I watched half of "My Fair Lady" back in the summer, and was overwhelmed by loathing of Henry Higgins, to the point where I became red in the face and started swearing at the VCR. Then a customer came into the shop and I had to shut it off, which I think was for the best. I've never dared go back to it since then.
This entry may make me give it another try. I dunno, though... I'm gritting my teeth to make myself watch it because I can't bear to leave things halfway through, but then again I know that it's going to end with Henry Higgins and Eliza getting together, and that's a horrendous fate for Eliza as far as I'm concerned. Let me try to explain--you may find it interesting even if my points don't carry weight with you.
It's not that I find Rex Harrison unappealing. Earlier this month, I watched "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir", in which he was both gorgeous and lovable. He's even pretty cute in "My Fair Lady". That just makes his loathsomeness more distressing to me. He is: (1) a classist and (2) a misogynist, which are both qualities that will make me stop liking a character fast. Those are debatable, I suppose. But most importantly, (3) he... makes... FUN... of the way people talk. Death is too good for him.
(NB: a lot of this is due to my personal experiences. Whether this also means it's valid as a general opinion, you can judge. I don't think we've ever talked about this, but you've probably noticed: I am apparently unable to speak English with an American accent. I grew up in New England, I still live here, I sound pretty normal to myself, but my life has been full of people imitating the way I talk back to me. Most of them don't mean to be rude, but it's obnoxious anyhow. End of NB.)
Anyhow, after the squashed-cabbage-leaf conversation, the only way I would have felt OK about Henry Higgins and Eliza hitting it off would be if something horrible did happen to him wherein Eliza was the only person who could possibly help him, and if he attained some kind of consciousness of what an asshat he really was. None of which was apparently going to happen--and Eliza was looking more and more like a weak, whiny idiot. I'd liked her a lot initially, but if she's the sort of person who would take orders from a windbag like Higgins, I don't want to spend time with her. So I stomped off and never went back. Only... only... now I sort of want to. I'll watch the Leslie Howard "Pygmalion", in any case.
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This entry may make me give it another try. I dunno, though... I'm gritting my teeth to make myself watch it because I can't bear to leave things halfway through, but then again I know that it's going to end with Henry Higgins and Eliza getting together, and that's a horrendous fate for Eliza as far as I'm concerned. Let me try to explain--you may find it interesting even if my points don't carry weight with you.
It's not that I find Rex Harrison unappealing. Earlier this month, I watched "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir", in which he was both gorgeous and lovable. He's even pretty cute in "My Fair Lady". That just makes his loathsomeness more distressing to me. He is: (1) a classist and (2) a misogynist, which are both qualities that will make me stop liking a character fast. Those are debatable, I suppose. But most importantly, (3) he... makes... FUN... of the way people talk. Death is too good for him.
(NB: a lot of this is due to my personal experiences. Whether this also means it's valid as a general opinion, you can judge. I don't think we've ever talked about this, but you've probably noticed: I am apparently unable to speak English with an American accent. I grew up in New England, I still live here, I sound pretty normal to myself, but my life has been full of people imitating the way I talk back to me. Most of them don't mean to be rude, but it's obnoxious anyhow. End of NB.)
Anyhow, after the squashed-cabbage-leaf conversation, the only way I would have felt OK about Henry Higgins and Eliza hitting it off would be if something horrible did happen to him wherein Eliza was the only person who could possibly help him, and if he attained some kind of consciousness of what an asshat he really was. None of which was apparently going to happen--and Eliza was looking more and more like a weak, whiny idiot. I'd liked her a lot initially, but if she's the sort of person who would take orders from a windbag like Higgins, I don't want to spend time with her. So I stomped off and never went back. Only... only... now I sort of want to. I'll watch the Leslie Howard "Pygmalion", in any case.