HW #57 - Initial Thoughts On Prom

My first memories of prom include standing at my kitchen counter and enthusiastically asking my mom if she had been to one, what she had worn, what color her dress was, who her date was, what it was like, and so on. For some reason, the idea of prom seemed absolutely sublime. In light of today's discussion, perhaps I felt that it was the only realistic way to live a fairytale, if only for an evening. I played many princess games when young, but was also generally regarded as a tom-boy by my fellow play mates. Sometimes I would walk up to a few girls to find out what they were playing and pronounce, "Ohhh Barbies. I'm going to go play tag with the boys!" Perhaps I would have found prom silly just as I found Barbies silly if romantic fairytales such as Cinderella had not been heavily indoctrinated into my mind as the ideal during my youth. Instead, I fantasized over prom; I did not fully understand what people did at their proms, but I figured every moment would be just as fun as the part where the handsomely dressed, tall and faceless male picks up my dressy self, whisks me away, and walks with me into a large, fancy room full of friends.

I think I and many others are influenced by the excited, wistful tone with which people reference prom. "I just bought my prom dress! ____ is taking me. What should I do with my hair?" It never struck me as odd that so much expense, time and thought go toward an experience meant to be carefree. It seemed perfectly natural that someone would care about such an important event. Why was it important? I don't know.  Perhaps I was so keen to attend a prom because I was homeschooled and knew my future probably would not include one. I found out later that there is a prom for homeschooler's, and one of my friends modeled her prom outfit for me and let me try it on. I did not realize it at the time, but we were playing grown-up dress-up. I think advertisers know that there is a reason why youth find dress-up attractive, and suspect that the cause does not end when people mature.

Perhaps it is a sort of manufactured modern fairy tale; a playful way of living Cinderella's evening. Maybe my current circumstances were like Cinderella's: coated with soot and full of unjust labor. Hence, prom is a way of reaching toward a blissful, responsibility-free lifestyle. Incidentally, many teenagers like the concept of this kind of lifestyle and yet still strive to obtain the accompaniments of responsibility (such as making important financial decisions over matters of fashion, transportation, and entry to parties). The culture of adolescence is, I think, essentially defined by an age of people who want (and sometimes recieve) the responsibilities of adulthood and yet use childish reasoning and fairytale ideals. It comes as no surprise as me that producers of prom products do not mind that they are encouraging an immature practice; it would not be the first time.

Questions:
-Do people who profess to hate prom secretly or subconsciously wish to attend?
-How can different the theories of different psychologists such as Freud, Laing, Jung, Skinner, Maslow, Piaget, Frankl and Kohlberg be applied to the dominant or uncommon discourses of prom?
-Would people who attended prom at the time of its origin be ashamed, angry, delighted or baffled by modern proms?
-How do proms differ between rural, suburban and urban regions?