Courtesans and Streetwalkers: Sex, Class, and the Female Body in Pretty Woman and Moulin Rouge!
Start Date
15-4-2023 5:00 PM
End Date
15-4-2023 5:35 PM
Description
One of the most prevalent and oldest tropes found within myths, literature, and popular culture is the "sex worker with a heart of gold" character. Despite similarities in the trope across many genres, there are nuances in how these characters are sexualized due to race, ability, and class status. Both films' postfeminist and postmodern qualities inform how the bodies of the two sex workers are displayed as sexual objects. Though both films feature the sex worker with a heart of gold character, Moulin Rouge! showcases the high-class courtesan, while Pretty Woman romanticizes a working-class "streetwalker" stereotype.
Courtesans and Streetwalkers: Sex, Class, and the Female Body in Pretty Woman and Moulin Rouge!
One of the most prevalent and oldest tropes found within myths, literature, and popular culture is the "sex worker with a heart of gold" character. Despite similarities in the trope across many genres, there are nuances in how these characters are sexualized due to race, ability, and class status. Both films' postfeminist and postmodern qualities inform how the bodies of the two sex workers are displayed as sexual objects. Though both films feature the sex worker with a heart of gold character, Moulin Rouge! showcases the high-class courtesan, while Pretty Woman romanticizes a working-class "streetwalker" stereotype.