"All people see when they look at me is blond hair and big boobs.”
Legally Blonde is about a pernicious form of discrimination
in our society: anti-blonde bias.
“There’s nothing I love more than a dumb blonde with daddy’s plastic."
While the movie’s use of the term “prejudice” in relation to blondes
is a little flippant,
"You know until this day I had held the highest opinion
of redheads as a fellow hair minority group."
It’s interesting to look more deeply at why a woman like Elle Woods
might face contempt just for looking the way she does.
"Did you see the icky brown color of her hair?"
"So?
Now you discriminate against brunettes?"
"Why shouldn't I?
I'm discriminated against as a blonde."
So let’s dig into the cultural origins of the assumptions Elle battles,
to find what’s behind the Blonde Stereotypes.
"I don’t have to work I just have jiggle cause I'm a blonde, blonde,
Cause I’m a blonde don’t you wish you were me?”
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Where does the idea of the “dumb blonde” come from?
"What's the big idea, am I dumb or something?"
The first known dumb blonde in entertainment can be found
in an 18th-century French play called Les Curiosités de la Foire.
The character was inspired by French courtesan Rosalie Duthé,
who was widely believed to be both beautiful and dumb.
She didn’t even talk much, so the literal sense of the word “dumb”
also applied.
Most of our modern day perceptions of Blondes, though, come from Hollywood.
“Is it true blondes have more fun?”
“Why not be a blonde and see?
A lady clairol blonde."
“Besides, blondes do have more fun."
When Jean Harlow came on the scene as the star of “Platinum Blonde” in 1931
"As a special favor to me you won't print that story, will you?"
"You know something lady, if you sold life insurance
I'd go for a policy in sixty seconds."
Followed by “Bombshell” in 1933,
"Mm that smells good, I just love baked potatoes, don’t you?"
She popularized the “bleach blonde” hairstyle, and helped birth
the persona of the “blonde bombshell” a woman with pure, primal sex appeal,
uncomplicated by very many thoughts.
“I was reading a book the other day."
"Reading a book?"
Sexy blondes went on to dominate Hollywood in the 40s and 50s,
“I’m terribly sorry to bother you but I forgot the key to my front door
so I had to ring your bell, I feel so silly.”
“It’s perfectly alright."
Annette Kuhn’s “The Women’s Companion to International Film” identifies
three key “blonde stereotypes” that eventually emerged in film:
One, the “ice-cold blonde” think Hitchcock Blondes
like Grace Kelly and Kim Novak.
"Too-blonde hair always looks like a woman's tryin' to attract the man."
Two, the “blonde bombshell,"
"You can come closer, I don't bite."
Three, And “the dumb blonde”
"What's the matter with you anyways?"
"I'm not very bright I guess.
Just dumb, if I had any brains
I wouldn't be on this crummy train with this crummy girl's bags."
These types are distinct, but they’re also connected,
All three turn the blonde into an object who is at once idolized and seen
as less-than-human.
"My legs look so terrible without stockings."
As Kunn notes, the mysterious ice-cold blonde is typically hiding
something under her innocent veneer.
So there’s a sense that the blonde is not to be trusted,
“Oh you’re that type.”
“What type?”
“Honest.”
“Not really."
The Blonde Bombshell, whose sexuality, Kuhn writes is
“is explosive and available to men, though often at a price”
Turns the blonde into a raw inhuman creature.
"Wouldn't you be a good wife?"
"I like to have fun too much."
"Anyone as pretty as you would."
And a prize to be bought.
"Don't you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty?
You might not marry a girl just because she's pretty.
But, my goodness, doesn't it help?"
And the Dumb Blonde shares the bombshell’s animal sexuality,
matched with an exaggerated denseness which is often carefully cultivated
to appeal to men.
"I can be smart when it's important, but most men don't like it."
Many classic Hollywood actresses who played the dumb blonde,
like Jayne Mansfield and most famously Marilyn Monroe, were in fact very smart.
And more recent incarnations of the trope like Pamela Anderson,
Jenny McCarthy, Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson,
who have all channeled this persona in a mix of fictional or semi-fictional
and supposedly “real” performances of themselves,
"Is this chicken what I have or is this fish?
I know it's tuna
but it says chicken."
"What is Walmart?
Is it like, they sell wall stuff?"
Are making a calculated decision that suggests a savvy marketing brain.
“I think that just for doing that show for so long I was playing this character
as an airhead for five years on TV that people assume that's how I am
in real life, but I wouldn't have got this far being a dumb blonde."
Even as blonde jokes became a staple in our culture,
"What's the first thing a blonde does in the morning?
Goes home."
Numerous cultural creators since the 1950s have cleverly satirized,
questioned or inverted tired blonde stereotypes.
"Here you thought I was just another bubble-headed blonde bimbo!
Well the joke's on you, I'm not even a real blonde!"
Madonna claimed blonde sexuality as an empowering force through
her Blonde Ambition tour, and she celebrated
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in the video for Material Girl.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer subverted the image of the popular, blonde,
cheerleader, by giving her the after-school activity
of saving the world from the undead.
