http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIl-h6IQKn0
Everyone has seen the classic romantic- comedy Pretty Woman. The movie about a wealthy business man who falls in love with a stripper. The unlikely pair is played by Richard Gere and the famous Julia Roberts. The scene I chose to analyze is the very end of the movie when everything comes together to make the ‘happy ending’. In the scene Richard Gere’s character Edward, has his limo driver take him to Julia Roberts’ character Vivian’s apartment complex. As they pull up, Edward has opera music loudly playing from the play they had seen during the week prior. Here Edward concurs his fear of heights by climbing the fire escape with an umbrella and flowers in his hands, he charges up the stair case Vivian climbs down to meet him. He says to her “So what happens after he climbs the tower to rescue her?” and Vivian replies, “she rescues him right back.”
This scene SCREAMS hopeless romantic. To fill in the blanks some more for this scene, earlier in the film Vivian tells Edward when she was a little girl he fantasy was that she was a princess and she is waiting to be rescued by a prince. Obviously Edward takes this into consideration and makers her fantasy a modern day reality, the limo is his white steed, the umbrella is his mighty sword, and Edward is the ‘knight in shining armor’. This scene creates a “structure of feeling” that makes the viewer feel happy and fulfilled, Watching the scene fold out creates comfort for the watcher. By this I mean the music sets the mood, Edward is yelling for Vivian to hear him, and Edward then concurs his fear to be with the one he loves. This scene is set up to create the perfect ending for a true love story. The “structure of feeling” is intended to make the audience feel hopeful, happy, and comforted knowing the couple can be together, the scene is arguing that these two individuals should be together.
The scene doesn’t realistically show what their relationship will entail; she’s a prostitute, he’s a business man, enough said. In the real world it is very unlikely for this type of arrangement to actually work out.
This is one of my all-time favorite movies. It's the ultimate dream for a girl: to go from living a hard life on your own, selling your body, to meeting an extremely wealthy, attractive business man that treats you right, lets you buy whatever clothes you want, and falls in love with you. This is like the modern-day Cinderella story, which Kat, Vivian's best friend even references at one point (with some profanity to be more realistic, of course). And although this is definitely unrealistic, yes, we love it because it's the life we want to live. The way the ending is open to interpretation of what happens to their relationship (until the sequel was made anyway) allows us to keep the fairytale ending in our heads.
ReplyDeleteI also watched that movie and I can clearly remember the scene you are talking about. The way you describe how the structure of feeling is set up in that scene is simply amazing! You didn't miss a thing: Lots of details, plausible analysis, etc...
ReplyDeleteHowever, I feel like that scene intends to portray what being romantic is all about (basically being able to use what one knows about his/her sweetheart in order to please him/her in a charming way); the story here (him being a business and her being a stripper) is more or less circumstantial.