Movie Review : Pretty Woman Directed By Garry Marshall

On December 14th, 2000, Miss Congeniality (directed by Donald Petrie) was released, making 212.8 million dollars during its run in theaters. Sandra Bullock, the leading actress of the movie, played a character by the name of Gracie Hart. Bullock’s character is an FBI agent that must go undercover to protect the contestants of the Miss United States Pageant. The contestants were being threatened by a notorious criminal who happened to be the pageant host, Kathy Morningside, played by Candice Bergen. The stereotypical topic Miss Congeniality addresses is women not being good enough to do a man’s job; though the feminist defense in the movie proves the stereotype wrong. It would seem as though Miss Congeniality struggles with an ideological conflict by suggesting that being a feminist is acceptable, yet a woman must stay out of the work traditionally done by men. The conflicted opinions in Miss Congeniality are easily recognized by men and women being represented in film differently, misogyny in the workplace, the juxtaposition of feminism and misogyny, and the future with a continuation of struggles from both sides.

Technically his book, The Sublime Object of Ideology, was published in 1989, so one can only wonder about whether Zizek would have included commentary on the quasi-Cinderella romantic comedy, Pretty Woman, released in the following year. It certainly warrants a more exhaustive study, but focusing briefly on a few key points in the movie – particularly in the light of theory concepts such as ideology, fetishism, and the commodity-form – should prove equally interesting. While some critics attacked the movie's fantastical plot – charming hooker/heroine Vivian Ward, played by Julia Roberts, is “picked up” and essentially “rented” by troubled corporate mogul Edward Lewis, played by Richard Gere, with the pair eventually falling in love and living “happily ever after” – it was a complete box office success. The film has brought in 178 million dollars since its release in 1990, placing it among the top 50 grossing movies of all time (Internet Movie Database Ltd.).

Thelma and Louise "Thelma and Louise" dramatises the ongoing battle of the sexes, or rather, women's struggle against men in a patriarchal society. This was the only reason for its success. Write a review of the film in which you comment on this statement. The feminist film "Thelma and Louise" was produced in 1991.

> 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

“You couldn't buy her, though, that's what's killing you, isn't it? That's it, Steff. She thinks you're shit. And deep down, you know she's right.” When you watch “ Pretty In Pink” by John Hughes a comedy, romance, and drama film taking place in the 80’s, where there are heartbreaks and reconciliations. The screenplay for the 1986 movie was written by John Hughes and directed by Howard Deutch. A teenager Andie Walsh, Molly Ringwald, must choose between her childhood sweetheart Duckie, Jon Cryer, and a rich boy Blane McDonnagh, Andrew McCarthy. The film “ Pretty In Pink” won the BMI Film Music Award in 1987 a year after the movie was released.

The Hollywood movie Pretty Woman (1990) is about a prostitute in Hollywood, marrying an extremely rich businessman, in spite of her mutual distrust and prejudice. The movie contains the basic narrative of the Cinderella tale: through the love and help of a man of a higher social position, a girl of a lower social status moves up to join the man at his level.

In Without Apology, filmmaker Susan Hamovitch made me experience a wide range of emotions as I learned more and more about her brother Alan. Within the first minutes of the film, I began to feel despondent. It was difficult for me to wrap my head around the idea that in 1958 the advice given to Alan’s parents by the best medical professionals was to place their child in an institution and forget about him. From the moment they left Alan at Letchworth Village the family seldom spoke his name. Therefore, when Susan said “I didn’t see him as a real person” I thought how difficult it most have been for her to go on this journey. It was towards the end of the film that I started to feel hopeful. This journey that Susan decided to embark, which began by her going to a support group, then visiting Alan at Letchworth, and reading Alan’s records, was very inspiring. For me, the film evoked these feelings as sadness as well as feelings of joy. I knew that it was a real life story and if this was the experience of one family who knows how many more families went through the same or a similar situation and were broken up. By the end of the film I was hopeful because of many reasons. Alan was not alone in this world. There was someone that cared about him enough to have the courage to expose her most protected secret.

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

Working Girl, dir. Mike Nichols. Perf. Harrison Ford, Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver. Twentieth Century Fox, 1988. DVD.

Phillip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart), P.I, is hired by the rich General Sternwood to out a blackmailer, but quickly finds himself tangled in the Sternwood family’s dirty laundry — it’s the classic film noir narrative. At the center of it all seems to be Vivian Rutledge (Lauren Bacall), a Sternwood daughter, and the woman attempting to cover up the murder at the bottom of Marlowe’s case. I used Vivian’s tidy adherence to the femme fatale archetype to dig deeper into its true message about women’s nature, beyond the mysterious façade.

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

A film that raises so many questions regarding prostitution, and drugs, Pretty Woman is a romantic comedy that was released March 23rd, 1990. Although this film was and is loved by so many, it also sparked discussions of issues in society at the time the movie came out. Pretty Woman came out as the problem of drugs, especially cocaine, was on the rise. This film also highlighted the issue of prostitution around the United States, along with the growing drug addiction, that often accompanies it. The movie Pretty Woman highlights the issues of drug addiction and prostitution causing waves in the public.

“I have lost something...It’s never too late to get it back,” stated Lester Burnham, the main character of American Beauty. American Beauty is a 1999 film that provides a look into the lives of a modern married couple that is dealing with issues within their relationship. As the story progresses, it is easily identifiable that the roles of the husband and wife are not what the viewers would expect. On the other hand, the homosexual couple presented throughout the movie seems to be the normal pair. Furthermore, society’s definition of beauty and contentment is questioned. Throughout American Beauty, the homosexual couple has a healthier relationship than the heterosexual couple and beauty is falsely represented.

The short film entitled “The Most Beautiful Thing” is about a smart and lonely boy in high school who falls for a girl who is also lonely and has special needs. This film came out in 2012 and Cameron Covell is the director, writer, and producer of the film. It is only about 11 minutes long, but it conveys a very powerful message about love. This short film is a great movie to watch because many people can relate to the struggles of the boy (Brandon), it is amazing to see who he falls in love with (Emily) and how she changes his world, and the courage displayed by both Brandon and Emily at the end of the film is astounding and encouraging.

Since its humble beginnings in the later years of the nineteenth century, film has undergone many changes. One thing that has never changed is the filmmaker’s interest in representing society in the present day. For better or worse, film has a habit of showing the world just what it values the most. In recent years, scholars have begun to pay attention to what kinds of ideas films are portraying (Stern, Steven E. and Handel, 284). Alarmingly, viewers, especially young women, are increasingly influenced by the lifestyle choices and attitudes that they learn from watching these films (Steele, 331). An example of this can be seen in a popular trope of the “romantic comedy” genre in this day and age: the powerful man doing something to help, or “save” the less powerful woman, representing a troubling “sexual double standard” (Smith, Stacy L, Pieper, Granados, Choueiti, 783).