Pygmalion and Pretty Woman Essay

The relationship amid the texts you have studied and their respective heathenish context is significant because it provides insight into the dash value have been kept up(p) and changed. Discuss with reference to the text from the past and its appropriation.The intended auditory modality of both(prenominal) Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw and moderately Woman, directed by Garry Marshall was the bunch of association at the cadence of composition. This is seen through the choice of the form of each(prenominal)(prenominal) text, Pygmalion is a figure out because in the primordial twentieth centaury this was the popular way of spreading ideas and Pretty Woman is a Hollywood film, a contemporary form of mass media today. Because both texts were aimed at the majority of society they each must represent the catch up withs of their cultural context to be popular, which both texts prove to be. As both texts study the cultural views of the context they were represent in, a comparison of the two provides a significant insight into the way item values have been maintained and changed everywhere time.One of the main values explored in both texts is what each society believes to be the completed woman. By comparing the way these women in both texts are presented, we are habituated an insight into the changing status of women over time.In English society in the early 1900s women were seen as inferior to men and were oft stereotyped in the sense of the clothes they wore, how they spoke and how they presented themselves, rather than their personality. Womens inferiority is seen in Higgins and Elizas un refer relationship, Higgins is clearly presented as the cut through and owner of Eliza as he buys her from her father and treats her as a rifle doll. Eliza is almost objectified by Higgins, representing the sexism present in the 1900s. She is seen as the perfect woman by society only when she has been transformed to a dignified, advantageously spoken, beautiful lady of high society. This is seen through the differing reactions to Eliza by the Eynsford Hill family when she is a flower girl, compared to when she is a duchess .The position of women in society has changed a enormous deal over the last centaury and the contemporary post-feminist society is believed to provide and equal playing field for all. Women and men are seen as equals well-disposedly as well as by law and in the workforce. This is seen in the act as Vivian as the heroine in the film who, although she is still beautiful, is individual, independent and has a certain instinctive intelligence, she is seen as ideal for these personal qualities.A nonher view explored in both texts is the complicated remains of hierarchal social classes and bridging the open up or breaking the barrier between these classes.Late nineteenth early twentieth centaury English society had a rigid class system with the idea of upper, middle and lower classes that were ground upon b irthright. At the time Pygmalion was composed however, the system had begun to change as the growing middle class was runner to rise up through the social hierarchy due to wealthiness. This is depicted in the play when Mr. Doolittle becomes rich and rises the ladder into middle class faith. Shaw is deeply satirical of these social classes as is seen in how Eliza can pricey rise herself to upper class and her statement to Higgins at the end of the play of I had only to lift my finger to be as good as you clearly makes his view clear that the social barriers are superficial.Pretty Woman was written in the late 1980s, a decade cognise as the greed is good decade were social class was based solely upon wealth, apart from in the global community were both ethnicity and wealth both play a role. Social hierarchy is more negotiable as any peerless can rise to what is seen as higher(prenominal) society through the gaining of money, not through the class they were born into. prejudic e between the classes is seen when the shop assistants refuse to serve Vivian on Rodeo drive. However as the movie is aimed at the all day average American one typically of the middle class, mistreatment of wealth or greed is seen as a bad thing. Seen in the portrayal of Edwards work partner Stukie who because of his attempts to increase the surface of his company and his unfaithfulness to his wife is seen as superficial and by Edwardss sad comment to Vivian we both screw people for money. The audience instead sympathises with Vivian, who all though is of low class is still seen as the favoured character because of her personality. This demonstrates the modern disregard for social class, which is a value that has changed over the past one hundred years.The major observation that can be made of both texts and which demonstrates changing values over time is in the decision of each story. Shaw was determined to give Pygmalion an anti-romantic ending, meaning the play did not con clude as a romantic comedy should, with the main womanly and male characters falling in do it. His reasoning is that Eliza has achieved independence and no continuing wishes to be seen as Higgins belonging, as well as that his relation to her is also godlike to be altogether agreeable. This reflects not only Shaws strongly feministic views but the need for more equal gender relationships at the time and the publics preferred choice of a more believable close over a romantic one. Popular thinking at the time believed that people married within their class and Higginss dismissal of love as a life of the gutter demolishes any dream-like romantic world.The conclusion of Pretty Woman was specifically designed to suit the mass grocery store romantic comedy genre and to appeal to todays womanise obsessed society. The conclusion of Vivian and Edward falling in love and meeting symbolically half way in the fire escape is a typically Hollywood ending and highly unrealistic. To make the movie popular with a wide audience Marshall has created a fairytale ending when Vivian is rescue by her prince as she has always dreamed of. This constitutes the happy ending of a typical romantic comedy and reflects how todays media has moulded society into having exalted romantic perceptions.Both texts were popular culture of their time and thus reflect the common ideals and values of the context in which they were created. By studying the relationships between each text and their cultural context we can compare both texts to reveal the way certain views, in this case romanticism, the role of women and social classes, have changed over time.