Pretty Womanwas abeloved movie for an entire generation of romantic comedy fansin the 1990s.Julia Roberts was the biggest romance movie starin the world after this, and Richard Gere solidified himself as a sex symbol in his own right. However, the movie about a sex worker falling in love with a millionaire hasn’t aged well.
Roberts stars as Vivian Ward, a Hollywood sex worker who meets and falls for Edward Lewis (Gere), a wealthy corporate raider from New York who hires her as his escort for a week. It is a rags-to-riches story for Vivian,a monster box office success, and an Oscar nominee. However, watching it today offers a different reaction than in 1990.
10Edward’s Treatment Of Vivian Has Not Aged Well
Edward Almost Never Treated Vivian As More Than An Employee
WhenPretty Womanbegins,Edward finds Vivian on the streets, looking for her next client. He offered her $3,000 to be his escort for the week as he was in California for business meetings. He then buys her new clothes so she can dress appropriately for the events he plans to take her to.
It is a big deal for Vivian, but Edward is almost always wooden and almost uncaring, and he rarely treats her as anything more than a woman he hired to be his escort. The fact that she fell deeply in love with him, and he ultimately reciprocated, makes for a nice love story.
However, he never treated her with the respect a woman deserves, which makes this love story undeserved. When they were out together, he often seemed almost embarrassed, although he tried to cover it well. Vivian deserved more, but she seemed happy with the attention and money regardless of Edward’s attitude.
9Pretty Woman Hints Sex Workers Need To Be Saved
Edward “Saved” Vivian From The Streets
The big thing thatPretty Womanseemed to preach was thatVivian was a sex worker, and she needed someone to save herfrom the streets. In many movies like this, violence and danger are present throughout.Taxi Driveris a good example of a film where a sex worker might need to be “saved” from a dangerous pimp.
Even inTaxi Driver, this “saving” is often not asked for. Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) feels he needs to save Iris (Jodie Foster) from her life as a sex worker, but she never asks for it, or even shows that she wants to be saved. However, this is a trope where Hollywood emphasizes that they “have to be saved.”
However, Vivian doesn’t seem to have a pimp, and she is in no danger in the movie. She and her best friend Kit (Laura San Giacomo) seem mostly happy in their lives, although Vivian does have her dreams of a Prince Charming to help her achieve her fairy-tale dream.
8Sexual Assault Is Brushed Off In The Movie
Vivian Being Sexually Assaulted Is Brushed Over
While there are very few dangerous moments inPretty Woman,there is one scene where someone sexually assaults Vivian. However, it isn’t some dangerous person on the streets. It is Edward’s lawyer, Philip Stuckey (Jason Alexander).He has been suspicious of Vivian from the start, and he attacks herin the hotel room.
He makes her feel uncomfortable from the start and blames her for the bad business decisions Edward has made and feels she is changing him. Philip then hits Vivian and tries to rape her. Edward gets there just in time, pulls him off, and then punches him and fires him.
However, as Edward is firing him, he doesn’t say anything about hitting Vivian or trying to assault her. He instead lashes out about his business, claiming that they are not on the same page. This should have been all about defending Vivian, but it ended up glossing over the attack altogether.
7Edward & Vivian Both Treat Service Workers Terribly
Edward Drags Vivian Down To His Level
There is one moment inPretty Womanthat seems to be deserved as a retail worker treats Vivian like trash, and Vivian returns later to mock her for it. However, this is more than just one scene. This runs throughout the entire movie, and bothEdward and Vivian treat service workers terribly.
It almost makes sense to Edward. When he is getting Vivian all her new clothes, he keeps pushing the retail employees around and sending them scrambling to ensure he is happy. He even takes one man aside early and emphasizes how important it is to keep him happy during this sale.
It is disgusting behavior, but it is typical of the wealthy to treat regular workers in such a terrible manner. However, Vivian is from the streets. It seems that Edward is rubbing off on her the wrong way, and she starts to see herself above other “lesser” people.
6Pretty Woman Takes The Easy Way Out (& The Alternate Ending Was Darker)
Edward & Vivian Didn’t End Up Together In The Original Ending
Edward and Vivian never should have worked out. He was wealthy, arrogant, and acted like the world owed him something. Vivian was someone who worked hard and scratched and clawed her way through life. However, this is theCinderellastory ofa young woman who wants to find her fairy-tale ending.
With that said, the story reveals too much about the darkness in Edward’s world. Honestly, it seems like life with him would be just as dangerous as it was for Vivian on the streets. When he heads to her apartment with flowers, and they share a kiss to end the film, it is a happily-ever-after ending, but was it deserved?
