Another reason she was not the most popular person to work with was her view on homosexuality. Even being a part of the theatre and dance world, in which homosexuality was normally accepted or ignored, she remained homophobic (Long, 57). She often would make rude or inappropriate comments that damaged her reputation in the industry.
http://en.geneastar.org/genealogie/?refcelebrite=demillea&celebrite=Agnes-DE+MILLE
A lot of her personality can be contributed to her upbringing. She touches on the subject in many of her books. Though her parents seemed to be happily in love to her as a child, they were left by her father. Her father was never supportive of her choice to pursue dance as a career, and never seemed to be pleased with her work. She had to overcome poverty and struggles before she became successful. For this reason, her drive for success may have hurt people along the way that she never even realized. Actor James Mitchell wrote about de Mille, "She won some great battles and took enormous losses, but she never lost her awesome will to leave her mark on her time" (Long, 59).
I never knew much about Agnes de Mille outside of her professional career and it is very interesting to me to find out that she seemed to be homophobic or at least somewhat hateful toward homosexuals. Especially considering the absence of her father in her life it makes me wonder if she was just hateful towards men in general. I would have thought that this may have made her bitter towards straight men or at least towards the idea of marriage (something that is not very available to gays even still today) instead of just homosexuality in general.
ReplyDeleteDo you know (besides the homophobia, which is its own issue) what aspects of her personality people tended to be bothered by? The feminist in me wonders if she was unpopular because she was often in leadership roles and, in general, she was opinionated and confident. Women still struggle with that today; we're way more likely to refer to females as "bossy", even if they have the same traits as a male with "good leadership skills."
ReplyDeleteCallie, I wholeheartedly agree. Powerful women today, those in positions of power, are often rumored to be "bitchy" or "high maintenance", and I would most likely assume that this negative reputation at least partially stemmed from this concept (whether or not she was homophobic/racist/bigoted). She appears to have been successful in her career despite any rumors (or truth) of her unattractive personality.
ReplyDeleteThis is so fascinating. I definitely agree with the two ladies above who have commented on society's tendency to be afraid of powerful women and thus translate that fear into disapproval and an assumption that this woman is a "bitch". Agnes must have had it rough especially in her time period, as I only have our modern society to compare it to, but given the inequalities women face even in 2015...she must have had a hard road to get to where she was. Thank goodness for women like her who have helped to pave the way who had even more of an uphill battle than women today do.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting theme and through-line for her life and career. I hear so often that the exact same aspects of our personalities that make us good or successful at some things will also make us really bad at other things. It sounds like this holds true for Agnes: her determination and strong will helped her to push though her long career, but also made her a difficult collaborator, which tripped her up along the way.
ReplyDelete