologies (2010): 118–37.
Pautz, Michelle. “The Decline in Average Weekly Cinema Attendance: 1930–2000.” Issues in Political Economy 11, no. Summer (2002): 54–65.
Setsu Shigematsu. Scream from the Shadows: The Women’s Liberation Movement in Japan. Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 2012.
Toplin, Robert Brent. History by Hollywood: The Use and Abuse of the American Past. Urbana & Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1996.
Walker, Lesley H. A Mother’s Love: Crafting Feminine Virtue in Enlightenment France. Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses, 2008.
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Herber, C. (2019). “Let them eat cake, she says”: Assessing Marie-Antoinette’s Image. In: Paranque, E. (eds) Remembering Queens and Kings of Early Modern England and France. Queenship and Power. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22344-1_16
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