Blog 2
Amanda Bennett
BLOG 2
Prompt 1: I am going to analyze the movie Legally Blonde starring Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods, a popular girly girl. This movie shows gender representation in a couple different ways but is mostly showing us that anybody can follow their dreams and be successful no matter what gets in the way or who doubts you. The reason I chose this movie to write about is because it inspired me and other women all over.
Prompt 2:
- Who created this message?
This movie is actually based off of the book “Legally Blonde” which was written by Amanda Brown but the movie was directed by Robert Luketic and scripted by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kristen Smith. This message was inspired by the male gaze that takes place in almost every movie where the girl needs to get a man to feel successful at anything and the men being the strong successful ones in the relationship and in general.
2. What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?
One thing that really catches my attention is how they start the movie off with Elle being a popular girl who is the president of her sorority and kind of shown as being a “dumb blonde”. She is shown wanting the perfect boyfriend and believing that she can only be happy with the rich smart handsome man. Another thing that attracted my attention was that she only wanted to go to law school to show her boyfriend that she could get in, but once she gets there she develops an interest in the law and starts to enjoy it and it makes her work so much harder. Because she enjoys learning and using her brain to solve problems, she ends up doing really well and shes now doing it for herself.
3. How might different people understand the message differently than me?
I think that there can be a few ways that people could understand the message. One being that women need to focus on themselves and not worrying about getting a perfect happy ending with a perfect man, but to make yourself successful. Also, some people could see this as not being realistic with the fact that she can spend all of her father’s money on going away to law school because most people don’t have the luxury of all that money.
4. What values, lifestyles and points of view are represented in, or omitted from this message?
In the beginning of the movie, Elle’s values consists of looking pretty, having a lot of friends and impressing the perfect man. Soon after, her values change and now what she is striving for is to be successful and show her ex-boyfriend that she can do anything she wants to because he did not think that she was serious enough.
5. Why is this message being sent?
This message is being sent because of the stereotypes today. Most people know that in movies and real life, that the woman is supposed to be soft, gentle and nurturing and the men are supposed to go out and make all of the money themselves but in this movie, we are shown a good side and that women can be just as successful as men.
Hello Amanda,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! This was one of my favorite movies growing up because I thought it sent out a great message in the end. In the beginning of this movie, a very stereotypical view of blondes is portrayed as having just looks but no brains. But throughout the movie, it shows how hard she works to achieve her dream career and otherwise prove herself not to be a "dumb blonde" that society generalizes her as. I think the movie shares not only a strong message to blonde girls in particular but young girls in general that they are capable of achieving any career in life and become successful without relying on a man.
hi amanda,
ReplyDeleteI really like how you chose legally blonde to represent the girly girl stereotypes. I would have to agree with you on how Elle character represents the "dumb blonde" and find it very harsh. To add on, the message goes good with gender representation because of how it shows there is competition with the opposite gender. It also shows good perserverence on behalf of women because movies usually have a strong male lead and this one has a strong female lead. It shows how women work just as hard as men.
Hey Amanda! this is a great example of girls having a stereotype just becuase they have a certain hair color, body, or even certain look to them. i use to love this movie when i was little. It was so funny to me until i relaize how the movie potrays blonde girls and how they think they are just dumb. This was a really good blog and great job at explaining it!
ReplyDeleteHiya Amanda! I like that you chose Legally Blonde for this blog, the analysis was well done. The movie does an amazing job at deflective the "dumb blonde" stereotype. Elle's character development throughout the movie was very realistic; in the beginning she did tick off all the characteristics of the blonde stereotype but, her development at the end wasn't completely antithetical to the way she was in the beginning of the movie. I like how the writers chose to keep the essence of her initial character and mesh her ability to express intelligence with it. They didn't make it out to say that you could only be one or the other but that you could be both.
ReplyDeleteyo amanda,
ReplyDeleteLegally blonde is a great film to analyze for a cultural artifact that defies gender stereotypes. Elle's character did indeed fill out the dumb girly girl blonde stereotype but defied it by going to law school and becoming a lawyer. It shows that women can achieve the same goals as men while also having the characteristics of being a woman. This was a great choice for cultural artifact and a perfect example of defying gender norms.