Question:
Tonight I've watched "Gigi" for only the second time ever. The last time was in 1995 and this "fluffy" film got me SO damn angry!
Well again I feel the same - this film really, really irritates me!
The music is nice, it's looks wonderful but the characters and plot are SO appalling! Not in the sense that "it's a bad plot etc" but in their motivations and political sensibilities.
I can't believe this film won 9 oscars including Best Picture!
Did people in 1958 really find this "charming"?
These awful, callous women who nearly ruin a young girl's entire life and Maurice Chevalier's lecherous, repugnant Honoré Lachaille who shags anything that moves (like he'd even stand a chance!) make me want to puke!
Is it suppossed to be ironic that everyone gets what they want, whether it's for the reasons they think they are getting it or not? For example, Gigi's Grandmother and Great-Aunt will see her marry Gaston and think it's because they did a good job "educating" her in the ways of a courtesan, when in fact he comes back and marries her because he apparantly loves her - for her.
But are we suppossed to believe he does actually love her?
He's been a cad, was taught by a cad - but he's bored with being a cad! (not that that stops him! - that's established within the 1st 10mins of the film!)
BUT at the end, does he actually love Gigi or does he marry her to a) save her reputation before it is forever ruined? or b) so he can stop being bored with being a "lad with a bad rep" himself?
And the song "I remember it well", yes it has witty lyrics etc but in the context of the story it does nothing except confirm what a total arse Honoré Lachaille really is! He says that he was considering marrying Gigi's Grandmother way-back-when but she dumped him when he had another affair. He loved her so much that he can't remember a single detail about their time together!?
I get that basically by the end Gaston & Gigi become the anti Honore & Aunt Alicia but why are we suppossed to find the older characters so endearing? I find them creepy & more than a little misogynistic! (I also find our "hero" Gaston to be misogynistic - his whole "She's not thinking of me" song for example, makes me want to punch him!)
okay I might be thinking about this too much but I want to understand it properly! I just have a hard time believing that such awful people being so downright selfish and nasty & manipulative with other people's lives is considered the best film of 1958 and a lush, fluffy, delightful film to boot!?!
If this were "Dangerous Liasons" I wouldn't have a problem with it (I love that!) but it's a technicolor MGM musical confection! :confused:
btw - I'm not talking about "political correctness" or anything retarded like that - I'm well aware this is set in 1900, in another time and place! I just want confirmation that it's intended that we (the audience) are actually suppossed to like these characters because I for one cannot see how that is possible based on who they are and what they do?
Anyone care to put me right?
cheers
Richie
so it's just me then :|
So whats your opinion of My Fair Lady then ? Similar line of trying to train young lady to be fit to marry someone with too much money and too few surnames in the family tree. Almost watched Gigi once but the person who insisted on watching it decided it was past her bed time part way through. Thereagain these style of musicals aren't my thing, I prefer Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Huit Femmes amongst others
hmmmm yeah "My fair lady" is an interesting one!
In whatever version of the Pygmalion story you care you watch ("Pygmalion", "My Fair Lady", "Pretty Woman", "She's all that" etc) it's always the female who has to change and/or give up her lifestyle/identity for the sake of the man.
A few nods are made in the direction of his "change" as a person but he never actually loses anything - he ultimately only gains. The female character always has the trade-off, be it her roots, her friends, her identity etc but she always has to give up something fundamental.
The reason "My Fair Lady" works and "Gigi" doesn't is because you care about Eliza Dolittle. In "Gigi" as soon as she becomes a sophisticate she loses everything that made her loveable in the first place! In "My Fair lady", Eliza 'blossoms' & you still really like her - she doesn't become this snobbish little bitch, unlike Gigi.
I've read that Gigi is suppossed to be this feminist character who uses the system (as laid out for her by the older generation) to get the life she wants despite the sexual and political barriers she has to cross - but all I see is a sweet independent girl turned into another clone of the dull insipid resentful people around her, much like a Stepford Wife!
