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1601948

Royal Holloway, University of London

Department of Drama and Theatre

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CANDIDATE NUMBER (NOT your Student ID number): 1601948
DEGREE AND YEAR: Drama & Theatre Studies UG1
SUBMISSION DATE: 11/1/2016
COURSE CODE: DT 1400
COURSE TITLE: Theatre & Ideas
TUTOR: Nicky Hatton
ESSAY TITLE: Summative Essay: Next to Heteronormal

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Summative Essay: Next to Heteronormal
Within our current generation and feminist culture, we often hear words such as
heteronormative thrown around. But what exactly does heteronormative mean?
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is, denoting or relating to a world
view that promotes heterosexuality as the normal or preferred sexual orientation
(heternormative). However, heteronormativity is not quite as simple as that.
Heteronormativity also includes such things as binary genders, patriarchal gender roles,
female gender roles, and the nuclear family. Believing in binary genders is simply the
acceptance and identification of only two genders, male and female. This causes a
problem when addressing people who identify as transgendered, someone who was born
as one gender but identifies as the opposite, agender, not identifying with any gender, or
gender fluid, having an identity that changes with time and/or the situation, among many
other identities. Patriarchal and female gender roles deal with the social norm men and
women must conform to in society. For men, this includes being strong, supporting his
family financially, being the protector, and being the aggressor. For women, this means
being soft, gentle, caring for her family, and listening to her husband or any other
significant male figure in her life. The nuclear family is the traditional family that
consists of two married parents and their children. Furthermore, the parents are one
heterosexual woman and one heterosexual man. In Next to Normal, with music by Tom
Kitt and book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, the nuclear family, with a focus on the
relationship between Diana and Dan Goodman, greatly conforms to the heteronormative
standards, yet by the resolution of the narrative, their relationship can be read as
challenging it.

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Premiering on Broadway in 2009 at the Booth Theatre, Next to Normal is the
story of the Goodman family, parents Diana and Dan, and children Gabe and Natalie.
Diana has been diagnosed with bipolar depression with delusional episodes and,
throughout the show, sees her 18-year-old son Gabe who died from an intestinal
obstruction when he was just an infant. Gabes presence in Dianas mind overshadows
Natalie, the 16-year-old daughter who is heavily focused on school and piano so that she
can escape from her family by going off to college. Dan is the hard-working family man
who must watch his wife spiral into mental illness with the single hope that one day she
will be better. Throughout the show, we watch Diana attempt to be the perfect mother and
wife, visit multiple doctors, and fight against her mental illness to stay alive. Meanwhile,
Dan continuously tries to support and help Diana with very little success, Natalie
attempts to cope with the stress she faces due to school, her mother, and her boyfriend,
and Gabe ventures to make Diana succumb to her mental illness and commit suicide to
join him.
Diana Goodman, played by Alice Ripley, is the very model of a modern
heteronormative housewife; she doesnt work, she makes lunches and dinners for her
family, and she does the chores around the house. These activities are often seen as
stereotypically female, as the housewife is expected to stay home and take care of her
family and her home. Being a housewife, for that matter, is considered to be a womans
job and not something she just does out of pleasure. A woman is, however, expected to
keep herself put together with a smile on her face, as we see Diana do multiple times.
Whenever we see Diana, she seems dressed to impress with her hair perfectly done and
she completes her chores with a smile on her face, even during her bipolar episodes. In

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the song, You Dont Know, Diana confronts Dan about the fact that he could never
understand exactly what she deals with every day because of her bipolar disorder. Despite
the fact that the music is very heavy rock and fast paced, Diana keeps her calm towards
Dan, only taking her anger out on items such as the cutlery left on the table from dinner.
This is showing us that even though she is upset, she cannot take her anger out on her
husband. She must re-route that anger towards another object. Also, in a moment of
catering to the patriarchal needs, Diana questions what Dan will think if she flushes all of
her medication down the toilet and stops taking them. Her doubt is only ceased by her
son assurance that it will be all right and that Dan does not need to know. Another aspect
of female gender roles is the sexualisation of the woman. At the beginning of the show,
the first interaction we see between Diana and Dan is her offering him sex in order to
distract him from realising that Gabe has come home late and past curfew. Upon
completion of the offstage sexual act, Dan claims that the sex was amazing, despite it
only being ten minutes due to him having to go to work. We see through this, Dianas
womanly need to both satisfy her husbands needs and yet still adhere to his strict
schedule, of which she of course has none. This sexualisation also goes beyond her
family life. Diana sees the first doctor that prescribes her medication as more of a
romantic other that knows her everything about her, including her secrets and fears, and
sees their relationship as a sort of romance. Upon telling Diana that the medication is
most likely the reason for her lowered sex drive, Diana assumes he is hitting on her and
replies that her husband is waiting in the car. This adds to the stereotypical woman being
pursued by another man and needing to use the excuse of being in a prior relationship to
steer the suitor away. The second doctor, Doctor Madden, introduces himself and Diana,

