ArtiFact #17: Woody Allen as Pygmalion | Ethan Pinch, Alex Sheremet

ArtiFact: Books, Art, Culture

As Alex Sheremet and Ethan Pinch argue, Woody Allen has been falling out of favor for a long time now – and not only for the more obvious and superficial reasons. Critics charge him with indulging a Pygmalion complex, by which he lives out his androcentric fantasies through his films, crafting the very same women he has an interest in, then letting them loose upon the screen.

There are issues with this analysis, however: not only has Woody written some great female characters that ought to be the subjects of feminist film theory, but Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” does more than meets the eye. After all, Shaw’s Eliza Doolittle is a powerful character well before her transformation, and the transformation itself belies her benefactor’s own self-conception. Woody Allen adopts a similar tactic in his films, skewering his male leads through his use of women.

In ArtiFact #17, Alex Sheremet and Ethan Pinch use this lens to analyze four films: Stardust Memories, Husbands and Wives, Midnight in Paris, and the much-neglected Another Woman.

You can also watch this discussion on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BA7TanP3ls
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Timestamps:

0:24 – The city aesthetic, international Rust Belts, and the rural/urban divide

04:37 – Woody Allen’s urban aesthetic, the illusions of “Manhattan” (1979), moral ambiguity & how cinematic imagery can be used to play off of viewer assumptions

11:52 – The Pygmalion connection: from Ovid’s Metamorphoses to Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion; how Woody Allen uses great female characters to skewer men; more on Manhattan, Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters

38:56 – Woody Allen vs. the stigmatization of male sexuality + male neuroses

44:45 – In-depth: Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives; the faux documentary conceit, how Judy gets some things right, Jack/Sally disconnect, character framing, the Rain arc, feminist ideology, & more

01:17:32 – In-depth: Woody Allen’s Another Woman; visual frames, Marion’s true feminism, Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries, the viewer’s necessarily partial knowledge of character backgrounds and thoughts, & more

01:33:50 – In-depth: Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories; contrasts with Federico Fellini’s 8½, the usage of “freaks” in both films, pastiche vs. homage, Sandy Bates as the “true” Woody Allen stand-in, more on masculine impositions

02:04:30 – In-depth: Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris; contrasts with Manhattan, Owen Wilson’s acting, nostalgia vs. delusion, literary caricatures, the film’s faux closure

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Read the latest from the automachination universe: https://automachination.com

Read Alex’s review of Stardust Memories: https://alexsheremet.com/review-of-woody-allens-stardust-memories-1980/

Read Alex’s review of Woody Allen’s Manhattan: https://alexsheremet.com/woody-allens-manhattan-not-what-you-think-it-is/

Purchase Alex’s book on Woody Allen’s films, Woody Allen: Reel to Real – https://www.amazon.com/Woody-Allen-Reel-Version-Digidialogues-ebook/dp/B00PJF2F36/

Tags: #ArtiFact, #WoodyAllen, #Pygmalion