In the originalPretty Womanending, Edward throws out Vivian with the $3,000 and never goes after her. It still has a “Disney ending” since Vivian uses the money to take Kit to Disneyland. There is no happily-ever-after ending for Vivian, and Edward proves that he was never right for her to begin with.
5It Is A Rom-Com From The POV Of The Male Gaze
Pretty Woman Was Written & Directed By Men
Pretty Womanwas written by J.F. Lawton (who also wrote the Steven Seagal movieUnder Siege).Garry Marshall (Happy Days) directed the film. Meant as a fairy-tale movie for young women, it hit the right audience, and that was obvious in its box office totals as a romantic film that won over an entire generation of women.
However, watching the movie, it is clear that this was a project written and directed by a man. There was no Nora Ephron here to ensure that the movie had the point of view of a woman. Instead, this was, at its heart, the movie about a man who falls in love with a sex worker, and how this made her life so much better.
The scenes with Vivian in the bathtub were shot from the male gaze POV. The entire opening with Vivian getting dressed and putting on her knee-high boots was shot from the male gaze perspective. The film was a love story, but this helped create complicated connections for the young women who fell in love with the story.
4Vivian Falls In Love Too Easily With Edward
The Movie Takes Place Over One Week
The biggest thing to note about the movie is that it takes place over just one week.Edward picks up Vivian and hires her to be his escortwhile he is in town for $3,000. He buys her new clothes and lets her stay in his fancy hotel room for the week. Despite the short timeframe, they fell in love.
This remains problematic as it’s rare to fall this deeply in love, this quickly. This is especially true when it comes to Vivian, who Edward mostly treated like his paid escort (which she was). Did she fall in love with Edward or with the high life he offered? Is this the best message for young women who watch the movie?
This is theCinderellastory of a woman from the streets falling in love with the prince, but in this case, as a sex worker, it remains a complicated theme. There is a lot wrong with the story, and this might be the worst problem the plot faces.
3Pretty Woman Tries Too Hard To Shame People
The Script Seems To Hold A Grudge
Some of the funniest moments in the movie come when one of the characters shames someone else in the film. The best moment, easily, iswhen the retail worker mocks Vivian by acting like she can’t afford the clothesin the store and insinuates she should find somewhere more on her level to shop.
WhenVivian returns after spending thousands of Edward’s dollarson clothes and rubs it in the woman’s face, it is satisfying. Anyone who is looked down upon should have cheered at this moment. However, it is just a way for Vivian to shame a woman who shamed her earlier. The script is full of these moments.
Hotel employees shame Vivian for her appearance. Kit notices an older couple giving her looks, so she openly mocks them by asking if they are interested in a deal with her for the night, embarrassing both of them. These moments are funny, but they are shaming people, and the script seems mean-spirited in this way.
2The Real-Life Age Gap Between Richard Gere & Julia Roberts
Richard Gere Was 40 & Julia Roberts Was 22
There was an18-year age difference between Richard Gere and Julia RobertsinPretty Woman.While this is not the same as a 30ish actor and a teenager hooking up in a movie, it was still a vast age gap that is a little harder to get used to today.
It seems that the wealthy and older Edward is looking for a young, hot woman to accompany him to meetings as his date, which is gross in itself. The fact that this exploitative plan led to the two falling in love seems wrong. The entire situation appears to be Edward grooming Vivian by offering her riches in exchange for love.
When Edward falls in love with Vivian in the end, it never seems deserved.The original ending, where Edward throws out Vivianand leaves her, fits his character better. By staying with her, it almost seems like the older man is buying the love of the attractive young woman.
1The “Woman Needs A Good Man To Save Her” Trope
Vivian Needs Someone To Save Her
One of the most common tropes in older romantic comedies and dramas is awoman needing a man to save her.This is true in more than one Julia Roberts and Richard Gere movie. InRunaway Bride,Julia’s character just needed to “find a good man” to keep her from running away so she could finally get married.
InPretty Woman,Vivian needed to find her fairy-tale prince to save her from life on the streets. Without a man to save her, she would continue in her life as a sex worker, which this movie portrays as a shameful lifestyle that she needs to be saved from. Edward is that knight in shining armor.
Pretty Womanmakes Edward suffer before he finds love for Vivian, but she happily accepts him back when he shows up at her apartment. Edward saved Vivian, rescuing her from her former life so she could finally get married and find happiness. Claiming that marriage is the only place where happiness lies is the movie’s greatest sin.