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in a delusional phase, sees Madden switch to being an over-sexualised rock star. In the
middle of lines, he begins to do rock wails and gyrate his hips against a chair in her
direction, even going as far as moving his hand up her leg, seductively. His rock star
characteristic is often noted to be a womans fantasy and need to fulfil her wilder, more
spontaneous side. In regards to a more matriarchal aspect, we get a tiny glimpse into
Dianas upbringing when she states that her mother always used to call her high
spirited. In this case, it is a parallel to the male equivalent to hes only being mean
because he likes you. This disregards any individual characteristics or feelings of a
person and simply pares it down to girls will be girls. As we get nearer to the end of the
show, however, we start to see Dianas strength come out as she begins to fight back
against the patriarchal doctor and Dan, ending in Dianas leaving Dan to work on herself.
In these moments, Diana finally challenges the heteronormativity seen in her character
throughout the show and strays from the norm of keeping in all of her problems and
dealing with them too keep up an appearance.
Dan, as opposed to Diana, is the bread-winning, money-making man of the house
who has no time for things such as shopping for groceries, something he asks Diana to
do. He believes that his role in the family is to hold the house together and support Diana
through her struggle with her illness. However, he seems to neglect her own personal
feelings and needs. After Diana tries to explain to Dan that he will never understand what
she is going through, retorts that he is the one that has always been there for her and that
she doesnt care that he is hurting as well. In addition, he gets very aggressive and a bit
physical towards her, establishing his dominance over her and asserting that he is the
more important member of their relationship. To add to this, Dan feels like Diana owes

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him for taking care of her. In relation to the nuclear family, we see in a flashback scene
that Dan proposed to Diana at the tender age of 22 because he had gotten her pregnant.
This is extremely prevalent in 1950s heteronormative culture, believing that children can
only be born to two married parents. In the moment after Diana attempts suicide by
cutting her wrists, we see Dan cleaning up Dianas blood. At first reaction, this seems to
be an act of challenging heteronormativity by doing a womans job, however upon
further progression into the scene, we see that he is in fact still with the belief that Diana
owes him for what he has done and is simply covering up what happened from Natalie.
Dan, however, also goes through a switch from conforming heteronormativity to
challenging it at the end of the show after Diana leaves him. Dianas walking out on him
leaves Dan emotional and distraught, and we see him a moment of weakness, and for the
first time, he discloses to Natalie that everything isnt actually okay and allows her to
comfort and console him.
Is Next to Normal a musical about heteronormativity and gender roles? As a
theme, no it is not. However the study and focus on the subject of heteronormativity in
Next to Normal shows us the prevalence of heteronormal culture in all walks of life and
aspects of art. Widely viewed media such as films, television, and live performances
often perpetuate the idea of gender roles and since they are a popular medium, often
become widespread beliefs and views. In the case of Next to Normal, these
heternormative ideas may not be obvious, but the subversive message is still picked up by
a viewer and become learned habits. Next to Normal, although it is not the primary focus
of the show, gives us both a glimpse of a nuclear family that both conforms to and
challenges the idea of heteronormativity in theatre.

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Works Cited
Castelow, Ellen. "The 1950s Housewife." Historic UK. n.p. n.d. Web. 7 Jan 2016.
"Heteronormative." Oxford English Dictionary. Oxforddictionaries.com. Web. 7 Jan.
2016.
Kahn, Razib. "The Waning of the Nuclear Family." Discover. n.p. 2 Sep. 2012. Web. 7
Jan 2016.
Nelson, Kris. "What Is Heteronormativity And How Does It Apply to Your Feminism?
Here Are 4 Examples." Everyday Feminist Magazine. n.p. 24 Jan. 2015. Web. 7
Jan 2016.
Winter, Claire R. Understanding Transgender Diversity: A Sensible Explanation of
Sexual and Gender Identities. S.l.: Claire Ruth Winter, 2010. Print.

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