Category: Movie Review

The most intensive killing during the holocaust happened on September 28th, 1941 at the Babi Yar Ravine outside of Kier, Ukraine. During the two-day span more than 33, these Jews were killed using the same method Moishe the beetle warns Elie of. In the book and movie, we see similar acts of violence towards the Jew race.

‘Night’ is a true story told in the first-person narrative by Elie Wiesel a persecuted Jew who visits many concentration camps on his journey. Although his dad did not survive the camps he was with Elie until the end dying a few months before Elie’s rescue. The movie ‘The Boy in the Striped Pajamas’, based on the novel of the same name by John Boyne, is told from a third person narrative with the main character being a young German boy named Bruno. Bruno’s dad has been given a promotion in the Nazi army, which causes his family to move out to a large house near a concentration camp. As Bruno is exploring, he meets a friend who happens to be a Jew in the camp and they are separated by the barbed wire fence until the end of the movie.

In ‘Night’ Elie is a Jew who is taken from his hometown and forced thousands of miles away to many different camps where he is punished and his will to live diminishes to the point, he wants death. In ‘The Boy in the Striped Pajamas’ Bruno is forced to move across the country because of his father’s new job. The family doesn’t realize what is going on with his new job and after the realization nothing is done to fix the problems and it turns out to be fatal. In ‘Night’ Elie is on the inside of the barbed wire fence and knows that his clothes represent that he is imprisoned. In ‘The Boy in the Striped Pajamas’ Bruno believes that the fence is up to keep animals in and that the camp is really a farm. He also believes that life is good for the Jews and that the prison clothes are pajamas. Bruno is used to having someone there to help him or do whatever he needs done while Elie has to work for whatever he wants.

In both works the main character is a young male who is trying to make the best out of every situation he’s put in. In ‘Night’ even when Elie is feeling down and hopeless, he tries to make the best out of everything and he tries to see the light at the end of the tunnel. In ‘The Boy in the Striped Pajamas’ Bruno is used to getting whatever he wants whenever he wants it and always having someone there to help him, however when he is called upon by Shmuel to help find his dad Bruno takes action. Both characters get to see what a concentration camp was like and even when it took Bruno a while to realize the horror of it, he ended up feeling the worst part when he was gassed. Elie was a Jew, so he loved Jews and believed that they did no wrong the surprising part is that Bruno the son of a Nazi commander felt the exact same. Both of the characters tried their best to do what was right and unfortunately it ended in death for Bruno.

In conclusion, I believe that these are pretty similar novels even if it is from two completely different perspectives. The characters in both are very loving, caring, and they respect others and try to help to the best of their abilities. The endings for both were pretty bad as Bruno is killed in the biggest plot twist ever and Elie stops writing for months and comes back and ends it saying he’s been freed. The movie was more enjoyable and emotional because Bruno was a lot more loving and caring for others so he grew onto you and it was sad to see him go out the way he did. Elie never died but he did cut off most of his writing after his father died and that made for a very trash ending to his book, which isn’t the best I have read, but I would give it a seven out of ten, and the movie would be a nine out of ten and I recommend you check it out.

Is war a good thing Or a bad thing? Is it what makes the world or destroys it? Does war bring us together or tear us apart? War is a word that is typically known for being considered a conflict between states, governments, societies, and informal paramilitary groups… however, the idea of how it is represented involves being portrayed or depicted. The concept suggests that there are a number of ways in which something can be featured or equally valid. Composers represent war in multiple ways when considering different types of representations. In order to do this the individual chooses intentional choices as a reflection on their perspective of war to position how the responder can picture their particular representation of war. Today I will be discussing the two different representations of how world war 1 and 2 were portrayed as. During world war I 1 Ellis Salad was an Australian artist who fought at Gallipoli where he painted and wrote the famous Diray Entrys. This time was seen as honorable and brave for young soldiers to head off to war, however, in world war 2 Stephan Spielberg’s saving private Ryan shows the gruesome and depressing aspects giving insight into the differences of war.

