 Throughout my childhood and young adult life, as I was consistently confronted with the fact that I am indeed a woman, I've always wondered what exactly feminism is. If you are raised by liberal parents like I was, you are probably taught that feminism is a necessary and integral part of womanhood. If you are raised by conservative or ultra-religious parents, you are probably taught that feminism is evil incarnate, out to destroy the very concept of womanhood. Your own gender, identity, and life experiences have also probably shaped your own conception of what feminism is. But I am just a girl. What do I know about feminism? It all just seems a bit too complicated and too much for me to worry about. So for now, let's just relax and watch a movie. I mean, I heard they had Legally Blonde on Netflix. That's a good movie. Legally Blonde is an early 2000s chick flick starring Jennifer Coolidge, I mean Reese Witherspoon. Though let's be honest, any film that Jennifer Coolidge is in, she's secretly the star of. Reese Witherspoon plays Elle Woods, a sorority girl, who anticipates her high status boyfriend's proposal but ends up getting dumped. The film is directed by Robert Lucchetic, written by Karen McCullough-Lolts and Kirsten Smith, and is based off of Amanda Brown's 2001 novel of the same name. The outline of Legally Blonde originated from Brown's experience as a blonde going to Stanford Law School while being obsessed with fashion and beauty, reading Elle magazine, and frequently clashing with the personalities of her peers. The film was released on July 13th, 2001 and was a hit with audiences, grossing 141 million worldwide on an 18 million budget, as well as receiving moderately positive reviews from critics. Though there's a lot of criticisms of the legal accuracy in the film of which there isn't many. There's been a lot of lawyers who have examined Legally Blonde and talked about how inaccurate it is, including Legal Eagle here on YouTube, and that is an area that I am not going to sit here and pretend I know anything about, so I'll link their videos down below if you're interested on the legal inaccuracies of the film. A lot of the descriptions of the film has to do about how you're treated differently when you're blonde and care about fashion, and while I think that's kind of a silly problem in the grand scheme of things, I think it does speak to the overall problem that women face. Whether you're perceived to be conventionally attractive or unconventionally attractive in society are kind of two sides of the same coin. While there is definitely pretty privilege, much of that centers around the fact that women are perceived as objects, so while I don't think pretty privilege is a very interesting dilemma to face, I do think it does speak to the overall issues that women face in society, and that all women, to some extent, are perceived as objects. Feminism itself is described as the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of equality of the sexes. Most people of sound mind can agree that this is overall a good idea, but where the disagreements come in is on the approaches and execution of this topic, and even the very idea of what is and isn't oppressive. Some people's feminist ideas and concepts have been shaped by the media, others important literary works like the second sex and bad feminist, others their college classes, magazines, and there's a lot of fractured ideologies on what feminism is and what it represents. When looking into the topic of feminism, I've found that Legally Blonde hits on a lot of important notes throughout its film, and since art imitates life, I thought we'd dive into the film and look at some of the key messages in this iconic chick flick. I'm sure the topic of feminism makes a lot of people annoyed for a variety of different reasons, so if you are one of those people and you've made it this far in this video, I encourage you to keep watching. We're just reviewing a harmless movie over here, nothing offensive going on, nothing hurtful, so let's drop all of our preconceived notions and just enjoy a movie together. Before diving into Legally Blonde and the topic of feminism, I think it's important to highlight some key problems in the film so no one thinks I'm overlooking or disregarding these very blatant flaws. First off, the diversity in this film is absolutely awful. I don't think Legally Blonde's conception of feminism can apply to all women, of all backgrounds, ethnicities, races, and identities, and I'll be leaving important resources of feminism from women of color's perspectives in the description down below because so often their perspective is completely excluded from this conversation, and that is very messed up. I think that we gotta have strategic solidarities with white women. The Me Too movement, both in terms of Toronto Burke's work, but also in terms of what we see rich white women testifying to, tells us that even when you have money and power and beauty, you are still subject to the violent whims of men, and that means that there is a cause for solidarity and struggle together, but that doesn't mean that we can't hold white women accountable for their racism and that we can't have some terms to negotiate in terms of what will bring us to the table. Second off, privilege is a huge center point of the film. Rich white conventionally attractive women in top sorority of expensive CULA gets into expensive and privileged