Gary McDonogh. Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture

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two Americanizations of the marching band deserve notice. First is the repertoire and

impact of American composer John Philip Sousa (“Stars and Stripes Forever,” etc.) on

millions of parades to follow. Second, bands extend beyond the military and

police

become major activities of

high schools

and

colleges

. Sports, civic events and pep rallies

showcase them, and band members raise money to appear in nationally televised events

like Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or Bowl parades. The elaboration of the band

(incorporating male and female students), includes drum majors and majorettes, flag

teams and others to dazzle crowds.

GARY McDONOGH

Marcuse, Herbert

b. 1898; d. 1979

Philosopher and radical social critic, German-

orn Marcuse was one of the younger

members of the neo-Marxist “Frankfurt” or “critical-theory” school. Forced out o

Germany by the Nazis, he emigrated to the US in 1934, and remained in the US as a

rofessor at the University of California, San Diego, when other members of the school

returned to Germany after the Second World War. Marcuse’s writings, especially

Eros

and Civilization

(1955) and

One Dimensional Man

(1964), were among the most

important foundations for New

Left

and counterculture radicalism in the 1960s.

KENT BLASER

marijuana

Psychoactive drug derived from cannabis sativa that has become a symbol of freedom or

decay depending on audience, regulators and use. Federal surveys of the 1990s noted that

69 million Americans over the age of twelve have smoked pot, including 10 million who

had done so in the previous month. Nonetheless, 500,000 are also arrested annually as

legislators, medical establishments and law enforcement crusade against the drug and its

ramifications.

Established as a countercultural narcotic in the 1930s, marijuana also became a symbol

of the vulnerability of (white) American youth in exploitation films such as

Reefer

adness

(1936), later seen as a camp classic. Here, marijuana was portrayed as the

addictive first step on the road to dissolution, hard drugs and depravity

This image was challenged by the 1960s, when pot became a more mainstream form o

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 696

countercultural relaxation, from cultivation in large fields to small artesian plantings,

distinguishing forms of selection and processing (sensimilla, hashish, hash oil) and

colorfully named varieties like “Maui Wowie.” Paraphernalia for processing and smoking

became accoutrements of alternative lifestyles, available in headshops alongside tie-dyed

clothes and ethnic items. Hence, presidential candidate Bill

Clinton

could carefully

identify himself with a generation by admitting that he had smoked—but not inhaled—

pot in his college days.

Marijuana, nonetheless, became a special target of later wars against drug use,

including propaganda about effects ranging from decreased brain function to risky sexual

and school behavior to schizophrenia. This led to destruction of domestic supplies and

rosecution/vilification of users. This new criminialization not only changed patterns o

“acceptable”

ublic use, but decreased supplies and raised costs, even while more

addictive drugs remained accessible.

There remains a continuing lobby for legalization, including NORML (the National

Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws). In the 1990s, these sometimes worked with

those promoting marijuana for medical use (dealing with the effects of chemotherapy

glaucoma,

AIDS,

etc.). A 1999 Gallup poll showed that 73 percent of Americans favor

legalization of medical marijuana; some western states have exempted patients from

rosecution. These ballot initiatives, however, have been challenged by federal policies

and enforcement. Marijuana, then, remains a divisive issue for

baby boomers

despite a

more tolerant and experimental past.

GARY McDONOGH

CINDY WONG

Marines (United States Marine Corps)

Ground and air force established in 1775 under the aegis of the Department of the Navy

(although not the navy itself), marines are known for rugged shock-troop action and rapid

deployment to combat zones “from the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli” as

their battle hymn proclaims. In mass media, marines are often emblematic of

patriotism,

masculinity

and traditions embodied in their motto

Semper Fidelis

(always faithful),

adopted after the Civil War. Their training and character have also been the grist of many

movies. Nonetheless, the

sitcom

Gomer Pyle, USMC

(CBS, 1964–70) offered a more

comic view of the corps. In 1998, the US had 172,632 marines on active duty; less than 6

percent were women (compared with the air force’s 18 percent).

