Exploring Feminism in the Film Pretty Woman

This essay explores the concept of feminism in the film Pretty Woman and its portrayal of female characters. It discusses the feminist movement, historical background, feminist theory, and the dynamic nature of society. The essay also analyzes the film's depiction of prostitution and its feminist message.

Running head: WOMEN STUDIES
WOMEN STUDIES
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1
WOMEN STUDIES
Introduction
The concept of feminism refers to the wide range of approaches, ideas and ideologies that
are being directed towards the advocacy for the sexual equality and gender for the women
gender. It is a movement that seeks towards the achievement of equality and social rights for
women in all the key and the major areas. These includes personal, education, employment and
some of the cultural spheres of the human endeavors. Films has long been utilized as the tool for
portraying the ideas and the concepts of the human that are sometimes deemed towards the
impossible in the reality. In the current era, the female gender are equally competitive just as the
men in each and every filed of their living. According to (Kleinberg) it is the trait of the
successful woman to always be determined in her aims, objectives and goals she has. The essay
aims to explain the concept of feminism in the light of the debates regarding how the female
characters are generally being portrayed in the films. The essay explains the insight of the
character of women in the pretty woman, one of the Hollywood classics regarding the concept of
feminism in the current decade.
Discussion
The feminist movement have been campaigning about the equality rights of both the
genders within the society. The activities of feminist have successfully used some of the
campaigns for the rights of the women for securing a broad range of the opportunities like the
right to vote, the right to own property, the right towards equal pay or fair wages , the right for
entering the legal contracts and the right in the marriage (Carpenter).
Historical background

2
WOMEN STUDIES
The origins of feminism can be traced from France from the year 1837. C. Fourier one of
the French philosopher was the first one who coined the word , feminism which appeared in
most of the countries in Europe in the United States. The feminist movement were triggered By
various of the causes and were furthermore aimed at various of the gals in any of the countries
(Cornwall, Andrea and Althea-Maria Rivas). On a very initial stage at the united states and in
United kingdom, the feminist movement started with the focus on the campaign for the rights of
the women , the context of equality within the marriage union, the parenting rights and the right
over their own life.
The feminist theory
The feminist theory tends to elaborate the concept of feminism in the areas of theoretical
ideology and philosophy. The theory of feminism furthermore encompasses the fields of
economic, anthropology, sociology and philosophy. The theory furthermore focuses over the
study regarding the gender inequality and the understanding related to sexuality, power relations
and the politics related to gender (DiPrete, Thomas and Buchmann). The core principles of the
feminist theories include the female perspectives and the experiences through all the research
and practice. As per the feminist theories, women are not treated as homogenous group but the
theory rater recognize that the privilege of gender varies across different group of men and
women.
Dynamic nature of society
Films impact the audience and tends to portray the reflection of the society. The dynamic
nature of the society portrays through the films which has furthermore been one of the
contributing factor towards the destruction of the male stereotype. Accelerated by the movement

3
WOMEN STUDIES
of the feminism, there has been an increase in the female characters that hold major roles from
15% to 35% in the year 2010 (Dalla). Furthermore the economy has enabled both the male and
the female gender to adopt the central figure but in the current scenario, the roles played by men
and women in the films have been blurred highlighting the gap between the feminity and
masculinity.
The explanation of film
The movie, pretty woman of the year 1990 is all about the character of prostitute in
Hollywood who marries a rich businessman despite of her mutual prejudice and distrust. The
movie includes the basic narrative of the take of Cinderella explaining that through the help and
the love of a man belonging from a higher position in the society, the girl who has been
belonging from a lower social status moves up and join the man at his level (Pomerance). The
character of prostitute has been played by Julia Roberts, Vivian in the movie pretty woman who
comes from a small ton in Georgia and works as a prostitute on the streets of Hollywood for
supporting her finance and her live.
The film consistently showcase some of the major respect for the bodily autonomy of the
character than most of the other traditions that portray romance and the context of prostitution.
The debate regarding whether the film, Pretty woman should be considered as the feminist
classics cuts towards the heart of the concept of feminism. This is because it is a liberation
movement that tends to prioritize the agency and the freedom of women dictating the gender
roles to women (Scala). Some of the major factors that led the film won the title of feminist
movie are that Pretty Woman glamorizes the context of prostitution, the film is materialist and
highlights the context of feminism without degrading the patriarchal concept of the society.

