pretty woman is one of those pictures i've watched for a million of times and could memorize every detail of it, not because i'm particularly a fan of julia roberts or richard gere despite they were really quite good-looking then. i watched them because my sister and my… More
pretty woman is one of those pictures i've watched for a million of times and could memorize every detail of it, not because i'm particularly a fan of julia roberts or richard gere despite they were really quite good-looking then. i watched them because my sister and my mother were suckers to chick flicks. this picture gave me some idea of how woman should be in their own conceptualization of womanhood, which is something i've always felt quite alienated from.
any kind of popular romantic movie is basically a mutant representation of the cinderella formula with contemporary contextuality. super-rich-handsome guy meets a woman who comes from much humbler upbringing, but this prince-charming sees something classy within her, some divine and fine essence which hasn't been discovered by anyone else but him. and he's also generous and big-hearted to discard the barrier of class and condescend himself to accept this woman. everyone is happy. story ends.
i re-watched it months ago just to grasp some points i could attack over this flick..to begin with, in the beginning of the movie, richard gere cannot get his girlfriend, who is in the same class as him, who complains his incapability to spare some actual capacity for the relationship and his self-centeredness (i suppose female viewer tends to ignore it since he was kinda cute then) to attend a business banquet with him...so this man, who seems to have everything, needs some companion to escort him in some classy business meetings..then he encounters some paid woman, who could look classy after some gloomings done on her, to be his companion, who he could easily buy off with money. then this woman starts to ask for more like equal respects as if she was not his employee while insisting not to kiss him on the lips. it develops to the point that she even tries to depart without taking any bit of his money. but strangely that strategy works! eventually she gets EVERYTHING and him, of course!
anyway, let's ideologize everything...let's see julia roberts' role as the representative of the proletariat female since she's really well loved by female audience...richard gere as some signifier of the suave male idle rich...the rich man, who's kinda dysfunctional in his relationship with woman in his own class, picks up some woman lower than him as some romantic redemption, woman who is grateful to appreciate his "chivalries"...just like man who marries woman from the third world, and within east asia, man marries woman from south asia (east asian countries are generally richer than south asian countries)...the woman would be rewarded if you follow the virtuous course of womanhood and maintain your fine essence within, then you would be compensated handsomely. it's like winning a lottery, one chance out of millions, but everyone is still buying it. as for those who don't have the luck to win the lotteries, they're lost courses which we don't have to pay any regard to. all the other street-prostitutes are incorrigibly corrupted, and let's leave them alone. let's disregard the general condition of gender inequality, and you woman just tries your best to beautify yourself, if you could look like julia roberts, you might win the lottery.
i'm confused why some men detest chick flicks, which are literally ideal apparatus to justify gender inequality. but on the other hand, it points out the class issue, which means if you're not the elite of men, you're also a lost course without good laids. (crudely, if you're loser, you're discriminated from this scenery of romances)...
of course, i didn't hate the movie, which is ok. adam smith says something, the reason why ruilig class remains in power is the aesthetization of human imagination, which favors to watch something beautiful rather than ugly. they use aestehtics to justify their priviledges. this is the case.