GARY McDONOGH

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markets

The geographic and cultural diversity of the United States, coupled with comprehensive

transportation and refrigeration, insured a cornucopia of

foods

distributed through central

markets to both

neighborhood

stores and daily buyers from the nineteenth century

onwards. Yet

suburban

sprawl and

automobiles

favored multi-service megastores

(supermarkets) connected by corporate chains like A&P or Acme, surrounded by acres o

parking, where groceries, household goods,

pharmaceuticals

and other needs may be

met for the week (or months in the case of bulk-sales warehouses). Meanwhile,

neighborhood stores have adapted or disappeared, while urban markets themselves have

altered drastically

In the 1960s,

urban renewal

often saw city markets as antiquated, unhygienic,

congested and ugly Lands were cleared for center city developments and distribution

processes to aseptic warehouses accessible to

trucking

and

highways

. In hindsight,

however, many cities realized the character of these markets and their value for

tourism

Hence, Lexington Market in

Baltimore, MD,

the Italian Market and Reading Terminal

Market in

Philadelphia, PA

and other centers have been modernized with a retail

orientation—adding cafes, souvenirs and prepared foods, for example. Moreover,

regional growers and craftspeople learned to transform buildings (including movie

theaters, banks and storefronts), public squares and parking lots into “farmer’s markets”

offering fresh produce and prepared goods to middle-class consumers. Such suppliers still

resume the existence of supermarkets for basic sundries. Here, specialty stands within

supermarkets often mirror market stands and shops, especially with regard to prepared

foods.

Squeezed in this consumer evolution have been smaller stores—

utchers,

greengrocers, etc.—unless they serve the needs of poor communities where national

supermarket chains have refused to move to “risky” neighborhoods. Some have also

become expensive boutiques delivering to or catering for upper-class neighborhoods.

Ethnic specialty shops also survive, although the consolidation of

Asian American

and

Latino

supermarkets has become noticeable in suburban enclaves where space is

available and cars allow mega-stores to serve more dispersed and varied populations.

Organic and health-food stores also have carved out specialty niches. Convenience stores,

open 24-hours, offer emergency items,

junk foods

and, depending on local codes and

setting,

alcohol,

tobacco and gasoline.

Time as well as taste continues to shape food buying in the early twenty-first century

Internet

shopping and

television

purchases have been discussed as alternatives for the

two-career family Most striking is the quantity of “prepared” foods, beyond the canned

food of the 1950s and the frozen specialties of the 1960s, which promise fresh gourmet

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 698

treats.

All these markets have cultural meanings, ranging from nostalgia to alienation, within

American cultural representations. Traditional urban markets convey a sense of ethnic

time and place in movies like

Godfather II

(1974). The supermarkets, as hallmarks o

suburban domesticity and anonymity also become public social spaces (urban markets

may in fact, sponsor singles’ nights). The

mom-and-pop store

often surfaces in urban

crime stories. Spike Lee’s

Do the Right Thing

(1989) showcases not only an Italian

family pizzeria at odds with a black neighborhood, but also a Korean greengrocer, an

immigrant specialization that has become widespread in

New York

City and other cities.

The transition from smaller local stores to convenience stores is also apparent in crime

and

road movies,

in which the latter have tended to replace the former as sites o

dramatic action.

GARY McDONOGH

marriage

Marriage is a fundamental yet dynamic institution within American culture, shaped by

the relationship between larger historical processes and internal marital dynamics. There

is no single story of marriage in America because this story is characterized by diversity,

and the constant tension between prevailing ideals and actual experiences.

In the early twentieth century the so-called “companionate marriage,” characterized by

emotional intimacy yet defined by highly structured roles for “husband” and “wife” was

the prevailing cultural model. Following the Second World War, the institution o

marriage in mainstream American life was greatly affected by the large numbers o

American women who joined the workforce during the War to replace the thousands o

men who had joined the military. Less economically privileged women had long been

working outside of the

home,

of course (particularly in

African American

and

immigrant communities), but until this time it had generally been viewed as a last resort

rather than as a possibly desirable option. A more “egalitarian” model began to emerge,

in which roles for “husband” and “wife” were less differentiated.

The 1950s, generally considered a socially conservative era, was actually a period

during which increasing numbers of women in all communities began to work outside o

the home. In the 1960s and 1970s this exploded into a radical shift with the

women’s

liberation

movement; undercurrents of change have led many to predict the “end o

marriage.” However, marriage continues to thrive, though these changes have entailed

reconsideration of work issues, responsibilities, sexuality and legal ramifications from

naming spouses and

children

to ownership of resources. Clinical counseling often

focuses on maintaining and developing the marriage bond. At the same time, both

divorce

and remarriage have become more prevalent and acceptable.

