Prom Drama

It's Prom Season, ladies and gentlemen. Time for glittering gowns, overpriced tickets, and exciting predictions of possible Prom couples. Prom is a right of passage. It is the most exciting marker of becoming an upperclassmen. Freshmen talk about Prom, and they're two years away. As a junior this year, I will be attending the dance for the first time.


Prom is a big deal. Personally, I am not a big fan of school dances or functions. I am not on Prom committee, I have not spent months searching for a dress, I haven't been planning for this since Freshmen year, but I know that this is a big deal. People make it that way. Now, I'm not going to lie, of course I am excited to get all dolled-up and go out with my friends. But nevertheless, doesn't this all seem a bit...excessive? That's because it is. A couple of years ago, a girl at school brought up the inequality between guys and girls in terms of the "Prom process." And she's right. As a girl going to Prom, I am supposed to consider: a Prom dress, makeup, hair, shoes, nails, a clutch, jewelry, tickets, a corsage, and a date. Oh, and I forgot transportation, photos, pre-Prom groups, an after-Prom dress, after-Prom arrangements, and other "necessary" duties like facials and spray-tanning (what?). All guys have to do is throw on a tux, and "badabing-badaboom" they're ready. Granted, they do have to ask a girl out, which carries its own heavy load of stress. Nowadays it's become a competition of who can come up with the most creative and exciting ways to ask a girl out.


I read an article in the New York Times from the '90s by Betsy Israel called Prom: The Production. Granted, it's been nearly 20 years since the article was written, but I still think that the title is spot on. It is a big production. Everyone gets so caught up in the dresses and the dates and the parties and the planning that it becomes this exhausting (and apparently exciting?) ritual that often ends in the disappointment of the students. We all know that the excitement isn't for the grand ballroom that hosts the event, nor the awkward meals of some generic type of chicken, but it's for the After-Prom. Elegant, floor-length dresses are traded for slightly tighter (and much shorter) get-ups, billowing hair is unleashed from the bobby-pin clutches, and tuxedo jackets are quickly shed. That's what everyone is really waiting for. 'It's "the after" that the girls themselves have to describe -- "the after" that most parents don't want to hear about' (Israel 2).

So isn't it a bit strange that we should spend all this money and time and effort (ladies in particular) to prepare for something that isn't even the main event? 


One thing I find particularly mind-boggling is the length to which girls will go to transform themselves for the night. I mean, don't they want to be able to at least recognize themselves when they look at the pictures 30 years down the road? The article mentions "the makeovers that change pale, freckle faced girls into bronzed prom women" and it's true (Israel 1)! Hired makeup professionals will douse the upperclassmen girls population with powder and mascara and glitter until we no longer look like the 16-18 year olds that many of us are. One girl in the article, Liz York, refers to Prom as the ' last great moment...this is the best night of your life, like, before your life' (Israel 1). Now as ridiculous and superficial as that may seem (and it is) , honestly that is how it is viewed. We've worked our butts off as juniors and seniors to prepare for college, so shouldn't we have some big event to just let loose before the colossal stresses of university crush us in the Fall?