Imagine going from drawing the palm trees swaying in the sunset outside your window to drawing the vivid scenery of dead bodies surrounding you after your scary battle. Ellis Luciano Silas is also known as an Australian World War One artist and soldier. He was one of only three artists to record Australian participation at Gallipoli from first-hand experience and the only one of these to paint battle scenes as well as diary entries. When the war was declared in 1914 Silas, who had served for three years in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, enlisted on 16 October through a strong sense of patriotism. He then joined the 16th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, as a private and was made a signaller, although his preferred duty was as a medical orderly. Silas found army life extremely distasteful but conscientiously practiced signaling and continued sketching and painting whenever he was able. On the evening of 25 April 1915, his unit landed at Gallipoli.

Silas drew many famous sketches during his time at war but a specific one that stands out is called at the water hole’, the diary extract that goes along with it represents how they are relieved on the firing line as the Australians have held their position in a difficult battle. In Silas’s entry he quotes “First wash for a week go down to the Water Hole, which is always covered by Turkish snipers – it was safer in the trenches than here – all around this spot are dead and wounded who have been hit when dodging round this corner; however, one must drink, even if the price be Death.” this gives an insight into the sketch and what is being represented. The composition of the sketch focuses on the three men at the waterhole. One man is seen dead and the other two are helping each other recieve the water without being shot. The composition represents how the basic needs in the war were classified as a death bed, as simple as getting some water can lead you to your death as is shown in the sketch. The omissions in the sketch include the scenario of getting down to the water hole. Silas did not include how to move to the hole but only include what happens when you are there, as an audience this represents the idea of focusing on being the Taggart at the water hole. Ellis Silas overall represents war as heroic devastation.

“ I just know that every man I kill the farther away from home I feel”. A famous quote from captain miller in Stephan Spilsberg, 1998 ‘Saving Private Ryan,’ a no-holds-barred epic about D-Day and the Normandy invasion, was created to reshape America’s cultural memory of WWII, exposing millions of viewers to the stomach-churning violence and soul-shaking intensity of that pivotal chapter in the war. a group of U.S. soldiers goes behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action. The film is notable for its graphic portrayal of war and for the intensity of its opening 27 minutes, which includes a depiction of the Omaha Beach assault during the Normandy landings. In the opening scene of saving private Ryan As soon as the ramp lowers on the Higgins Boats, German machine-gun fire rakes the bow. Of those lucky enough to make it over the side, many die in the water. The ones who make it to the beach are torn apart by small arms, artillery fire, and shrapnel. Spielberg’s main idea was to create a film that gave the most insightful view into what ww2 was really represented as and indeed that is exactly what happened.

In Speilberg’s saving private Ryan he uses track-in shots to physically move in on the subject, typically going from medium to close-ups, when doing this the movement is smooth and the background is blurry which creates an effect to really focus on the scenario. Spielberg does this numerous times in the opening scene of the Ohama beach battle on many soldiers as they fight and lose their life, this gives a powerful effect as it gives more personal insight on the reflection of world war 2. Speilberg used desaturated color when filming the ohana beach battle, in doing this she added to the dulled effect, which brought out the great tragedy and emotions in the film. Adding desaturation to the color made the deaths seem more explicit, dark, and deeply disturbing. Sound is a key factor used by Spielberg to add realism, throughout the opening scene constant sounds of gunfire and bombs fill the air as the soldiers enter the beach. This feature reinforces various points in the scene where dialogue is barely audible, this particular layout is deliberately done so by Spielberg to emphasize to the audience how in reality but in particular, war the difficulties present were. Stephan Spilsberg ‘saving private Ryan was created to reenact the distraught and damaging time in world war 2, this film is known for being one of the most realistic films in history as it represents the loss and the courage of the young soldiers on the ohama beach.

