Gigi story
Gigi (French pronunciation: [ʒiʒi]) is a 1958 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli and processed using Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Eastmancolor film process Metrocolor. The screenplay by Alan Jay Lerner is based on the 1944 novella by Colette. The film features songs with lyrics by Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, arranged and conducted by André Previn. Costume design was done by Cecil Beaton (hats by Madame Paulette).
22 total · 2 choice · 17 major · 3 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| life in late modern France | choice | The story imagines what life in Belle Époche Paris at the turn of the century might have been like. It makes explicit reference to Parisian culture, for example, when Gigi in song laments that she cannot comprehend the inhabitants' obsession with "love". |
| romantic love | choice | The story concerns Gaston, an exceedingly wealthy and famous Parisian in his late twenties, falling in love with the 16 year old girl Gigi whom he has known since she was a young child. Gigi apparently reciprocated the feeling. |
| boredom | major | Gaston repeatedly spelled out how bored he was with everything about Parisian life and especially its women. He even said verbatim that he suffered from ennui. |
| coming of age | major | The story follows the 16-year-old Gigi as she transitions from being a playful little girl into becoming a young woman and a rich man's mistress then fiancée then ultimately wife. |
| desire vs. conscience | major | Gaston decided to do the honorable thing by marrying Gigi instead of continuing to treat her as just another courtesan. |
| female education | major | The story romanticizes the outmoded idea that girls should not receive a formal education, but should be taught the skills required to please and seduce men so that they can marry or otherwise strike a lucrative bargain in exchange for their companionship and sexual services. In particular, this was the way Aunt Alicia tutored Gigi. The story concluded with a spectacular victory for this way of thinking when Gigi not only became Gaston's mistress as intended, but engaged to be married. |
| grandmother and granddaughter | major | Gigi was raised by her grandmother Madame Alvarez because her own mother, despite living in the same house, kept herself absent. |
| growing as a person | major | The story culminates with Gaston renouncing his womanizing ways and marrying Gigi, who had melted his heart. |
| interclass romance | major | Central to the plot is the fact that Gaston was exceedingly wealthy while Gigi's family was relatively poor, and probably not well off even in absolute terms. |
| loneliness | major | Gaston's ennui can be understood to be a kind of loneliness that stemmed from a lack of meaningful romantic relationships. |