HW 57 - Initial Thoughts on Prom

I've never been to a prom, but I almost went to one this year. My mom's friend has two sons, and one of them got rejected by 3 girls to prom, so my mom asked me if I would go with him. I cringed at the thought. He's not mean, nor ugly, but we're not close friends. Not to mention the fact that my mom had just technically asked me to go to prom. But I also didn't want the embarrassment of walking into a room full of strangers, who all know one another and have set cliques.I didn't want to be an outsider. But at the same time, I didn't want to be the fourth girl to turn this poor guy down. Luckily for me, he got asked by a girl about a week later. 

This situation made me think a lot about prom stereotypes. There's the loser guy who can't get a date, the pretty, smart, nice girl who is clearly going to win prom queen, there are the girls who turn down the loser guy because they want someone more popular to ask them, and the couple that has been going out for over a year. The list could go on for quite some time, but those are the first few that popped up in my head. This relates back to the video trailer we saw for the new Disney movie, "Prom". The trailer focuses on some of the main stereotypes- The pretty girl, the bad boy, the nerdy guy, and the couple. I found the trailer to be marketed to the female population- the majority of the girls in the class laughed at all of the right parts and most of the guys just stared at the screen, relatively emotionless. There are definitely gender roles portrayed through prom in different ways, but each way is ritual. Girls wear dresses, boys wear suits. Boys get the girl a corsage, and generally pick them up. Girls pamper themselves earlier in the day, getting their nails and hair done.

There are many different rituals to explore in relation to prom, and not all of them relate to gender, but it's one of the clearer aspects of prom that sticks out to me.

Questions I'd like to explore:

- Why did prom originate/what was the purpose?

- How much money is grossed by the prom industry (dresses, limos, event spaces)?

- Why do people choose to not go to prom?

- How has prom changed over time?
- What are the gender roles that are played out during prom?