Harvard Law School and drives a Porsche around on campus. The film very clearly does not tackle the issue of privilege. I think Elle Woods is meant to represent the bimbo character or trope that Hollywood often gives women, particularly blonde women. The bimbo is a label that for a long time has been seen as purely negative. After all, it traditionally describes a woman who has nothing of value underneath her sexy looks. This woman is usually defined by two inverse qualities. She's as well endowed with attractiveness as she is under endowed with intellect or depth. She tends to have a breathy voice, Daddy, I bet you made me the happiest girl in the world and a hyper feminine look. Whether she's actually dim or just superficial, the bimbo isn't perceived to have deep interest besides her looks and lifestyle or to boast much of a work ethic. Bimbos are materialistic, vapid and privileged and usually never have to worry about money. I think Elle Woods was given these predictable characteristics so that she can shatter the bimbo trope and go against our predicted expectations of how she would act throughout the film. Legally Blonde has one of the most amazing opening scenes. It really sets the scene for Elle's environment who she surrounds herself with and is truly just iconic Y2K. Also on a side note, I think the woman riding the bike in the opening scene awoke some sort of bi curiosity in me. In the intro of the film, all the sorority sisters in Elle's sorority are wishing her a good luck with her boyfriend Warren proposing soon, establishing that everyone's thinking that Elle's boyfriend Warren is going to be proposing. Then Elle and her two besties go to a dress shop to try on different dresses for the proposal. A sales associate tries to get Elle to pay more for a dress than it's worth saying there's nothing I love more than a dumb blonde with daddy's plastic. But Elle, who's majoring in fashion and knowledgeable in her major, shows her by talking about how it's impossible to use a half-loops top stitching on the hem of low viscosity rayon, which according to Reddit fashion experts is impossible and actually just gibberish. This sales rep kind of smirks and feels kind of embarrassed and walks away and in this scene, I don't know if it's just me, but I kind of feel bad for that sales rep, like what if she needed the commission check? You don't know her life, you don't know her struggles, but anyways, this scene establishes that Elle Woods is indeed a boss babe who knows things about fashion and is not just a dumb blonde with daddy's plastic. Though her parents are rich and she did actually grow up in Bel-Air and she is blonde, but dumb she is not. It kind of sounds like I'm making fun of the film, so I should probably try and be less sarcastic. So then we meet Warner, Elle's boyfriend, who is probably the definition of everything I hate. Just like a total prick. I mean come on, this is the dude that you're so excited about. He may be cute and all, but he has the personality of a toothpick. Scratch that, a used toothpick. So long story short, Elle and Warren go to a restaurant where Elle thinks that Warren's going to propose, but he actually ends up breaking up with her. I think we should break up. Warren talks about his future aspirations in politics, love this dude, so many great things going on. Law school is a completely different world. If I'm gonna be a senator by the time I'm 30, I need to stop digging around. And Warren breaks up with Elle because he believes her to not be a serious partner. If I'm gonna be a senator, well I need to marry a Jackie, not a Marilyn. It seems that women are truly objects to Warner, just to further his social status. While I definitely do not think Elle is a victim in any way for being too blonde, I think the visual representation is meant to symbolize how men like Warner will categorize women and never attempt to peer into the depths of them as a deeper and more complex human being. Maybe because they don't have very much depth to themselves as well. Of course, hearing this makes Elle very upset, as it would anyone who finds out that their serious relationship is with someone who does not take the relationship very seriously. And Elle is brokenhearted. I mean, I can't imagine building up the expectations that you're gonna get proposed to and then getting dumped in a very brutal way. Basically someone telling you, you stupid and I need someone smart. So Elle soaks around in her room and Amy has trouble with this whole lip liner thing. Elle, it's Amy. I'm having trouble with this whole lip liner thing. Which, girl's name, I can never justify buying lip liner. You're telling me I need a skinnier lipstick to put on before my lipstick? Sounds like a scam. So Elle devastated and heartbroken ends up reading a magazine where she finds out that Warren's brother is engaged to someone who went to law school. And for some reason, the idea pops up in her mind that to win Warren back, she should go to Harvard Law School. It's an interesting jump, but okay, trying to win someone back always works out so well. Now of course, it's obvious that this entire premise of this movie is not a very feminist premise. The idea of changing your entire life all the way to your school, your location, everything for a dude. So I have to say right now, it does get better. Don't give up on the film just yet. And I also have to note that growing up as a girl, it's often subconsciously