Pretty Woman was an impactful movement for women in film. Julia Robert’s role in this film is more than just for a romantic necessity. Executive producer Laura Ziskin stated that she “didn’t want a movie whose message would be that some nice guy will come along and give you nice clothes and lots of money and make you happy.” It is important to realize in this film that “she rescues him right back.” This proves her importance to the film, unlike previous Classical Hollywood movies, such as Casablanca, which demands a female as a secondary character whose main purpose is to portray the love interest.
Pretty Woman is one of many films that have strong, well-written female roles. However, female representation in the film industry is still suffering. In 2014, The Centre for the Study of Women in Television and Film announced statistics regarding the differences between male and female representation in film. Of the top 100 grossing movies, only 12 percent featured female protagonists. Of all the feature films released by a major studio in 2014, women directed only 4 percent.
Female characters remain much younger than their male counterparts. The majority of female characters are in their 20s and 30s. The majority of male characters are in their 30s and 40s. Females are playing younger roles with much older men. When filming Pretty Woman, Julia Roberts was 21 years old and Richard Gere was 40. This film is 25 years old, and not a lot has changed. For example, in the 2012 movie Arbitrage, 63 year old Richard Gere’s love interest was 34. Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal has stated that, by Hollywood standards, she is too old to play the love interest of a 55 year old male. She is only 37. At no point in the past 30 years has the average annual age of female leads of these romantic films been older than the average age of their male counterparts.
Furthermore, women’s prime popularity time frame is inexcusably shorter than a mans in relation to popular cinema. When turning 40, females get fewer opportunities. At 40, Meryl Streep, a very popular icon, was offered several witch roles to complement her age. For many years, women have experienced slow but incremental growth both as characters on screen and working in key positions behind the scenes. However, that progress now appears to have stalled. Nevertheless, when women are employed behind the scenes, they make a difference. . For example, Ava DuVernay directed Selma, a film about the civil rights in 1965 where an Alabama city became the battleground for suffrage. It is important to have filmmakers from the point of view of a woman.
This misrepresentation can be brought back to a larger scale. Producers of Sullivan’s Travels have stated that “according to the producers: only intellectuals would be interested in a social analysis of society, while women – the largest group of spectators – would certainly go for another romance, musical or drama.” Therefore, it is clear to see that this misrepresentation of women is drawn from an assumption of a female audience, and therefore affects female actors. It is clear popular cinema is misrepresenting women.
The Academy Awards are an inevitable example of popular cinema. Being the most recognized and accomplished award or nomination an actor can get, it depicts popular cinema of the previous year. Honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry, and considering Pretty Woman’s large success, Julia Roberts was nominated for best actress in a leading role. Pretty Woman, being nominated for an Oscar proves this film is a great influence and is a large aspect of popular cinema. Director of the film, Garry Marshall also has a bunch of awards to his name. Garry Marshall is an iconic director due to his portrayal of women in popular cinema. He has created an abundance of romantic comedies such as Princess Diaries and Runaway Bride.
After Pretty Woman, there have been several roles, which have provided females to act as complex characters and strong women. Another example of a popular, influential character from Julia Roberts is Erin Brockovich, where she plays a legal clerk and environmental activist. This popular film featured a very imperative and thought provoking female protagonist. However, romantic comedy movies generally lack powerful female roles. Hollywood romantic comedies demand a heterosexual relationship and more than usually, the man is the strong and main character, and the woman eventually enters his life. It is important to remember that the premise of Pretty Woman was not just that he saved her, but she also saved him. Therefore, Pretty Woman is an example of a strong female character.
Notwithstanding that there have been great romantic comedies, there have also been ones which seem to push women backwards in there attempt to entertain audiences. For example, there is room for the argument that Pretty Woman glamorizes prostitution. This story lends itself to dumb down a complicated and abusive world into a romantic fairytale in order to create a unique storyline. The genre of romantic comedies is changing. Popular romantic comedies for female characters seem to have three main obsessions: shopping, babies, and marriage – take Legally Blonde, Confessions of a Shopaholic or Bride Wars as examples. Peter Travers, a film critic for Rolling Stone described He’s Just Not That Into You as “a women-bashing tract disguised as a chick flick”. Popular romantic comedies are portraying more women in this way.
Pretty Woman has had an imperative influence to women’s roles and importance in popular cinema. It has proved that although these movies don’t need to be necessarily insightful and morally improving, they can, and it is always possible -to have popular entertainment with smart heroines, rather than unintelligent ones.
