Becoming Dolly Parton: A Case of Constructed Identity

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2021-06-25
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en
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This thesis seeks to examine the role played by Parton’s constructed identity in her achieving success in a man’s world. The research question answered in this thesis is: “how has Dolly Parton’s creation of her multifaceted persona as constructed identity aided her astounding success?” This will be achieved through consideration of how she performs her identity through her music, appearance, and gender. It is found that Parton has successfully used her constructed identity to help her overcome gender barriers, suggesting that she was only able to become successful by first adhering to the expectations laid out for a woman of her class and race: by looking beautiful and trashy. It was a clever intention of Parton to set out to externally portray herself as the town trash (Fox 258) and it has permitted her access to the male-dominated world of country music without causing offence or damaging egos.
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