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The Lizzie Borden Myth in American Popular Culture

"Lizzie Borden, a 32-year-old spinster, was accused of killing her father and step-mother in their 2^nd St. home. She and the maid Bridget Sullivan were the only two people in the house at the time of the murders.” – Ed Thibault in “Hash & Rehash”

These are some of the few irrefutable facts the Lizzie Borden murder case is based upon. Her story has been told many times since the gruesome events took place on August 4, 1892. Some parts of it have become common vocabulary in the American society, some have changed, others have been forgotten. On the following pages, we are going to show which methods have been used by producers of popular culture, to turn the story into an American legend and keep it alive over more than a century. By examining a video-documentary about people whose lives have been influenced by Lizzie Borden, we will try to describe characteristics of the myth first. Then, we will take a look at the theory of American popular culture, before turning to examples of the various expressions of the Lizzie Borden story in today’s media.

Lizzie Borden: Hash & Rehash

“There is no more revealing index to the total character and nature of a society than an examination of its popular arts and the way it spends its leisure time “ [Inge 1989: XXIII].

Lizzie Borden found an enduring position in American popular culture, moving from history to mythic stature. Her story is so deeply rooted, that people from all kinds of social backgrounds and professions have dedicated parts of their lives to study different aspects of it. The film maker Immy Humes, nominated for the Academy Award in 1991, contributed to the ongoing reconstruction of the Lizzie legend with the video-documentary “Lizzie Borden: Hash & Rehash” from 1998. She interviewed 28 people, sitting in front of a black background, speaking of their relation to Lizzie. Not much more information about the interviewed is provided. It is only in the credits that we get to know their names and professions.

The video, used by us as an anthropological source, provides first-hand information about how many-sided the legend still is. For the purpose of analysis, we placed the participants in four groups. First, the largest group (of ten), we labeled “Non-Professionals”. They range from a young mother, only superficially interested in the case, up to two women, completely obsessed with the clothing and life-style of Lizzie’s time. The second group (of five), which we called “Professionals”, consists of scientists and experts, among them professors of English and History. All of them investigated the case in the context of their academic work. Thirdly, nine artists were given the opportunity to show how their work was influenced by Lizzie Borden. The last group (of four) consists of people who could not clearly be categorized, where we find for example descendants of the lawyer and the prosecutor involved in the 1893 trial.

There are a few topical points that need to be raised about the filming technique. The interviews are cut and rearranged, so that relevant answers on one specific topic (e.g. the question “Is Lizzie guilty?”) appear together. Immy Humes also used pictures, photographs and little cut scenes to clarify what the interviewed people actually do. For example, the video shows unforgettable pictures of paper-dolls modeled by one of the 19th-century fashion fans, or the peak of the “Lizzie Borden” hard-rock band stage-show, where the singer slays something in a wooden casket and licks fake blood of the axe.

Though the motifs of the people to deal with Lizzie differ greatly, some common attributes can be found in their statements. It seems, for example, that a certain inclination to morbid subjects is a requirement. Twelve of the interviewed described the crime in rather cynical words, e.g.: “Right now, he (Mr. Borden) is having his head split open ...” (Jules Ryckebush), or “Papa, lie down and take a nap, ... don’t wake up!” (Kathleen Chamberlain). Not far away from that we find a good sense of black humor in many of the interviewed. “She now [after moving to Maplecroft] had four bathrooms instead of none and all the animals she wanted instead of the pigeons her father decapitated” (Ruth Whitman). In addition to that, locality might be an important factor. The conference where the main part of the video was shot at, took place in Fall River, MA. “No year goes by when the local press doesn’t acknowledge the anniversary of the killings” (Jules Ryckebush). We assume that the collective memory about the case is most vivid in Massachusetts, or more generally, in New England. This is also where the origin of the people starts to play a role. As a major immigrant group, the Irish determined a big part of the working class at Lizzie’s time. The children’s song and other stories developed largely inside this class, in opposition to Lizzie as a member of the high class. In Massachusetts, roughly 1.6 Mio people, approximately 25% of the population, claim to have an Irish ancestry. This can explain the longevity of the myth in this region, and allows the assumption that regional mobility (which was much more frequent in these days) took it to other places as well.

The revealed attributes only apply to the people who investigate the myth intensively. The restrictions we have elaborated effectively limit the size of the fan-group, because these attributes can not easily be combined with the values and beliefs of the majority of society. To put it in an easier way: Admitting to be attracted by this story of blood and gore might result in people “fixing you with a stealy eye” (Kathleen Chamberlain). Of course, the average American knows the story, but he only knows the simplistic side. The various media of popular culture do unfortunately neither stick to the irrefutable facts, nor to the truth. In the next part, we will try to reveal why.