Conclusion

Overall both world war 1 and the diary entry of Ellis Silas as well as WW 2 and the visual representation of saving private Ryan give insight into the completely different times in war along with how they are represented. World war 1 is started as being seen as an honorable and heroic bravery for the young men to go off the battle however this changed when world war 2 began as there was much more bugger technology and damage used. Saving Private Ryan gave insight into the horrific scenes of ohama beach and the trauma for the young soldiers who lived and lost. Many people argue about what war really is, many people agree that “War is fought with the will of the government, the competence of the armed forces, and the support of the nation”. but I believe that war represents a time of honor and loss

The movie ‘The Last Samurai’ was useful to an extent for the education about the modernization of Japan. This movie is based on a historical event that unfolded in the modernization of Japan. ‘The Last Samurai’ is a 2003 American drama action movie co-produced and directed by Edward Zwick. It is set in 1876 in Japan, which at the time wasn’t modernized and there several different problems between the samurai.

The movie ‘The Last Samurai’ shows some factual and nonfactual evidence from what happened in the real event. As some events that happened in the movie didn’t happen in the real-life event. This movie shows a few accuracy aspects but a lot of inaccuracy aspects.

This movie shows moderate accuracy of real key themes that have happened, however there were parts in the movie that some of the scenes were not accurate with the stages of modernization of Japan. The buildings in ‘The Last Samurai’ were relatively accurate compared to what the architecture would have been when the Meiji Restoration happened in 1876 however some buildings would have been much more updated because of the western influences from all around the world. In the movie the buildings were what the buildings would have been about 100 years before the movie was made. Along with the sets in the movie the scenes inside of a room were a true likeness to how it would have looked including the wallpaper, furnishings and decor. The overall accuracy of the scenery in ‘The Last Samurai’ was accurate to an extent. The depiction of the township, the infrastructure and the standard of living were accurate to the era.

The samurai would have been quite different to how they have been depicted when Algren arrived, in the movie they were working as tax collectors, officials, landlords, and even industrialists. In the movie when Algren arrived, they were portrayed as simple farmers working their land and protecting their property. The movie also has an extremely strange scene, which is pure to Hollywood entertainment where Ninja mercenaries invade the village which is very unrealistic and didn’t happen in real life time.

The armor and weaponry in which was used throughout the movie was also accurate to a point. The armor that they were wearing was an accurate representation of the samurai before the Meiji Restoration as after the Meiji Restoration the armor changed from what was being shown in the movie. The armor in the movie was able to withstand a gunshot however this would have not been possible when the fight actually happened. The Japanese armor was heavy and hard to move in and the condition that his body was in, it would have limited his movement and not have moved as easily throughout the war scene. Also, during the fight scene the armor was abandoned because it was thought to be non-bullet proof and had no use. This is another reason why the movie should not be used to depict what took place in the modernization of Japan.

Tom Cruise’s character, Nelson Algren, was mostly correct as he was representing a character who was sent to Japan to assist modernize their army. A number of the characters weren’t completely true to historical events, for example, the last battle involves Algren and therefore the army would have been structured differently. However, it wasn’t the foremost inaccurate part of this movie.

The samurai was moderately correct as a result of they weren’t as progressive as the Japanese army. The Japanese army had a lot of guns and canons whereas the samurai within the movie only had horses, swords and bow and arrows. Truly the samurai did fight with progressive weapons like guns. However, one thing that was impractical and unrealistic was that the main character, Nelson Algren, living through the last battle. The Satsuma Rebellion was correct to some extent, for example, the fight continued till the last man fell, conjointly the samurai were outnumbered and outgunned. Nelson Algren living through the last battle was utterly impractical and untrue. In real life he wasn’t in the battle at all. This fight was way over dramatic and was not true to the actual events however the dates were correct for both the movie and in real life.

As seen up above ‘The Last Samurai’ will be part helpful for Australian students attempting to find out about the modernization of Japan once the movie is showing what the clothing that the samurai were wearing and the fighting scenes, except for half the movie does not depict the actual events, as they occurred nor the way of life the samurai were living which is teaching Australian students the incorrect thing.

Directed by Stephanie Soechtig, ‘Fed Up’ is a documentary about the obesity epidemic and its effects that America is currently facing. The documentary invites viewers to believe that the consumption of unhealthy foods and accessibility to fast-food menu options is the root cause of America’s battle against obesity. Stephanie Soechtig’s ability to combine evidence in the form of statistics, interviews with relevant stakeholders and archival footage coupled with complementary musical backing produces a text that will leave audiences unsettled and eager to review their weekly trolly content. The documentary confronts viewers with unsettling images of obese children which positions the audience to feel uncomfortable with the food they are consuming and their everyday food choices.

