Pygmalion Essay, Research Paper
is an element of comedy in the sThere tory Pygmalion and in the film My Fair
Lady. In the play and the film alike, a woman of the streets named Liza
Doolittle is transformed from a dirty low-life from the streets to a respectable
high-class woman in only six months by two wealthy gentlemen named
Higgins and Pickering. Pickering challenged Higgings to make this young girl
a respectable lady and this becomes the object of the story, which is filled
with several comical scenes dealing with the changing lifestyle of Liza
Doolittle.
There are several humorous situations found in this play. Liza
Doolittle?s attitude is humorous in itself. She takes everything that Higgins
and Pickering say to her seriously, even if they are only joking, for instance
when Higgins referred to her as ?baggage? and asked his colleague Pickering
if they should have her sit down or toss her out the window. Liza responded
with her patented ?Ah-ah-ah-ah-ow-ow-oo-oo!!!? and quickly tried to get
away from Higgins. There are several scenes like this throughout the play
which I thought were all funny. Another scene I thought was humorous was
the bath scene. Liza Doolittle, being a lady of the streets, had never taken a
real bath before, and when she was asked to take her clothes off and get into
the tub, she through another fit and made a huge fool out of herself.
Even though this film and play were both made a long time ago, there
are still parts of it that can still be considered funny by today?s standards.
Just imagining a bet between two distinguished gentlemen on whether or not
they can change a woman from the streets into a woman of high class can be
funny. A movie that this can be compared to today is Pretty Woman starring
Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. In this movie, Richard falls in love with
Julia and changes her from a woman of the streets to a decent and beautiful
woman, much like Higgins fell in love with Liza Doolittle and changed her.
Although the movie My Fair Lady made it big back in the past, I don?t think
that it would be very successful at the box office if it were to come out today
because everyone?s view of comedy has drastically changed from what it
used to be. Comedy has lost its innocence, and this movie was too innocent
to make it today. Movies such as American Pie and Big Daddy are what
audiences want to see today because they portray people with serious
problems in a funny way, and they don?t hide anything in doing it, they make
audiences laugh in a new way.
In conclusion, I think that the play Pygmalion and the film My Fair
Lady both have elements of comedy. There are some funny moments
throughout both the play and the movie that would still be considered
somewhat humorous, but I don?t think that the movie would succeed in the
box office today.