In the movie Legally Blonde directed by Robert Luketic, there is a great deal of body and sexuality influence. The opening scene of the movie takes the audience through an obviously wealthy school's "Greek Row". There are stereotypical frat boys wrestling on front lawns and cat whistling at skinny, tan, blonde, nicely dressed sorority girls. Not even 5 minutes into the movie there are obvious stereo types being made and are seen throughout the movie; the typical frat guys and sorority girls, lesbian, and class nerd who needs assistance with finding a girlfriend. The movie is about Elle Woods, a young, beautiful, blonde girl who lives off of daddy's money and is very involved in her schools sorority. After her boyfriend breaks up with her for being "too blonde" (Luketic Scene 3), she decides to win him back by following him to Harvard law school by showing him that she can be a "Jackie, not a Marilyn". While some of the messages in the movie would be ideal messages to spread to young people, these messages are lost in the sea of stereotypes, sexuality, popularity and misconstrued ideas of romance.
The two intersecting forms of oppression represented in this movie are those of beauty and smarts. It is a battle throughout the entire movie, however despite all the shallow dialogue on the contradictory ideas of being pretty and smart, the idea is somewhat put to rest at the end of the movie, when the beautiful Elle Woods graduates from Harvard law after realizing she can graduate for herself, not for her no good, shallow ex boyfriend. According to the text, Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives, "oppression works through systems of power and inequality, as well as the dominance of certain values, beliefs, and assumptions about people and how society should be organized" (15).The oppression of beauty and intelligence is a big contradictory issue seen throughout the entire movie. The scene that represents the intersecting forms of oppression the most is when Warner, Elle's boyfriend is breaking up with her. He expresses to her that "If I want to be a Senator by the time I am thirty, I need to marry a Jackie, not a Marilyn" (Luketic scene 3). In this Warner is saying that he can not settle down with someone beautiful and free spirited like Elle, he needs someone serious, plain and smart. Does it not even occur to him that maybe a woman could be both beautiful and smart?
Sexuality in this movie is depicted mainly through Elle and her sorority sisters, they are all skinny, wealthy, pretty and brightly dressed. A big contrast to Warner's new girl friend, Vivian, who is skinny, but very plain looking and who's wardrobe consists of mostly dark colors. It is this subtle but obvious contrast that delivers a misconstrued message to young viewers. Elle's dad even says "Oh, sweetheart, you don't need law school. Law school is for people who are boring and ugly and serious. And you, button, are none of those things" (Luketic scene 5). Smart people get into Harvard, not pretty people, at least not without creating a admittance video consisting of the beautiful applicant in a bathing suit, skimpy outfits and using her sexuality to convince the University's committee. "As sex objects, women are commonly portrayed as child-like or doll-like playthings" (Kirk and Okazawa 150). This is exactly what is seen in Elle, the main character. She is always perfect, pink and pampering herself. She is even at one point referred to as a barbie doll in the movie. The fact that she is constantly using her body and sexuality to get what she wants is not a message that we want to give to young women.
By the end of the movie Elle has ditched Warner and is graduating at the top of her class. The fact that she studied and graduated for herself and has become a strong independent woman who does not need a man by her side is one of the good messages that was buried underneath the stereotypes and blatant sexuality. The overall movie appeals to young girls with its bright colors, witty humor and attractive actors and actress'. While there are messages that are not ideal for our youth, there are some that can be taken as a good outlook to have.
Works Cited
Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. Print.
Legally Blonde. Dir.Robert Luketic Perf. Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, and Selma Blair. DVD. MGM,
2001.
I've always liked this movie, even though it's very over the top. I agree that the stereotypes presented in this film can overshadow the important messages shown in the film; women can be smart and beautiful, and don't need men to be successful. I think that if Hollywood could start making movies with stronger images of women that don't have romance on the mind, young girls might start looking at themselves and their interests in a different light.
I've always liked this movie, even though it's very over the top. I agree that the stereotypes presented in this film can overshadow the important messages shown in the film; women can be smart and beautiful, and don't need men to be successful. I think that if Hollywood could start making movies with stronger images of women that don't have romance on the mind, young girls might start looking at themselves and their interests in a different light.
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