“Spell it out for me, I feel an attack of dumb blonde coming on."
Arrested Development poked fun at the vacant blonde
through a Charlize Theron character who’s actually mentally handicapped,
but this goes unnoticed because the people she meets
are so primed to see her simple mind as part of her blonde charm.
"Instead of making houses maybe you should make land.
On the ocean."
"You're brilliant."
"Yeah, she wasn't."
Within this body of revisionist Blonde culture, Legally Blonde
is perhaps one of the best and most coherent takedowns
of the anti-blonde tradition.
"Elle, how did you know that Chutney was lying?"
"Because she's brilliant of course."
The movie could reasonably be titled “Revenge of the Dumb Blonde.”
"I change my mind.
I pick the dangerous one,
because I'm not afraid of a challenge."
Culturally, Elle also represents a more particular version
of the dumb blonde trope, the 80s and 90s “Valley Girl.”
"Like Oh my God!
Like totally!"
Like another underestimated blonde, Cher from Clueless,
"So I figure these grades are just a jumping off point
to start negotiations."
Elle is a response to cultural contempt for Valley Girls,
and that’s brought out in the movie’s emphasis on how
East Coasters look down on this California Casual personality.
"Well east coast people are different."
“The people here are so vile, hardly anyone speaks to me."
And its choice to make the initial villain a Connecticut WASP,
"Warner told me all about you, you’re famous at our club."
Valley-Girl-esque blondes were criticized for their superficiality
and love of shopping.
“I love that restaurant, I heard Madonna went into labor there.
Oh my gosh I have to go shopping.”
"Spa, isn't that kind of like your mothership?"
They were perceived as empty and braindead.
"You think that's all I do, I'm just a ditz with a credit card?"
But Elle and Cher reveal that resentment for their kind
betrayed a deeper disrespect for teen girls and a cultural movement
to belittle them.
“I think that I remember Hamlet accurately.”
“Well, I remember Mel Gibson accurately, and he didn't say that.
That Polonius guy did."
Long before the Blonde came to Hollywood, blonde stereotypes
have been around in some form for so long that their roots
can be nebulous to trace.
According to Victoria Sherrow’s Encyclopedia of Hair,
there are historical precedents linking blondeness to promiscuity.
In the Roman Empire, prostitutes frequently wore blonde wigs
or had dyed blonde hair.
She writes that, up through the 1300s in Europe,
people saw blonde hair as provocative, and that artists have often painted
sinning seductress Eve as a blonde, and the Virgin Mary as a brunette.
Sherrow also gives some broad reasons why blonde hair may have historically
been considered attractive in European culture.
Coming from recessive genes, it’s less common than brown hair
and therefore became more sought-after.
It evokes gold and light, both classic objects of desire.
And it’s linked to youth, which is to this day prized in women
as a signifier of fertility.
On the subject of youth, TV Tropes even writes that the idea
that blondes are less smart could come from, quote,
“The fact that some Caucasian children have blond hair that darkens as they
grow older and hopefully, wiser.”
A key point that comes through in all these wide-ranging explanations
is that there’s a longstanding perceived connection between
blond hair and attractiveness.
So, really, the negative narratives about blondes are negative propaganda
about attractive people.
But why is our culture concerned with tearing down pretty women?
"We have Bethany Whisper in our locker room.
Oh boy, uh, I guess they do airbrush out the tattoo don't they?"
To answer this question, we need look no further
Than our culture’s favorite recurring rivalry:
the blonde vs. the brunette.
Examples abound, from Archie Comics’ Betty and Veronica,
"A blonde girl, a raven haired girl, and the luckiest red headed boy
in the universe."
To classic TV shows like Three’s Company,
"You know I've always been partial to blondes."
"That's nice."
Dynasty, 90210,
"Which do you think guys like best on girls, long or short hair?"
"Hmm, that's a deep question.
Personally, I prefer blondes."
"Really?"
And Dawson’s Creek,
"Do you like the blonde or do you like the brunette?"
To more modern incarnations in The Office, Suits,
"Blonde or brunette?"
Or Dexter, or Gossip Girl
“Here for another catfight?"
In Legally Blonde, the battle waged by Elle and Vivian exemplifies
this Blonde/Brunette dichotomy,
which Warner frames as a Marilyn Monroe vs. Jackie Kennedy situation.
"If I’m going to be a senator Well I need to marry a Jackie,
not a Marilyn.”
This exercise of lumping women into two categories along these lines
is incredibly common in our culture.
"Jackie Kennedy, and Marilyn Monroe.
Every single woman is one of them.
Watch this.
Jackie, Marilyn."
Sometimes the blonde is more down-to-earth,
"Of course I love you Betty.
But I can't give you
the answer you want."
While the brunette is more exotic,
"My mom and I just moved here, so."
"From where?"
"New York."
"Wow."
While in Warner’s Marilyn/Jackie dichotomy, the blonde is sexy and fun
"Do you remember when we spent those 4 amazing hours in the hot tub
after winter formal?"