taught that your entire purpose is to center your life around a guy. You are simply to exist for the pleasure of men for the male gaze. Sit and look pretty and wait for a guy to come and sweep you off your feet. And I think this movie explains really well why it's a bad idea not only to chase after an ex, but also to change your life for the pleasure of someone else. So Elle goes out on a mission to get accepted into Harvard Law School. You were first runner up at the Miss Hawaiian Tropics Contest. Why are you going to throw that all the way? The most incredible thing particularly in this portion of the movie is Elle's determination and self-belief, even when those around her are acting like her aspirations are a total joke. And she truly doesn't take shit from anyone. So Elle studies and works hard and submits an incredible college admissions video, a cinematic masterpiece, if you will. And the Harvard Admissions Board agrees to let her in on the grounds of diversity? A fashion major? Well, sir, we've never had one before and aren't we always looking for diversity? Elle Woods, welcome to Harvard. Diversity? That's what we're going with here. You tried, but you shouldn't have. Which brings me to another huge flaw in this film overall, which is the lack of intersectional feminism represented, which includes women of color, LGBT women and other women from marginalized groups. Legally blonde is feminism from a very limited perspective. You might have heard the term white feminism used lately, but what does it mean? Basically white feminism is feminism that ignores intersectionality. White feminism excludes experiences of basically anyone who's not white, cis, and straight. Here's why that's so problematic. First, it assumes the way white women experience misogyny is the way all women experience misogyny. And that's just not true. Though I personally think that this movie hits on the divides in feminism through the character Enid Wexler. Enid Wexler is a women's study major, lesbian and gay rights activist made to be ideologically somewhat divided from Elle Woods. Some see Enid Wexler as a criticism of feminists in the film, but I'm personally more inclined to see her as simply a character to highlight Elle Woods' bimbo characteristics. Enid is introduced as a way to initially show that Elle Woods didn't belong at Harvard Law School, and throughout the film Enid shows up only in moments where the film is highlighting how much Elle Woods doesn't belong or doesn't fit in. Once Elle Woods begins to fit in, or to feel like she belongs, Enid disappears, no longer reminding the audience of this cognitive divide between who should or shouldn't be in Harvard Law School. In a way, I think these two characters interacting highlights some of the internalized misogyny that can exist within the feminist movement as well, or at least that used to exist. There's a place for the bimbos and a place for the feminists. You can excel in your respective place, but you shouldn't intrude on an area or space that isn't yours. This idea of exclusion or compartmentalization in feminism is best identified with TERF's Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist. Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist. Now the trans exclusionary part of this is overwhelmingly to do with their treatment and attitudes towards trans women, although this does also map onto trans men as well. The idea essentially that trans women are not women and the only kinds of real women are cis women. And with feminists who try to exclude sex workers from feminism, but that's enough of all of this heavy stuff, let's get back to watching the movie. Elle Woods arrives at the Harvard Law School campus after an early 2000s montage. Then Elle goes to the intro day or whatever, dumb blonde over here, and is put into a group where Dave Franco makes everyone introduce themselves. Is that Dave Franco? Kind of looks like him, right? And all of these people are really cool, like really, really awesome, would love to have a conversation with all of them. Except for Aaron Mitchell. This dude is never explored except for in this simple introduction, and I already know he's the absolute worst. Aaron Mitchell. I graduated first of my class from Princeton. I'm an IQ of 187. And it's been suggested that Stephen Hawking stole his brief history of time from my fourth grade paper. Later on, Elle has her very first day at Harvard. Her outfit is snatched, and she walks through the halls with the most incredible confidence, which brings me to one of my favorite scenes of all time. Elle ends up seeing Warner in the halls of Harvard. Elle walks right past Warner, who is also there attending classes, where he sees her and is surprised that she's there. I mean, I would be too if I'm telling my ex I'm going to law school and they just show up there. I mean, that is kind of weird. And he asks if she's there to see him. The audacity. I mean, he's not totally wrong. She kind of is though. And she says, no, silly, I go here. And he says, you go where? And she says Harvard Law School. And he says, you got into Harvard Law. And then she says, what, like it's hard? And then just walks away. Queen energy right there. I love it. Love to see it. Literally the definition of flexing on your ex. So Elle then has her first class with Professor Stromwell and isn't afraid to sit in the front row, which I think is one of the most oppressive things she's