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Quite a few here to catch up on my last few days! Though a couple are rewatches...
Pretty Woman (1990) https://letterboxd.com/smudgeefc1985/film/pretty-woman/
So I felt this needed a rewatch because it was on TV and I missed it, so then of course just HAD to watch it on DVD the next day because it's just a given that you MUST watch Pretty Woman any time it comes on TV, even when you own the DVD and can watch it any time you want. (For other examples of this, see Braveheart or The Mummy) On top of this, I was inspired by this week's Letterboxd Showdown of top 10 romcoms, so had a discussion with my best friend and chief romcom watching buddy. We discussed and agreed and disagreed on a lot of things, and my only two immovable films on my top 10 list that I won't be talked down from, are When Harry Met Sally, and this.
First off, a gripe at everyone who hates this film. Not those who don't like it purely because it's not their genre, or they didn't get the humour, that's their opinion and that's fine. But anyone who didn't like it purely because, shock horror, it's about a prostitute? Seriously? People still get upset that they exist and this stuff happens? Put your judgement to one side, it is a film, a story, and just having a prostitute who has a happy ending isn't glamourising it. That's like saying Oliver Twist has a happy ending and glamourises homelessness and poverty, when it is anything but.
To me, the film doesn't work without the prostitute. Yes, the central story of two people from different worlds falling in love is nothing new at all. What I think sets this apart is that this film highlights how much of that 'different worlds' stuff is purely down to image. Vivian makes that explicitly clear with the most honest line in the film. "We both screw people for money." That is exactly what both of them do. Only one of them is Vivian, who is ostracised on Rodeo Drive and has a safety pin holding her outfit together because her junkie roommate spent her rent money. One of them is Edward, who is an obscenely rich man because his 'screwing' is legitimate and perceived in a completely different light. That is what sets this film apart from your usual rich/ poor opposites attract story. Because from the start, both of them see each other as purely business. They see that outward appearance that everyone else sees. It's about looking below the surface and not judging people...which looks like a point a lot of people missed. To claim this film glamourises prostitution is like saying Silence of the Lambs glamourised cannibalism.
So screw everybody who judges, this is a go to film for me that makes me smile every time. It's funny, a bastard like Stucky gets his comeuppance, Barney is a legend, Kit's one liners ("Cinda-****ing-rella," "50 bucks grampa, for 75 the wife can watch!"), and Julia Roberts is everything.
Pretty Woman (1990) https://letterboxd.com/smudgeefc1985/film/pretty-woman/
So I felt this needed a rewatch because it was on TV and I missed it, so then of course just HAD to watch it on DVD the next day because it's just a given that you MUST watch Pretty Woman any time it comes on TV, even when you own the DVD and can watch it any time you want. (For other examples of this, see Braveheart or The Mummy) On top of this, I was inspired by this week's Letterboxd Showdown of top 10 romcoms, so had a discussion with my best friend and chief romcom watching buddy. We discussed and agreed and disagreed on a lot of things, and my only two immovable films on my top 10 list that I won't be talked down from, are When Harry Met Sally, and this.
First off, a gripe at everyone who hates this film. Not those who don't like it purely because it's not their genre, or they didn't get the humour, that's their opinion and that's fine. But anyone who didn't like it purely because, shock horror, it's about a prostitute? Seriously? People still get upset that they exist and this stuff happens? Put your judgement to one side, it is a film, a story, and just having a prostitute who has a happy ending isn't glamourising it. That's like saying Oliver Twist has a happy ending and glamourises homelessness and poverty, when it is anything but.
To me, the film doesn't work without the prostitute. Yes, the central story of two people from different worlds falling in love is nothing new at all. What I think sets this apart is that this film highlights how much of that 'different worlds' stuff is purely down to image. Vivian makes that explicitly clear with the most honest line in the film. "We both screw people for money." That is exactly what both of them do. Only one of them is Vivian, who is ostracised on Rodeo Drive and has a safety pin holding her outfit together because her junkie roommate spent her rent money. One of them is Edward, who is an obscenely rich man because his 'screwing' is legitimate and perceived in a completely different light. That is what sets this film apart from your usual rich/ poor opposites attract story. Because from the start, both of them see each other as purely business. They see that outward appearance that everyone else sees. It's about looking below the surface and not judging people...which looks like a point a lot of people missed. To claim this film glamourises prostitution is like saying Silence of the Lambs glamourised cannibalism.
So screw everybody who judges, this is a go to film for me that makes me smile every time. It's funny, a bastard like Stucky gets his comeuppance, Barney is a legend, Kit's one liners ("Cinda-****ing-rella," "50 bucks grampa, for 75 the wife can watch!"), and Julia Roberts is everything.