We as a society don't talk often about how the ending given to My Fair Lady by Hollywood is absolutely rubbish.
Eliza Doolittle from the start is shown as an independent woman who only wants to gain skills to further her career. Yes for a brief moment there she is attracted to Professor Higgins but I like to attribute it to proximity for a long period of time (6 months according to the wager) but after the Embassy Ball she calls Higgins out for his highhanded, misogynistic personality. Then why is she shown to go back to him to in the end?
George Bernard Shaw, writer of Pygmalion from which the plot of My Fair Lady is drawn up, protested the ending till 1938 that Eliza going back to Higgins is unacceptable to him and he gives a marvelous explanation for it
"When Eliza emancipates herself – when Galatea comes to life – she must not relapse. She must retain her pride and triumph to the end. When Higgins takes your arm on 'consort battleship' you must instantly throw him off with implacable pride; and this is the note until the final 'Buy them yourself.' He will go out on the balcony to watch your departure; come back triumphantly into the room; exclaim 'Galatea!' (meaning that the statue has come to life at last); and – curtain. Thus he gets the last word; and you get it too."
According to Shaw Eliza and Freddy get married and are happily running a green grocery-cum-flower shop, with Colonel Pickering providing them with funds for it. Freddy is truthfully a much better choice, yeah he is a himbo but he is kind, doesn't look down on Eliza and loves her for who she is unlike Higgins whose goal is to mould her into what a perfect woman is according to him.
Two well known versions of My Fair Lady are
Rex Harrison plays Professor Higgins in both.
1) The Broadway version in 1956 starring the magnificent Julie Andrews (of Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Victor Victoria, Princess Diaries, etc.) and John Michael King (from various musical theaters)
And
2) My Fair Lady 1964 starring the iconic Audrey Hepburn (of Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Roman Holiday, Charade, etc.) Hepburn's father was a Nazi sympathizer but she danced to secretly raise money for the Dutch Resistance against the Nazis even though she was literally starving. Her mother and she also denounced their royal heritage because of the Nazis in the family. She was a UNICEF ambassador and continued to do humanitarian work even while diagnosed with cancer.
Not sorry for getting sidetracked, I am sick of people remembering her as just a pretty face.
and the dynamic Jeremy Brett (of Dracula, Rebecca [In this Mrs. Danvers played by Anna Massey; she and Brett had divorced by then], various Shakespeare plays, and most popularly known for Granada's The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes, etc. [More famously known as the most faithful adaption of Sherlock Holmes where Holmes isn't a condescending know-it-all but an empathic, cheeky, genius. It also does justice to other character such as Dr. Watson {Victorian Husbands}, Mrs. Hudson {Not just a character for laughs}, and most especially Irene Adler who is often portrayed as a notch on Holmes' bedpost and not the brilliant woman she was and for whom Holmes had immense respect] He has also played both Dorian Gray & Basil Hallward as well as Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson). Also well known for his work in mental health
Sorry, got distracted a huge Holmes aficionado and it is a wonderful series
In both Eliza returns to Higgins and while yeah actors didn't have much sway in the plot direction but I do wish someone had stayed true to Shaw and if not him then at least to Eliza.
Metamorphoses a poem by the Roman poet Ovid is the basis for this story. In it the sculptor Pygmalion is disgusted by prostitutes and decides to remain celibate but then creates a statue of a woman whom he deems perfect and falls in love with her, and yes he does the deed with it. Later Venus brings the statue to life and they live 'happily ever after'.
This is awful beyond measure 'cause what is this other than society and patriarchy shaping women into what they think is right. Not that I am surprised that Ovid is the creator of it. His other famous story of Medusa is that she was raped in Athena's temple by Poseidon and then Athen cursed her, is a well known to all. Few know that in the Greek version she is the daughter of Phorcys and Ceto and her and Poseidon get together in a field. Athena is nowhere in the Greek story but of course Ovid just had to go ahead and butcher it and put two women down.
Honestly, why don't we follow Shaw's version more or if that is unacceptable then let Eliza remain what she is at the start an independent woman who takes good care of herself.
It galls me that fanfiction fails here with all the stories being of Eliza and Higgins pairing. Why are we doing this?
Now I am going to add as many tags I can for maximum reach, sue me!
