Matriarchy & Human Fulfillment_____________________

Many popular stories have the ability
to lift the spirits of their audience.
But few achieve this so completely
and evoke so much delight as Oklahoma!.

There is little doubt how the movie is able to
so profoundly affect its audience.
It does so with a combination of song, dance and comedy
that is without parallel in theater or film.
But what is essential is that those elements
express a life-affirming vision,
both in their form and content,
depicting a society that is unmistakably a benevolent matriarchy,
modeled after archetypal characteristics
associated with women.
It is this vision of a matriarchy based on love and acceptance
that gives the movie much of its force.

At the center of this vision is Aunt Eller,
the loving matriarch who oversees a world of peaceful nature
and a society of childlike characters who seem to be
forever celebrating out of the joy of life.
Her role is to keep things under control, solve problems,
and focus people's attention on what is important,
namely happiness and the fulfillment of the heart's desires.

This depiction of a benevolent matriarchy
is different from what one finds in many romantic comedies
in which it is the patriarchal father (or father-surrogate)
who is portrayed as being in control.
In those stories, it is the father's foolishness and opposition to the male hero
that sets the conflict in motion which will culminate
in the triumph of the young hero
and the hero's union with a mate.

By contrast, in Oklahoma! the role of the patriarchal father
is relegated to two secondary characters.
One is Annie's father, Mr. Carnes, a farmer
who is controlling and intimidating
as he pushes Annie to choose an inappropriate husband.
But in much of the movie even he
wants young lovers to be happy and, ultimately,
he accepts Will as his daughter's future husband.

The second patriarchal character -- the federal marshal --
is a considerably more exaggerated figure than Mr. Carnes.
Whereas Mr. Carnes merely provides a contrast to Aunt Eller,
who has the wisdom to let Laurey find her heart's desire,
the marshal's role is to bring about a head-on collision
between benevolent matriarchy and domineering patriarchy
in which the latter will come out the worse for wear.

The conflict between these two forms of authority takes place
after Curly jumps on Jud and brings about his death.
As a result, the marshal says Curly will have to stand trial.
That, in turn, evokes a protest from Aunt Eller
because Curly and Laurey are about to leave for their honeymoon
and a trial will interfere with the natural unfolding of love.
In her value system, it makes no sense
to follow a rule about holding a trial,
just for the sake of following a rule,
when everyone knows Curly wasn't to blame.

As an alternative, Aunt Eller suggests
they hold the trial right there in her farmhouse,
and get it over with,
so the two can get on with the honeymoon.

"Twouldn't be proper. It's got to be done in court'
says the puffed up marshal.

"Oh fiddle sticks. Let's do it here
and say we done it in court," says Aunt Eller.

"Can't do that. That's breakin the law," says the marshal.
"Lets not break the law; lets just bend it a little," says Aunt Eller,
as she motions with her hands
as if she is bending something.

As the marshal protests, pretentiously referring
to his official position, another older male character,
a ranch hand named Mr. Skidmore, says to him:
"Aw shut up about bein federal marshal.
We get to be a state, we're gonna elect ourselves a sheriff.
If you don't keep your mouth shut,
ain't nobody gonna vote for you."

In other words, this is no rule-governed patriarchy
in which people are forced to submit to rigid authority.
In fact, the official authority figure -- the marshal -- is powerless.
This is a populist democracy and if the marshal doesn't bend to the people's will
and go along with their humane values,
they'll boot him out and find someone who will.

As the impromptu trial gets under way
in Aunt Eller and Laurey's farm house,
the other patriarchal figure, Mr. Carnes, is the judge.
But, here, he plays the role of a benevolent father
who shares Aunt Eller's values
and wants a quick trial that won't interfere with the honeymoon.
He does suffer a comic lapse into meaningless rule-following, however,
when he insists he has to pronounce Curly not guilty
for it to be official.
The crowd makes a mockery of his rule
as everyone in the room pronounces Curly not guilty in unison.

As we watch this scene, with the people crowding around,
we too are swept away by the crowd's feeling
that life and love are what count
and that the main character is innocent.
To them, and most of us, the insistence on a formal trial seems like
an intrusion from an alien value system.

By reducing the system of justice to a puffed up marshal
and a trial in which the weightiness of
accusation, evidence, and a verdict
is turned into another celebration of community and love,
the movie mocks patriarchal society
with its emphasis on guilt before rule-bearing authorities,
and reduces it to size.

This transformation is similar in many ways
to the transformation we saw at the beginning
in which Aunt Eller appears to be shocked
at the risqué scenes Will is showing people in the Little Wonder,
until her expression changes and we understand
that she recognizes it is all in fun,
as the characters then break out into song and dance.
(This is before we know about the dangers of the Little Wonder).

In that scene, we momentarily mistake Aunt Eller
for a censorious and accusing authority figure
and are concerned that Will is in trouble.
Then we relax as we recognize
her attitude is one of enjoyment of life
rather than condemnation.

In the trial scene, we experience the same kind
of transformation from accusation to celebration except, here,
the censorious authority figure doesn't change his expression,
but is overwhelmed by more benevolent authority figures
who value life and love over rules.
Here it is Curly who, we are relieved to find, isn't in trouble.

Both of these scenes show the same thing:
the transformation of guilt into Eros
in which what starts out as an accusation
becomes a celebration.

It is clear that, in the value system offered by the movie,
the real crime is the failure to embrace life.
That is the failing in Laurey that sets the story in motion.
Fearing the change brought about by adulthood, sex and marriage,
she turns to Jud, who is hiding from life
and who has turned Eros into a form of hate and death.
Jud, as a form of anti-life, then haunts her
and tries to ruin the society of life
before he is ritually destroyed by Curly,
the young bearer of adult love.

All of this points to the central conflict of Oklahoma!,
which shows us people like ourselves
overcoming obstacles that stop them from embracing life,
whether those obstacles are the power and accusation of the marshal,
or the fear of adult love and change that afflicts Laurey,
or the love of hate and death embodied in Jud.

_________________________________________________

Aunt Eller is the benevolent matriarch	who lets Laurey find her own way	and supports Curly.

Mr. Carnes is the controlling father	who temporarily comes between Annie	and Will