My Fair Lady as a Retrograde Example of Erasing Women's Emotional Work

[lookfar]

Toby and I went to see My Fair Lady at the Kennedy Center tonight; he got the tickets as a birthday present from his sister Ann and BiL Jeff.

So, you know the story of My Fair Lady, right? It's the musical version of Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, which is roughly based on the Greek myth, in which a sculptor, Pygmalion, makes a model of a woman

Comments

[lookfar]

You wanted her to end up with Freddy? I always felt she was out of his league in terms of personality and strength. He would have shaped up, but he wasn't her equal. For some reason the musical presents you with two choices for her; a man who isn't her equal in strength and one who isn't her equal in emotional intelligence.

[daphnep]

Oooh, this is so true! And it means the whole story is due a rewrite, a modern version in which Eliza finds a partner worthy of her, and an ending that demonstrates her newfound self-respect!

[lookfar]

I'd go for that! Maybe a nice lady suffragist.

There was one tiny addition to the action that the review played up - instead of ending with "Eliza, where the devil are my slippers?" it goes on to show Eliza silently caressing his face and then walking off - a sort of dominating move that makes a declaration of how it will be. But I still think it leaves her with this undeveloped emotional baby as her partner and - bleh.

[timetiger]

It’s always been my favorite musical because I grew up listening to the original Broadway cast album and found the lyrics clever. I was able to more or less ignore the ending because it doesn’t have a song, but yeah, problematical.

Freddy in the film is indeed a young Jeremy Brett.

[lookfar]

We had the album too, and like many of the musicals on LP that we had, we formed only a dim idea of the plot. I mean, which is weird, too, and a kid would not understand it anyway.

[ringsandcoffee]

I watched the movie around 20 years ago. I don't remember much except for finding both main characters irritating, and having some feeling of "You've got to be kidding me!" at the end.

There's a bunch of old classics that, when I finally watched them, was very underwhelmed. These include Saturday Night Fever, Casablanca, and Breakfast at Tiffany's. I feel like I should watch them again, being older and wiser, but just have no desire to.

[lookfar]

I often feel that way about Old Classics, but it's partially a desire to find things for myself that feel like discoveries.

[zvuv]

When I was at St. Martin's, I worked on a mystery series in which Eliza and Dr. Doolittle solved mysteries together. It was very adorable. In their version, there was some tension but no actual romance, which was more believable.

[lookfar]

You mean Dr. Higgins, right? Sounds great and reminds me of The Beekeeper's Apprentice, a wonderful series about a late-middle-age Sherlock Holmes and his mystery-solving apprentice and then wife. It's high level fan fiction of the first water.

[zvuv]

LOL. Wrong doctor. :)))

[lookfar]

Although "Dr. Doolittle, Animal Linguist and Detective" is a series worth writing; "the llama says YOU are killer!"

[ratphooey]

The songs are just so lovely.