done throughout the film. It turns out there was an assignment Elle didn't know about. And I mean, if we haven't all been there, the anxiety and fear in that moment is truly the worst. So the professor asks Elle a question from the assignment and Elle says, whoopsie, yeah, I forgot to do that. So then the professor calls on another classmate, Vivian Kensington, who is sitting further back in the class and is dressed in blue to show that she's the antithesis of Elle Woods, who's always wearing some sort of pink item. Though is she the true antagonist of the film? Let's find out. So anyways, the professor asks Vivian if she thinks it's okay, Elle wasn't prepared. And Vivian in a cold tone says no, I don't. Oh yeah? Did he pick you? Did he choose you? Oh wait, he kind of did. But we'll get to that. So then the professor asks Vivian if she supports her decision to ask Elle to leave the class and only come back when she's prepared. And Vivian says absolutely. So I mean, women supporting women? Is that how it's done? So Elle is kicked out of her first class, which honestly is not really as outrageous as Elle seems to think it is. I mean, girl, you forgot to do an assignment. You probably wouldn't understand much in that class anyways. So she goes and sits on a bench and meets this random dude who honestly is kind of boring and basic as a character, but he does have some importance in the film. And I'm pretty sure the actor is Owen Wilson's brother, so that's cool. Wow. Then Warren comes over to talk to Elle again and Vivian ends up interjecting in the most awkward way possible. Note that both Warren and Vivian are wearing blue. Sorry, once I noticed this like pink blue thing, I couldn't unsee it. And so I just have to point it out whenever I see it. But Elle soon finds out that Vivian isn't only dating Warner, but they're engaged. So that awkward swoop kind of makes sense. Honestly, low key. Good for Vivian for swooping in like that. Claiming her territory, I don't know. If I ever see someone flirting with my husband, I'm definitely gonna try and make that swoop move. Maybe with a little more pleasantry. But I think that begs the question, does Vivian owe Elle her niceness? There's of course girl code and being a girl's girl. But at the end of the day, Vivian doesn't know Elle. Does she owe her anything like her niceness? I think that's an interesting question to ask. So anyways, Elle finds out that Warner is engaged to Vivian. So Elle goes on an angsty car ride, and if we all haven't been there before, and finds a nail salon where she meets Paulette, played by the iconic Jennifer Coolidge. Elle tells Paulette her troubles, and Paulette tells Elle about her breakup and dog that her ex still has, which Elle eventually helps her get back. But I'm probably not gonna end up going into that because already I can tell this video is going to be super duper long. I'm taking the dog. Dumbass. The nail appointment ends with Paulette giving Elle the unfortunate advice that she should steal the bastard back. Steal the bastard back. Yikes. I mean, you do you. I just think it can be kind of crummy to go after someone who's actively in a relationship because you know that it's going to hurt someone involved, like no matter what someone out of that equation is going to get hurt. I mean, as mean as Vivian is, does it excuse Elle trying to get her ex back when Vivian is engaged to him? I'm sure there's a lot of different perspectives on that. So really, who am I to say? So next we meet Professor Callahan, and there's a class and things are said trying to cut down on time. So I'm just gonna brush over some things and later Elle tries to join the study group that Vivian and Warner are in. Vivian is kind of rude telling Elle like no, we don't have enough room and we already assigned things, which is honestly kind of reasonable if you've already done a ton of work. It can be a little inconvenient to switch stuff around for Elle, but her friend is just like straight up mean. It's like a smart people thing and they basically say you can't sit with us. And Elle was way too sweet in this situation. I probably would have gone off myself, but you know, the high road was probably best. So Elle walking away bummed that she can't join the study group has another interaction with Enid Wexler, where Enid says maybe you could like join a sorority like and Elle says, you know, if you would come to a rush party, I would have at least been nice to you. I feel like once again, this interaction is meant to point out not only that Elle doesn't belong at law school and is so different from other women who are attending law school, but also points out the divide that women often feel towards one another and the gatekeeping often associated with feminism. I think a great real life example of this is Megan Fox, who was shut out by Hollywood and at a similar time felt she was rejected by feminism and not stood up for because she was deemed too sexy. I feel like you know, I was sort of out in front of the Me Too movement before the Me Too movement happened. Like I was speaking out and saying, you know, hey, these things are happening to me and they're not okay. And everyone was like, oh, we don't care. You deserve it because I probably talk because of how you look because of how you dress. So not really a space. Like I don't feel like there's a space in feminism for me. You know, even though I consider myself a feminist, I feel