The documentary uses a problem and solution formula to inform viewers about the dangers of excessive food consumption and the relating factors contributing to obesity in America. ‘Fed Up’ is a documentary that informs viewers about the problems and solutions of the obesity epidemic. The documentary begins with thrilling news headlines which kickstarts the documentary and has the viewers feel uncomfortable and unsettled. The audience is encouraged to view on because of these effective techniques. The use of problem and solution throughout the documentary connects to display the audience with the problem that causes obesity and the solution to fix it. This helps the audience to explore deeply into the topic of the documentary and feel like they are encouraged to view on. The director does this really well and presents the documentary with and effective structure and sequence.

Many features were used throughout this documentary. Features such as interviews of medical professionals, unsettling images of obese children and file footage. The interviews of medical professionals regarding the obesity epidemic, gives the viewers an insight into the condition and the risk of obesity. This feature starts with shocking facts presented from the doctors regarding the obesity epidemic. This positions the audience to feel shocked and worried and puts them in a position to want to watch on. The director purposefully does this to encourage the viewers to watch on. Stephanie Soechtig portrays the medical professional with low angle view showing that they have power. Unsettling images of obese people also were a key feature used throughout the documentary. These images position the audience to feel uncomfortable and unsettled. The director uses this feature very well. File footage is also used throughout the documentary. The file footage the director uses is in black and white imaging and is very sad and dull. The director does this on purpose to show the effects the obesity epidemic is having on people.

The film techniques used in the documentary ‘Fed Up’ play a key role in portraying this documentary. Techniques such as, camera angles, close ups and music all were used during the documentary. The use of camera angles was presented when the director played footage of an obese person. The director used a high angle to look down on the person as if they are helpless and useless. This positions the Audience to feel sorry and feel sympathy for the person. The use of close ups also plays a key role in portraying this documentary. Close ups were used to show obese children. This positioned the audience to feel sad and disheartened for the children. This is a very effective technique used by the director during this documentary. Music also played a vital role in depicting this documentary. Tense and upbeat music was matched with file footage of obese people and children. The music was tense and upbeat which positioned the audience to feel nervous and worried about the future of these people. The director wants you to feel this way and does this very effectively.

In conclusion, Stephanie Soechtig’ ‘Fed Up’ was a very well structured and clearly showed the relationship between the food we eat and how it is causing obesity in America. The film techniques used in this documentary portrayed this very well and positioned the audience to now start thinking about the food we are consuming. The features and techniques have all enabled the audience to want to keep watching the documentary. The obesity epidemic is a major issue in today’s society and ‘Fed Up’ highlights this very well. We need to do something about the food we are eating and if it is healthy.

Baby Blues (2008)

This movie is based on a true story which is Andrea Yates and her family where 5 of the children have been drowned in the family bathroom by their mother. In this movie, there is a family farm with 4 children which is Jimmy as the eldest son, James, Cathy, and Sammy their mother suffers from postpartum depression and it becomes worse when her husband, a truck driver, goes back to work after being at home for a day. In the middle of dinner, James and Cathy are fighting over a doll and Sammy is crying. The mother could not bear the noises and began to break things. All of them freeze due to their mother’s actions. The mother tries to calm herself and brings Sammy to shower again. This is when all the cruel actions happened when the mother could not control herself.

Jimmy as the eldest son, tries to protect his siblings as much as he can, but in the end, he is the only children who survive his psychotic mother. Jimmy manages to survive when he tries to communicate with his father by radio transmission and the father hears it. The mother is miserable and the house becomes rambling. Due to his father’s action, the mother has been sent to a mental hospital. But that’s not the end of Jimmy’s relief when the father says he wants the mother to come home too because she is pregnant again.

People who suffer from PPD will have extreme mood changes or mood swings. Sometimes they will feel extremely sad until they cry or lose their appetite suddenly. This is the stage where they have a low mood. Some people think that these changes are caused by hormone changes after pregnancy (Boynton, 2019). These changes may produce chemical changes to the brain that cause them to be unable to control their emotion. Otherwise, they will experience a high mood where they start to think and talk too much or too quickly and feel ecstatically happy (Service, 2019).

