Dancehall Queen, a film that follows the life of a woman named Marcia, tells the story of how she achieves upper mobility from a street vendor to defeating the reigning dancehall queen. Many aspects of this film pertained to the lectures and readings we discussed in class. In my opinion, the movie does a great job of covering all the concepts we covered in class that relate to the British Caribbean lifestyle which consist of; Beauty as a cultural construct for upper mobility, popular culture, and hegemony. Throughout the movie, the idea of using beauty as a construct for upward social mobility is very present. Early in the movie, Maria is dependent on her brother, after events occur and can no longer depend on her brother she is tasked with
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uptown class system, the socio-economic disparity improved, but standards of beauty and status were still primarily determined by race and geographical location in Kingston. As described by Ulysee, the ICI’s attempt to blur these lines by going to the salon to receive a hairstyle and observe younger women so that they can mimic the look of an uptown lady. “This weekly ritual was important to the ICI’s for several reasons. It contradicts an existing stereotype of the ICI and her foremother the higgler, as a plain large unsophisticated (unfashionable and cosmetically unmade) “woman” who has been historically juxtaposed against the “lady”” (Ulysee 151). For the jamaican women involved in international trading, known as Informal Commercial Importers, or ICIs, there was now a way for them to earn a living. Many of these women had such success that they were able to transcend these set boundaries of race, gender, and spatial arrangement so that their children can also achieve upward social mobility. As seen repeatedly in the film, Marcia first hustles the streets as an ICI for money to support her children but when that proves to be insufficient, turns to a more lucrative profession as a dancehall queen. Without the popularization of this new culture in downtown Kingston, Marcia would not have achieved the success and power she
uptown class system, the socio-economic disparity improved, but standards of beauty and status were still primarily determined by race and geographical location in Kingston. As described by Ulysee, the ICI’s attempt to blur these lines by going to the salon to receive a hairstyle and observe younger women so that they can mimic the look of an uptown lady. “This weekly ritual was important to the ICI’s for several reasons. It contradicts an existing stereotype of the ICI and her foremother the higgler, as a plain large unsophisticated (unfashionable and cosmetically unmade) “woman” who has been historically juxtaposed against the “lady”” (Ulysee 151). For the jamaican women involved in international trading, known as Informal Commercial Importers, or ICIs, there was now a way for them to earn a living. Many of these women had such success that they were able to transcend these set boundaries of race, gender, and spatial arrangement so that their children can also achieve upward social mobility. As seen repeatedly in the film, Marcia first hustles the streets as an ICI for money to support her children but when that proves to be insufficient, turns to a more lucrative profession as a dancehall queen. Without the popularization of this new culture in downtown Kingston, Marcia would not have achieved the success and power she