Analysis of Gender Stereotypes in the Movie "Legally Blonde"

It is not a hidden fact that Motion Pictures play a large part in our day to day lives. We start to perceive things, whether right or wrong, and act the same way in our day to day lives. One of the main things these movies glorify are the Gender Stereotypes. The expectations from a particular gender that the society has, and these expectations are being shown in the movies that we watch. The young audience watch these movies and start believing in the stereotypes. We are so accustomed to these conventional images that we don’t even question them.

In the movie Legally Blonde, Elle Woods, lead female actor, is a college-aged girl who recently had a breakup and she tries to win back her ex-boyfriend. Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) has it all. She wants nothing more than to be Mrs. Warner Huntington III. But there is one thing stopping him (Matthew Davis) from proposing: She is too “blond”. Elle rallies all her resources and gets into Harvard, determined to win him back. In this movie there are several moments where Elle Woods is treated differently just because she is a woman.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time, nor will it be the last where someone is treated differently just because of their physical appearances. These stereotypes are a good sign to know how a society view’s a gender. Furthermore, it is also important to know these gender stereotypes and expectations, only then it will be possible to stop/control them from growing to be a common thing that all of us do. Often different genders receive different or unfair treatment, and these treatments are very prominent in the movies are they are also glorified to some extent where it must be stopped soon.

Elle Woods, she meets every aspect of a “perfect woman”. She is portrayed as being beautiful-an important female characteristic, with her long blonde hair, fashionable, a small puppy, white skin, high heeled shoes, small dresses, great skin, great bodily figure and perfectly shaped white teeth. She is always happy and has a smile on her face (unhappy women not having a smile on there face are viewed as ugly and mentally ill). At last, because pink is the colour that most girls associate with, almost everything that Elle owns is pink in colour and even what she wears. This movie portrays exactly what it is to be a female. Most of the other female actors are blondes, slim, good looking, well maintained body shape, wearing revealing clothing and they all have perfect teeth outlined with a great smile. Somehow everyone likes glitters, roses, chocolates, they all giggle instead of laugh, they all love to gossip, and are simply too stupid to know how to behave in a formal setting (the girls act childish and giggly no matter what, one of the courtroom scenes in the movie). Females having nothing else to do other than obsessing over boys, blow kisses, get uncontrollable after just one sip of champagne. They love to shave their legs and don’t drink beer- instead they must drink cocktails, they always use words like “cute”, “sweet”, “Aww” when describing something.

In this movie, every female has a final and same goal in mind: find a good looking rich man, marry him so that he can take care, go on a shopping spree with husband’s money (because woman can’t earn for themselves). All they must do in their whole day is get manicure and pedicure and think about their favourite daily soap on Television. Elle happened to choose a man who is an educated, well behaved attorney instead of a man who did not study after high school and did not obtain a good job. It is more materialistic accomplishments that will win the girl’s heart.

It is not a hidden fact that Motion Pictures play a large part in our day to day lives. We start to perceive things, whether right or wrong, and act the same way in our day to day lives. One of the main things these movies glorify are the Gender Stereotypes. The expectations from a particular gender that the society has, and these expectations are being shown in the movies that we watch. The young audience watch these movies and start believing in the stereotypes. We are so accustomed to these conventional images that we don’t even question them.

In the movie Legally Blonde, Elle Woods, lead female actor, is a college-aged girl who recently had a breakup and she tries to win back her ex-boyfriend. Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) has it all. She wants nothing more than to be Mrs. Warner Huntington III. But there is one thing stopping him (Matthew Davis) from proposing: She is too “blond”. Elle rallies all her resources and gets into Harvard, determined to win him back. In this movie there are several moments where Elle Woods is treated differently just because she is a woman.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time, nor will it be the last where someone is treated differently just because of their physical appearances. These stereotypes are a good sign to know how a society view’s a gender. Furthermore, it is also important to know these gender stereotypes and expectations, only then it will be possible to stop/control them from growing to be a common thing that all of us do. Often different genders receive different or unfair treatment, and these treatments are very prominent in the movies are they are also glorified to some extent where it must be stopped soon.

Elle Woods, she meets every aspect of a “perfect woman”. She is portrayed as being beautiful-an important female characteristic, with her long blonde hair, fashionable, a small puppy, white skin, high heeled shoes, small dresses, great skin, great bodily figure and perfectly shaped white teeth. She is always happy and has a smile on her face (unhappy women not having a smile on there face are viewed as ugly and mentally ill). At last, because pink is the colour that most girls associate with, almost everything that Elle owns is pink in colour and even what she wears. This movie portrays exactly what it is to be a female. Most of the other female actors are blondes, slim, good looking, well maintained body shape, wearing revealing clothing and they all have perfect teeth outlined with a great smile. Somehow everyone likes glitters, roses, chocolates, they all giggle instead of laugh, they all love to gossip, and are simply too stupid to know how to behave in a formal setting (the girls act childish and giggly no matter what, one of the courtroom scenes in the movie). Females having nothing else to do other than obsessing over boys, blow kisses, get uncontrollable after just one sip of champagne. They love to shave their legs and don’t drink beer- instead they must drink cocktails, they always use words like “cute”, “sweet”, “Aww” when describing something.

In this movie, every female has a final and same goal in mind: find a good looking rich man, marry him so that he can take care, go on a shopping spree with husband’s money (because woman can’t earn for themselves). All they must do in their whole day is get manicure and pedicure and think about their favourite daily soap on Television. Elle happened to choose a man who is an educated, well behaved attorney instead of a man who did not study after high school and did not obtain a good job. It is more materialistic accomplishments that will win the girl’s heart.