"- Yes - no]",
while the brunette is smart and serious.
"Do you think it's acceptable that Ms. Woods is not prepared?"
"No."
Crucially, more often than not, the reason the blonde and brunette
are at odds is that they’re fighting over a man.
At first Elle and Vivan buy into this whole blonde-brunette narrative, too,
and fittingly, they see themselves as competitors for a guy.
In reality, though, their feud isn’t about Warner himself,
it’s all about the ring.
"She’s got the 6 carat Harry Winston on her bony unpolished finger."
Vivian flaunts the ring in front of Elle.
"I’m his fiancee."
And Elle stares at, motivated to rise to the challenge.
This emphasis on the ring underlines that these women
aren’t acting out of love, they’re chasing the prize
that their culture has told them represents the heights
of their womanly ambition.
In the end, both women realize they’re not each other’s enemies
or opposites.
"I still can't believe you didn't tell Callahan the alibi."
"It's not my alibi to tell."
"I know.
And I thought that was very classy of you."
They’re more alike than they are different,
and they’re both out of Warner’s league.
"You are the girl for me."
"I’ve waited so long to hear you say that.
But if I’m gonna be a partner in a law firm by the time I’m 30
I need a partner who’s not such a complete bonehead."
It’s no accident that they were made to think they had to tear each other down.
As long as exceptional women believe their ultimate purpose is to bag a guy
like Warner, this keeps the Warners on top, and all women down.
"Do you ever notice how Callahan never asks Warner to bring him
his coffee, I mean he's asked me at least ten times."
And that brings us to an important point that Legally Blonde reveals,
that blonde stereotypes, and the blonde-brunette rivalry,
are fundamentally forms of sexism.
Refinery 29 wrote, quote,
“The dumb blonde trope has morphed into the 'beauty and brains' dichotomy.”
"Rachel you are a beautiful women, and you can do whatever you want."
"Beautiful, not smart."
And at its core, the blonde versus brunette rivalry externalizes
this competition between beauty and brains.
"And they say you can't be pretty and smart."
The false narrative that a woman must have only beauty or only brains
is a tactic to limit her potential, pigeonholing her into only one avenue
of power.
One of the key episodes in the movie is when Elle’s professor Callahan
makes a pass at her.
"I'm a man who knows what he wants."
"And I'm a law student who just realized her professor is a pathetic asshole."
This event uncharacteristically does make Elle doubt herself.
“Turns out I am a joke."
To the point that she almost gives up on law school altogether.
“No more trying to be something that I'm just-- I'm just not."
Why does this one instance of yet another sleazy guy so get to her,
when she brushes off other attacks that, at first glance, seem just as hurtful?
"Thanks for inviting me girls, this party is super fun."
Right before Callahan hits on Elle, he delivers a speech complimenting
her on her performance in the internship.
She finally feels that her mind and hard work are being validated.
"You gained the client's trust and kept it, that's what makes
a great lawyer."
But after he reveals his sexual agenda
"You're a beautiful girl."
"So everything you just said.."
All his words ring false.
"Callahan never saw me as a lawyer he just saw me like a piece of ass
just like everybody else."
She’s hurt because she’s trusted this person in a position of power
to evaluate her inner worth as a budding lawyer,
yet he reduces her to a purely sexual identity, just as so many
before him have dismissed her.
So if this symbol of authority, of “making it” as a lawyer,
is just as bad as the rest of them, then what’s the point of even trying
to prove herself, in a world that just can’t see
what’s most valuable within her?
“No one's ever gonna take me seriously."
Elle finds, that no matter how many credentials she earns, though,
"Wait, am I on glue or did we not get into the same law school Warner?"
Elle finds she’s still dismissed due to her blonde-ness.
"You’re not smart enough sweetie."
"I’m never gonna be good enough for you am I?"
“I will not be outmaneuvered by this silly little blonde.”
Legally Blonde isn’t the story of Elle realizing her own worth,
it’s the story of the rest of her society catching up
and coming around to seeing what she already knows.
“I’ll show you how valuable Elle Woods can be.”
Ironically, star Reese Witherspoon has said she’s faced the same sort
of typecasting in her acting career, being told she wasn’t smart enough
and couldn’t handle more complex roles due to her “blondeness”
and due to the perception that she plays “likable” characters,
Elle Woods being a prime example.
"We don't like to see Reese curse, we don't like to see Reese do anything,
she's likable, she would never have sex with a married man
or anything like that.
In a, in a course of storytelling it always cuts your character down
to nothing."
Legally Blonde reminds us that, whether you’re a blonde
or any other kind of person, being crippled by others’
kneejerk assumptions about you takes a real toll.
So if there’s any lasting lesson Elle Woods can teach society
it’s that it’s time, once and for all, to stop judging each other by our covers
or our hair colors.
"And remember you are beautiful."
"How do you think I'd look as a blonde, You know?"
"Hm, I'm not sure you could handle it."
Hi guys, it's Susannah,
And Debra,
We are, The Take.
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