like feminists don't want me to be a part of their group. And what is what are we talking about then? What is feminism? What is supporting other females? If there's only certain ones of us you support if I have to be an academic or I have to be not threatening to you in some way, why can't I be a part of the group as well? Why do I have to be dismissed because of what? And now especially what did I ever really do that was so provocative or so bad? For a while, many women who enjoyed femininity or maybe played on the male gaze idea of womanhood were rejected by feminists as almost an offense to the movement, which they deemed to be intellectual and not derivative. I think that this particular scene in Legally Blonde points out this common divide. A divide in ideologies and feminist concepts is certainly not new in the feminist landscape. There's a huge history in feminism which I'll link resources to below, but the most important thing to know is that the suffrage movement is where things really kicked off with many feminist icons advocating for women's rights to vote. Once women gained the right to vote this brought about the post-suffrage era. Once the crucial goal of suffrage had been achieved, the feminist movement virtually collapsed and fractured into a dozen splinter groups and infighting between conflicting ideologies began. Feminists were basically like, okay, we got voting, what do we do now? Then the second wave of feminism came soon after the civil rights movement, though during this time there was an explosion in literary work regarding the idea of feminism. But an all-encompassing feminist ideology was never able to come to fruition. It seemed no one could agree on what women's oppression really is or what liberation truly means. There were anarcho-feminists, individualist feminists, amazon-feminists, and separatist feminists. Without even knowing, you probably fall into one of these categories of feminist ideology. But ultimately, three major feminist dreams of thought surfaced. The first one is liberal or mainstream feminism, which focuses on institutional or government change with a goal to integrate women more thoroughly into the power structure. Liberal feminists tend to aim for strict equality while also supporting protective legislation such as workplace benefits for mothers. The second is radical feminism, which focuses on reshaping society and restructuring institutions, believing all to be inherently patriarchal. Radical feminists argue that women's subservient role in society is too closely woven into the societal fabric to be unraveled without revolutionary change of society itself. The third is cultural or difference feminism, which rejects the notion that men and women are the same and advocates for a celebration of feminine qualities such as affection and nurture. Later on, there was modern third wave feminism, which seemed to be even more splintered into different ideologies and conflicts and experts even believed there to be a fourth wave of feminism that has come out along with the Me Too movement, with people being more accepting of SA's stories and more believing of women coming forward and telling their stories. I often find myself understanding all of these perspectives of feminism and once again questioning the true meaning of feminism itself. Am I supposed to embrace what it means to be a woman? Am I supposed to support laws that support women like maternity leave? Am I supposed to fight for strict equality? And even so, what is true equality? Does it mean being truly equal to men in every sense of the word? Or does it mean being equally valued in society from my womanly traits? And where do non-binary and LGBTQ plus individuals fit into that? And what does a truly equal society mean at its core? All of these questions are extremely complex and hard to define. So, I guess let's just go back to watching a chick flick and just forget about all of this nonsense. Elle is sad, which you can tell because she's wearing a blue robe and while she's moping in her dorm room, she overhears Vivian talking about a party. Vivian ends up inviting her to the party but tells Elle it's a costume party. So Elle shows up to the party in the traditional hot girl costume of a playboy bunny, only to find, surprise, it's not a costume party. Once again, Elle has an interaction with Enid, showing a visual representation of Elle and Enid to seemingly opposing sides of womanhood. Elle seemingly representing everything Enid finds offensive to womanhood and feminism. Elle of course ends up playing off wearing a costume like a pro as if she totally planned this, and I wish I had the charisma and confidence to do that. I would probably end up crying in a corner. Elle has an interaction with Vivian where she is very clearly visually upset and calls Vivian a frigid bitch, which may be deserving. And she walks around the party and ends up finding Warner. They have a conversation and Elle ends up talking about how she plans to get into Callahan's internship next year. Then Warren tells Elle he doesn't think she'll ever get the grades to qualify for Callahan's internship. He says you're not smart enough sweetie. And she's like wait what are we not both in law school? Did we not both get into the same law school? What else do I have to do to prove to you that I am smart? So then Elle comes to the realization that she's never going to be good enough for Warner. I mean yeah kind of