Michaela West
Julia Gutierrez
WST 300
November 1, 2017
Intersectionality and Audrey Hepburn The image of Audrey Hepburn is one most people in America have seen. Even more common is the image of Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. Perhaps seen as often as Marilyn Monroe’s iconic white dress picture, Audrey Hepburn’s portrayal of Golightly is incredibly famous. The image to be focused on for this paper will be that of her smiling at the camera, wearing long black gloves, hair up with a diamond accessory, strings of pearls around her neck and of course holding her long cigarette holder. Seemingly all sophistication and grace, this photo has entranced thousands since “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” was released in 1961. The popularity isn’t something to be contested certainly. What will be discussed here is the appeal of the image, what it represents and how this image is seen through the lenses of intersectionality.
…show more content…
She has represented class, grace and originality for me since I first saw her in “Sabrina” when I was a child. Being a White American woman from a middle-class family in Colorado, the lack of diversity, emphasis on heteronormativity and desperation for wealth didn’t seem out of the normal for me. In fact, in my eyes Audrey Hepburn (and her portrayal of Holly Golightly) was fascinating. She had the ability to be beautiful seemingly effortlessly and to fall in love and not be controlled by it. After objectively viewing this image with intersectional concepts in mind, I will revisit my position on this image of Audrey Hepburn, and everything that is represents. In “Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory” Rosemarie Garland-Thomson explains what these concepts are. “Feminist theory is a collaborative, interdisciplinary