Some research shows that some women start to have depression while they are still pregnant. This depressive feeling will affect them until after their pregnancy. Sometimes they will feel anxious around their baby or other children. They feel afraid that they will fail to be a good mom (Children, 2019 ). These feelings of afraid and upsetting lasted long and increased their depression.

A new mother may not have so much time to give time for themselves by taking care of and thinking of their baby all the time. They are restless and can be determined by looking at their house condition which not be tidied and arranged neatly. PPD patient not only take care of themselves but also their other children.

Women experiencing PPD conditions might be unaware of their behavior. They do not realize that their acting is unusual and odd in any way. Very often it will be noticed by other people especially someone who is close to her such as her other children or husband that she is not well and behaving oddly. This symptom may lead the woman to feel frightened or distressed (Service, 2019).

PPD patients will show signs of having rapid and constant speech. They also may have disturbed speech such as changing from one topic to another in a mid-sentence. They might abruptly pause in conversation or activity as they have lost their train of thought (Service, 2019).

Hallucinations often occur among PPD patients. A hallucination occurs when they start to see things that do not exist outside their mind. For example, they might see other people, shapes, or colors, hear sounds or voices, feel somebody touching them or their baby when nobody is there, smell something that others cannot smell, and taste when there is nothing in their mouth (Service, 2019).

Delusion often occurs in patients who suffer from Postpartum Psychosis. They have the false belief which is the belief of something that is not true that they hold strongly. It might be related to their baby such as the belief that their baby is evil in some way or the belief that everyone tries to harm her and her baby. Other examples of delusions that are uncommon are the mother’s beliefs that she won a big lottery or that she has a special power.

The first issue involving postpartum depression is lack of support. This is because women who suffer from postpartum depression need to have support from everyone around them, especially from the person they love. Getting support from the people around them reflects the affective aspects of relationships or the degree to which the mother feels that they are loved and valued by others. Other than that, it gives the belief that they have help and care from others (Stewart, 2003, October). In research, participants were asked if there is someone they can count on to listen to them when they need to talk if there is someone to help them out in a crisis who is dependable when help is needed, and if there is someone with whom they can be themselves and someone they feel appreciates them as a person. This will lead them to assume that no one takes care of them and everyone is going to leave them. Social support is the most important environmental factor in the onset of depression and anxiety disorders (HM Kim, 2014, May 7). At the International Conference on Population and Development of the Year, decision-making power at home and increased support of the partner have been considered as the most important solution to promote women’s reproductive health. If you help and take care of them even just by hearing about their problems in every situation, it can make them reduce their stress (Tadele, 2019, October 29). The most important people to the mother are of course it is the husband and the parents who gave birth to her and they surely take care of and know the attitude of the mother.

Baby Blues (2008)

This movie is based on a true story which is Andrea Yates and her family where 5 of the children have been drowned in the family bathroom by their mother. In this movie, there is a family farm with 4 children which is Jimmy as the eldest son, James, Cathy, and Sammy their mother suffers from postpartum depression and it becomes worse when her husband, a truck driver, goes back to work after being at home for a day. In the middle of dinner, James and Cathy are fighting over a doll and Sammy is crying. The mother could not bear the noises and began to break things. All of them freeze due to their mother’s actions. The mother tries to calm herself and brings Sammy to shower again. This is when all the cruel actions happened when the mother could not control herself.

Jimmy as the eldest son, tries to protect his siblings as much as he can, but in the end, he is the only children who survive his psychotic mother. Jimmy manages to survive when he tries to communicate with his father by radio transmission and the father hears it. The mother is miserable and the house becomes rambling. Due to his father’s action, the mother has been sent to a mental hospital. But that’s not the end of Jimmy’s relief when the father says he wants the mother to come home too because she is pregnant again.