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For many, marriage represents the opportunity to express and reinforce a life-long

commitment to a loved one. In contemporary America, the marital bond is often

characterized by romantic love and emotional intimacy, although many marriages do not

conform to this model. For some people, marriage constitutes a practical necessity for

childrearing and economic survival. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries,

such developments as blended

families,

gay relationships, single-

arent families,

multiple remarriages and new reproductive technologies have challenged rigid

conceptions of married life, while often reaffirming the importance of its social and

economic support.

Marriages in all forms (good and bad) have been the focus of television

sitcoms

and

Hollywood

products. In the former, companionate heterosexual forms dominated for

decades, gradually giving way to broken and blended families as dramatic devices;

soap

operas

have developed even more complex relations over decades. Hollywood, too,

enshrined traditional models (despite intertexts of

celebrity

scandal), but has also

explored issues of interracial, inter-class and gay unions as well as the breakdown o

marriage and family.

Further reading

Kellogg, S. and Mintz, S. (1988)

Domestic Revolutions: A Social History of American

Family Life,

New York: The Free Press.

NICOLE MARIE KEATING

Marshall, George

b. 1880; d. 1959

General of the Army and statesman. After a long military career, including service in

the First World War, the Philippines and

China,

Marshall became Army Chief of Staff in

1939, guiding preparations for the Second World War. Command of the European

invasion went to

Eisenhower,

while Marshall became a close policy advisor to

Roosevelt

and, later, special ambassador to feuding Chinese factions for

Truman

. As

Secretary of State

(1947–9), he fostered the Marshall Plan for rebuilding Europe with

North American aid; he later served as Secretary of Defense. He received the

Nobel

Peace Prize in 1953.

GARY McDONOGH

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 700

Marshall, Paule

b. 1929 African American novelist of

Caribbean

(Barbadian) ancestry who emerged

onto the literary scene with her autobiographical novel

Brown Girl, Brownstones

(1959).

Much of Marshall’s writing deals with themes of estrangement of contemporary

African

Americans

from their cultural roots and the need to journey back and deal with the

ancestors and heritage to find renewal, questions that reverberate with the works o

Gloria

Naylor,

Toni

Morrison

and others. Among her major works are

The Chosen

lace, The Timeless People

(1969),

Praisesong for the Widow

(1983) and

Daughters

(1991).

GARY McDONOGH

Marshall, Thurgood

b. 1908; d. 1993

Civil-rights leader and

Supreme Court

justice. During his distinguished career

directing the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (1939–61), Marshall argued

many landmark decisions in civil rights and the fight against

segregation

and other forms

of discrimination, capped by the

Brown

Board of Education of Topeka

decision o

1954. President

Kennedy

appointed him to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 1961;

in 1965 Marshall became solicitor-general. Appointed to the Supreme Court by President

Johnson

in 1967 as the first African American justice, Marshall served until 1991. A

liberal voice amidst a predominantly conservative court, his opposition to decisions of an

increasingly conservative court with regard to the death penalty which he opposed, as

well as his civil-rights interests led to his nickname “the great dissenter.”

KATE M.KENSKI

martial arts

The story of martial arts in the United States is closely connected with the post-Second

World War history of the United States’ connections with Asia. Aikido, Judo and Karate,

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originating in

Japan,

were learned by American servicemen during the occupation of that

country following its defeat in 1945. An Armed Forces Judo Association was established

and this martial art was incorporated into air-force training in the 1950s. When Tokyo

hosted the

Olympic Games

in 1964, Japan used this opportunity to establish Judo as an

Olympic sport, and now as many as 400,000 Americans engage in Judo. Karate,

meanwhile, was introduced to the United States in 1954 by Tsutomu Ohshima, who

immigrated in 1954 and established the Southern California Karate Association, which

grew into the nationwide organization, Shotokan Karate of America.

Tae Kwon Do, which was recognized as an official Olympic Sport at the 2000

Olympic Games in Sydney Australia, was brought to the United States from Korea in the

mid-1970s by Grandmaster Hyuk Kun Shim, who opened Shim’s Martial Arts Academy

in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1976.

