My parents saw the original stage production of My Fair Lady and we grew up with the sound track LP. There is a section immediately after the ball in which Eliza which highlight her fears of having become neither one thing or the other, that she might have been better off staying in the gutter but in the next part of the play she recovers from her despair and shows Higgins that that she can adapt to her new situation to the point of beginning to play him at his own game. Not until then does he begin to see her as a person (although even in the musical it only goes as far as “I’ve grown accustomed to her face”). The choice of ending may be quite revealing of some differences between the American and British class systems. Stereotypically the former offers the dream of making it, of breaking out of your original class, in which context the Dorothy epiphany (that you might be better off as you were) is a radical statement. The British system, certainly at the time Shaw was writing was far more predicated on everyone being satisfied with their station in life, an ending celebrating the folly of anyone believing that they might be able to better themselves would have been very reactionary.
Back to Buffy I suspect that the Pygmalionisation of Faith is just one more cultural reference (something Vaughan seems a little over fond of, it almost gets to the point where every other line seems to be a lyric from some rock classic or other) but mentor/pupil relationships in a more general sense seems to be a theme. Faith and Giles are bonding, moving towards working as equals, Buffy and Xander are already friends and Buffy seems to be the mentor figure in that interaction. Gigi/Roden looks completely hierarchical one way or the other but I think it’s dangerous to assume that the man is necessarily in charge.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2007-09-11 02:35 pm (UTC)Back to Buffy I suspect that the Pygmalionisation of Faith is just one more cultural reference (something Vaughan seems a little over fond of, it almost gets to the point where every other line seems to be a lyric from some rock classic or other) but mentor/pupil relationships in a more general sense seems to be a theme. Faith and Giles are bonding, moving towards working as equals, Buffy and Xander are already friends and Buffy seems to be the mentor figure in that interaction. Gigi/Roden looks completely hierarchical one way or the other but I think it’s dangerous to assume that the man is necessarily in charge.