People who suffer from PPD will have extreme mood changes or mood swings. Sometimes they will feel extremely sad until they cry or lose their appetite suddenly. This is the stage where they have a low mood. Some people think that these changes are caused by hormone changes after pregnancy (Boynton, 2019). These changes may produce chemical changes to the brain that cause them to be unable to control their emotion. Otherwise, they will experience a high mood where they start to think and talk too much or too quickly and feel ecstatically happy (Service, 2019).

Some research shows that some women start to have depression while they are still pregnant. This depressive feeling will affect them until after their pregnancy. Sometimes they will feel anxious around their baby or other children. They feel afraid that they will fail to be a good mom (Children, 2019 ). These feelings of afraid and upsetting lasted long and increased their depression.

A new mother may not have so much time to give time for themselves by taking care of and thinking of their baby all the time. They are restless and can be determined by looking at their house condition which not be tidied and arranged neatly. PPD patient not only take care of themselves but also their other children.

Women experiencing PPD conditions might be unaware of their behavior. They do not realize that their acting is unusual and odd in any way. Very often it will be noticed by other people especially someone who is close to her such as her other children or husband that she is not well and behaving oddly. This symptom may lead the woman to feel frightened or distressed (Service, 2019).

PPD patients will show signs of having rapid and constant speech. They also may have disturbed speech such as changing from one topic to another in a mid-sentence. They might abruptly pause in conversation or activity as they have lost their train of thought (Service, 2019).

Hallucinations often occur among PPD patients. A hallucination occurs when they start to see things that do not exist outside their mind. For example, they might see other people, shapes, or colors, hear sounds or voices, feel somebody touching them or their baby when nobody is there, smell something that others cannot smell, and taste when there is nothing in their mouth (Service, 2019).

Delusion often occurs in patients who suffer from Postpartum Psychosis. They have the false belief which is the belief of something that is not true that they hold strongly. It might be related to their baby such as the belief that their baby is evil in some way or the belief that everyone tries to harm her and her baby. Other examples of delusions that are uncommon are the mother’s beliefs that she won a big lottery or that she has a special power.

The first issue involving postpartum depression is lack of support. This is because women who suffer from postpartum depression need to have support from everyone around them, especially from the person they love. Getting support from the people around them reflects the affective aspects of relationships or the degree to which the mother feels that they are loved and valued by others. Other than that, it gives the belief that they have help and care from others (Stewart, 2003, October). In research, participants were asked if there is someone they can count on to listen to them when they need to talk if there is someone to help them out in a crisis who is dependable when help is needed, and if there is someone with whom they can be themselves and someone they feel appreciates them as a person. This will lead them to assume that no one takes care of them and everyone is going to leave them. Social support is the most important environmental factor in the onset of depression and anxiety disorders (HM Kim, 2014, May 7). At the International Conference on Population and Development of the Year, decision-making power at home and increased support of the partner have been considered as the most important solution to promote women’s reproductive health. If you help and take care of them even just by hearing about their problems in every situation, it can make them reduce their stress (Tadele, 2019, October 29). The most important people to the mother are of course it is the husband and the parents who gave birth to her and they surely take care of and know the attitude of the mother.

In alone there are 80,000 female prostitutes alone. It can be seen that the origins of prostitution come from males who were unable to be bound by stipulations and their appetites created a demand for illegitimate pleasures of which the female weakness supplies them with. This exhibits the patriarchal society that has always been current in society as the male dominance was able to persuade vulnerable women to do what they wanted them to do showing how much power they hold over them. Hertzog and Lev (2019) insinuate that when men feel their dominance is threatened, they feel the need to preserve to make females feel like the weaker sex. Males do this by enticing females into losing their virginity at a young age however, when they get older and want to settle down, a woman who has had sex before marriage is seen as having no virtue and therefore is not wanted making it seem like to young girls as though no one will want them. The traditional reason why many believe young people engaging in sexual activity is wrong is because they need to wait until they are married. However, as they are exposed to many different pools of people and opportunities, from a socio-sexual point they are influenced to have sex because of a desire to fit in with their peers (Smith et al., 2013). Vuttanont et al. (2006) states how within a study, parents are more accepting of their teenage sons having sex as they have ‘increasingly powerful impulses’ whereas, for their daughters, it is deemed wrong as they need to be a sweet girl who is modest and doesn’t do anything to disgrace her parents. The concept of virginity influences opinions as everything boils down to the bible and the idea of the virgin Mary. The notion of purity when projected onto a young girl relegates her worth and standards so if she’s not pure then she has no self-respect. Sexual assault and violence are reasons for some people losing their ‘virginity’. Young girls who unfortunately experience this are instead judged not supported by their closest relatives. This is enough to damage and dehumanize a young girl as without support, they are unable to feel safe again.