Facts & Fiction

Facts

First, for a better understanding, here’s a review of some valuable positions on the definition of popular culture. Gilbert Seldes described the existence of popular culture in his book “The Seven Lively Arts” [Seldes 1924]. But popular culture had existed well before that, only our modern time “was the first to define its nature, its worth, and its difference” [Bell: 1459]. The following presentations reflect the contemporary views of popular culture. To start with, some propositions about the form are listed:

• Popular Culture “is what we do by choice to engage our minds and our bodies when we are not working or sleeping This can be active – playing baseball, driving an automobile, dancing – or passive – watching television, sunbathing or reading a book. It can be creative – painting a portrait, writing a poem, cooking a meal – or simply responsive – playing a game, watching a circus or listening to music” [Inge 1989: XXVI].
• “It is thought to be comprehensive or relevant to a large part of the population in its style and content”[Inge 1989: XXVII].
• Bigsby sees the identification of culture as “language, myths, rituals, life-styles and establishments.” [Bigsby 1976, in Inge: 17-18]

By taking a look at the function, the importance of popular culture for the society becomes clear.

• “A creation is popular when it is created to respond to the experiences and values of the majority, when it is produced in such a way that the majority of the people have easy access to it, and when it can be understood and interpreted by that majority without the aid of special knowledge or experience” [Bell 1989: 1459].
• “It’s primary purpose is entertainment” [Inge 1989: XXVIII]. “Their concern (the creators’ of popular culture), therefore, is not complexity or profundity, though both may result, but that they will reach, be understood by, and perhaps even move their audiences” [Bell in Inge 1989: 1460]. “We (...) seek in popular culture to have our attitudes and biases confirmed”, and, interesting for later considerations, “the answers to questions are given and every situation has a happy ending” [Inge 1989: XXVIII].
• Popular culture is seen as crucial to understand a society, because “it is an integral part of life and a permanent record of what we believe and are. ” [Inge 1989: XXIV].

This long list of definitions and descriptions suggests that the term popular culture cannot be used in a singular way. Like ‘culture’, it seems to be an “aggregate, (...) the prolonged co-presence of a set of certain individual items”, and “we have to abstract such a set of items from observed instances of thought and behavior” [Brumann 1999: 172], and select the ones which seem to be relevant for a specific question. The only recurring term in the list of quotations is that popular culture belongs to a large group, or even the majority of a society. A restriction can be made here, because these definitions only apply to the American popular culture, thus only to the American society. For further limitation it seems to be necessary to differentiate popular culture from similar terms in order to use it more specifically. Popular culture is for example used in conjunction with, or in distinction of, terms like high culture, elite culture, taste culture, mass culture or folk culture. For our purposes, we will briefly outline the discussion about high culture vs. popular culture.

According to Inge, high culture is rather exclusive in its style and content. Its main purpose is the individual and subjective expression of an artist, emphasizing its originality and novelty. This purely aesthetic act tends very often to be without any further use or meaning. “Art for art’s sake” as many would qualify it. On social terms, high culture was only available for the higher class in the late 19^th century. Society itself was structured more rigidly then, and from today’s point of view those cultural products can be assigned more easily. Due to the fragmented and heterogeneous nature of today’s society almost no statement about which people belong to what group can be made anymore. Therefore it is no longer possible to draw a clear line of demarcation between products of high and popular culture. Yet one distinction can still be drawn today. It is not based on class or education, as earlier definitions put it, but simply on the amount of money a person can spend to “entertain, inform, and beautify life” [Gans 1974:10]. Money, as it seems has replaced etiquette, dress-code, status and education in an effective way.

Fiction

“That’s what American culture is all about ... whatever comes out, someone else interprets it in a different way, and brings it into a whole different realm ... and then, it becomes entertainment.” - Lizzy, lead-singer of “Lizzie Borden”

The process of using a facet of the story and turning it into a media product is a reflexive one. It cannot be done without the existence of the myth in the first place, but by distributing the product, it helps maintain and reconstruct the myth, as well. „The producers of texts are also consumers, and it is possible to see the influence of earlier works in those succeeding them. Images of Lizzie take on solidity through repetition. So it is a product of years of construction” [Adler 1999].

In 1893, the journalist Edwin H. Porter, published a book titled “The Fall River Tragedy”. According to Gans, this book can be seen as the first product of mass culture of the Lizzie Borden myth [2] . And much more was to come, because rather than sinking back into anonymity, the story grew and flourished. Many different realms, as Lizzy the singer put it, have occupied the myth to create work of art and entertainment, clearly to be classified as popular culture. Not less than 31 books are listed on the Amazon.com internet bookshop when searching for “Lizzie Borden”. Among them are such suspicious titles like “Goodbye Lizzie Borden" [3] or “Girl in The House of Hate" [4] , but there is also more profound work like “The Knowlton Papers" [5] or “ Lizzie Borden: A Case Book of Family and Crime in the 1890's" [6] . An opera with the plain title “Lizzie Borden” and a musical with the same name exist. Lizzie Borden even guest-starred in an episode of “The Simpsons”, named “Tree House of Horror IV”. There she appeared in a trial-jury from hell, built up of America’s most famous villains. In 1975, the TV movie “The Legend Of Lizzie Borden”, with Elizabeth Montgomery as Lizzie, was first screened. From the video we know that two rock-bands named “Lizzie Borden“ exist.

