Muriel's Wedding vs Pygmalion

Question 1

CRITICAL READINGS
- Muriel’s Wedding (7)
- Scott, Vaus, Pickering, Kapalakis

Answer 1

“Strong poignant message on the power of platonic relationships and conformities, entailing a devastating reality that too many people experience.” (Scott)

In 1990s most people “supported traditional breadwinner role for men, family role for women… caring for young children should take priority over work for mothers.” (Vaus)

“Patriarchal fantasy… be ‘a success’ because someone will want to marry her” (Pickering)

“Handsome rich guy who likes ‘having her around’ isn’t enough” (Pickering)

“With Rhonda by her side” she can be herself, “shy and reserved to euphoric and radiating… friendship built on trust and unconditional love” (Kapalakis)

“No longer pretending to be someone else… person she truly needs to love is herself.” (Kapalakis)

Muriel’s “desire to adhere to a social standard… constant state of conformity, second-guessing everything she does” (Kapalakis)

Question 2

CRITICAL READINGS
- Pygmalion (6)
- Roy, Mugglestone, Grene, Reynolds

Answer 2

Aware of “social norms to which more gifted individuals may either become subject or rise above” and how these influence society’s perception of her (Roy)

“Social consequences of linguistic change… Eliza belongs nowhere” (Mugglestone)

“Insubstantiality of class and its distinctions” (Mugglestone)

“expresses a socialist conviction that human beings are created and conditioned by… their society.” (Grene)

Despite these transformations, each character’s core identity remains consistent. (Grene)

Eliza’s gruff cockney accent holds her back from many opportunities. (Reynolds)

Question 3

CRITICAL READINGS
- MW quotes on friendship (2)

Answer 3

“Strong poignant message on the power of platonic relationships and conformities, entailing a devastating reality that too many people experience.” (Scott)

“With Rhonda by her side” she can be herself, “shy and reserved to euphoric and radiating… friendship built on trust and unconditional love” (Kapalakis)

Question 4

CRITICAL READINGS
- MW quotes on identity (2)

Answer 4

“No longer pretending to be someone else… person she truly needs to love is herself.” (Kapalakis)

Muriel’s “desire to adhere to a social standard… constant state of conformity, second-guessing everything she does” (Kapalakis)

Question 5

CRITICAL READINGS
- MW quotes on marriage (3)

Answer 5

In 1990s most people “supported traditional breadwinner role for men, family role for women… caring for young children should take priority over work for mothers.” (Vaus)

“Patriarchal fantasy… be ‘a success’ because someone will want to marry her” (Pickering)

“Handsome rich guy who likes ‘having her around’ isn’t enough” (Pickering)

Question 6

CRITICAL READINGS
- PM quotes on identity (2)

Answer 6

“expresses a socialist conviction that human beings are created and conditioned by… their society.” (Grene)

Despite these transformations, each character’s core identity remains consistent. (Grene)

Question 7

CRITICAL READINGS
- PM quotes on class critique (4)

Answer 7

Aware of “social norms to which more gifted individuals may either become subject or rise above” and how these influence society’s perception of her (Roy)

“Social consequences of linguistic change… Eliza belongs nowhere” (Mugglestone)

“Insubstantiality of class and its distinctions” (Mugglestone)

Eliza’s gruff cockney accent holds her back from many opportunities. (Reynolds)

Question 8

BEGINNING
- MW
- provide 5 examples

Answer 8

MW
- Opening scene (pink, elaborate frilled dresses, sparkles, extra – Muriel: juxtaposition leopard print, browns, dark colours = doesnt fit in)
- Characterisation: Porpoise Spit friends (superficiality - clothes, hair, music. “We’ve told you a million times how to do your hair but you never listen…” / “I know I’m not normal… but I can change… I’m trying to become more like you.”
- Cinematography: Mirror shot (face reflected, pictures of brides, juxtaposed w leopard print = symbolic alternate fantasy, not true self)
- “I’m gonna get married and I’m gonna be a success”
- Sound: Wedding dress worship music (Dancing Queen - godly, worship, Muriel looks up at them - insignificant/lesser than the dresses (not a bride). Trance-like state.)

