Another common sexual theme listed by flute players is an extremely new phenomenon. The summer of 1999 introduced us to a popular movie American Pie, in which a “flute toting band dork” named Michelle creates a new stereotype for flute players, instrumentalists and women in general.24 Throughout most of the movie, Michelle is portrayed as naive and somewhat asexual. Her social life revolves around playing the flute and hanging out with other “dorks.” In the end of the movie she explains to her prom date and vicariously to the world that sex education is “half of what band camp is.” The character turns out to be quite promiscuous sexually, and leaves her prom night lover before he even wakes up the next morning. “I was used... cool,” he says happily, after he realizes what has happened.
Michelle is mostly remembered by her catchphrase “And one time, at band camp...” She is the voice for all the band kids in the movie and thus somehow becomes the voice for all the band kids in America. She tells the world a lot about what happens at band camp, but she also tells us, in graphic terms, what other non-musical uses a flute can have. This character single-handedly took what may have already been a standardized stereotype within certain circles and brought it out into the mainstream for millions to see. Granted that the band has long been portrayed negatively in the media anyway, this particular instance was explicitly tied to sexual behavior and explicitly tied to one instrument: the flute.
While in some ways, this character can be viewed as very negative (promiscuous, ditzy, boring), some have chosen to embrace this character and even almost glorify what she stands for. The Miami University Marching Band flute section, for instance chose to commemorate this character last fall, with a section T-shirt that quotes a few of Michelle’s famous lines. Because many of the respondents either viewed this character negatively or did not elaborate on their feelings for her at all, I spoke to a few Miami flute players to see why they had chosen to honor her. “She acted like a dumb band kid until the end when we all realize that she's just using this kid for the sex... She used him and left. That's power.” When asked why others would view Michelle negatively, the same Miami student said this: “I don't understand why flute players would get so upset. As a band member, we have to realize that our participation is not always seen as being 'cool.' But in the end, we just do it for ourselves, like the girl in the movie. I just don't think they got the bottom line.” Another student said that the idea for the shirt was designed “to make fun of ourselves before someone else could,” and that the movie gave them something to identify with, negative or positive. “It makes us feel that we connect with something. I know that that sounds lame...” This student also came to the conclusion that Michelle is both a good role model and a negative one. “I like it because she was a woman that can hold her own and used the guy. For once the woman took control of the situation... Girls can kick a little ass too.” A third student said of the whole movie, that “it's a little bit of an extreme representation.”
Many questions still remain concerning Michelle and women’s sexual power in general. For instance, is the ability to have sex and not confront your partner the next morning really power? Should she be glorified because she had sexual power and was sexually independent or should she be scorned because she used her sexuality to her advantage and created (or fulfilled) a stereotype that flutists are sexually indiscriminate? How will these media images continue to affect flute players in the future?