Pretty Woman

Q: Outline the discursive and representational tropes of post feminism in Pretty Woman.

The quintessential romance Pretty Woman (1990) staring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere is essentially a modern day fairy tale where the underprivileged young woman meets her handsome prince and lives happily ever after. The film resonates the same narrative formula as classic fable Cinderella, in that the film’s protagonist Vivian (Roberts) plays a prostitute who is bought for a week by wealthy businessman Edward (Gere) for everything but the standard reason, sex. Pretty Woman contains a number of themes that are comparable to common traits of post-feminist discourse, in particular the third wave. Third wave feminists interpret gender, consumerism and sexuality as central to their ideology. This essay will discuss some of the discursive and representational tropes in Pretty Woman as a postfeminist text.

Feminist discourse from the feminist movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s emerged in popular media using representational tropes centering on a privileged female protagonist. Texts featured narratives focusing on the empowerment of women, be it social, economic or physical. For many feminists, feminine values and behaviour were seen as a major cause of women’s oppression, so they rejected anything associated with a patriarchal culture where men and masculinity were deemed higher in status than women and femininity. Some of the main key issues and debates raised during the second wave period included but were not limited to: equal pay in the workplace; access to education; equal job opportunities; the right to contraception and abortion; and provision of childcare facilities. Feminist ideas and discursive motivs became popular in the media, based on a premise of the rejection of femininity and it’s ideals, which included female oppression and subjugation. The pursuit of independence arose as a common theme, featuring strong female characters unrestricted by male control, subordination or dependence. Feminists rejected femininity labeling it as a patriarchal construct “associated with passivity, submissiveness and dependence” (Hollows, 2000, p 10) and saw it fundamentally as an inferior state to masculinity. Feminism began to be sidelined due to the backlash of antifeminism and growing discontent. In the 1980’s gender discourse and rhetoric in representational culture shifted from ‘feminism’ to ‘post-feminism,’ which included a number of variations of the feminist critical framework. Due to all the ideological uncertainty that goes along with post-feminist discourse another body of thought emerged categorized the ‘third wave’. Some of the common representational characteristics of third wave thought are touched on in Pretty Woman, therefore the film could be considered as a ‘third wave’ post-feminist text.

Early feminists were an anti-beauty and anti-consumption culture, which shunned fashion; make-up and anything deemed to construct the female as more attractive to the opposite sex. Contemporary western society however has embraced consumerism and beauty culture as two characteristics central to post feminist media. It is no longer considered a taboo to wear lipstick or lingerie and “freedom is construed as the freedom to shop.” (Taska and Negra, 2005, p. 107) This reawakening of feminine consumption can be characterized as post-feminist in nature, more specifically, the third wave. Pretty Woman acknowledges beauty culture and consumerism in the iconic Rodeo Drive shopping scenes. We find great pleasure in watching as Vivian gets her revenge on the snobby saleswomen who wouldn’t serve her, when she returns moments later empowered by Edward and his credit card, of which at that moment the clerks morph into Vivian’s minions, waiting on her hand and foot. The ideological power of beauty culture is also illustrated by a sharp contrast from in the lobby scenes at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, before and after Vivian’s makeover. When Edward first escorts Vivian into the hotel he is clearly embarrassed and sneaks her in under his coat. Vivian here is adorned in stereotypical prostitute attire (including long black boots and minimal clothing) promoting negative connotations of sexual promiscuity. This is a sharp contrast to when Vivian has undergone her metamorphous into a sophisticated young lady, where she is met with the approving gaze of others as she walks through the hotel. The power of beauty culture is also emphasised in the scene where she accompanies Edward to the opera, wearing a striking red gown, gloves and expensive jewellery, just like a princess on the way to the ball. The emphasis on materialism illustrates that beauty culture and consumerism are empowering tools for women to catapult their status in western capitalist society.

Another symptom of post feminist media culture is the rise of sex and raunch culture. The rise of raunch culture (Levy, 2005) is essentially a manifestation of the glamourised sex worker depicted as an independent and entrepreneurial woman, which is generally regarded as a positive outcome associated with post-feminist rhetoric of female empowerment, individualism and liberation. Vivian’s character is a manifestation of this rhetoric, being that she is a prostitute (which originally held negative connotations) represented in a positive light. In Pretty Woman we don’t see her working in her trade except for when she is intimate with Edward; of which is okay because the audience know they are destined to fall in love. For Vivian, prostitution "is a job like any other, merely a way of "paying the rent" (Brunsdon, 2000, p. 293). She is portrayed as an independent woman repeating lines with her friend Kit "We say who, we say where, we say how much". Vivian’s positive character traits are also emphasised which diminishes her association with the negative connotations that go along with prostitution. She demonstrates a strong sense of morality, saves her earnings instead of spending them on drugs and stresses the importance of flossing and wearing a condom. The most important aspect of her personality is however her compassion for other people, a fundamental human quality that is lacking in the sophisticated and high-status Edward.