Question 9

BEGINNING
- PM
- provide 4 examples

Answer 9

• SD: design of Eliza’s room (“a portrait of a popular actor… fashion plate of ladies’ dresses, all wildly beyond poor Eliza’s means… birdcage… only visible luxuries… the rest is the irreducible minimum of poverty’s needs” VS Higgins “phonograph… comfortable leather-covered easy-chair… telephone…grand piano… dessert dish heaped with fruit and chocolates”
• “I’m a good girl, I am.” SD: “she sits down… with an attempt at dignity”
• SD: driver “holds the door firmly shut against her.” - class distrust
• “What’s to become of her if I leave her in the gutter?… [she hasn’t] any future to think of.” (Higgins)

Question 10

MIDDLE/STRUGGLE
- MW
- provide 4 examples

Answer 10

• New identity: Change name, Tim Sims, move to Sydney
• “If I get married it means I’m a new person… because who would want to marry me? Muriel Heslop, stupid fat… I’m never going back to her again”
• Marries David Van Arkle
• “All my life I’ve wanted to win. / Me too”

Question 11

MIDDLE/STRUGGLE
- PM
- provide 4 examples

Answer 11

• Wishes to change social class - takes lessons to become a lady in a flower shop
• SD: “returns with… slippers. She places them… before Higgins, and sits as before without a word.” - Lost identity/ independence, submissive
• “If only I could go back to my flower basket!… Why did you take my independence from me? I’m a slave now, for all my fine clothes.” - ironic, slaves associated w poor, despite upper class still not respected/happy
• “I sold flowers. I didn’t sell myself. Now you’ve made a lady of me and I’m not fit to sell anything else.”

Question 12

RESOLUTION/SOLVE/LEARN
- MW
- provide 3 examples

Answer 12

• “I can’t stay married to you David. I’ve gotta stop lying now… I don’t love you”
• “We’re not useless… never were. Now you’re looking after the kids and you’re gonna tell them they’re not useless”
• “My life is as good as an abba song. It’s as good as dancing queen” - true friendship

Question 13

RESOLUTION/SOLVE/LEARN
- PM
- provide 3 examples

Answer 13

• SD: “she suddenly puts her tongue out at herself” - refusal of upper class lifestyle
• “difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she’s treated… I can be a lady to you, because you always treat me as a lady, and always will.” (Eliza) - true class is how you treat others, respect - mocks societal class system
• “By George, Eliza, I said I’d make a woman of you; and I have. I like you like this… You’re a tower of strength: a consort battleship. ” (Higgins) - obtained language and wit to stand against him

Question 14

Provide 3 key quotes on identity from Pygmalion and describe the key ideas.

Answer 14

• “They might as well be blocks of wood. I might as well be a block of wood.” (Higgins) - identity is able to be intentionally moulded to fit a desired ideal - allusion to Pygmalion myth - sculpting
• “I tell you I have created this thing out of the squashed cabbage leaves of Covent Garden” (Higgins) - she has sculpted her identity - she is nothing without him
• “I am a child in your country. I have forgotten my own language and can speak nothing but yours.” (Eliza)

IDEAS
- Identity cannot be manipulated/created manually
- Language, mannerisms, speech are often used to define a person

Question 15

Provide 2 key quotes on identity from Muriel’s Wedding.

Answer 15

• “Are you Muriel Heslop?”/ “no!” - denies her own identity
• “Sometimes I think I’m nothing… useless”

Question 16

Provide 5 key quotes on female oppression/patriarchy from Pygmalion and desrcibe the key ideas.

Answer 16

• “The girl doesn’t belong to anybody… no use to anybody but me.” (Higgins) - objectification, lab rat to experiment on, no desires of her own
• “Marry Eliza while she’s young and don’t know no better…you’re a man, and she’s only a woman and don’t know how to be happy anyhow.” (Doolittle)
• “It’s quite a pleasure to look at you sometimes… get up and look at yourself in the glass; and you won’t feel so cheap.” (Higgins) - superficiality/feminine ideals - beauty is everything to a woman
• “You certainly are a pretty pair of babies, playing with your live doll.” (Mrs Higgins)
• “What right have you to go to the police… give the girl’s name as if she were a thief, or a lost umbrella?” (Mrs Higgins) - ownership of Eliza as an object
• “She doesn’t belong to him. I paid him five pounds for her.” (Higgins) - Eliza is transactional and of low value - able to be passed between people against her will

IDEAS
- Lab rat, experiment
- Transactionable, low value
- Objectification
- Able to be passed between people against her will, no desire or voice of her own
- Beauty, riches and a husband = woman’s desires

Question 17

Provide 2 key quotes on female oppression/patriarchy from Muriel’s Wedding and describe the key ideas.

