The Movie Pretty Woman Depicts Women as Commodities

Women As Commodities: Pretty Woman and the Ideology of Pop Culture Representations of Femininity

Pretty Woman; the story of the prostitute finally getting her Cinderella happily ever after. Though just as castle doors hide reality, there is a truly problematic message depicted throughout the film. Broadcasting a patriarchal view, the film portrays Vivian as property to be bought, sold, and owned. Vivian embodies the most stereotypical norms of femininity that are internalised in women in our society. She exudes a sense of childlike innocence; her beauty is unselfconscious; she is frivolously abandoned, waiting to be rescued and redeemed. It is made glaringly obvious that superior power lies in the role of Edward, a businessman who hires Vivian to be at his beck and call for a week. During the film, we are continuously examining Vivian and assessing her worth and potential as she changes and conforms with the conservative lifestyle.

One of the most blatant examples of femininity being favoured in the film is the shopping scene. When at first Vivian enters the store wearing her usual attire, she is given cold stares by all three shop assistants. Collectively as an audience, we see she doesn't belong there, based on the preconceived notions of what is feminine and what is deemed socially unacceptable. The following clip will show you the impact of stereotypes in the modern world. As you can see in the clip, she is given disapproving, judging looks before even entering the store - from both people on the street, and the store mannequins which are shot looking down on her. When you compare this to the second shopping scene, you see an immense contrast in the way she is treated; in the store and on the streets. Conservative busine...

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...ively works to represent a world that doesn't exist, portraying enslavement as entertainment.

We will now look at the last twenty seconds of the film, where the happily ever after setting is topped off with the promise that our dreams will too come true. Portraying Hollywood as the land of dreams, Edward rides in on his 'white horse' to rescue 'Princess Vivian' from her own personal tower, resulting in our involvement in the manipulation of the myths delivers to us. This shot also serves purpose to distract us from the devious way that consumerist culture moulds our conceptions. We may blind ourselves of viewing the real issues of the film, but we can not erase the fact that in pleasurably consuming Pretty Woman, we have participated in reinforcing constructs from a culture that subjects women, a culture that degrades women - a culture that is anything but pretty.