Pretty Woman

This movie Pretty Woman (Garry Marshall, 1990) starts off establishing the main characters efficiently. The first scene portrays Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) as a stereotypical “very important” businessman. Some of the first words in the movie are spoken by lawyer Philip Stuckey (Jason Alexander) in reference to Edward by saying “He’s probably off in a corner somewhere charming a very pretty lady.” The next scene shows Edward and his seeming disregard for women’s feelings. These first few minutes reinforce the backdrop of the movie before the rest of the plot even began.

The sex-worker Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) is introduced by a montage of lingerie shots surrounded by cheap makeup, “trashy” clothing and an overall low quality lifestyle, present with its own dangers as depicted by Vivian climbing down

the fire escape to avoid a confrontation with a pimp/landlord. Soon after, Vivian meets her drug-addicted friends in the “Blue Banana” nightclub, the name of which can be interpreted as a euphuism for male genitalia. The next scene shows Vivian and her close friend Kit De Luca (Laura San Giacomo) having a turf battle with another prostitute over which section of Hollywood Boulevard they have territory over, with the character of Kit being established as more of a mentor sister figure to Vivian.
When Edward and Vivian are first introduced, Edward is lost, looking for directions to the Beverly Wilshire hotel and treats Vivian with the same amount of disdain a multi-millionaire playboy would treat a disadvantaged sex worker, and only when she expresses knowledge of exotic sports cars, (the Lotus Esprit in particular), does he begin to lighten his attitude towards her.

That setting, combined with the roar of the engine and some double entendres, creates an underlying tone of sexuality to follow the rest of the movie.

I couldn’t help but to compare the movie to My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964), the Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison classic musical that Pretty Woman shares many of the same elements with. A rich, misogynistic playboy selects a woman living in an impoverished lifestyle and treats her to a socio-cultural paradigm change and eventually ends up falling in love with her.

As Vivian and Edward’s relationship grows, she breaks one of the few occupational rules she set, that is, no kissing on the lips. Vivian considered that to be too meaningful and intimate for a regular client, but as the relationship flourishes, she ends up kissing Edward on the

lips.
Many aspects of the film can be interpreted as auspicious. For example, Vivian’s overall demeanor improves after the scene where she goes shopping for a new wardrobe on Rodeo Drive and one of the most empowering moments in the movie took place when Vivian peers into the store that refused to serve her earlier in the movie and upon asking the snobby employee if she worked on commission, Vivian said “Big mistake. Big.”, at which point the snobby employee recognized her to be the poorly dressed woman from the day before.
I admit to being quite surprised when I learned about the poor reception this film initially received from critics. Albeit a favorite in my family, I was born and first watched the movie long after the ratings straightened out. Regardless of these facts, there is no ignoring the major drawbacks and downsides this movie has, one of the greatest ones being the unrealistic portrayal, and literal romanticizing of prostitution, and the subliminal message it tells: If you sleep with the right man, he may just wind up being your Prince Charming. A message such as this can be very demeaning to women, especially if they feel their success is measured by being the mistress of a prominent and wealthy businessman.