Kung Fu and Tai Chi, originating in China, have been affected by the United States’

multiple connections with this nation, in terms of migration, political alliance and

hostility and economic trade, as well as the powerful impact of culture emanating from

Hong Kong. Kung Fu was popularized in the United States through the career of San

Franciscoborn Bruce

Lee

. It then achieved crossover appeal in white and black

communities with the television

western

series

Kung-Fu

(ABC, 1972–5), starring the

martial-arts novice David Carradine, in a role for which Lee was turned down, and with

the acting successes of Chuck Norris (Lee’s adversary in

Return of the Dragon,

1972),

Jeanne-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal and Jackie Chan. The status of martial arts in

American culture has been further enhanced by very popular and violent

video

and

computer

games.

ROBERT GREGG

Marx Brothers

Groucho (Julius, 1890–1977), Harpo (Adolf, 1888–1964), Chico (Loenard, 1886–1961),

Gummo (Milton, 1893–1977) and Zeppo (Hebert, 1901–77). Vaudevillians who brought

unforgettable repartee and strongly defined comic characters to films like

Anima

Crackers

(1930) and

A Night at the Opera

(1935). While individual lines and scenes have

permanently enriched American

humor

and speech, the primary trio also conveyed

interesting critical perspectives on class (Groucho’s constant sarcastic romancing of the

rich dowager), sexuality (the aspirations of Harpo’s child-like mute) and immigration

(Chico’s Italian persona). While their comedies have continued to entrance audiences,

only Groucho developed a strong television personality and career in the 1950s.

GARY McDONOGH

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 702

Marxism

class; communism; history; Left, the; working class

mascots

American sports teams, professional,

college,

high-school

and

children’s

leagues have

often adopted animals, mythic humans, or other symbols as emblems and animators for

their activities. Many of these names are relatively unmarked culturally except for images

of strength, unity and locality—the

Denver

Broncos,

San Francisco, CA

49-ers, or

Boston

Red Sox, among professional teams, or the Harvard Crimson, University o

Southern California Trojans, or Nebraska Cornhuskers among colleges. One strongly

embedded cultural tradition, however, of using Native American names or

representations—Redskins, Chiefs,

Florida

Seminoles, or

Atlanta

Braves (and their

“tomahawk chop”) came under increasing attack in the 1990s for the derogatory

mythologizations they impose upon a living Native American population. While some

supporters argue that such names honor Native Americans and more suggest that they

have nothing to do with living peoples (precisely the problem), pressure has grown to

drop these names and attendant representations. The

Los Angeles, CA

school system

adopted this policy in 1997, as have other institutions like

Stanford

. Recent expansion

franchises in major-league sports have also care-fully chosen animals or other

phenomena—Ravens, Jazz, Saints, Kixx

(soccer),

etc.—and often rely on more fanciful

figures like the

San Diego

Chicken or Philly Phanatic (Philadelphia Phillies) to raise

fans’ spirits.

GARY McDONOGH

masculinity

Many scholars, such as Gail Bederman and Michael Davitt Bell, have noted the

ideological, aesthetic and performative variations and inconsistencies underscoring the

cultural terms that define American manhood. At the same time, these and many other

Entries A-Z 703

scholars (including George Chauncey E.Anthony Rotundo, Michael S. Kimmel)

recognize a persistent historical anxiety that drives the vigorous activity of the masculine

enterprise. As these scholars see it, the anxietyproducing agent that enables the historical

concepts of masculinity is the perceived threat of cultural

effeminization

(see

homophobia

). The rise of the new woman at the turn of the nineteenth century and her

entry into the industrial-age workforce triggered a considerable cause for worry. The

rapid development of industrial capitalism spawned paradoxical response since, on the

one hand, the industrial age promised a virile and efficient world. On the other hand, the

very same notions of progress ushered in quite a few unmanly and thereby undesirable

social elements. One might suggest that the hyper-virile antics of American men at this

time (weightlifting, sport) served as an activity to contain cultural excess, i.e. the

feminine. Thus, the discourse of cultural conditions was often framed along gender lines:

“effeminacy” was the sweeping generalization assigned to the cause of any ill-effect

attending modern society. Sloth, “neurasthenia,” homosexuality and other purported

weaknesses observed in/ on the male body were paradigmatic dysfunctions directly

related to the “effeminizing” of American culture.

American artists, statesmen and religious individuals took to the cause of mastering the

cultural parameters of masculinity that were apparently put at risk by cultural

corporeal effeminization. Ironically, the rigor with which men engaged the physical and

emotional reconfiguration of manhood was often demonstrated with comical if not

cartoon-like effect. “Sandow the Strongman” in Edison’s film shorts (

1896) or the

steel-like men that dominated the 1930s paintings of Thomas Hart Benton highlight the

hyperbolic work involved with the presentation of virile American manhood.

