Legally Blonde

Legally Blonde (2001) is a comedy starring Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods- a sorority queen who had everything that she wanted- a perfect boyfriend, a perfect set of adoring friends and perfect looks. However, her world falls apart when she is dumped by said boyfriend 'Warner Hunnington III' because she is 'too blonde' and therefore would not make a good wife.

Traumatised, Elle discovers that Warner's older brother dates a law student who goes to his college (Harvard Law) and comes to the conclusion that in order to win Warner back, she must become a law student and go to college.

She succeeds in her acceptance, and once at college gets off to a rocky start, being dismissed as a blonde, unprepared air head. However, through the course of the movie Elle, who is far more gifted than anyone thought, eventually looks past her infatuation and realises she has real worth and a real talent- through her extraordinary knowledge of fashion and beaty- for being a lawyer. She gains acceptance amongst her peers, teachers and more importantly her client, and eventually graduates top of the year after solving a high end murder case.

This movie is a surprising change from the normal representation of girls- who go from nerdy, intelligent and self worthy to items of beauty who lower themselves for their boyfriends. Instead, Legally Blonde, although it plays of many stereotypes, flips that idea on it's head and instead has the airhead become smart, and lose her infatuation with her man for her own worthy talent.

It allows the audience to take the message that you can change who you are. For teenaged girls, this is important- even though they may think that they have to be a pretty, fashionable airhead to be popular, they don't have to stay that way. It shows girls that some people will appreciate you more for your talents than for your looks- shown by the way the students mock Elle when she first arrives at Harvard.

'Hey Barbie, where's the beach?'



However, it is of worth to remember that the is also slightly degrading in it's acknowledgement of girls who work hard for a living through it's implications that Elle is special. To quote the father figure of the movie,

'Darling, only girls who are boring and hopeless and have no chance at a better life go to law school.'

 

Overall, Legally Blonde does well to acknowledge the potential for self-fulfillment and turning your back on what people think you should be to instead become someone that you want to be. It's an important message for girls of the modern time, where they are becoming increasingly sexualised and itemised.