Girls by Author Erika Fricke

¶ … Girls by author Erika Fricke compares and contrasts the successful careers of Madonna and Dolly Parton. She explains why each entertainer's different style propelled her into stardom and why it has continued to work for them for so long. In other respects, Madonna and Dolly Parton are a study in contrasts and Fricke also examines that dimension as well. Madonna's success lies in her ability to shape shift. Her first single actually enjoyed more play on R&B stations, because she sounded black. In a video she was portrayed as Latina. Still, perhaps her best performance was convincing her audience that she was from a working class and primarily black neighborhood. According to Fricke, Madonna really came from a "middle-class family "with a six-figure income. She was a cheerleader with straight "A's." Meanwhile, Dolly Parton's success actually represents the classic "American success story, boot-straps and all." Raised in poverty, she worked hard, developed her natural gift, overcame serious challenges, and achieved success.

At the other end of the spectrum, Madonna has always had the luxury of playing a character that her audience is not necessarily expected to believe is a real person. That dynamic has also allowed her to morph virtually at will into numerous different personas as a performer. By contrast, Dolly Parton has expressed her belief that she can never "turn her back on Tennessee." In essence, she has always represented the proverbial "poor old country girl" who became fabulous, whereas Madonna has continually cultivated and manipulated her fabulous fabulista persona. Fricke describes Parton as embodying the exaggerated femininity portrayed in a cartoon caricature as a guest star on Alvin and the Chipmunks. Despite aging, Dolly's external image has not changed substantially throughout the years. She routinely relies on self-effacing humor about her looks and the extent to which she has maintained them artificially, quipping "If I see something saggin', baggin', and draggin', I'm going to nip it, tuck it and suck it." In some respects, that provides a good example of what she considers the "Dollyism way."

Fricke devotes considerable attention to this apparent dichotomy between the fundamental honesty and down-to-earth genuineness of a star whose external image and entire professional persona could very easily exemplify the exact opposite, at least on appearances. The author also touches on another curious element of the persona Parton created: namely, that she took the stereotype of the sexualized female that appeals to men, even exaggerating it for effect, yet she has always been able to remain adored by women and the homosexual male drag queen community, all at the same time. All of her audience members likely take away something from her shows. Likewise, Parton's fans love her for being "authentic," "genuine" and "sincere" and for the fact that her personality never changes. Fricke also seems to consider Dolly's self-awareness and sense of humor about herself to be important elements of her persona that immunize her from criticism for being "superficial" or "fake" or for adhering to an image of femininity created by males. In that regard, the standard opening line she uses for her concerts to thank her fans for paying to see her is "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap."

If Dolly Parton maintained her career by emulating the "busty blond with a golden heart" Madonna achieved success through many "reinventions and possibilities" of her Madonna persona. In doing so, the one constant seems to have been that she always had a "desire to push the boundaries" during her career. The author recounts memories of her sister trying to dress in the "Material Girl 80's-era, can-can, dancer/street urchin togs" that Madonna popularized in her heyday. According to Fricke, Madonna transformed herself continually almost like a chameleon. Whereas part of Parton's charm has always been her sense of humor about herself, "for Madonna, the medium-or, in her case, the image-is the message."