Stereotypes In The Film Legally Blonde: Elle Woods

Elle Woods was the typical sorority girl while at CULA- she loved shopping; her friends; and her boyfriend, Warner. With her father’s money on her side, Elle never prioritized her education or working. She assumed her future held a marriage to Warner and life as a trophy wife; but when Warner declares Elle a hindrance to his goals of graduating from Harvard University, she becomes determined to do the same. Realizing no amount of money could buy admission to Harvard, Elle works valiantly toward her goal and is accepted. As the movie comes to a close, the scene shifts to three years later with Elle addressing her classmates as she graduates alongside Warner. Though she does not speak excessively, Elle speaks of the passion, perseverance, and determination necessary for success. In her short, yet effective speech; Elle uses ethos and pathos to encourage her classmates to go forth in their law careers with courage and faith, and reminds them to never accept people as they appear on the surface.

The teen comedy Mean Girls, directed by Mark Waters, welcomes the protagonist (Cady Heron) into the stereotypical high school setting after being raised in Africa for all of her educational path. Cady, never being in a public-school setting, comes across the Plastics: Regina George (unspoken leader), Gretchen Wieners (gossip queen), and Karen Smith (the stupid, clueless one), who are at the top of the social pyramid. Befriended by the girls, Cady is left to decide whether or not she belongs in this clique or if her place exists in a different one. The use of satirist and comedic scenes throughout the film show the different sexist lenses and stereotypes that women are viewed with.

This is where Warner tells Elle he?s going to Harvard law to start his career and she wasn?t in his future plans. In turn Elle get depressed locks herself in her room for about a week then gets the revelation that she would just attend Harvard Law also. When Elle goes to her parents they don?t really support her, they fall into the gender stereotype that girls should do girly jobs, like fashion which was Elle?s major, be pretty get married and so forth. They don?t believe she should have to go out into the world and be smart. She studies hard to pass the LSAT?s and she sends in her video application to Harvard. This video Elle is mainly in a Bikini, and being very ?girly?, Harvard mainly accepts her application because they need to diversify their accepted applicants. Once at Harvard Elle goes to class unprepared and is excused from the class. Afterwards is when she meets Warner?s new girlfriend and fiancé Vivian who is also the reason Elle had to leave class. This is where the battle between Vivian and Elle .After the meeting Elle does a typical girl thing and goes and gets her nails done. She returns to school has another run-in with Vivian who invited her to a party, telling her it?s a costume party and it obviously wasn?t. As ?typical girl? Elle shows up to the party as a playboy bunny. There is nothing more gender specific then a playboy bunny. For comfort she turns to Warner but instead all Elle got a rude

3) One of the films would be Erin Brockovich, were Erin is judge for being a single mom based on her appearance she is also label as a whore an example would be Ed that tells her that she looks like someone that likes to have fun, these is of course the stereotypes that society inputs on her. Erin in the film does not meet the ideologies of being femininity and at the end we see that she does succeed at work but her love life and family gets scarified by these.

By having a rather unassuming African American woman as the most powerful character in the film, who even the macho boss is afraid of, Pulp Fiction is helping demolish society’s racial, and gender, barriers, showing that a movie can have a powerful, African American woman who is also responsible and benevolent.

Further damaging the view of Elle as a feminist icon is the fact that she consistently reinforces harmful stereotypes about women. Elle is clearly meant to be presented as a sorority stereotype, but rather than overcoming and breaking free from it, she proves it to be true time and time again. Firstly, Elle reinforces the idea that women are overly emotional and quickly disheartened. In the very first scene of the movie, Elle is dumped by Warner and proceeds to have an emotional breakdown, crying and shrieking loudly in a public setting. This is further reinforced later in the

Elle believes her perfect life is about to get even better when her boyfriend hints that there will be changes in their future and she assumes he's about to propose. However, she is shaken when her boyfriend breaks up with her to find a girl who will be a better fit for his political aspirations. Instead of wallowing in sorrow, Elle decides she can win him back if she can only show him her serious side by chasing after him to Harvard law. Her confidence is weakened however, as she encounters difficult professors and snobby students. Nevertheless, she persisted in her studies and because of this she is given an exclusive internship. This leads her to take on challenges she never imagined she could and demonstrates the knowledge she had all along.

After lots of trying, she realizes it is not going to be a breeze to get him back in her grip with the fact she is in Harvard and looks alone, so she decides to hit the books to outsmart the awful fiancé. In the progress, she meets and great guy who helps her succeed and becomes one of the top students in her class. Elle also meets her a new beautician who she befriends and helps get the man of her dreams with the “bend and snap”. During the process, Elle starts to like herself for who she is, and her true self comes out. She is a bubbly, happy, girly woman who will not take no as an answer. With all her hard work, she even ends up receiving an internship, along with her ex-boyfriend and his fiancé, to work with a client. For one of the few times in her life, Elle was receiving things that she worked for, not that were given to her.