Prostitution is seen as a crime as it poses a risk to women’s well-being and health (Bindel, 2017). Furthermore, it can be shown that for both young women and men, prostitution may affect their personal lives as Zawisza (2011) states how by someone visiting a prostitute, it affects their family due to the indirect harm posed upon them such as embarrassment disgrace and offence. During World War II, it was found that in Hawaii, prostitutes were reported as entertainers and had a license of which they paid tax and declared their earnings, which suggests that it was seen as a legitimate, legal line of work to help those deployed satisfied with their urges. Once more this conveys how the role of the woman was to keep the male happy to be seen. Recently, it was shown that western society countries banned the purchase of sex but not the actual sale of it, which implies that moving forward, it is the people paying for it that can get into trouble therefore the prostitutes can still make a living and earn money to get a better life for themselves.

A prostitute, by definition, exchanges sex or sexual favors for money, drugs, or other desirable commodities. Within the film ‘Pretty Woman’, it is exhibited throughout that the male lead character Edward is the hero and rescued Vivian, the female lead, from a life of poverty and prostitution. Although she can stand up for herself, the idea of the damsel in distress is still portrayed which shows how powerful the patriarch is as it did not matter that she was able to make a living for herself and get herself out of a situation that she did not want to be in, all that mattered is that she was able to get the man at the end. This actively demonstrates the idea of girls always wanting that fairy tale ending that does not appear to happen in real life. Summers and Miller (2014) convey how in current studies, it has been found that women are portrayed as sexual objects who are sometimes aggressors or victims within the media which relates to ‘Pretty Woman’ as that is the basic plot of the movie. Vivian was a sexual object who had an attitude so it did not matter that she was intelligent and could hold her own because that was not important. The thing that mattered the most was that she satisfied Edward and ended up being rich, falling in love and losing her true identity. Dalla (2000) came up with the ‘pretty woman’ myth, in which the young, beautiful prostitute meets her ‘prince’ and is ‘saved’ from a society that doesn’t accept them as their true self, therefore, highlighting the idea of the patriarchy and the whole point of it.

Bourdieu (1989) created the idea of symbolic violence. This concept of this was to “express ways in which power is granted legitimacy in symbolic form such as actions that confer power” (Bourdieu, 2017). ‘Pretty Woman’ is an example of symbolic violence as clearly, when Vivian enters the clothing boutique and the assistants look down on her, it shows that it’s not just men that bring women down as it is all about class and money, not gender. Her clothing may be seen as provocative so the shop assistants assume she is unable to afford anything in the store so therefore are rude to her. It can be shown that the film portrays characters who know their place and know the dos and don’ts of their gender roles’ (Miner, 1992). This connotates the idea of the main character being quite powerless compared to the male as he gave her money to buy clothes and she is still seen as less of a woman than the assistants because of her current clothes. Furthermore, within the film, when she has the money to buy all of these extravagant clothes which she has never been able to do before, she changes her whole look making it suggest that before she was able to buy the clothes, she was less feminine and therefore less of a woman which conveys that she changed purely because of people objectifying her. Radner (2010) conveys how her new clothes and look in the film are considered significant assents that enabled her to further her education as well as show signs of her worthiness and virtue. Overall, this implies that changing her looks made her more of a lady as well as more desirable to other people. Fitzpatrick (2008) shows how Goffman’s stigma looks at the stigma being the situation of the individual who is disqualified from full social acceptance. This, therefore, exhibits that to be credited in society, Vivian had to change her ways and looks.