Pretty Woman raises feminist concerns relating to the way white patriarchal capitalism appears to give wealthy white men greater social privileges and power. These patriarchal interests are hegemonically negotiated through naturalised media representations in film, television; literature framed by ideologies, which in turn shape, our understandings of life and people that exist in society. Benshoff and Griffen state that representational trobes serve to naturalize various beliefs that degrade other groups – thus making it seem obvious that those groups should not be afforded the same privileges.” (Benshoff and Griffen, 2004, p. 10) In Pretty Woman, Edward’s lawyer Stuckey illustrates one of the many ways men demean women in society. In one scene he tries to have sex with Vivian because learns she is a prostitute. He clearly thinks it is fine to rape her simply due to her occupation and the connotations that it evokes. In the scene Vivian does not allow him to have any power or superiority in this situation. She rejected Stuckey’s sexual advances and refused to allow him to take advantage of her. This is another example of how third wave texts feature empowered women. When Stuckey does not get his way with Vivian he starts to get violent. This is when Edward, comes in and ‘saves the day’ by pulling him off her proceeding to throw him out of the room. This scene represents Edward’s respect for Vivian by supporting her refusal to have sex with Stuckey; once again framing the sex worker in a positive light, at the and empowering her to resume control of her life and body.

In another scene Edward debases Vivian indirectly by articulating that he will be leaving at the end of the week and that he will call her. In saying this he is takes the power away from Vivian by not allowing her a choice on whether they spend time together in the future. He makes the decision for her, expecting her to go along with it. This dehumanizes Vivian by rendering her point of view irrelevant; she is only a prostitute after all. When Vivian lets on that she is upset by the situation Edward makes reference to the fact that he has never treated her like a prostitute, to which she answers, “You just did”. From his point of view he had neither physically or verbally abused her, but by means of his implications and subtle gestures he had disempowered her in the decision making process of her own body and destiny. It was so natural for Edward to react in this way that he failed to realise that he debased her simply because she is female and technically a prostitute. Second wave feminist discourse aimed to raise consciousness of female oppression by considering femininity as ‘ideological’ rather than as the ‘natural’ state projected by patriarchal discourse. It would also be ‘natural’ to assume that he had the power in this situation, due to his status as an affluent white male, and the privilege that affords. As a post feminist text however, Vivian has a choice and rejects Edwards condescending offer, asserting her own needs as an independent and empowered modern woman. She no longer ‘needs’ a man to survive, and she won’t settle for being kept as Edward’s beck and call girl, actively choosing to settle for no less then the fairytale i.e. marriage which brings me to another layer ideology this film oozes.

While Vivian is represented as a strong independent female who does not need a man to survive, there is an underlying ideology present in Pretty Woman that pertains to wider society at large. The archetypal narrative patterns in Pretty Woman draw many ideological parallels with Cinderella. The film makes a conscious reference to this from the beginning and we are encouraged to interpret Pretty Woman as a 90’s ‘fairytale.’ One scene even makes a conscious reference to this when she mentions how her mother locked her in the attic for being naughty as a child. There she would sit and fantasize that she was a princess and that her knight in shining amour was on his way to rescue her. Toward the end of Pretty Woman Vivian tells Kit that she’s getting off the streets and moving to a new city to finish school and establish a life for herself. This scene connotes feminist ideals as she is seen to be pursuing her own economic independence, and freeing herself from the perils of male control she faced every day while subject to male control and subservience on the streets. Unfortunately these ideas disappear in the final scene when Edward climbs up the fire escape to rescue his ‘princess’. Edward asks what the princess did after her knight in shining armour rescues her to which Vivian replies, “she rescues him right back.” Although this may have very well been meant to sound like a peer relationship, it cannot be. The power lays with Edward the ‘knight’ who rescued his princess.

