Pretty Woman (1990)
No movie sugarcoats the realities of sex work more than Pretty Woman, in which Julia Robert’s lovable Vivian is rescued from a street corner by the very wealthy Edward (Richard Gere) for a few days of no-strings-attached fun that of course turn into a life-changing love affair for both of them.
Obviously, that’s not how it always works out. Even the writer of the movie, J.F. Lawton, had planned for it to be a much grittier story before director Garry Marshall gave it a Disney makeover. (The original version was called $3,000, which is of course the amount Edward offers to pay Viv for her company for the week.)
“There are no Vivians,” Marian Hatcher, a sex-trafficking survivor who now works at the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, told Time. “There are no women who are being rescued by a Prince Charming like Richard Gere.”
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