Dumb Blonde Ambition

Dumb Blonde Ambition:: Legally Blonde, Postfeminism and the Reimagination of the ‘‘Strong Female Character ’’ By: Lucy Ford @lucyj_ford University of Leeds BA Cultural Studies April 2014 11 Introduction What does it mean to be considered ‘strong’? The word itself can be interpreted as anything from physical force and intelligence, to competency, courage and morality. With these diverse definitions in mind, are we able to secure one concrete explanation of what it is to consider someone ‘strong’; and, if we are, can that ever be transpired into adequate cinematic representation? Over the past century, cinema has reigned supreme as one of our most prevalent and prominent cultural artefacts. Contributing to many of our most engrained social stereotypes and tropes, the influence of cinematic representation has an enormous effect on how we construct images both on screen and in our society. The ‘strong female character’ is one of the tropes to have arisen from the influence of cinema, and now contributes to one of the most recognisable and popular genre characterisations. The ‘strong female character’ came into existence from a backlash by the feminist movement of the 1960s and 70s, due to the fact that, up until then, female representation had been reduced to sidelined girlfriends or ‘damsels in distress’. As a result, the ‘strong female character’ emerged as a classification of female illustration, and it is used to portray one basic idea; ‘strength’. However, as we have and will come to see, ‘strength’ is not a term easily defined or illustrated and so many of the representations of ‘strength’ that we see on screen are stereotypes, marginalisation’s and tropes not dissimilar from the ones we see with the ‘damsel in distress’. More often than not, strength is interpreted as a use of physical force, emotional negligence or sharp intelligence; features, we could argue, that are commonly attributed to ideas of ‘masculinity’. The purpose of this 22 dissertation is to discuss the shortcomings that this trope presents, and assess whether a case can be made for ‘strong female characters’ that are overtly feminine. In order to determine whether femininity has a place in ‘strength’, I will be analysing the 2001 ‘chick flick’ Legally Blonde. The film, which opened to large commercial success, follows the life of Elle Woods, a Southern Californian sorority girl who, in the wake of being ‘dumped’ by her boyfriend, decides to f ollow him to Harvard Law School. I will be assessing not only its merits in creating a strong and feminine character, but also its Postfeminist overtones. One of the key elements of postfeminist theory is the return to femininity for female characters, and Legally Blonde not only makes femininity a character trait for our protagonist, but a weapon with which to arm herself. The understanding of Legally Blonde as a Postfeminist model is an important idea to consider, as ‘strong female characters’ usually seem to sacrifice feminine qualities in exchange for masculine ones. What essentially makes Legally Blonde then itself worth studying is the fact that Elle is, for all intents and purposes, a ‘strong female character’ who seems to be overtly female. Ultimately, this dissertation seeks to ask how a postfeminist character, with its emphasis on femininity and undisguised sexual difference, could ever cross the threshold of becoming a ‘strong female character’. To achieve this aim, I will not only be seeking to determine whether Legally Blonde can be considered a ‘strong female character’,, but will be using the information I find to ask whether the film can act as a model for Postfeminism having a place in the future construction of female strength. An investigation into the attributes of cinematic Postfeminism is essential toto this argument, as it is the features present in both Postfeminist theory and this film that the argument for strength will be conducted. For this reason, it is important to research what work has been carried out into analysing the role of the ‘chick flick’ in 33 post feminist discourse. Chick Flicks: Contemporary Women at the Movies, edited by Susan Ferries and Mallory Young, presents us with multiple arguments surrounding the idea of ‘chick flicks’ and ‘chick culture’; and, most importantly, frames its findings around the idea of postfeminism. In framing this argument, this text is integral into analysing why ‘chick flicks’ are hardly present in the discussion of female strength, but also why the genre of film is rarely taken seriously as a purveyor of intelligent characterisation. Whilst many works have been conducted in the field of Postfeminism, it was equally as important to understand why women are still continuing to be misrepresented on screen; and for this reason Kathleen Rowe Karlyns’ book Unruly Girls, Unrepentant Mothers: Redefining Feminism on Screen was essential in understanding the role that feminism plays in our construction and continuation of female representation. By comprehending the issues prevalent in feminist discourse concerning representation, research