Vivian’s rescue fantasies in Pretty Woman are heavily constructed as a ‘natural’ aspect of feminine psychology. As Bignell argues, the “mythic” construction and shaping of gendered identities highlights the way gender identities can be understood as ideologies in media texts in the ways “conscious choices, intentions and beliefs are seen as the effects of women’s ideologically produced subject-position, rather than being freely chosen.” (Bignell, 2002, p. 60-61) There have been a number of psychological studies identifying the differences between male and female development, including much criticism from scholars stating that fairytales hamper children’s development, especially in females (88). Colette Dowling argues in her book The Cinderella Complex, that representations of gender in these stories are psychologically harmful to women. She argues that young girls are trained into dependency, while boys are trained out of it (Dowling, 1981). Because being dependent is identified with femininity, women may assume this attitude without even realising, believing that there will always be someone there to take care of them. These ‘Systems of representation’ can shape the attributes and characteristics of gender identities of femininity and masculinity as they are lived by men and women in their daily lives. (Nixon, 1997, p. 295) Instead of independently building a life for themselves, young women will search for their ‘prince charming’ to provide protection, a sense of identity and to essentially make ‘all their dreams comes true’ and live ‘happily ever after.’ I know I personally grew up modeling my future husband on the handsome prince, like Edward, to take care of me. I guess the media I consumed as a young girl influenced me more than I knew.

We can look at Pretty Woman’s heroine as a persuasive representation of a character that does not necessarily embody feminism, however she comes into contact with issues that touch on gender inequalities in society. The way Vivian responds to the many situations demonstrates a third-wave perspective on contemporary western norms surrounding women’s rights and equality, sexual activity, and empowerment. The emphasis on beauty culture and consumerism is in line with third wave thinking given that Vivian appears to be liberated by her purchasing power, her ability to consume and the heighted status her luxury goods connote. This raises concerns about how consumerist post feminism can be categorized in terms of lifestyle aspiration, narcissism and capitalism and as skewing the empowerment and liberation rhetoric found elsewhere in feminism and post feminism to capitalist ends. Pretty Woman as a media text also indirectly presents the continued power imbalance between men and women and the societal pressures to live the heterosexist/heteronormative ideological construct of living ‘happily-ever-after’. Whether or not the filmmakers intended the film to be read in this way is irrelevant. As we know, gender identities are not unitary and fixed, but rather are subject to social and historical variation and a film reflects the ideologies of a given historical moment.

Bibliography

Benshoff, H. M., & Griffin, S. (2004). America on film: representing race, class, gender, and sexuality at the movies. Oxford: Blackwell.

Bignell, J. (2002). Media semiotics: an introduction (2nd ed.). Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Brunsdon, C. (2000). Post- Feminism and Shopping Films . The film studies reader (pp. 289-299). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Dines, G., & Humez, J. M. (2011). Gender, race, and class in media: a critical reader (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications.

Dowling, C. (1981). The Cinderella complex: women 's hidden fear of independence. New York: Summit Books.

Gill, R. (2007). Gender and the media. Cambridge, UK: Polity.

Hollows, J. (2000). Feminism, femininity, and popular culture. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press.

Kearney, M. C. (2012). The gender and media reader. New York: Routledge.
Levy, A. (2005). Female chauvinist pigs: women and the rise of raunch culture. New York: Free Press.

Kelley, K. (1994). A modern Cinderella. Journal Of American Culture (01911813), 17(1), 87.

Nixon, S. (1997). Visual Codes of Masculinity . Representation: cultural representations and signifying practices (pp. 291-336). London: Sage in association with the Open University.

Marshall, G. (Director). (2001). Pretty woman [Motion picture]. New Zealand : Touchstone Pictures.

Tasker, Y. & Negra, D.(2005). In Focus: Postfeminism and Contemporary Media Studies. Cinema Journal 44(2), 107-110. University of Texas Press. Retrieved April 27, 2013, from Project MUSE database.

Bibliography: Benshoff, H. M., & Griffin, S. (2004). America on film: representing race, class, gender, and sexuality at the movies. Oxford: Blackwell. Bignell, J Brunsdon, C. (2000). Post- Feminism and Shopping Films . The film studies reader (pp. 289-299). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dines, G., & Humez, J. M. (2011). Gender, race, and class in media: a critical reader (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications. Dowling, C. (1981). The Cinderella complex: women 's hidden fear of independence. New York: Summit Books. Gill, R. (2007). Gender and the media. Cambridge, UK: Polity. Hollows, J. (2000). Feminism, femininity, and popular culture. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press. Kearney, M. C. (2012). The gender and media reader. New York: Routledge. Levy, A. (2005). Female chauvinist pigs: women and the rise of raunch culture. New York: Free Press. Kelley, K. (1994). A modern Cinderella. Journal Of American Culture (01911813), 17(1), 87. Nixon, S. (1997). Visual Codes of Masculinity . Representation: cultural representations and signifying practices (pp. 291-336). London: Sage in association with the Open University. Marshall, G. (Director). (2001). Pretty woman [Motion picture]. New Zealand : Touchstone Pictures. Tasker, Y. & Negra, D.(2005). In Focus: Postfeminism and Contemporary Media Studies. Cinema Journal 44(2), 107-110. University of Texas Press. Retrieved April 27, 2013, from Project MUSE database.