Calamity Jane, the excellent Deadwood-set Western musical, is more than just a tune-filled romp through the (in)famous American town: it’s a bold dissection of gender, femininity, and sexuality with screen legendDoris Dayin the title role. As Jane, Day shirks the conformity of gender roles, opting for cropped hair, buckskins, and a pistol (it’s a metaphor) that’s more than capable of blasting away those who challenge her. She’s rough, tough, and rowdy, and glad to take on traditionally “male” habits and mannerisms. LikeNicholas Ray’s monumentalJohnny Guitar,another Western with queer themes,Calamity Janepackages its potent subtext in a fabulously entertaining picture.
Calamity Jane also shacks up with Katie Brown (Allyn Ann McLerie),a relationship that hints via subtext at queerness. Ultimately, the film has Calamity marry her close friend Wild Bill Hickock (Howard Keel), but the gay attraction between her and Katie remains one of the film’s most convincing plot points. Along with her outright refusal to play nice and act “ladylike,” Doris Day’s character’s thematically potent relationship with Katie helps makeCalamity Janean early example of an LGBTQ+ story on film. The song at its center, “Secret Love,” has often been considered an early gay anthem. Theorists and audiences have long since grasped these culturally impactful themes inCalamity Jane, but how did the film’s star feel about its reception?
How Did Doris Day Respond to ‘Calamity Jane’s Subtext?
With “Secret Love” featuring subtextual lyrics that hint at closeted gayness, it’s unsurprising that its timelessness is in part due to the daring potency of its themes.Doris Day, who hadn’t been aware of the song’s cultural impact before chatting with LGBTQ+ magazine The Advocate, called its importance to many members of the community “wonderful.” She went on to discuss the impact her performances had on many who looked up to her, modestly shrugging off its importance. Day thought of her feminist roles as “easy” since they “fit the person” that she was.
Doris Day’s take on Calamity Jane, the best take on the real-life outlaw outsideDeadwood’sRobin Weigert,remains decades later one of the great examples of a character rejecting gender conformity. The filmCalamity Janegenerally belongs with thegreat surprising feminist filmsfor its complex examination of womanhood. Throughout the picture, Day dresses in tomboyish attire, refusing the expectations placed on her by the society in which she lives. She’s an outlaw. Traditional society ain’t really her thing. Still, though, in an effort to impress her heterosexual crush Lieutenant Gilmartin (Philip Carey) in the third act, Calamity Jane dons an extravagant ballgown, embracing, if for a moment, the stereotypical femininity expected of her. It’s a crowd-pleasing moment for the more conservative era in which the film was released, sure, but it’s also a liberating moment of embracing gender’s inherent fluidity.
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“We have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong.”
Doris Day Is Considered a Gay Ally
BeyondDoris Day’s admirable filmography, the actress has had an impact on culture through her allyship with the LGBTQ+ community, most especially in regard to her close friendship with frequent co-starRock Hudson,a closeted gay man who eventually died from AIDS. At a time when Hudson’s sexuality was hidden in order to benefit his fruitful career as an actor and sex icon,Day kept her friend’s secret and accepted his truth. She even went on topen a touching thank youto the participants of the AIDS/LifeCycle benefit, which was founded to raise AIDS awareness and funding to provide medical care, in 2012. Day, a cinematic icon with a lengthy career of inspirational feminist roles, played as admirable a role off-camera as she did on it.
Calamity Jane, if only blemished by its too-straight ending, is an enduring picture whose impact endures. All the better, Doris Day welcomed its gay subtext, assuredly proud of the work it had done.
