A Psychoanalytic Analysis of Pretty Woman Essays

In the essay Women, Cheesecake, and Borderline Material: Responses to Girlie Pictures in the Mid-Twentieth-Century U.S., Joanne Meyerowitz writes about the history of mass media representations of the female body and their interaction with women, both past and present. However, what’s particularly interesting in regards to the subject of this essay is Meyerowitz’s interest in how popular culture continues to help define sexual conformity. In the case of cheesecake photography, the commodified sexual representation of women plays in tandem with Katz’s discussion of how the development of a consumer culture redefined sex as an act of pleasure and consumption. Even as magazines and pin-ups showcased scantily-clad women in an overtly sexual manner, it is covertly supplementing societal constructions of heterosexual attraction, as well as societal definitions of what a woman ought to be for a man

How are women objectified in The Wolf of Wall Street based on the ‘Male Gaze’? In this essay, I am going to be analysing how women are objectified in the 2013 Hollywood film, ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ (directed by Martin Scorsese). I will be analysing how women are objectified using a theory produced by feminist film critic Laura Mulvey. This theorist is a British professor of film and media studies at Birkbeck in London.

Feminist ideas are used throughout this story in both explicit and implicit ways to help describe the gender roles placed upon females in the 1950s. “That figure was a garish blond showgirl, a Hollywood ‘sexpot’ of no interest to intellectuals”. (Page 79) The author explicitly includes the

> Directed by Garry Marshall, Pretty Woman is a romantic comedy and a modernized Cinderella. The story involves the evolution of the relationship between the two protagonists, Vivian (Julia Roberts) and Edward Lewis (Richard Gere). In the film how a business arrangement between a business magnate and a prostitute quickly becomes a genuine loving relationship. In addition to their complex business relationship, Edward’s lawyer Phil (Jason Alexander) is one of many obstacles to the desired “fairy tale ending.” Edward and Vivian are two broken individuals. Vivian is prostitute who is dealing with the vicissitudes of life and Edward is a divorced man who recently broke up with his girlfriend. Vivian and Edward bring out the

The film that I chose to write about is a Paramount Pictures presentation titled Mean Girls, starring Lindsay Lohan and also featuring a handful of Saturday Night Live cast members, including Tina Fey the author of this picture. The reason behind choosing this film is because it has a unique style of introducing characters, transitioning between scenes, and various tools to help spice up the film. Being one of my personal favorites, Mean Girls is a comedy about a home schooled teenage girl who enters high school for the first time. She tries to figure herself out by where she can fit in and who she needs to become friends with.

It can be argued that men notice girl’s bodies before anything else, however, it becomes creepy when that is all the man focuses on, such as in the case of Sammy and the others in the store. These facts beg the question, are girls really just pieces of meat to be devoured, objects to be observed, or pieces of art to be cherished? On the other hand, these girls did not help themselves much by walking into the store in nothing but their bathing suits. In fact, as Robert Pultier stated, “They are young, but they are also sexual beings, proud, in that often confused way that teenagers are, of their sensuality. They are aware of Sammy watching them and are half self-conscious and half exhilarated by his attention”. These girls seem to be embracing their new role in a man’s mind.

Major Claim: The objectification and “currency” of a women’s body is the pivotal focus for the readings presented in class. It is discussed in the readings about how women are only considered for their looks, and not their personal depth or knowledge. Additionally, intersectionality is observed and how these objectifications effect marginalized groups. Finally, the term of enlightened sexism is introduced and how this concept is dangerous to and reverses feminism.

