Unless you lived under a rock for the entirety of the noughties, you’ll know that Legally Blonde is a chick flick that was released in November 2001. It was directed by Robert Luketic and is based on a novel written by Amanda Brown. The story goes that Elle Woods (played by the iconic Reece Witherspoon) wants nothing more than to be Mrs Warner Huntington III, but she is labelled by him as being ’too blonde’. Elle then rallies all of her gal pals and resources to wrangle herself a place at Harvard Law School, in the hope of winning him back.
As a disclaimer, I love this film and have watched it more times than I care to admit. But is this empowering film really as feminist as it looks on the surface? The women in Legally Blonde are shown to be only interested in fashion, make-up and male partners unless they are ‘boring, ugly and serious’ and then, in that case, they can pursue a ‘male career’. Women are seen as unable and unlikely to get into serious careers if they also have an interest in their own appearance. Can women not be simultaneously attractive and ambitious?In one scene, Elle’s parents don’t fully support her decision to go into a job field that is primarily male as it’s ‘boring, ugly and serious’ which is unlike her. They don’t believe she should have to go out into the world and strive for intelligence. This shows gender stereotyping of jobs and women having to fight for the same education quality as men. It also promotes that Elle is only going through with education in law to win the attention of a man. Her prior qualification is that she got a 4.0 in Fashion Merchandising which can be seen as a ‘girly’ degree major and bears little importance and relevance to what would be considered a ‘serious career’. I’m sure none of us ladies in 2019 are going through university for a man's approval, and besides, the fashion industry is a prestigious job sector to work in.
In her college video application, Elle is in swimwear being very girly and overly sexualised. She mentions a ‘very important issue’ which is then revealed to be switching the brand of toilet paper in her sorority. She claims that she ‘pays attention to important details’ which is then revealed to be what happened on the programme ‘Days of Our Lives’. She shouts ‘I Object’ to wolf-whistling and street harassment which is seen to be a normal daily occurrence for her. This shows a gender norm of women being sexually harassed as a standard part of day to day life. It also implies that, to women, ‘important’ parts of life are not really important at all. ‘Sexualisation is the standard for female characters globally: girls and women are twice as likely as boys and men to be shown in sexually revealing clothing, partially or fully naked, thin, and five times as likely to be referenced as attractive.’ (UN Women, 2014).
However, the main point of the film is that she ends up with a law degree in the end which I’d say gives the feminist nature of the film a leg to stand on. It doesn’t take a genius to notice that law is a male-dominated profession. ‘Over a third of the partners in mid-size firms are female (37%) and this has grown from 31% in 2014.’ (Sra.org.uk, 2017). This can be seen when Elle’s ex-boyfriend says she’s ‘Never going to get the grades to qualify for one of those spots’ and ‘You’re not smart enough sweetie’. This is patronising and shows society’s opinion on women attempting to get an education that competes with men. Elle raises the point that she got into the same law school and took the same LSATS and classes, but her ex still argues for her to ‘Be serious, you can do something more valuable with your time’.Legally Blonde wins points for the feminist movement when Elle gets into law school, when she graduates with her law degree and DOESN’T go back to her ex, but instead finds a loving boyfriend, and when she befriends the girl who was mean to her at first (thumbs up for the sister solidarity). She also overcomes sexual harassment from her mentor and is honoured as valedictorian.
However, minus points for the feminist movement when Elle goes to get a law degree because a man said she should, and for all of Elle’s friends being portrayed as stupid for only being interested in fashion and make-up. It’s also worth noting that Elle Woods doesn’t acknowledge her privilege as a white, middle-class woman. It’s not just luck that she had all the resources she needed to get into law school. The film leaves out intersectionality for women who wouldn’t even get the opportunity to go to Harvard Law School due to lack of economic and educational capital. There is no representation of the struggles women of colour and lower classes face when trying to acquire a high-quality education.
Therefore, after all of this, can we still label Legally Blonde as a feminist film in 2019? I’d argue that the premise is very girl power heavy but the execution of Elle’s success could only ever happen and apply to a certain category of women.
Bibliography
Sra.org.uk. (2017). How diverse are law firms?. [online] Available at:
http://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/diversity-toolkit/diverse-law-firms.page
UN Women. (2014). Geena Davis study press release. [online] Available at:
http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2014/9/geena-davis-study-press-release
http://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/diversity-toolkit/diverse-law-firms.page
UN Women. (2014). Geena Davis study press release. [online] Available at:
http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2014/9/geena-davis-study-press-release
