Justification for interpretation of Ovid's pygmalion through the lense of the Gibson girl

Justification for Interpretation of Ovid’s Pygmalion through the Lens of the Gibson Girl Student Tutor Course Date Justification for Interpretation of Ovid’s Pygmalion through the Lens of the Gibson Girl Ovid's Pygmalion, a tale of artistic obsession and idealized beauty, finds a compelling modern echo in the figure of the Gibson Girl. The interpretation – entitled “Gibson” – takes this character to the turn of the century when a new artist finds living women imperfect in contrast to his art. Wanting the perfect beauty, he makes an image that is something more than real, modeled on the Gibson Girl’s idealized form. This perspective examines how the anxiety of the perfect woman, the power of the media, and the fleeting nature of fashion affect society. By viewing the myth through the lens of this powerful cultural icon, we expose the extent to which art reflects and constructs, as well as the power of idealized images, which have increasingly entrapped a generation.[Rato, Rui. 2016. "Love, Desire and Transformation : From Ovid to Thomas Harris." Via Panorâmica (5): 64-71.] The Gibson Girl as a Symbol of Idealized Perfection The idealized perfection portrayed in Ovid’s Pygmalion is closely associated with Gibson Girl. In the story of Pygmalion by Ovid, the character Pygmalion gets tired of women because of their flaws and sculpts a woman who is so beautiful he falls for it. In this act, we see a great human desire for an impossible perfection and to overcome what is thus imperfect. Likewise, the Gibson Girl created through Charles Dana Gibson’s illustrations at the turn of the twentieth century epitomized the ideal American woman. Tall, elegant, and possessing a refined beauty. Women started getting measured against her during her lifetime and she became a cultural icon. The Gibson Girl like the statue of Pygmalion is an emblem of idealized womanhood, which is a cultural ideal, a beauty norm, and a behavior that is cast upon one’s society.[Desmarais, Jane, and David Weir, eds. 2019. Decadence and Literature (103).] For justification, one has to reimagine Pygmalion as “Gibson” to outline the connection between the two that becomes immediately apparent. Like his mythological counterpart, Gibson creates an ideal image, a woman with the ultimate beauty of femininity. Gibson Girl becomes like Pygmalion’s statue, a wish-fulfillment image that transcends the logic of realism; a point of social attainment. Also, like Pygmalion, Gibson creates an idealized image, not of a statue, but a figure imagined as the ultimate woman. The two tales examine the easy inclination of human beings to expect perfection whether the sculptor’s chisel or illustrator’s pencil. Also, the risk of investing too much in the ideal. This also illustrates how humans are always trying to get to something that is never achievable or always out of reach.[Rato, Rui. 2016.] The Critique of Societal Expectations and Imperfection A personal reimagining of Pygmalion as “Gibson” powerfully reveals the necessary critique of social expectations inherent in the myth. As Gibson states, there are “a multitude of faults” in women he encounters and that might be a flaw as it could be human nature to avoid the complexities of life and find perfection in art. This act, however, is not a mere aesthetic pursuit. It means that it is the concrete manifestation of deep anxieties about the “criminal vice of the modern woman”. The other is a different notion that is encapsulated in the modern woman. Focusing on the idealized Gibson Girl shows us that idealized images can also create feelings of inadequacy, although they are celebrated. As a result, what is portrayed as an aspirational model becomes a means of enforcing sameness which c...