This genre is typically modern, perky and upbeat, but the common narrative in all of them is that it features a woman who is strong and she overcomes adversity to reach her goals. There is also a message of empowerment that also struggles with a romantic predicament and using comedy to poke fun at the male characters. Industries are still producing soppy romantic comedies for the female audience but the divide between the standard chick flick and romantic comedy is slowly disappearing. Similarly to the beginning of this essay it is evident that institutions are moving in the direction of women’s place in culture in relation to this film genre; women are usually shown as the super power since they are made to appeal to the female audience. However

The Traffic in Women: The “Political economy” of sex by Gayle Rubin is an exploration of the origin of women’s oppression. Rubin’s main objective is to arrive at a more fully developed definition of the sex/gender system, otherwise referred to as “mode of reproduction” and/or “patriarchy”. She further develops her definition through the analysis of the work of Levi-Strauss and Freud from a marxist perspective. Rubin provides the following preliminary definition of the sex/gender system “A set of arrangements by which a society transforms biological sexuality into products of human activity, and in which these transformed sexual needs are satisfied.” (159) She attempts to add to her definition of the sex/gender system through the analysis of the overlapping work of Claude Levi- Strauss and Sigmund Freud. Despite implications with their work, Rubin believes that both Levi-Strauss and Freud provide conceptual tools in describing the sex/gender system. Rubin looks at a Marxist analysis of sex oppression, as well as, Engels theory of society which integrates both sex and sexuality. Furthermore she incorporates aspects of each theory addressed into her own working definition of the sex/gender system. By shifting between Marxist, structuralist and psychoanalyst explanations of sex oppression, Rubin is able to construct a multi-dimensional definition of the sex/gender system that is not only inclusive but also provides a basis of which to build from.

There are many companies in the world today that put an idea of this perfect female body into the heads of women. These images lead to a faulty standard men hold of women and their bodies and that women strive to become. Margaret Atwood addresses the issue of the way men view the female body by writing her essay in the viewpoints of a male so the reader can better understand how the expectation men have of the female body is unrealistic. First, she uses an allusive comparison to show the male expectation of the female body and how it is objectified as if it were a doll that comes with accessories. Next, she uses an anecdote with defamiliarization to show how the way the father views a Barbie doll and the way it portrays the female body to young girls is hypocritical. Lastly, Margaret Atwood uses insidious diction to talk about how men not only view the female body as a product but how they also use the female body as a product which can be sold amongst businessmen. In The Female Body, Margaret Atwood uses many rhetorical devices to convey how the female body is viewed through the eyes of men.

Today’s filmmakers have three areas to focus on: the event or theme of the film, the audience who will be watching the film, and lastly, the individual characters and the roles they play and how they are portrayed and interpreted. Many of these films bottom line objectives are to focus on the “erotic needs of the male ego.” The focus on fetishistic scopophilia tend to slant the view such that we see the world as being dominated by men and that woman are

To do so, Levy turns to the experiences of several young women whom she interviews. From her interpretations of these experiences, Levy reaches the conclusion that these women’s sexual nature revolves around their need

According to Margaret Atwood in The Female Body, a woman’s body is used in today’s culture “to sell and advertise products”. These products vary from “door knockers, bottle openers, clocks with ticking bellies, lampshades, and nutcrackers”. By having stores sell these items they are completely promoting the objectification of women to help sell their goods and services which is down right direful. How are women expected to ever be treated equal if business’ continue to sell discriminatory product, lessening the view of the female anatomy. Materialistic items are not the only way a female’s body is exploited in today’s culture. Aside from bottle openers and clocks, women are universally seen as a “renewable” sex symbol The Female Body (pg. 1013 para. 6) especially in magazines.

Have you ever seen immoral films? I have. According to the dictionary of American English (4th Ed. Longman), Immoral is defined as morally wrong, and not acceptable by society. Pretty Woman and Breakfast at Tiffany’s are two very immoral movie pictures. Although, they have a lot of differences; however, they are similar in three specific ways: their attraction, their poverty, and their transformation

In the United States, our concept of gender, and the differences between men and women, have deep traditional roots. Men are supposed to be strong individuals, who support and defend their families. Women are seen as nurturing, and motherly, more gentle and tame. We believe so strongly that the two genders are entirely separate, with such completely different traits, that it almost seems that men and women are just born with different qualities.