Pygmalion,
written by George Bernard Shaw, based on his play, inspired by the ancient
Greek myth
9.4 out of
10
Pygmalion is
based on the ancient Greek myth, about the sculptor named Pygmalion who creates
a statue that is so beautiful that he falls in love with it and then asks the
gods to give it life and they do, therefore Galatea becomes a human being.
In psychology,
The Pygmalion Effect has been studied in schools, where it was discovered that teachers
who believed in the capacities, skills, potential of their students had better
results, in that those pupils who benefited from this trust went on to obtain
excellent results.
It works in
other areas too, when students believe in their professors, these became
better, and this can be applied by management, for when business leaders have
confidence in those who are under their command, the benefits are visible and
quantifiable, as well as the reverse.
The opening
scenes take place when rain is forcing people to take refuge, an occasion for
the flower girl Eliza Doolittle aka the Oscar nominated Wendy Hiller to try to
sell some to the upper class people that are waiting for a taxi, which Freddy
Eynsford Hill had gone to fetch, while his mother and sister are waiting.
Professor Henry
Higgins, portrayed by Academy Award Nominee Leslie Howard – known for his role
in Gone with the Wind - http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/05/gone-with-wind-based-on-pulitzer-prize.html
- is a phonetics expert who is trying to listen to conversations and find
interesting accents and speech patterns.
He is able
to place anyone he listens to within a very short distance in the country and
in London, that precision is increased to an astonishing level, for he seems to
be the ultimate, quintessential authority on speech, interested to look for and
find Colonel George Pickering, another specialist, who happens to be in the
same spot.
The colonel
has travelled all the way from India to meet the professor, who in turn had
been planning to sail to India to find the colonel and now they are about to
embark on an interesting ‘experiment’, with the colonel showing a humane, kind,
sensitive, polite, decent personality, while Higgins is so abject at times that
he would be rejected at the present, a film like this would not be made.
While Colonel
Pickering is staying with the professor, invited to avoid the hotel and be his guest,
a visitor arrives and it turns out to be Eliza Doolittle, who is interested to
get some lessons, for she had heard the other night that this is a language
expert and she thinks that she would be able to get a flower shop if she
furthers her education and she is willing to pay.
The money
she has working on the street are a pittance for the much better off phonetics
expert, but he is wise to calculate what the offer means, related to her
standard of living and this is a fortune she offers, as an important amount of
her total, rather small income, which she is ready to offer to get further and
have a career, although she would soon be made to suffer, forced to take her
clothes (in the privacy of the bathroom, not in public) off and have the bath
which she resents most in the world…or so it looks like.
What is annoying
and unacceptable for the modern viewer – who has nevertheless to look at things
in perspective, considering the ancient myth and the époque when George Bernard
Shaw has written the script for the film – is the sexist, misogynistic, abusive
attitude of the professor, who keeps insulting the poor girl, insisting that he
‘treats a duchess as a poor woman and vice versa’.
The colonel
and the professor make a bet, with the latter claiming that he would be able to
pass the uneducated flower girl, with her awful accent, abominable grammar and
lack of any knowledge of etiquette, rules of engagement, manners in society for
a duchess, once he is finished with phonetics, posture, correct English, which
should take him a few months and then they would attend an important gathering
and see the extraordinary results.
First of
all, this is a comedy and the confrontation between Pygmalion and Galatea is supposed
to be – and it often is – amusing, although in this modern age it could well be
embarrassing and deemed unacceptable, and we need to highlight the fact that
Eliza could be seen as the Ultimate Winner, not just in terms of education
gained, knowledge of proper English and good behavior, but she may be the one
who teaches a more important lesson.
Notwithstanding
his expertise on language, Professor Higgins is worse than ignorant in what
love means, and ultimately, life itself, for he limits himself to super pronunciation
and locating cockney accents, but he treats women – granted other humans too –
with contempt, he suggests after they win their competition that Eliza marries
the colonel, or somebody else and he is rather despicable, especially for one
who is supposed to be the Hero.
Finally,
the undersigned must say that George Bernard Shaw was such a peculiar man that
the perception of his works is affected by his politics – supportive of the communists
and the Soviets, which is anathema for someone who has had to live in a regime
installed by these vicious people – and his rather outré persona, often
amusing, but rather arrogant and pretentious – even when the Oscar was awarded
for the script of this film, the writer said something to the effect that this
like giving a prize to George for being the King of Britain.
Pygmalion has
been included on The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list, available
here:
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