dirkstridered:dannywelbeck: favourite characters: ↳ elle woods, legally blonde.#when i find myse
dirkstridered: dannywelbeck: favourite characters: ↳ elle woods, legally blonde. #when i find myself in times of trouble #elle woods comes to me #speaking words of wisdom #bend and snap So, Legally Blonde is one of my favorite movies, but it’s like that friend that believes in all of these feminist ideas but would go to her grave denying she was a feminist. The things I like: There are few things I love more than woman-centered comedies that don’t rely on misogynistic bullshit to get their laughs. This movie has smart, funny ladies in droves. Female friendships: So much of today’s media tries to pit women against each other, and the only images of women “being friends” that we get usually involve someone getting slapped for sleeping with her best friend’s boyfriend or women calling each other fat behind their backs. LB has lots of women taking care of each other, from Elle helping Paulette steal her dog back, to Professor Stromwell talking Elle out of quitting law school. Doesn’t demonize femininity: One of the biggest changes that’s happened between the second and third waves of feminism is that third wavers decided that refusing everything considered feminine, like make-up and pink stuff, was kind of counterproductive. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying make-up or wanting to be “sexy,” so long as it’s a woman’s choice. She shouldn’t be pressured into these things, and her choice should be respected either way. Elle shows that being into femininity and being smart aren’t mutually exclusive, and judging someone based on their appearance isn’t cool, no matter who you are. Things that bother me: LB even goes so far as to include a self-professed feminist as a supporting character, Enid. On paper, Enid is pretty awesome. She has helped organize all these campaigns, she’s passionate about her studies, and she tries to smash patriarchy left and right. However, the film’s writers want us to laugh at Enid. They turn her into a caricature of a feminist, aka: the bitchy man-hating lesbian. The thing is, some feminists are lesbians and some aren’t, some prefer to stay away from men and some feminists marry men, and too often women’s righteous anger gets relegated to bitchiness. There’s more than one way to be a feminist, but all most people ever see is an inaccurate, scary stereotype. Elle was sexually harassed, but nothing was ever done about it. Some women choose not to report sexual harassment for a variety of reasons, and it’s important to recognize and support that choice. However, I think the filmmakers missed a fantastic opportunity to address something that many women, especially ones working in male-dominated fields like law school, deal with everyday. Professor Callahan hitting on Elle was illegal, and it would have been nice to see a man like him not get away with it for once. -- source link
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#feminism#legally blonde#movies#elle woods#reese witherspoon#womens studies