Social Complexitie In Pretty Woman

Beauty is determined by society and their standards. Women are expected to be skinny, pretty and a size two which puts a lot of pressure on women. The pressures of society persuade women to go through extreme measures to fit in with society standards. This is evident in the short story “The Falling girl” and “They’re Not Your Husband” as the main characters are impacted by social expectations, insecurity and peer pressure.

American Beauty, a film that was written by Allan Ball and directed by Sam Mendes in 1999 is a unique piece that demonstrates many sociological themes throughout the development of the plot. The characters strive to portray themselves as the All American Family. They live in a nice house, drive nice cars and seem perfectly normal to the general public, but the audience is allowed to view the deep set issues that plague the main characters; Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), Carolyn Burnham (Annette Bening), Jane Burnham (Thora Birch), and Jane's best friend Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari). As the plot develops there are many obvious parallels relating the lives of the characters to Merton's Strain

Women in society sometimes are subject to objectification, meaning they are treated as a mere object; unequal to men. In the novel, The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton, this holds true, except, women are said to be equal to men, but are not treated in this exact manner. Lily is apart of the upper class society of New York and attends parties, gambles all her money, and throughout the whole book tries to marry a rich man. Wharton’s feminism is apparent in the way she treats Lily; Lily gets through society, merely by keeping up her appearances. Beauty and appearance are everything in this society, if you are beautiful you will get far in society, however, the only thing Lily is lacking is wealth. In the novel, feminism is present with the idea of appearances and the symbol of money is used to convey that men are needed to control a women’s social stability.

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.).

> s apprehensive to be in a nice hotel with champagne and room service, etc. She is accustomed to being utilized as a cheap sex object. Edward is so nervous about their secret tryst that he becomes paranoid and believes that Vivian possesses illegal drugs. When Edward sees the substance in question is dental floss, he remarks “…very few people surprise me.” The implication is that he has been hurt before and expects to be hurt perpetually.

The women of the story are not treated with the respect, which reflects their social standings. The first image of the women that the reader gets is a typical housewife. They are imaged as “wearing faded house dresses and

The 2001 comedy film Legally Blonde tells the story of Elle Woods, an upbeat and optimistic sorority girl who, over the course of the movie, transitions from a simple college student with few professional aspirations into a successful law student. Elle initially presents herself as a stereotypical sorority girl: vain, superficial, and self-obsessed. As such, she consistently faces discrimination from her friends, family, and colleagues alike. The film wants the audience to view Elle as a woman who rises up above the stereotype through hard work and intelligence, and who proves herself as a capable individual in a discriminatory society. Because of this, some view Elle as a feminist icon, a person who empowers women to achieve equality to

Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) in Pretty Woman comes from a small town in Georgia, and works as a prostitute on the streets of Hollywood to support herself. Although Vivian's social position is very low, she has a strong sense of personal dignity and independence. Even though sometimes she have to stand by the street with empty stomach to wait for clients, Vivian and her friend Kit still

Women are meant to behave and act proper. Though it may not be quite the same today, however, every once in awhile society still expects women to behave and act a certain way. In the past women were supposed to act like ladies and be the proper quiet housewife. Women were raised to speak, behave, and perform tasks a certain way that society deemed as right and proper. Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” shows just that. Her story is about a girl who is basically scolded by her mother on how to act and perform daily tasks. Her mother's belief is that a woman's reputation is everything and if her daughter keeps acting the way she does she will lead a promiscuous life. She does not want that for her daughter, or for her daughters reputation to come back to her if it is not a good one. Kincaid utilizes the theme of image and social acceptance are most important for woman through symbolism, repetition, and tone .

Despite being looked at in a certain way, Women are being portrayed as “going exactly where their mothers and grandmothers have already ‘been’: into sexual bondage at the hands of a male ‘Friend’” (Christle 1). This is showing how even though women are changing the way society works, some people still want it to be the same. In the story Connie’s mom wanted Connie to be like her and her sister, just the average, not overly pretty looking lady. Some people think that “women have been silenced,” (Spelman and Lugones 574) but Connie had other ideas, she wanted to be different from them. She was constantly looking at herself in the mirror and thinking about what others were thinking about her. When she went out, she would always wear nice clothes that would get her noticed. Looking through a feminist lens one can conclude that Connie’s family sees women now as they always were.

Helga Crane cannot be happy because of the expectation for modesty by women of color in fashion. Women employed at Naxos were disciplined to not complement their skin tones. Instead, they are encouraged to dress in “drab colors” (51). The expectation to blend in and not draw attention to themselves exists because women should not flatter their bodies or have the autonomy to make decisions for themselves. Toward the end of her journey in Harlem, she is still subject to objectification due to her choice of dress when a church lady calls her a “a scarlet ‘oman” insinuating her choice of clothing made her a prostitute (141). The men in Quicksand and society are not sexualized for their fashion statements yet women are. Thus, being unable to express herself without facing objectification prevents Helga from being happy.

     Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth is an affront to the false social values of fashionable New York society.  The heroine is Lily Bart, a woman who is destroyed by the very society that produces her.  Lily is well-born but poor.  The story traces the decline of Lily as she moves through a series of living residences, from houses to hotel lodgings.  Lily lives in a New York society where appearances are all.  Women have a decorative function in such an environment, and even her name, Lily, suggests she is a flower of femininity, i.e. an object of decoration as well as of desirability to the male element.  We see this is very true once Lily's bloom fades, as it were, a time when she

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.

In Victorian England, “the bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation” (Engels). This upper middle class, the bourgeois, was divided into separate spheres determined by their “natural characteristics” such as being male or female (Gender 1). The bourgeois society’s main concern was their outward appearance and materialism while gaining respectability among their social class. A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, criticizes Victorian bourgeois society and their strict adherence to gender roles. As Nora Helmer walked away from her family, she generated a “door slam heard around the world” (“A Doll’s House” 1).