Maybe I should read Collette's original novel or something? :confused:
Well again I feel the same - this film really, really irritates me!
The music is nice, it's looks wonderful but the characters and plot are SO appalling! Not in the sense that "it's a bad plot etc" but in their motivations and political sensibilities.
I can't believe this film won 9 oscars including Best Picture!
Did people in 1958 really find this "charming"?
These awful, callous women who nearly ruin a young girl's entire life and Maurice Chevalier's lecherous, repugnant Honoré Lachaille who shags anything that moves (like he'd even stand a chance!) make me want to puke!
Is it suppossed to be ironic that everyone gets what they want, whether it's for the reasons they think they are getting it or not? For example, Gigi's Grandmother and Great-Aunt will see her marry Gaston and think it's because they did a good job "educating" her in the ways of a courtesan, when in fact he comes back and marries her because he apparantly loves her - for her.
But are we suppossed to believe he does actually love her?
He's been a cad, was taught by a cad - but he's bored with being a cad! (not that that stops him! - that's established within the 1st 10mins of the film!)
BUT at the end, does he actually love Gigi or does he marry her to a) save her reputation before it is forever ruined? or b) so he can stop being bored with being a "lad with a bad rep" himself?
And the song "I remember it well", yes it has witty lyrics etc but in the context of the story it does nothing except confirm what a total arse Honoré Lachaille really is! He says that he was considering marrying Gigi's Grandmother way-back-when but she dumped him when he had another affair. He loved her so much that he can't remember a single detail about their time together!?
I get that basically by the end Gaston & Gigi become the anti Honore & Aunt Alicia but why are we suppossed to find the older characters so endearing? I find them creepy & more than a little misogynistic! (I also find our "hero" Gaston to be misogynistic - his whole "She's not thinking of me" song for example, makes me want to punch him!)
okay I might be thinking about this too much but I want to understand it properly! I just have a hard time believing that such awful people being so downright selfish and nasty & manipulative with other people's lives is considered the best film of 1958 and a lush, fluffy, delightful film to boot!?!
If this were "Dangerous Liasons" I wouldn't have a problem with it (I love that!) but it's a technicolor MGM musical confection! :confused:
btw - I'm not talking about "political correctness" or anything retarded like that - I'm well aware this is set in 1900, in another time and place! I just want confirmation that it's intended that we (the audience) are actually suppossed to like these characters because I for one cannot see how that is possible based on who they are and what they do?
Anyone care to put me right?
cheers
Richie
Answers:
so it's just me then :|
Answers:
So whats your opinion of My Fair Lady then ? Similar line of trying to train young lady to be fit to marry someone with too much money and too few surnames in the family tree. Almost watched Gigi once but the person who insisted on watching it decided it was past her bed time part way through. Thereagain these style of musicals aren't my thing, I prefer Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Huit Femmes amongst others
Answers:
hmmmm yeah "My fair lady" is an interesting one!
In whatever version of the Pygmalion story you care you watch ("Pygmalion", "My Fair Lady", "Pretty Woman", "She's all that" etc) it's always the female who has to change and/or give up her lifestyle/identity for the sake of the man.
A few nods are made in the direction of his "change" as a person but he never actually loses anything - he ultimately only gains. The female character always has the trade-off, be it her roots, her friends, her identity etc but she always has to give up something fundamental.
The reason "My Fair Lady" works and "Gigi" doesn't is because you care about Eliza Dolittle. In "Gigi" as soon as she becomes a sophisticate she loses everything that made her loveable in the first place! In "My Fair lady", Eliza 'blossoms' & you still really like her - she doesn't become this snobbish little bitch, unlike Gigi.
I've read that Gigi is suppossed to be this feminist character who uses the system (as laid out for her by the older generation) to get the life she wants despite the sexual and political barriers she has to cross - but all I see is a sweet independent girl turned into another clone of the dull insipid resentful people around her, much like a Stepford Wife!
Maybe I should read Collette's original novel or something? :confused:
1 2