Pretty Woman: Deep Thoughts About Bodily Autonomy, Realism, and Who Gets to be Human

Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture Podcast

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“We say who; we say when; we say how much.”

This week, Emily takes a deep dive into Pretty Woman, the 1990 blockbuster romantic comedy that catapulted Julia Roberts to stardom. The film was originally written as a tragic story about awful characters, and many people (including those close to the Guy sisters) lamented the Hollywood happy ending as “unrealistic”–but Emily argues that by giving Vivian and Edward the fairy tale ending, the film offers a feminist blueprint for knowing one’s worth. While the movie does not offer a nuanced view of sex work and falls into the “not like other girls” trope, it does show a woman who claims bodily autonomy and sets clear boundaries without shame or apology.

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Content warning: Discussion of attempted sexual assault and death by drug overdose

Mentioned in this episode

Why ‘Pretty Woman’ Should Be Considered a Feminist Classic

‘Pretty Woman’ 25 years later: The good, the bad and the revenge shopping

30 Years Later, Pretty Woman Is So Much More Than A Guilty Pleasure

Response to treatment of sex work in Deadpool

This episode was edited by Resonate Recordings.

Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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We're having a party, please come! A Zoom happy hour, Tue, 11/18, 7:30 ET / 6:30 CT. (THERE WILL BE PRESENTS!) So get ready to pour your favorite beverage, overthink some Thanksgiving-themed pop culture, laugh, and feel a little bit smarter.

It’s free, but please register at guygirlsmedia.com/happyhour, so we can share the zoom info with you! (Also, who doesn’t like knowing who’s coming to their party?)

We are Tracie Guy-Decker and Emily Guy Birken, known to our family as the Guy Girls.

We have super-serious day jobs. For the bona fides, visit our individual websites: tracieguydecker.com and emilyguybirken.com. For our work together, visit guygirlsmedia.com

We're hella smart and completely unashamed of our overthinking prowess. We love movies and tv, science fiction, comedy, and murder mysteries, good storytelling with lots of dramatic irony, and analyzing pop culture for gender dynamics, psychology, sociology, and whatever else we find.

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فصول

1. Pretty Woman's Complex Legacy (00:00:00)

2. Breaking Down the Film's Plot (00:08:00)

3. Feminist Elements and Bechdel Test (00:25:50)

4. Sex Work Representation and Autonomy (00:33:12)

5. Materialism and Human Worth (00:39:51)

6. Final Thoughts and Cultural Impact (00:49:01)