seems like it unfortunately. Warren already decided who she was and nothing she can do will ever prove to him that she's more complex or smarter than he already believes her to be. He's already put her in a box. So she storms off and is like I'll show you how valuable Elle Woods can be and this is the Elle Woods that we stand and we love. So she sets out to succeed in law school this time to prove a boy wrong instead of win his affection. So I guess that's progress right? But nevertheless Elle Woods is becoming a real boss babe and we love to see it. So anyways Elle is doing better in school and her professor Callahan seems to notice. So Elle comes into class one day and finds a commotion going on. Apparently Professor Callahan's caseload for a murder trial was so big he's taking on first year interns. Is that a common thing? Does that happen? Really? Doesn't seem very likely. I've never heard of a full professor at Harvard or any other law school for that matter. Also being a full-time partner in a law firm at the same time. But anyways Vivian, Warner, and Elle all are on the list to be interns for this trial. They then go into their first day and find out that the case is defending Brooke Windham, whose husband was unalived. And Elle recognizes the defendant as Brooke Taylor, Delta Nu and creator of Brooke's Butt Buster, a fitness empire. When Brooke meets Elle, she immediately recognizes her as someone who took her class in LA and has the best high kicks she's ever seen. I absolutely love the character Brooke in this film. She just has like an amazing attitude and I always thought she was like the coolest thing ever. Clearly a boss ass bitch but that makes her difficult to work with apparently. And Brooke refuses to give her alibi. So Elle goes to visit Brooke by herself to give her gifts and to get the alibi. But not before the iconic bend and snap scene which is the most diverse scene in the movie and also in my opinion the greatest scene in the movie. Elle teaches everyone at the beauty salon the bend and snap a great way to get a man's attention but the supportive environment that Elle creates and the overall friendship and women supporting women vibe is iconic amazing end to die for. Oh my god the bend and snap works every time. So anyways then Elle goes to get Brooke's alibi. But Brooke tells Elle she can't give the alibi because she was getting liposuction at the time her husband was on a live and begs Elle not to tell anyone. Not only did Elle take girl code seriously and promise not to tell anyone but even after all the men on the case pressure her to tell the alibi so that she and they could gain from it. Elle still keeps her promise to Brooke. I promised her I'd keep it a secret and I can't break the bonds of sisterhood. Screw sisterhood. You tell him he'll probably hire you as a summer associate. Who cares about Brooke? Think about yourself. One evening Elle gets a knock on her dorm door from Vivian asking if she's done with the deposition yet. In this scene we end up seeing some sort of kindness from Vivian who compliments Elle for not telling Callahan the alibi showing that Vivian herself is not one-dimensional, evil, or just a jealous character. Then they have a girls chat about how Callahan is kind of crummy and only asks Vivian to bring him coffee and never warner. Sort of foreshadowing to Callahan's misogynistic traits. Vivian, grab me some coffee. They also talk about how lazy and overall terrible warner is and Vivian holds Elle's dog and there's this heartwarming camaraderie and mutual understanding. Female or woman rivalry is not a made-up concept but in fact a very real thing. An article written in the Harvard Business Review describes female rivalry as what happens when a woman uses her power to keep another woman down, mistreat her, or compete unfairly. The author of this article, Makayla Kinner, also wrote a book titled Female Fire Brands in which she interviewed 13 mid-career professional women and 10 women aged 17 to 30 and studied extensively women in the workplace. Makayla found that both women and men judge women more harshly when they speak and that men are often promoted at a higher rate in the workplace even when both men and women are mentored. So a huge idea in this concept of female rivalry as it's called is this idea of only one sea at the table or the idea that there's only room for one woman at the top. But when women adopt this scarcity mindset and end up fighting with one another it only holds women back. Unfortunately reality is women are just as capable of internalizing misogynistic ideas such as women are not as strong, competent, and capable as men. These internalized sexist ideas can lead women to mistreating, underestimating, and distancing themselves from other women so that they can increase their power and their own standing among men aka the pick me girl. What is a pick me girl? Let's go to our most trusted academic source urban dictionary. A person who begs for the attention, acceptance, and approval of a certain group in different things they say. In most cases it's to attain the attention, acceptance, and approval of the opposite sex. So in short a pick me is a misogynistic woman who puts down other women in order to seek male approval. This can be where phrases like women are too much drama I like hanging out with boys can come from. A lot of people act like the pick me girl's sole purpose is to gain attention from men but I