I love this film so much. It's one of my unabashed sources of joy and inspiration. All too often films intended to be 'chick flicks' have an ugly duckling suddenly discovering she is beautiful, and society cheers. We validate external appearance as the high of a young girl's life: Cinderella at the ball, or the young bride at her most ravishing. The personality is wiped in this Disneyfication, and, for me, Legally Blonde turned that trope on it's head: here is Cinderella not only discovering she is smart and capable, but going for something in a traditionally masculine environment and triumphing. She slays her own dragon and fights her own battles.
The oter thing I love is how unashamedly it celebrates female friendships. Elle's important relationships aren't with the men, but the women around her - it might be Warner's loss that prompts her to apply to Harvard, but it's her sorority sisters who help her get there. Even in law school, the defining relationship with her teacher turns out not to be with Professor Callahan, but with a female mentor - in that most traditionally feminine of places, the salon.
Finally, being very femme myself, it was refreshing to see a portrayal of someone who loves her shoes and her nail lacquer, and who still manages to be amazingly smart and amazingly warm.
(Also, I recently saw the musical at the Savoy and I have to say, I heartily approved of the down-playing of Elle's Harvard male relationships, and an increased emphasis on the female ones... So much so that I was wondering if the requisite 'couple' ending was actually going to happen!)
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2010-04-14 09:16 pm (UTC)I love this film so much. It's one of my unabashed sources of joy and inspiration. All too often films intended to be 'chick flicks' have an ugly duckling suddenly discovering she is beautiful, and society cheers. We validate external appearance as the high of a young girl's life: Cinderella at the ball, or the young bride at her most ravishing. The personality is wiped in this Disneyfication, and, for me, Legally Blonde turned that trope on it's head: here is Cinderella not only discovering she is smart and capable, but going for something in a traditionally masculine environment and triumphing. She slays her own dragon and fights her own battles.
The oter thing I love is how unashamedly it celebrates female friendships. Elle's important relationships aren't with the men, but the women around her - it might be Warner's loss that prompts her to apply to Harvard, but it's her sorority sisters who help her get there. Even in law school, the defining relationship with her teacher turns out not to be with Professor Callahan, but with a female mentor - in that most traditionally feminine of places, the salon.
Finally, being very femme myself, it was refreshing to see a portrayal of someone who loves her shoes and her nail lacquer, and who still manages to be amazingly smart and amazingly warm.
(Also, I recently saw the musical at the Savoy and I have to say, I heartily approved of the down-playing of Elle's Harvard male relationships, and an increased emphasis on the female ones... So much so that I was wondering if the requisite 'couple' ending was actually going to happen!)