Muriel's Wedding vs Pygmalion Flashcards
CRITICAL READINGS
- Muriel’s Wedding (7)
- Scott, Vaus, Pickering, Kapalakis
“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)
CRITICAL READINGS
- Pygmalion (6)
- Roy, Mugglestone, Grene, Reynolds
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)
CRITICAL READINGS
- MW quotes on friendship (2)
“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)
CRITICAL READINGS
- MW quotes on identity (2)
“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)
CRITICAL READINGS
- MW quotes on marriage (3)
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)
CRITICAL READINGS
- PM quotes on identity (2)
“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)
CRITICAL READINGS
- PM quotes on class critique (4)
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)
BEGINNING
- MW
- provide 5 examples
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.)
BEGINNING
- PM
- provide 4 examples
- 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)
MIDDLE/STRUGGLE
- MW
- provide 4 examples
- 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”
MIDDLE/STRUGGLE
- PM
- provide 4 examples
- 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.”
RESOLUTION/SOLVE/LEARN
- MW
- provide 3 examples
- “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
RESOLUTION/SOLVE/LEARN
- PM
- provide 3 examples
- 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
Provide 3 key quotes on identity from Pygmalion and describe the key ideas.
- “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
Provide 2 key quotes on identity from Muriel’s Wedding.
- “Are you Muriel Heslop?”/ “no!” - denies her own identity
- “Sometimes I think I’m nothing… useless”
