While reading Mellencamp's essay on Gracie and Lucy for this week, I was struck by a line that I didn't notice the first time I read this piece last semester. In describing the on-screen relationship between Lucy and Ricky, Mellencamp states "Lucy [is] the rebellious child whom the husband/father Ricky endured, understood, loved, and even punished, as, for example, when he spanked her for her continual disobedience" (88). WTF?!?!
I remembered that a few years ago Andrew Heisel wrote a long-form story for Jezebel where he traced the history of women being spanked by their romantic partners in films in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Heisel analysis about spanking on-screen, the reaction to it in the fan mags, and court cases of women who were spanked by their husbands in real life is really informative.
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