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Mix-Ansicht- EWI: was die Homoehe mit dem Aktienmarkt zu tun hat - Amanito, 27.10.2004, 12:56
EWI: was die Homoehe mit dem Aktienmarkt zu tun hat
-->Hold onto your diamond tiaras, because one of the most sparkling “chandelier” fixtures of American culture -- the Miss America Pageant -- is coming unplugged:
On October 21, “the Atlantic City Pageant was dropped by ABC television, calling into question whether the event could survive, at least in its present form.” (New York Times Oct. 21)
The article explained how pageant coordinators tried to reel in ratings with “skimpier swimsuits” and shorter “talent contests,” moving the emphasis from “scholarship to sex appeal.” But despite the makeover, the 2004 show saw viewership drop to an all-time record low.
I'm sorry but you just can’t turn fruitcake into chocolate fondue. In other words, no matter how you dress her (or undress her, for that matter), Miss America will always be the symbol of the All-American “ideal woman” and “paragon.” And in case you haven’t noticed, people don’t want fruitcake these days; they want fondue… the hotter, the better.
And that fact has everything to do with the current trend in mass psychology, as reflected in the wave count in stocks. Prechter’s Perspective explains that a rising social mood “includes a preference for black-and-white morality,” conventional heroes, and classically “masculine” men and “feminine” female role models.
A falling social mood invites the opposite: “an increase in sex,” a blurring of gender roles, “focus on alternate sexual styles,” and a worship of antiheroes.
A look back at the rise and fall in popularity of the Miss America Pageant makes this as glaringly clear as a beauty contestant’s pearly whites:
1920: The Pageant begins at the start of the “Roaring Twenties” and President Hoover’s “New Era” of economic growth.
1954: The competition’s “heyday” as it is televised for the very first time. Seven out of ten T.V. sets were tuned in. This year also marked the middle of one of the strongest and persistent bull market in stocks to date, from 1942 to1966.
1959: Barbie, the Mattel doll beauty representing the female ideal, debuts.
1961: Viewership for Miss America soars to 75%.
1966: The end of the 14-year-long bull run in stocks. June Cleaver and"Leave It to Beaver" go off the air.
1970s: The feminist movement gathers steam. Bra burnings. Movement leader Gloria Steinem becomes a cultural icon. The value and merit of beauty pageants are questioned.
1979: Viewership for Miss America plunges to 48% and stays mired in the 40% area until shooting up in the early '90s, as the economic recession was ending.
1995: Viewership for Miss America rockets to more than 25 million, right alongside the raging bull market.
And now, four years after the all-time stock market high, with the U.S. economy stumbling from “sweet spot” to “soft patch,” ABC is dropping the Miss America Pageant: The Donna Reed Show is out and “Desperate Housewives” is in, literally.
ABC’s new smash hit couldn’t convey the shift in social mood more: An hour-long drama centered around the themes of “adultery,” “suicide,” “marital UN-bliss,” “arson,” “sinister, dark secrets,” all with “gratuitous sex scenes,” “racy content,” and the “depiction of motherhood as a worthless chore.” F.Y.I. Week three of “Desperate” posted the highest ratings EVER in the 18-49 demographic group, dominating even Fox’s live coverage of American League Championship Baseball. (CNN Money Oct. 21)
So… Will the Miss America Pageant, and thereby the stock market and economy at large, reclaim its crown in the years to come?
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