Pygmalion and Pretty Woman
"I feel just like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman except for that whole hooker thing."
It's no surprise that Laney, the speaker of these words and heroine of 1999's She's All That should feel that way. She could have just as easily said that she felt like Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady because She's All That is the latest example of a series of movies based on the Pygmalion myth, an occurrence that illustrates Hollywood's long fascination with this myth.
The original Pygmalion story is found in Ovid. Pygmalion is the story of a gifted young sculpter who is a woman hater. Ironically, the sculpture that most fascinates him and that he puts all of his genius into is a statue of a woman. The statue is exquisite, but Pygmalion wasn't content. He kept tweaking the statue, working on it until it was so well-made that it looked real, and no other woman--real or sculpted--could compare. Pygmalion reached a point, however, where he could improve nothing else on the statue, and he fell in love with his creation. The poor sculpter tried to pretend that the statue was real; he caressed it, tried to dress it up, brought it the gifts he thought a real woman would enjoy.
Ultimately, his pitiful situation of his passion came to Venus' attention. On the goddess of love's feast day, Pygmalion asked the goddess to let him find a maiden like his statue. Venus knew what Pygmalion really wanted, however, and the flames on her altar leaped up three times, signalling that Pygmalion would get his wish. When Pygmalion arrived home, he discovered that his statue was alive. He named her Galatea, and the two of them were married.
What the Pygmalion myth boils down to is a man who creates a woman exactly as he would like her to be. Hollywood remains faithful to the basic events of the myth in each film version it creates. In each film, a man takes a flesh and blood woman and recreates her--usually through a physical makeover but sometimes the makeover goes deeper into thoughts and manners;
It's no surprise that Laney, the speaker of these words and heroine of 1999's She's All That should feel that way. She could have just as easily said that she felt like Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady because She's All That is the latest example of a series of movies based on the Pygmalion myth, an occurrence that illustrates Hollywood's long fascination with this myth.
The original Pygmalion story is found in Ovid. Pygmalion is the story of a gifted young sculpter who is a woman hater. Ironically, the sculpture that most fascinates him and that he puts all of his genius into is a statue of a woman. The statue is exquisite, but Pygmalion wasn't content. He kept tweaking the statue, working on it until it was so well-made that it looked real, and no other woman--real or sculpted--could compare. Pygmalion reached a point, however, where he could improve nothing else on the statue, and he fell in love with his creation. The poor sculpter tried to pretend that the statue was real; he caressed it, tried to dress it up, brought it the gifts he thought a real woman would enjoy.
Ultimately, his pitiful situation of his passion came to Venus' attention. On the goddess of love's feast day, Pygmalion asked the goddess to let him find a maiden like his statue. Venus knew what Pygmalion really wanted, however, and the flames on her altar leaped up three times, signalling that Pygmalion would get his wish. When Pygmalion arrived home, he discovered that his statue was alive. He named her Galatea, and the two of them were married.
What the Pygmalion myth boils down to is a man who creates a woman exactly as he would like her to be. Hollywood remains faithful to the basic events of the myth in each film version it creates. In each film, a man takes a flesh and blood woman and recreates her--usually through a physical makeover but sometimes the makeover goes deeper into thoughts and manners;