Ovid's Myth of Pygmalion on Screen: In Pursuit of the Perfect Woman

Acknowledgments \ Introduction \ 1. Ovid's Rich Text - Layers of identity in the Pygmalion myth \ 2. Tragic Transformations: Making and breaking the statue on screen \ 3. Romancing the Stone: The made-over woman as comedy \ 4. She was Venus all along: The statue as screen goddess \ 5. Pygmalion's robots - The horror and the humour \ 6. Bathos and Pathos - A simulacrum among simulacra \ 7. Virtually Perfect: Hi and lo tech gals of the computer age \ 8. More Myth Making at the Movies \ Appendix: Ovid's Pygmalion \ Bibliography \ Filmography \ Index

Paula James is Senior Lecturer in Classical Studies at The Open University, UK, and has published widely in Latin Literature and on the reception of classical motifs in popular culture. She has appeared on 'Women's Hour' on Radio 4 to talk about her previous book The Role of the Parrot in Selected Texts from Ovid to Jean Rhysand has also appeared on Radio 3's Greek and Roman Essay series, speaking on Cicero.

Paula James has produced a brilliant and engaging study of how and why the modern media of film and television continue to refashion ancient mythological narratives for contemporary audiences, in this case, Ovid's story of Pygmalion and his ivory statue come to life. In a series of provocative and detailed chapters, James expertly examines an array of cinematic and televisual texts - from classic films like Vertigo (1958) to more recent screen productions such as Lars and the Real Girl (2007) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) - that correspond on both the narrative and figurative levels to Ovid's myth of the "made-over woman." James deftly unravels the myth's infinite and powerful layers as she explores the popular genre of "make-over films," while delving into the question of our eternal fascination with the theme of artfully - or artificially - created life and the problems of "perfection" inherent in the eyes of the beholder. With the analytical skills of a classicist and the ardor of a film fan, James succeeds in assessing both the impact of the classical myth on modern viewers, as well as how each onscreen reception in its current cultural context sheds further interpretive light on the ancient story. Monica S. Cyrino, University of New Mexico, USA The story of Elisa Doolittle, the working class flower girl transformed into the image of a Duchess by Professor Higgins, was made famous by the 1964 musical My Fair Lady. In her excellent book, Paula James positions this story within a more complex and long standing literary and cinematic tradition. Beginning with Ovid's epic poetry and his version of the Pygmalion myth, James explores how the narrative trope of the make-over has been repeatedly reworked and re-imagined on screen. Bringing together an exciting range of literary, cinematic, and televisual texts as diverse as Pygmalion, Vertigo, Pretty Woman, Miss Congeniality and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, James offers an insightful discussion of the perennial