Working Girl

1339 Words6 Pages
How postfeminist movies inspired by fairy tales fail to depict strong women Working Girl is a 1988 rom-com about a secretary from Staten Island, Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith), working in a Wall Street speculation firm. Tess takes advantage of a specific kairotic moment, her boss' unfortunate absence, to advance in her own life and career. Pretty Woman is another lighthearted American comedy focusing on Hollywood hooker Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts), hired by Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) to be his accompanying girl for a few business and social events. The focal point of this movie is that a relationship is born throughout her stay with him. I analyze the schemes by which postfeminist movies inspired by fairy tales ultimately fail to depict strong…show more content…
The goals are classic ones: love and advance toward a higher social status, representing the material and spiritual dualistic nature of our social facades. Tess constructs her public image far from her true self in order to survive in a misogynist society. Her boss, Kathrine (Sigourney Weaver), does the same in an opportunistic way: she creates personal damage in the life of the people next to her in order to advance her social position, telling Tess multiple times, “We're a team” (Nichols). Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford) acts as an innocent catalyst, almost standing beyond good and evil through his intellectual choices. He, as a white male, is in a privileged position in society so he does not feel the pressure that the female characters feel and that determines any additional ethos-shaping conscious choice on their behalf. Every character uses emotions, ideas, and body language in order to manipulate (and connect with) the other characters. “Everyone in Working Girl pretends to be who they’re not" (Fulchs). In this movie, Tess' Cinderella dress is not referred to clothing as much as to "a polished accent, a nasal voice" (Fulchs) and, above all, a business attitude reminiscent of masculine determination. “I've got a mind for business and a bod for sin” (Nichols), says Tess. Unlikely Tess, males are usually allowed…show more content…
A famous male late night host declared "Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen" (O'Brien). Such statement can be true exclusively if there is a man helping you, at least according to the moral values expressed in our movies. In order to pursue the American dream, a paternal figure like Trask in Working Girl must intercede. As definitive goal, the American dream requires to be as naïve as a prince (Zipes), as humble as one of our female characters, and it’s not less ambitious than living happily ever after. The Upper East Side or a penthouse are the crystal
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