The depth of detail varies greatly in the above listed works. Most of the fictional products assume that Lizzie was guilty. We would even go so far as to say that Lizzie would not have been reproduced so many times if this assumption weren’t be possible (or even likely?).Still, a big part of the myth exists because she was not convicted of the murders. That’s what makes it mystical. But then, it is not easy to portray the accused, but never convicted Lizzie in works of popular culture, because – it just would not sell, by any meaning of the word. In the popular culture of today Lizzie is guilty. In “The Simpsons”, she is holding an axe dripping with blood. The lyrics of the musical list numerous reasons why she committed the crime (“You can’t chop your mama like this ... not even when you’re tired of her cuisine.”). In the TV movie, she strips naked before committing the murders [7] . Above all, this shows, that if a story is employed by means of popular culture, its content can be altered and simplified to fit into the context and methods characteristic for the respective genre. Sometimes it even gets changed beyond recognition, as in the opera “Lizzie Borden”. A brief summary of the libretto: Lizzie helps raise money for the refurbishment of the “Fall River Congregational Church”. Her father rejects to contribute to it, and even expels the reverend, a close friend of Lizzie’s, from the house. Her step-mother is not accepted by the two sisters, because she is given preferential treatment by the father, financially and emotionally. There is constant malevolence and anger in the family. In addition, Lizzie is envious of her sister Margaret (her sister’s real name was Emma), because she is happily in love with a marine captain. Later, her sister’s fiancé (a fabrication), even attempts to seduce Lizzie, but fails. Eventually, the situation in the house becomes so unbearable for her, that she commits the deed. All this, plus classical music. Clearly, art for entertainment’s sake.

Clearly, recently the O.J. Simpson case has evoked a renaissance for Lizzie Borden, bringing back the collective memory of Lizzie into the American mind, thus making space for more Lizzie-related products [8] . As an example, the CD with the recording of the 1965 opera was re-released in 1995, the year of the Simpson trial. - “Popular culture (...) tends to be responsive to the marketplace” [Bell in Inge 1989:1461]. - As stated earlier on, popular culture reflects on its consumers’ values and faith. According to this definition Lizzie Borden can rather be seen as a counter example. It is the story of a woman who was never punished for her allegedly committed crime. She is not to be fitted into any of America’s clichés easily. That’s what makes it difficult to exploit her commercially. In the end the only one who ever became really famous through the Lizzie Borden myth was Lizzie herself.

Appendix

References

• Adler, Gabriella. „She doesn’t look like a fiend“. http://web.meganet.net/digitech/index.htm – follow the link to the article
• Bell, quoted in Inge, Thomas. „Handbook of American Popular Culture“
• Bigsby, C.W.E. 1976. „Approaches to Popular Culture“. Edward Arnold, London, quoted in Inge, Thomas. „Handbook of American Popular Culture“
• Brumann, Christoph 1999. “Writing For Culture”, in Current Anthropology, Volume 40, Supplement, February 1999, pp. 172 – 184. The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research
• Cantor, Norman F. and Werthman, Michael S. 1968. “The History of Popular Culture to 1815”, Macmillan, New York, quoted in Inge, Thomas. “Handbook of Popular Culture”
• Gans, Herbert J. 1974. „Popular Culture and High Culture. An Analysis and Evaluation of Taste“. New York
• Inge, Thomas 1989. „Handbook of American Popular Culture“. Greenwood Press, New York
• Seldes, Gilbert 1957. The Seven Lively Arts, rev. ed. Harper & Brothers, New York

[2] In his critique of popular culture, Gans sees popular literature as a forerunner of today’s mass media [Gans 1974: 4]

[3] Sullivan, Robert, Goodbye Lizzie Borden; Penguin True Crime

[4] Samuels, Charles & Louise, Girl in the House of Hate : Being an Exact and Faithful Account of the Trial of Lizzie Borden; Amereon Ltd 1976; ISBN: 0891901086

[5] The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Vs. Lizzie A. Borden : The Knowlton Papers, 1892-1893 : A Collection of Previously Unpublished Letters; Fall River Historical Society 1994; ISBN: 0964124831

[6] Williams, Joyce G., Lizzie Borden : A Case Book of Family and Crime in the 1890's

[7] This version of the killings first appeared in the 1893 trial, introduced as a counter-argument of the defence, that she would have had to take off her clothes before the murders if she didn’t want any traces of blood on her; this story was never proved

[8] on the back of the comic book by Rick Geary „The Borden Tragedy : A Memoir of the Infamous Double Murder at Fall River, Mass., 1892“, NBM Publishing, Inc. 1997; ISBN: 1561631892, a list of comparisons between Lizzie Borden and O. J. Simpson can be found