Arguably, movies have been most instrumental in the shaping of an American

consciousness of a masculine ideal during the twentieth century. Hollywood masculinity,

however, is as varied as the cultural conditions that manufacture masculine identity

Shifting between the likes of Sandow and Clark Gable, Errol Flynn and Fred

Astaire,

Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Leonardo DiCaprio,

Hollywood’s

representation of masculinity allows multiple, conflictive readings.

One thing remains certain: if the terms of masculinity are varied and are established

relative to the contemporary (and mobile) discourse of “femininity” the

bête noir

culture is an uncontained effeminacy of masculinity that announces itself as homosexual.

It is no surprise, then, that some American men have practically made a career out o

defending their perceived

masculine dispositions as differential masculinity Politician

Theodore Roosevelt’s aristocratic upbringing ushered in charges of

dilletanti

politics by

not a few New York State assemblymen in 1882, who calculatingly called him an “Oscar

Wilde”; dancer/choreographer Gene

Kelly

produced a

television

program in 1958

entitled

Dancing, A Man’s Game

to prove that ballet and

baseball

were really carved out

of the same manly tradition; actor Kevin Spacey told the world that he intends to have

children in hopes of refuting

Esquire Magazine’s

claims that he is gay

The inability to define a true American masculinity cuts across issues of

race

as well

(although the terms that define American manhood usually find themselves organized

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 704

around white man’s Judaeo-Christian principles). Black men in particular have been

viewed as threats and temptations by whites, while their masculinity has been shaped by

economic, political and social repression. A contemporary example of the inter-section o

these themes is the emergence of the Christian Conservative Men’s Movement, “The

Promise Keepers.” Established in 1990, the group proudly embraces (and is embraced by)

Asian American, African American

WASP

and

Latino

men who bond under the

auspices of Christian (masculine) brotherhood. Multiculturalism is paradoxically useful

in the conservative rhetoric that seeks to homogenize cultural identity. More importantly

masculinity is defined here as a sacred promise that defends

family

and women. Writers

such as Eve Sedgwick-Kosofsky and Donna Minkowitz have pointed out the perfidy (i.e.

misogyny and homophobia) that underlies the sentiment of this sort of “kinder, gentler”

masculinity (see http://www.promisekeepers.org/fact.htm and

http://www.promisekeepers.org/265e.htm).

The contemporary American political arena has also witnessed discomfiting shifts in

the ways that masculinity is approached and discussed in relationship to family and

homosexuality. In the 2000

Republican

presidential primary candidate John McCain

found himself awkwardly defending his utterance regarding his “gaydar” that effectively

allowed him to detect homosexuals in the military during the

Vietnam War

. Both the

conservative right and gay

lobbyists

raised issue with McCain’s provocative remarks. In

the White House, Bill

Clinton’s

sexual escapades certainly made him a prime candidate

for the Promise Keeper’s “Reconciliation”

rogram of prayer and devotion to family and

wife. In the Monica Lewinsky affair, Clinton’s masculinity presented not the dangers o

effeminate manhood as much as he demonstrated

too much

masculinity; too much

heterosexuality

. Balancing gender is a central goal of an ideal masculinity

The fluctuating yet certainly tightly managed social dicta that seeks balance and

defines the cultural “effeminate” (woman, homosexual) as the cultural obverse of the

masculine also functions to maintain the necessary binary structures, like heterosexual

marriage,

so central to a capitalist economy But the ever-changing terms of the

“masculine” (which perforce define the “feminine”)

ut women, in particular, in the most

impossible of positions. If one is

too

feminine (according to a strain of masculine

tradition), one embodies the debilitating characteristics of the atrophying state. If one is

too

masculine, one is suspect of non-normative sexual desire. Yet Judith Butler, Leslie

Feinberg and Riki Anne Wilchins have troubled the calm of these masculine waters that

seek to keep sexuality and gender under such bifurcated logic. Films such as

Boys Don’

Cry

(1999) have brought the uncertain state of masculinity (and its often violent

resolution) into popular consciousness. American masculinity like much of American

culture, is one of the contradictory discourses that simultaneously appears concrete and

indefinable.

DAVID GERSTNER

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