Arakawa
English 107
January 29, 2013
Class Act In the words of Parenti, “A woman can escape from economic and gender exploitation by winning the love and career advantages offered by a rich male.” (423) This makes it easy to say that when an example of a lower-class woman and an upper-class man fall in love, they will find happiness. In today’s society, it is less likely to happen but is wished upon and sought after by women of this generation. If a lower class woman meets the right man, she will transform and make means as to fitting in. In this case, Vivian changes her ways to become a different woman. After finding Robert, Vivian transforms from one with dominantly masculine characteristics to a woman with feminine characteristics.
In the opening scene of Pretty Woman where Vivian is first shown, she is introduced as a low-class, uneducated, poor-mannered, independent, woman who is trying to make the most out of her occupation because she is struggling financially. She is seen to speak the language of business and calls on herself to be her own boss, not wanting a pimp. Vivian expresses a lot of masculine characteristics such as the way she walks, showing dominance by expansive gestures. She is aggressive and competitive shown by the way she and her friend Kit approached the other prostitute in their “territory.” After Vivian’s first encounter with Edward, her personality comes off strong and very powerful to him; a masculine trait in which we start to feel Edward’s lowness desperation after his breakup. By now, it is understood that Edward is at a low point. We see that he is in a desperate state. Once Vivian opened her mouth, she became the dominant one forcing rates on Edward from merely asking for directions. Edward decides to have Vivian drive her car and her true masculinity is revealed. She seems to know much more about men-itemized objects than Edward does. Throughout the first night Edward and Vivian start to connect with
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