There's a classic line: "We're all prostitutes."

I think there's also a "grown up damsel in distress" quality to some of the characters as well, if there's a pimp that's like the dragon that has to be slain for the girl to go free (True Romance). And I think that loss of agency might play in to the audience's mind as well.

Rosie (Maria Bello) is more of a Sidekick archetype in the Mel Gibson movie "Payback". (Which is one of my favorite neo-noir crime films.) Cora (Halle Berry) serves as a herald for Joe (Bruce Willis) and Jimmy (Damon Wayans). Not sure if she was a prostitute, but she was a stripper and it seemed like she was an escort as well. But I think Blue hits the nail on the head. The prostitute serves as some sort of adult "princess" in need of rescue.

In most Hollywood films featuring a female character in the role of a prostitute, she is a nothing less than a projection of prototypical male fantasy-ideal, the readily available sex object with a heart of gold. Her assignment is to give emotional support -- and sex -- in grateful exchange for being rescued. Talk to any cop who has worked the vice detail in the real Hollywood and he or she will tell you how utterly unbeievable most movie characterizations are. (Exhibit A: Pretty Woman.) Most prostitutes, particularly those who walk the street (which is the lowest rung of the trade) are psychologically damaged goods. Not only are they the victims of ongoing emotional and physical abuse, but surviving on the mean streets requires deceit and manipulation. What looks like a heart of gold is more likely made of fools gold. Pretty Woman, Night Shift, Leaving Las Vegas, True Romance, Mighty Aphrodite, Irma La Douce-- all written by men. And as long as most of the scripts featuring a prostitute are written by men the fantasized-fetishized sexual stereotype will persist. And so will the lament of female actors --particularly Blacks -- that too many of the too few roles offered them are as prostitutes (or in similar slutty roles).

All exceptionally valid points. There's a good Mitchell and Webb sketch that pokes fun at this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MVdUs4XQBI

Bridget Fonda in "Kiss Of The Dragon" was a bit of a sidekick too, if I remember correctly. But you knew she was a "good" one because she didn't snort cocaine off the table like the other one. And she seemed like a more... I don't want to say accurate, but less idealized. Outside of being Bridget Fonda, of course. She had a shitty corner (not even a corner, a god-damn alleyway), got into fights with her co-worker had that pimp... and she was trying to get her kid back. So she was kind of the engine to the story. The wife in Gamer was sort of a prostitute as well,she was giving up her body to someone else's control and I believe there was sex involved. It was rather lurid and treated in the story as akin to prostitution. And let's not forget the girls of Old Town in Sin City. Prostitute army, they're all packin' heat, one of them is a ninja throwing swastika-stars. And even though they can take care of themselves, they need Clive Owen to help ditch a body. I honestly don't remember why. And of course, while that worked for that story in that segment, it really wore thin in Sin City 2. It's natural that a movie with that setting would feature strippers and hookers (and a naked lesbian DA), but when the sequel comes out and ALL the new women are hookers and ALL the new men are gangsters, it feels reductive. And I think that's an issue that a lot of these movies with prostitutes had, outside of the madonna and whore archetypes present, there don't seem to be any prominent women in the story, so it feels reductive. Not "these are just types of characters that exist," but "these are the only girls that exist." That sucks. I was thinking about that while watching Legend and noticing how Emily Browning was the only woman in the main cast. Girls wanna play too! The kind of movies that have these sly prostitute archetype characters should have other roles open for women. I was watching Legend and thinking how fun it would be to have women play some of those stock roles, like the new guy overanxious to prove himself, the dude who don't talk much, the weasel in a hat you KNOW is gonna do something stupid, etc.

In Hollywood, that's ABSOLUTELY TRUE!

Like all types, Chris, as writers, we can play them any way we want. So yes, a prostitute as more of a damsel in distress can work. The movie "Klute" is an example.

That is a totally legitimate critique. Then there are movies like "Tangerine" which are much more realistic. And that was written-directed by a man. So obviously, it's possible, just need to widen our perspective.

"Tangerine" is an exception because the man was inspired by real life on the mean streets of Hollywood, not in his fantasy life -- or other films littered with the usual tropes and stereotypes. He did the grunt work of research, spending hours observing and talking to transgender prostitutes and eventually cast them for the leads in the film.