Legally Blonde: Film Synopsis

849 Words2 Pages

Legally Blonde is arguably the most feminist icon in this century. The film is filled with feminist ideas beyond its time. Elle Woods, the main character is the president of Delta Nu at California University Los Angeles. She is a happy, go lucky, bleach blonde Barbie girl who is as powerful as she is beautiful. With her pink high heels and her Clinique “happy” perfume, she sounds like your typical 2000’s sorority woman, but she is anything but that. This film uses Elle to show the trials and tribulations that women go through every single day. Elle deals with those issues unapologetically with femininity and quick wit. This timeless film is a perfect example of a feminist work due to its feminist ideas, suffragette views and it's breaking of stereotypes. …show more content…

The envelope, with “Elle” written on it with glitter glue, is passed around the sorority house. Each girl, whether they are exercising, cheering or brushing their teeth are signing the letter for Elle. It soon is delivered to Elle and slipped under her door. Her dog Bruster puts it in his mouth and gives it to her. She may fit the role of a woman very well, but she has “masculine” traits also, like having a dog. She doesn’t act like a “lady.” She is unapologetically emotional, shown in the next scene and we’re later shown that she says whatever is on her mind also. The letter in Bruster’s mouth wishes her good luck for her date that night with her long time boyfriend, Warner. All of the ladies of Delta Nu are convinced their president is going to be proposed to. It seems they are excited as Elle is. Society likes to portray sororities as stuck up, catty girls who only care about their looks and themselves. This scene defies that stereotype. The women supporting Elle and being happy for her shows that women are capable of support for other women, a basic feminist

Show More
Related

  • Feminist Criticism In Merna Summers's The Skating Party

    478 Words  | 1 Pages

    A feminist lens analyzes how the female characters and their experiences are presented and explained in comparison to male characters (Lincoln School Providence). Merna Summers’ “The Skating Party” develops and demonstrates feminist themes in the ways in which the characters’ experiences, expectations, and lives are represented. Applying feminist critique unravels and deconstructs perceptions that shape and normalize the experiences of women in Willow Bunch while demonstrating the objectification and submission, standards of beauty, and ownership and empowerment that occur within the story.

    Read More

  • College Sororities: Rebuttal of Evan Wright’s Article, Sister Act

    1180 Words  | 3 Pages

    Walking around a university’s campus any day of the week, one sees an array of Greek letters worn proudly by young men and women in the Greek system. Fraternities and sororities play a big part in a university. The Greek system can also be an easy target to direct criticism. There are those who oppose the Greek system and those who embrace it. Evan Wright opposes the Greek system in his article “Sister Act” that was featured in Rolling Stone Magazine. He uses examples from students at Ohio State University in Columbus to show his disapproval of the way sororities are now days. He portrays sorority girls as catty conformists who are obsessed with partying with fraternity guys. Evan Wright’s insubstantial claim is full of half-truths in reference to alcohol consumption, conformity, and the purpose of sororities; therefore, his critical position that sororities are corrupt is not credible.

    Read More

  • Ethos, Logos And Pathos In 12 Angry Men

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Legally Blonde (2001), directed by Robert Luketic, Elle Woods, played by Reese Witherspoon, submits an acceptance video and is trying to persuade the Harvard Law committee to accept her into the college law program. Elle is successful in persuading the committee, however there is some resistance after the watching the admissions video. The committee is still hung on whether to admit her. The checker her score on LSAT exam and see her other experiences. Eventually, the committee agrees to accept her in the program. Elle Woods was successful in showing what she can do by building credibility by using other sources to prove she was truthful, intelligent, and

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in Screwball Comedy Films

    4993 Words  | 10 Pages

    Led by Laura Mulvey, feminist film critics have discussed the difficulty presented to female spectators by the controlling male gaze and narrative generally found in mainstream film, creating for female spectators a position that forces them into limited choices: "bisexual" identification with active male characters; identification with the passive, often victimized, female characters; or on occasion, identification with a "masculinized" active female character, who is generally punished for her unhealthy behavior. Before discussing recent improvements, it is important to note that a group of Classic Hollywood films regularly offered female spectators positive, female characters who were active in controlling narrative, gazing and desiring: the screwball comedy.

    Read More

  • Masculinity In Bound

    1619 Words  | 4 Pages

    In 1996, the Wachowskis wrote and directed the noir crime thriller, Bound. In this film, the directors turned some of the archetypes of film noir on its head. Most notably, the role of women in film. Film theorist, Laura Mulvey, claims that the main role of women in film is to function as a source of pleasure, to be objectified, to be passive and at the command of male fantasy. This relationship of looking and being looked at causes each gender to have a particular presence within film; the male is active and the female is passive (Mulvey, 1975). However, in Bound, the character Violet, who is obviously objectified by the gaze of the male characters, does not hold a passive role within the film itself. Violet is a force that acts upon the narrative, manipulating events and scenes to her favor, along with actively controlling male gaze and using it to her advantage. Film theorist, Tania Modleski argues that there are passive and active roles within films that have connotations with “femininity” and “masculinity”, but these roles do not have to apply to the gender or outward appearance of characters that they align with. Modleski focuses more on the actions, not the outward appearances, of the film

    Read More

  • Miss Representation Summary

    1350 Words  | 3 Pages

    These movies allowed female characters to embody all the contradictions that could make them a woman. They were portrayed as the “femme fatale” and also “mother,” the “seductress” and at the same time the “saint,” (Newsom, 2011). Female characters were multi-faceted during this time and had much more complexity and interesting qualities than in the movies we watch today. Today, only 16% of protagonists in movies are female, and the portrayal of these women is one of sexualization and dependence rather than complexity (Newsom, 2011).