“Shut up, I’m crying.” I can hear her from across the cafeteria. This girl is the most annoying thing in the entire world. She literally only missed one point and she’s crying about it. Newsflash, it's not the end of the world. She does this all the time, it makes me want to strangle her! I can’t believe that someone hasn’t done it yet. She fits almost every stereotype at one time. Carrie is the perfect girl for the first five minutes of a horror movie. Little Miss Perfect Carrie, never got below a hundred until today.

There are many movies that have a lot to do with sociology. One movie that comes to my mind right away is the movie Mean Girls. Mean Girls was directed by Mark Waters and came out in 2004. There are many ways that this comedy relates to sociology. Some sociological terms that I recognize in the movie are; culture, material, non-material, language, values, roles, stereotypes, and conflict theory.

Elle doesn’t fit the misogynist prospect of submissive femininity. She is loud, emotional, and flamboyant. When she enters a room with the clacking of her bright pink heels, Chihuahua in arm, beaming and effusive, you cannot ignore her. Elle’s bubbliness and enthusiasm is often disdained, especially in the legal world, but she continues to express her true self. She is unapologetic about being attractive, sexual and caring about her appearance. She does not stop being stereotypically “girly” despite that it makes others think she is less legitimate and intelligent. She proves that “sexy” and “smart” are not opposing forces. Elle is the perfect example of how being feminine does not mean you submit to patriarchal notion of submissiveness.

This article is divided into three different sections- Finucane’s Theory, the Hottie Mystique and the media onslaught. The Finucane Theory comes about because of a mother that was worried about her daughter and the influence they were having on her. Her theory states “Many Parents and commentators defend Happily Ever After against what some critics call a rising “feminist attack,” and credit the comely ladies with teaching values such as kindness, reading, love of animals, and perseverance. When questioned, Disney never really responded to the allegations but stated the same standard statement, “For 75 years, millions of little girls and their

She gains some confidence and starts to speak up in class. One of her Professors, Professor Callahan is a lawyer in his own firm is offering an internship for four students for a new case he is working on because his caseload is rather large. Callahan asks for Elle's resume, which happened to be pink and scented, because of an excellent argument she debated and won in his class. The internship winners were posted an Elle was picked, along with Warner, Vivian, and a friend of Vivian's. The case that the firm is working on is another prime example of gender roles. The case is about a fitness instructor (Brooke) who is obviously beautiful but is accused of murdering her 60 year old husband. Elle knows all about Brooke and states from the beginning that she felt Brooke was innocent. Elle visits Brooke in prison to get her alibi; Elle brings Brooke a basket of "goodies" which included make-up, flowers, and a cosmopolitan magazine. Brooke wanting to tell Elle what she was doing doesn't want anyone else to know because Brooke having a fortune due to her fitness empire, was out getting liposuction, which is another gender issue for women trying to maintain the generic appearance stereotype. Elle keeps her promise and never tells anyone about Brooke's alibi. Proceeding on to other gender references in the movie Elle goes with Emmett, another lawyer working on the case in Callahan's firm, (who happens to think Elle is cute) to the dead mans ex-wife's spa

Legally Blonde follows a young woman, Elle Woods, who is initially presented as a pink-loving, high-pitched squealing, vacuous-but-pretty sorority president. When her boyfriend breaks up with her because he “need[s] to marry a Jackie, not a Marilyn,” Elle decides that she needs to set loftier and more serious goals for her education and career in order to win him back. Elle sets her sights on Harvard Law School, where Warner, her ex-boyfriend, is attending. However, law school is an entirely new beast that Elle must conquer, a far cry from the familiar sorority houses and poolside cabanas, and she must wage the battle of a lifetime to win back her man, defend her honor, and earn that law degree.

All over the world Feminism is a current topic of concern and there are very few advocates who are currently fighting for gender equality. In the media men and women are attempting to use their voices to fight for equal rights and get the message across to all generations. In this paper, I will be analyzing the movie Beauty and the Beast (2017) by drawing upon the feminist theory, which will demonstrate how the main female character, Belle challenges the modern-day system of inequality and the socially constructed gender roles. I will do so by examining why Emma Watson was chosen as the leading actress, how Belle is different than the other women in her town, the modifications from the original movie, and how Belle ultimately gets to decide her destiny. I will also consider why some people may view the film as anti-feminist, which will allow for me to understand a different perspective. It is my thesis that socially constructed gender identities are negatively presented in popular culture, however actors and actresses are attempting to use their influence to make an impact and move towards equality.