It hyperbole. One telling point was that Astaire danced with many other partners in films, including those who made a name for themselves as dancers before dancing with him (e.g., Powell, Charisse, Vera Ellen, etc.). And Fred was leading Ginger and guiding her way.
Ginger was a better than average dancer, but probably the best actress Fred danced with (well, perhaps with Judy Garland).
Slightly off topic, but I gotta disagree with this part. My memory says that she was a generic actress at best, while he was - if not a great actor - at least a charming and comfortable one.
It’s not meant to be literal. It’s meant to highlight the fact that the achievements of women aren’t always recognized as such if the women are in a traditional female role.
OK, First I have to ask why people think that sayings (or adages or slogans or whatever) have to be absolutely literally true or accurate for each and every possible case. That’s a general question, because we get a lot of threads like this.
If you abandon the need for a saying to be absolutely literally true or accurate for each and every possible case, then how do you not get what the intent is? That’s also a general question, because it seems to be true for a lot of these threads.
Grumble.
Anyway, the obvious meaning and intent is that many things that are taken for granted about women are in fact difficult, restrictive, and not required for men. Men did not - and do not - have to wear high heels.
Whenever men wear high heels, to dress in drag, e.g., they loudly complain about how difficult it is to even move in them, let alone dance in them. (Men never have to run in high heels. Joanna Lumley used to run at top speed in four-inch heels for The New Avengers and it is probably the most awesome physical feat that never gets mentioned.) Men also don’t have to wear girdles, or corsets, or spanks. Men don’t have to spend hours on hair and makeup. Men don’t have to shave or wax their entire bodies. Men don’t have to never age over 30.
Men, in short, get a wildly disproportionate percentage of the credit a wildly disproportionate percentage of the time, even when women are doing an equal share or performing more difficult acts. Please don’t try to dispute this. Western culture has this as a core principle and has since forever, and it has not changed except for the barest amount to this day.
In most ballroom dances, the dance begins with the man stepping forward and the woman stepping backward. Later in the dance, usually, they’ll reverse it.
She probably averages slightly more backwards that he does; that’s the way things break down in ballroom, because sometimes the man steps forward, then executes a turn or other trick, so she never gets to catch up. But she certainly has many forward steps, too. It’s also difficult to tell what’s going on, exactly, because the turns mask the forward-or-backward qualities of the steps; something that starts as a forward step may end as a sideways step. Very difficult to quantify.
First, as to why people think these sayings have to be literally true or accurate. They don’t. But what this particular saying is trying to put across is the idea that Ginger Rogers did the same thing as Astaire, and more, and with less effort, or something like that, which is false all the way along.
The intent here was to say “women are equal,” or something like that. There are much better examples that actually work, if you need to say it. Try Eleanor Powell instead of Ginger Rogers, take out the backwards part, and mention that she taught a dog to dance in one of her movies.
Also, dancing in high heels is no big deal, as you’re on the balls of your feet anyway, most of the time, or else you’re doing it wrong. All those ladies probably did ballet at one point, and compared to pointe shoes, heels are much, much easier.
I pretty much agree except for the idea that this is a special problem of Western culture. The problems you outlined are at least as prevalent in Asia and Africa.
It was another of those “Grrrl POW!-er” slogans that no male dared challenge if he ever wanted to “get any.” It has as much truth as the “rule of thumb” canard or the Super Bowl Sunday / domestic violence connection.
Well, as most commentators say, her reactions and responses to him made Fred seem sexy, which is great acting (Astaire is hardly conventionally handsome).
While it’s not an infallible guide (Luise Rainer won two), it’s interesting that Rogers won an Oscar for acting at the peak of her career. Astaire never won one (though he got an honorary one).