4
WOMEN STUDIES
From the feminist point of view, the film illustrates a strong message that women in the
current generation must do acknowledge their care and responsibilities towards themselves. The
women in the current generation irrespective of their age and circumstances should not neglect
and post pond their responsibilities towards themselves, they should note disrespect themselves
for the sake of anything or any particular individual. The film teaches its audience some of the
major factor that each and every women should embrace towards dignifying themselves which is
one of the essential factor towards equality (Greenberg). Nothing throughout the world is
actually worth sacrificing as per their aspiration. The greatest asset of a women are her dignity,
self respect and individuality. It is essential for each and every women to safeguard their identity
by not letting her factors of individuality that get submerge and by keeping the list of her
priorities intact through out all her life and with the creation of the place for herself.
The movie, pretty woman kept the role the stereotyping unchanged and unrelated. The
movie reflected the certain trends of conservativeness of the decade during the paradigm. It was
made with the influence of the ideology of feminism together with the some of the commonly
recognized America values like the examples like self reliance and individualism (Diamond).
Though produced by male film makers in the conservative era of Reagan, the film highlights the
profound influence of the ideology of feminism that can be traced in some of the major issues.
In the context of work opportunity , the movie pretty woman which has not been set n a
controversial workplace, still explained the context of working women everywhere, in stores, in
hotel and in offices. Some of the feminist approaches that has been illustrated in the movie is that
pretty woman in white, straight, conventionally pretty but not derogatory to the other people.

5
WOMEN STUDIES
Pretty Woman is not a realistic portrayal regarding prostitution. It has been a Hollywood
fairy tale and had never claims to be otherwise. Together with the fact, the values the film
embodies a the fairy tale that are both feminist and progressive in nature (Maracle). Factors
include the recognition of the agency, the categorical rejection, the bodily autonomy of sex
workers regarding the negotiation boundaries of woman within the romantic relationship. This
includes the positive endorsements of the personal worth as discovered in the ethics , the
education related to the sexual history and the independence of the category of wealth.
The film, pretty woman one of the beautiful freak and an accidental anarchy that is
spawned from the commercial compromise. To thoroughly describe, pretty woman is a feminist
movie celebrating the context of feminism and furthermore prioritizing the sexist surface over
the real issue of agency , consent and desire.
The film is more ambivalent towards its representation of money. The film is furthermore
a critique asserting the opening sequence that the money fails to provide, that is the right and the
equality. The post feminist ambivalence of the film is the most significant in the relationship
with the male gaze and the masquerade regarding feminity (Basham). The film offers the review
of the feminist film theory highlighting the fundamental principles of the feminist theories
towards the effective examination of the intersecting social factors that includes the gender,
social status, ethnicity and orientation. The film explains the combination of the theory with the
practice for the development of more equitable solutions related to crime problems.
Conclusion
From the above essay it can thus be concluded that feminism refers to the wide range of
approaches, ideas and ideologies that are being directed towards the advocacy for the sexual

6
WOMEN STUDIES
equality and gender for the women gender. It is a movement that seeks towards the achievement
of equality and social rights for women in all the key and the major areas. From the feminist
point of view, the film illustrates a strong message that women in the current generation must do
acknowledge their care and responsibilities towards themselves. The women in the current
generation irrespective of their age and circumstances should not neglect and post pond their
responsibilities towards themselves, they should note disrespect themselves for the sake of
anything or any particular individual. The essay explained the insight of the character of women
in the Pretty Woman, one of the Hollywood classics regarding the concept of feminism in the
current decade.

7
WOMEN STUDIES
References
Basham, Diana. The Trial of Woman: Feminism and the Occult Sciences in Victorian Literature
and Society. Springer, 1992.
Carpenter, Mikala. "Sculpted from clay, shaped by power: Feminine narrative and agency in
Wonder Woman." (2018).
Cornwall, Andrea, and Althea-Maria Rivas. "From ‘gender equality and ‘women’s
empowerment’to global justice: reclaiming a transformative agenda for gender and
development." Third World Quarterly 36.2 (2015): 396-415.
Dalla, Rochelle L. "Exposing the “pretty woman” myth: A qualitative examination of the lives of
female streetwalking prostitutes." Journal of Sex Research 37.4 (2000): 344-353.
Diamond, James A. "The Deuteronomic" Pretty Woman" Law: Prefiguring Feminism and Freud
in Nahmanides." Jewish Social Studies (2008): 61-85.
DiPrete, Thomas A., and Claudia Buchmann. The rise of women: The growing gender gap in
education and what it means for American schools. Russell Sage Foundation, 2013.
Greenberg, Harvey Roy. "Pretty Woman's Co-opted Feminism." Journal of Popular Film and
Television 19.1 (1991): 9-13.
Kleinberg, S. Jay, et al. "The Importance of Feminism." History of Women in the Americas 4
(2017).
Maracle, Lee. I am woman: A native perspective on sociology and feminism. Global Professional
Publishi, 1996.

8
WOMEN STUDIES
Pomerance, Murray, et al. Pretty People: Movie Stars of the 1990s. Rutgers University Press,
2012.
Press, Andrea, and Tamar Liebes. "Feminism and Hollywood: Why the backlash?." The
Communication Review 19.4 (2016): 267-279.
Scala, Elizabeth. "Pretty women: The romance of the fair unknown, feminism, and contemporary
romantic comedy." Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television
Studies 29.1 (1999): 34-45.
Sivic, Josef, Mark Everingham, and Andrew Zisserman. "Person spotting: video shot retrieval
for face sets." International conference on image and video retrieval. Springer, Berlin,
Heidelberg, 2005.