PYGMALION…ON THE BIG SCREEN

I will never watch classical films unless Audrey Hepburn is in the films. Undoubtedly, I am a truly big fan of her. However, when my class had to watch Pygmalion last Friday, I was more than excited about it. It was only later that I realized that it was a classical film in black and white and needless to say… without Audrey Hepburn. Since I really enjoyed reading the play, I tend to be optimistic to think that the movie will not be rather disappointing. Basically, the film was very similar to the original play by Shaw in terms of characters, plot, settings, dialogues and the issues portrayed. The written play and the film were like an identical twin standing face-to face in front of a mirror. They reflected each other most of the times. The only difference between both genres was certainly the ending. In the original version, Eliza did not marry Higgins but Freddy instead, which likely support the idea of Pygmalion as “A Romance in Five Acts”. The movie drastically diverges from Shaw's play at the end by indicating that Higgins falls in love with Eliza and in the end Eliza willingly come back to Higgins. The movie was remarkable and great because of the strong issues it conveyed about the language as the vital instrument of power and oppression. It was like watching another version of Cinderella story however with a sad ending. To be frank, I dislike the movie’s ending as it ended with Higgins final question to Eliza, “Where the devil are my slippers?'. The question sounds very sexist to me as it indicated a strong male dominance towards woman. Personally, I think men and women are made to complement each other, not for one to subjugate the other. It is not a matter of who leads who but it is a matter of walking side-by-side together. Thus, I disagree with Higgins's harsh and immoral treatments to Eliza and sorry to say that I prefer Shaw’s original version of Pygmalion than the latter on the big screen.