"MY Fair Lady" is the story of a young street woman who wishes to speak English well so that she can move up in society. She encounters a professor named Mr. Higgins who makes a bet that in six months time he can change her from speaking cockney English to speaking King's English at the Embassy Ball. The young lady, who's name is Eliza, seeks English lessons with Higgins, and he eventually agrees after some hesitation. Higgins uses several harsh techniques to try and teach Eliza to speak without and accent and in the end finally succeeds in teaching her to speak perfect English. However, even by changing the way Eliza speaks, Higgins does not make Eliza into a High class English girl like all the rest. What does end happening is Eliza becomes stuck in between tow different spheres. She does not completely fit in with high class society but at the same time does not really fit in with her old friends selling flowers from the street.
The the themes of this movie I believe can be portrayed in many different ways in modern society. Language being a main factor for deciding social standing is the most obvious theme in the movie. However there are many others that I believe are portrayed by the film. The film also deals with many issues regarding the roles of different social standings. I think the movie can even go as far to relate to race relations today. Race in many ways is like a dialect. It determines where you are from, and in some cases your standing in society. I think this film heavily criticizes the capitalist society, and how it creates these social classes
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I think it is interesting how you relate race to a dialect. It is a very unique concept, and in a lot of ways true. Like a dialect, race comes with stereotypes that need to be broken, it characterizes people as being part of a specific social standing, it can limit their chances of being successful, and it normally is specific to a certain area.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that you picked up the idea that race is similar to a dialect in causing prejudice against a person. Although this is true, I think that it is a far stretch for the movie's message. I agree more with your first statement that the main theme of the movie is to convey that social standing is largely determined by dialect.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how you compare the way a person is treated because of how they talk to the way a person is treated because of their ethnicity. The them of the movie to show how language is importance to one's place in society, i agree with what you said about that being the overall theme.
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