    Read More

  • Aymar Jean Christian's The End Of Post-Identity Television, And Christianity

    1088 Words  | 3 Pages

    Media outlets during the post-identity era would depict women in the workplace but did not underline any of the issues they faced in corporate America such as doubt and sexual harassment. In a scene from “Legally Blonde” Elle is having a discussion with Warner on how much harder law school will be when she’s taking on both classes and Callahan’s (her professors) internship to which he exclaims, “Oh, Elle, you’re never gonna get the grades to qualify for one of those spots.” Warner believes that woman can not posses such feminine qualities and still be successful which illustrates Elle’s struggle to be taken seriously in corporate America. Her character is combating the image of feminine women not being able to excel in such a respectable career fields (lawyer). In another incident Elle deals with a common issue “feminine” women deal with in the workplace, sexual harassment. She encounters this problem when her professor, Callahan, attempts to make a sexual proposition toward her so she can guarantee a spot on next year 's summer internship. Elle is completely taken aback by Callahan 's offer and handles it in a realistic way when she becomes so uncomfortable and discouraged that she contemplates quitting law school. These two scenes demonstrate how women are not exposed to the same working environment as men and the negative effect

    Read More

  • Bridesmaids Film Analysis

    1351 Words  | 3 Pages

    When observing television shows and movies, many stereotypes of women commonly exist such as a mother, a dutiful wife or a sex object. Many of these movies and television shows display women as prize for men to compete for by generalizing their abilities and feelings. While it is typical for a woman to play a lead role in a romance film with some sort of fairy-tale ending, Bridesmaids defies the typical by portraying women as main characters in a comedy. Bridesmaids, the movie, focuses in on the struggling life of the maid of honor, Annie, who is competing with another bridesmaid, Helen, for attention from the soon to be bride, Lillian. Annie’s life happens to also be spiraling out of control after losing bother her jobs as a baker and a jewelry

    Read More

  • Paris is Burning

    1221 Words  | 3 Pages

    By dissecting the film, the director, Jennie Livingston's methodology and the audience's perceived response I believe we can easily ignore a different and more positive way of understanding the film despite the many flaws easy for feminist minds to criticize. This is in no way saying that these critiques are not valid, or that it is not beneficial to look at works of any form through the many and various feminist lenses.

    Read More

  • Reservoir Dogs

    609 Words  | 2 Pages

    "I don't give a fuck what you know or don't know, but I'm gonna torture you anyway, regardless. Not to get information. It's so amusing for me to torture a cop. All you can do is pray for a quick death, which you aint gonna get."

    Read More

  • Reservoir Dogs

    679 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gangsters, violence, murder and corruption !!!!! If these are some of the things that you're into, then this is your kind of movie. Be ready to watch it more than once to be sure to get all the movie has to offer because it jumps from subject to subject and can be a little confusing.

    Read More

  • Film Analysis about Women in the Movie Pretty Woman

    1202 Words  | 3 Pages

    Pretty Woman, 1990s Hollywood movie, embodies many new as well as old values and ideologies. I was surprised when I saw that, the old themes and sexual stereotypes are not completely abandoned, but the old portrayals of gender stereotypes are transmuted.

    Read More

  • Mean Girls Sociology

    966 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gender inequality is a matter that deals with unequal treatment which revolves around feminism and intersectionality, both of which focus on analyzing gender disparity. The movie ‘Mean Girls’ highlights the notions that constructs female antagonism as deviant. Mean Girls was a high budget teen comedy film, written by Tina Fey, released in 2004. It has been known to be relished thoroughly by the adult set as well as its apparent target audience, teens. The movie centers on a protagonist Cady, who has been homeschooled in Africa all her life and is completely new to the social structure of high school. She moves to Chicago, Illinois, where she first sets foot on the ground of North Shore High School. Two students, Damian and Janis ally with her, but when the Plastics, the most popular girls in the school, contend for her attention, she is sent in as an infiltrator by Janis to scout the Plastics and weaken Queen Bee Regina George’s unkind supremacy. As Cady gradually tries to undertake her objective, she winds up becoming a Mean Girl herself, brushing off her friends, and continuing her life under the influence of the plastic lifestyle. Considering that the movie is female dominant and plunges into issues like resentment, envy and body image ideals, many people acknowledge Mean Girls as a feminist movie.

    Read More

  • Feminism In The World According To Garp

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the movie, Jenny Field represents for a new and open-minded generation of women. Her characteristics fit perfectly in the idea of

    Read More

  • The Impact Of Sexualization And Objectification Of Women In Society

    1471 Words  | 3 Pages

    Also, the film revealed women empowerment and how superior they can be compared to men. While demonstrating sexual objectification, empowerment, there was also sexual exploitation of the women, shown through the film. Throughout this essay, gender based issues that were associated with the film character will be demonstrated while connecting to the real world and popular culture.

    Read More

More about Legally Blonde: Film Synopsis

Open Document