The looking glass theory is seen to look into the process in which individuals base their sense of self on how they believe others view them. Cooley (1902) describes how people can measure their worth, values and behavior, so gets individuals to self-evaluate and get an insight into how others think of them. This relates to ‘Pretty Woman’ as in that pivotal scene where she gets frowned upon by the women, she will have seen that they believe that she has no worth or morals and therefore urges her to change her personality as well as her looks. It looks at how we as a society conform and go along with others to be able to fit in which implies that because people want to be liked, they are willing to comply with anything to become the type of person society wants them to be (Franks and Gecas, 1992).

From the perspective of symbolic interactionism, it can be seen that “a prostitute is deviant only because heshe is labelled as such” (Bartleby, n.d.), which highlights the importance of objectification in the sex work industry as their line of work has been classified as immoral because others have had their opinion on it and therefore deem it wrong. The moral of the film is to imply that Vivian is a character who although is a nice person who gets along with a lot of people, is demonized because of her line of work and is also judged by others who deem her as less of a female or a woman because she doesn’t live up to society’s expectations of the typical ‘housewife’.

There are more than the 3 class systems in society, as well as the working class, the middle class and the upper class, there is a class that is a social construct below the working class which is the poverty class. Seccombe et al. (1998) proposed that children and relationships are critical factors that can influence a woman’s financial status (Mickelson and Hazlett, 2014), which shows this affects young children who look up to their parents as they are bound by what they have been brought up on and therefore later in life may believe they can only succumb to the poverty line and nothing else. The potential of all working-class children has not been looked at for some time as Ferguson (2017) states how working-class and minority ethnic children are put at a disadvantage from the beginning of their life which makes them less respected than the middle and upper-class students. This conveys how being in a different class can significantly affect not only adults but young people too even though they cannot be expected to do anything about it. Stephens et al. (2014) understand that women in poverty have fewer connections to family and friends and because of so experience greater difficulty with trust and reported more challenges involving relationships compared with working-class women. The ideal life for those in poverty is just to have a sense of stability and to be able to survive to have the best experiences in their life come true. Chon (2005) signifies how liberal feminists believe prostitution should be decriminalized as it is a free choice of occupation for women which could be the difference between living in poverty and living in the working class and also argue that it is one of the longest occupations which lets women decide what they can do and for how much money. These options let women be in control of their bodies and life which is why some countries want to punish them for it (BBC, 2019). In Western society today, the poverty line should not exist, however, it does and therefore shows how those in social classes above poverty diminish them making society as unequal as ever meaning they cannot get employed.

The humanistic approach to self-actualization suggests that the whole person needs to be studied (McLeod, 2020). Maslow (1943) created the hierarchy of needs which suggests that to self-actualize you need to have completed all of the stages and then will become fulfilled and content with life. the stages include physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging as well as self-esteem. With regards to women and poverty, because they are not able to provide for themselves and have their basic needs met, they are unable to self-actualize. This could suggest that in ‘Pretty Woman’, Vivian is not able to be happy with her life until she is loved by Edward who can provide her with a lot of money and stability which implies that before that moment, she hated her life. The film shows that although it deems prostitution as a form of work, “it does not provide the self-fulfillment, to which all single girls must aspire” (Radner, 2010), giving off the idea that she had to change herself and her morals to feel happy with her life. Living in poverty was not good for her so, therefore, she changed her femininity and identity to fit in with society.

Overall, this essay has exhibited how poverty and prostitution affects a young woman’s femininity. This has been done by explaining how the patriarchy that is still existent, can contribute to why women are in poverty in the first place. Furthermore, it has shown how symbolic violence and social class systems have degraded and judged women for years, making them feel as if they should not try to be high achievers or dream of a better life for themselves because they do not have a strong male by their side to help them. Radner (2010) explains how Vivian’s education in the film ‘Pretty Woman’ about corporate life has led her to believe that she can do better for herself, however, it can be seen that the moral is that she can only do it with Edward by her side to get her out of squalor. This, therefore, implies that although society is moving forward every day, there are still the ideologies that show that women cannot do anything without a man and because of that are in deep financial difficulty. This can be as seen why there are so many young women in prostitution in the Western world today.