Answer 17

• “I don’t love you either… but I quite like having you around” - decides to leave.
• “Now you’re a success! Someone wants to marry you”

IDEAS
- society thinks marriage = success
- a woman’s worth is dependent on how desired they, not personal success
- even if marriage is fake or fabricated marriage with no love involved.

Question 18

LITERARY TECHNIQUES
- characterisation (1)

Answer 18

Key characters represent societal and cultural conflicts that were occurring CoC
PM: societal structure and class system
- Characters embody inequality class = and how limitations to social mobility Edwardian England.
- Eliza - SD: flower girl to “exquisitely dressed” woman of “remarkable distinction and… studied grace”
- Not accepted into higher soc. Displaced. “What am I fit for?… What’s to become of me?”
“Social consequences of linguistic change… Eliza belongs nowhere” (Mugglestone)
- Higgins, controlling, superior upper class
- “absorbing experiment” to “take a human being and change her into quite a different human being” (objectifying, ‘lab rat’)
MW: Economic and political concerns
Unemployment crisis
- Muriel and Perry
- accurate rep of youth unemployment Aus in 90s, ‘glimpse into that period’. (Seton)
Government concerns
- Bill Heslop - corrupt Aus politicians
- Based on Queensland 90s, “extensive political and financial scandalism” and “a conservative (and essentially corrupt) government.” (Seton)
- “you can’t stop progress” = IRONY (empty promises, fraud, superior public image not than genuine commitment)

Question 19

LITERARY TECHNIQUES
- text-specific conventions (2)

Answer 19

Hogan and Shaw use text-specific conventions to explore key themes within their respective contexts.
MW: Cinematography
- central idea of marriage = glorified act, expected + measure of success.
- Tania’s Wedding: quick moving, fast, high shots = exciting
- STUDY: young peoples’ opinions on marriage (Australian Institute of Family Studies 1991), marriage social norm, taken for granted “even by those who had not seriously considered what it means.”
- = Muriel, glorifies w/o meaning or purpose.
- Mirror shot: pics of brides, juxtaposed w leopard print - idolised
- “Patriarchal fantasy… be ‘a success’ because someone will want to marry her” (Pickering)
PM: Stage directions
- Polarise ex of upper and lower classes
- STAGE DIRECTIONS “a portrait of a popular actor… fashion plate of ladies’ dresses, all wildly beyond poor Eliza’s means… birdcage… only visible luxuries… the rest is the irreducible minimum of poverty’s needs”
- STAGE DIRECTIONS: “phonograph, a laryngoscope… a fireplace… a comfortable leather-covered easy-chair… telephone… grand piano… dessert dish heaped with fruit and sweets, mostly chocolates”
- Eliza’s disadvantage to Higgins’ incomparable wealth = inequality

Question 20

LITERARY TECHNIQUES
- motifs/symbols (3)

Answer 20

Both juxtapose the motif of clothing =alluding to societal standards or conflict at CoC
- Costume at Tania’s Wedding: leopard print, blue eyeshadow, distasteful hair shunned by T + BMs. Costumed pink + white, frills, tiaras, sparkles, tulle, = glorified soc ideals of marriage, M’s failure to meet these
- “desire to adhere to a social standard… constant state of conformity” (Kapalakis)
- Intro Higgins and Eliza: SD: “professional-looking black frock-coat… white linen collar, black silk tie” = wealthy gentleman
- VS “shoddy black coat”, “boots much worse for wear”, hair “needs washing rather badly”, “as clean as she can afford to be”, “features are no worse than the other ladies.”
- Contrasts achieve diff aims
MW: expectations of marriage.
- Mariel’s Wedding costume
- Garish, over the top: lace, jewels, headpieces = superficiality of the fantasy
PM: critique superficiality of soc class.
- Higgins trustworthy: bystander reassures “it’s aw rawt: e’s a genleman: look at his be-oots.”
- Eliza discrimination: taxi “holds the door firmly shut against her”, bystander warns give Pickering a flower for money (prostitution)
- “Insubstantiality of class and its distinctions” (Mugglestone)
Motif of clothing symbolises how prioritises ex appearances over authenticity.