would challenge that and ask if instead maybe the pick me girl is simply trying to feel valued and equal in a world where she is constantly lumped in with other girls and sexist stereotypes and the greatest sin she can do is to be basic. I believe that the pick me girl has fallen into the same flawed ideology that the workplace rival has fallen into all interconnected by internalized misogyny and the underlying message that no woman belongs in a male dominated arena. Then the trial begins and Elle sits in and watches the trial. One of the witnesses the pool boy gets up on the stand and claims that he is having an affair with Brooke. Brooke claims she never slept with him and just likes watching him clean the filter. Then during a break Elle goes to use the water fountain and the pool boy cuts her off in line so she ends up tapping her foot to wait impatiently which makes him turn around and tell her don't stomp your little last season prod of shoes at me honey. Okay go off but for some reason this brings Elle to the conclusion that the pool boy is gay. Honestly this is the most problematic part of the movie to me personally because no just because someone knows fashion brands does not make them gay especially a large brand like Prada. Then she tries to get this dude to out the pool boy as gay in the trial which he ends up proving because the pool boy has a boyfriend who's attending the trial. Pardon me pardon me. Yes Mr. Salvatore. I was I was confused you see I thought you said friend Chuck is just a friend. Okay. You bitch. As if you can't be bi the whole thing feels problematic a little ignorant and a little homophobic. This whole scene is supposed to be proof that Elle was able to use her fashion knowledge to help her legal strategy but I don't see that at all with this one just me. So then after a successful day in court Elle is walking through the halls when her former enemy turned new friend Vivian stops her to tell her that Callahan asked to see Elle in his office. Elle goes to visit Callahan and Callahan asks her to sit down and gives her a compliment about her work even though he kind of doubts her every step of the way but okay he then sits close to her and starts touching her leg something Vivian happens to see through the door crack. Elle smacks his hand out of the way and asks are you hitting on me to which Callahan responds you're a beautiful girl oh he says I'm a man who knows what he wants and she says and I'm a law student who just realized her professor is a pathetic asshole. Unfortunately this is something that we even see today where power imbalances are often used for sexual harassment but it's also a problem that more recently people are becoming more and more comfortable speaking out against. No one should ever feel ashamed to come forward and tell their story. This also points out the narrative that has also spread that if a pretty woman is successful she must have slept her way to the top which is so gross to think about even just that narrative in itself because um no that's literally objectifying a woman or seeing them as an object so on her way out distraught from realizing Callahan didn't actually care about her intelligence. Elle runs into Vivian who is almost her in her own way and says you almost had me fooled. Oftentimes the sleep your way to the top narrative harms women in their professional and social worlds and a lot of these women will direct their anger to other women instead of directing their anger at the real people spreading this narrative and the systemic issues causing it. It's easier to blame the people right in front of us instead of the deeper issues at hand. So then Elle gets in the elevator to leave and the door closes and like a mirror shows Elle's appearance. As if to once again bring about the question of identity am I who I appear to be to the world or am I who I feel I am on the inside. On her way out she also runs into this dude and tells him about everything and that she's quitting and that all of it was a mistake. So Elle packs her things and says goodbye to Paula at the salon and is talking about what happened and says all people see when they look at me is blonde hair and big boobs which yes is definitely a struggle when it comes to feeling objectified in your life but of course there are people who face much much greater discrimination. So then as Elle is saying to hell with law school a figure who's getting their hair done turns around and says if you're going to let one stupid prick ruin your life you're not the girl I thought you were and it's professor strongwell the professor that gave Elle a hard time initially. It's interesting because the first time I watched that scene it really moved me I was like yes yeah that's awesome but rewatching I'm like okay um miss you just overheard that another professor is harassing and exploiting a female student and you're not like let's go report him let's make sure he doesn't have to work at Harvard again. There's no moment in this movie where Callahan is fired from his position at law school where he can do this to any other girl that attends classes instead it's just like don't let that ruin your life I get it's cute but I'm also like uh okay so we're not going to do anything else about that okay but this is enough of a pep talk for Elle to be motivated to try again meanwhile Brooke Vivian and this dude are talking about what happened with Callahan and decide to come up with