Notes 1/23

Pretty Woman
Pretty Woman is an example of a modern movie version of the Cinderella Story. The movie puts pressure on women to be beautiful and tells them that they need to be saved. If a woman is completely capable, then her prince will never come. The movie also puts pressure of men to be successful (in order to save the woman). Without success (money), a man can never become a prince.

CINDERELLA STORIES in popular culture/media

• in songs (references to missing toes, etc)
• Extreme Home Makeover--family is "saved"
• Memoirs of a Geisha--working in servitude until becoming a geisha (gets the guy)
• "Love Story" by Taylor Swift--very similar to Disney Cinderella story
• "Fairy Tale" by Sara Bareilles criticizing the fairy tale love story

The almost overwhelming amount of Cinderella Stories within our culture shows the pervasiveness of the tale, and articulates the dominant role it plays in our society. The tale has become such an accepted idea that we all subconsciously believe that we need to live the fairy tale, that women need to be rescued and men need to save them. But songs like those of Bareilles and Amos are challenging and changing this ideal...