into public perception of the ‘strong female character’ was necessary in establishing whether broader forms of representation were desired, and whether Legally Blonde could, or should, be championed as a model in which to build diverse illustrations of strength. Essentially, however, this dissertation is a dissection of the attributes that make Legally Blonde both a Postfeminist piece of cinema, and also a widely misunderstood one. Far more than being ‘just another chick flick’, the film offers an alternative understanding of romantic comedies and the themes and characters that they promote; and by analysing the films scenic elements, character construction, costume and narrative, this dissertation seeks to view women’s’ film as a gateway into understanding the complexity and positivity that feminine qualities can represent. 44 Brief Synopsis Elle Woods leads a life of luxury and privilege in Southern California. As president of her sorority, the blonde bombshell thinks her life is about to get even better when her handsome boyfriend, Warner, takes her on a romantic date. What she assumes will be a proposal actually transpires as a break up, and on the grounds that Elle just isn’t serious enough for his new life at Harvard Law School, Warner ‘dumps’ her. In a state at having lost the ‘love of her life’, Elle decides to apply for Harvard Law Schoolol as well. Elle, somewhat surprisingly, achieves admission to the prestigious college, only to find that Warner has gotten engaged over the summer to Vivian, her complete opposite. In a bid to steal him back, Elle aims to prove her intelligence and worth by working hard and being kind to others. Harvard is a much more hostile place, she finds, than California; and Elle is quick to feel lonely and isolated as the only girly-girl on campus. She finds solace in a local beauty parlour, where her manicurist soon becomes her best friend and helps her achieve her goals. Elle, after facing much adversity, starts to prove her worth and is accepted into a prestigious internship alongside Warner and Vivian. Defending a former sorority sister, Brooke, in a murder trial, Elle is viewed as out of depth in the cut-throat world of law. With the support, however, of Brooke and Emmett, an associate at the law firm, Elle is able to win the case using her feminine knowledge and intuition. By the end, Elle has become an honour student, been offered a job in a prestigious firm, turned down Warner on the grounds that he is a ‘complete bonehead’, and is instead engaged to Emmett; a person who had faith in her abilities from the start. What essentially starts as a pursuit of love ends with Elle finding strength, courage and belief in herself. 55 The Emergence and Construction of the ‘Strong Female Character’ Unlike many genre characterisations, the concept of the ‘strong female character’ is challenging to cement into one linear list of attributes. With ‘strength’ being synonymous with a wide breadth of adjectives, the idea of there being one finite understanding of what it is to be ‘strong’ can be seen as widely illogical. Therefore, it is useful to look at examples of roles that people traditionally view as ‘strong female characters’, and assess what it is that apparently makes this so. As Carina Chocano (2011), expresses: “Strong female character” is one of those shorthand memes that has leached into the cultural groundwater and spawned all kinds of cinematic clichés: alpha professionals whose laserlike focus on career advancement has turned them into grim, celibate automatons; robotic, lone-wolf, ascetic action heroines whose monomaniacal devotion to their crime-fighting makes them lean and cranky and very impatient; poker- faced assassins; and gloomy ninjas with commitment issues.11 Essentially, ‘strong female characters’ inhabit the idea of ‘strength’ in female characterisation as meaning incomprehensible amounts of power, callousness, physical strength or emotional unavailability. Whilst obviously an exaggeration of a 11 Carina Chocano, ‘Tough, Cold, Terse, Taciturn and Prone to Not Saying Goodbye When They Hang Up the Phone’ (1 July 2011) <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/magazine/a-plague-of-strong-female- characters.html?_r=5&pagewanted=all&> [accessed 31 March 2014] 66 set of characteristics unbefitting of any realistic portrayal of women, the ‘strong female character’ came into fruition in the early days of the Second Wave of feminism from a desire to see more accurate, and less offensive, representations of women than merely just the ‘Damsel in Distress’. From an appeal to see more rounded characterisations which they described as ‘strong’ (as it was the natural opposition to the idea of ‘Damsel in Distress’), women were then faced with the ‘dully literal’22 illustration of ‘strength’. What essentially was a plea in which to equal the scale between representations of men and women, turned into a trope by which women, in the event that they were not allowed to be women (AKA weak), must be men (AKA strong).

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