a plan. So then it's another trial day and let me just say Brooke looks stunning in this trial scene I remember watching this when I was younger and being like I want to be just like Brooke when I get older even though she was technically on trial for murder a bit of mixed messaging in my childhood not sure how that's affected me so anyways Brooke walks in with a smile on her face and tells Callahan that he is fired and in walks Elle Woods in her iconic pink lawyer's dress and her dog is that even allowed and she is representing Brooke woman supporting woman to not get convicted for unaliving someone we love to see it so there's some kind of commotion and then the judge agrees to let her represent Brooke and Elle goes on to question the daughter of the deceased husband at first things are a little rocky and she's kind of struggling and she's just kind of asking the daughter questions about what she was doing that day until she finds out using her unique background and experiences that the daughter got a perm that day but didn't hear a shot go off because she was taking a shower which Elle knew to be a lie because you can't take a shower after getting a perm so she called the daughter out on that and she grilled the daughter who ended up confessing to unaliving her dad because she thought it was Brooke and not her dad who is walking through the door the audience and jury gasps and Elle looks super accomplished and the judge asks to take the witness into custody and they all walk away because the trial is over is that how it works if there's one person that confesses to a crime that another person is being tried for at the trial can you just kind of walk away and automatically be declared innocent so anyways Elle in a very realistic way wins the case in a matter of a few hours in her first experience being a lawyer in a trial then all this press comes running after her asking her questions and Warner comes to her being like take me back and he was like I was wrong and you are the girl for me and she's like really and he's like who bear I love you so uh yeah he's just as coming yet as we thought he was she then says oh Warner 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 boyfriend who's not such a complete bonehead and she walks away Elle Woods is definitely the most iconic and amazing character of development in a movie and we love to see it I think the main lessons in this movie is that you don't need to prove yourself to anyone especially a man and that really you just need to prove yourself to yourself and do what makes you happy and proud of yourself the movie ends without giving a speech at graduation with her and Vivian being best friends Warner graduating without a girlfriend and no job offer and this student Elle are dating and that's a happily ever after in conclusion is legally blonde a perfect movie to represent feminism and inclusion in my opinion absolutely not there are definitely some really good parts of a movie but also some really bad parts and some parts that the movie just doesn't touch on in the movie Elle Woods learns to let go of other people's ideas of her and form her own separate identity devoid of others expectations and preconceived notions of her I would argue that the movie isn't just about how you can be everything that represents femininity to the outward eye and still be powerful intelligent capable all of those qualities that bimbos are always assumed to not have but I would also argue that the movie relays the message that you don't have to be anything and that all the expectations of who you are and what you are are really made up by others and not something you have to live up to nor live by so does that make legally blonde the ultimate feminist movie no Elle Woods isn't necessarily a character that more feminists should embody or a character that should completely represent feminism something that as we discussed in this video is a very diverse and complex landscape in my opinion legally blonde is more a representation of how women should be represented in film instead of just having one dimensional characters that play into traditional sexist tropes and predictable roles which is still a huge problem as well as the male gaze in movies where women are simply there to give something to men usually their bodies even nowadays you'll see girl boss movies that are clearly trying to repackage and sell feminism to you but the characters are usually still one dimensional I think the complexity of Elle Woods as a character and her character development represents how women should be represented more in film and it's kind of sad that even today still 20 years after the release of legally blonde we're still having the same problems with women representation in film and I hope one day that can change I dread reading scripts that have no women involved in their creation because inevitably I get to that part where the girl turns to the guy and she goes what do we do now now do you know any woman in any crisis situation any woman in any crisis who has absolutely no idea what to do it's ridiculous that a woman wouldn't know what to do so anyway after I went to visit these studios and started telling people about this current pipeline and that there was barely any female leads in films and the industry was in crisis and people were aghast that's horrible they said and then they changed the subject and move on to their dinner and move on with their lives