Yes, I am proud to admit that Elle Woods from Legally Blonde is my inspiration. It may sound silly because of all of the strong women out there that I could outwardly say is my role model and I choose a fictional character. However, Elle Woods is not just a character, but someone I strive to be like in my everyday life.
She proves that you cannot judge a book by its cover. She is absolutely gorgeous and she is intelligent which is often overlooked. She breaks the stereotypes both for women and women who specifically have blonde hair. Compared to their counterpart, women are still looked down upon as weaker and not as aggressive, which in turn, makes them less valued employees for high profile positions. She had so many people doubt her because of her appearance that she could not be a lawyer because she did not look “serious.” Just because someone likes to apply makeup and do their hair does not mean that they are not serious. So, according to the film’s antagonists, if you look pretty you aren’t serious and if you are not attractive you are serious? She goes on to prove everyone wrong by showing that you simply cannot judge anyone based on appearances. I think it is absolutely powerful that they made her character a blonde because of the stereotype that comes with the color, “dumb blonde”. This stereotype is absolutely ridiculous, unless I did not get the memo that hair color suddenly determines your intelligence, then I apologize for not being up to date.
She also destroys another stereotype that is plaguing college campuses all over the world…. Major discrimination. Elle, a fashion major at CULA talks to the guidance counselor about going to Harvard Law School and the guidance counselor just laughed at her. Elle stated that she had a 4.0 GPA, but according to the counselor, her classes would not impress the admittance council. Just because she is a fashion major does not mean that she is not intelligent or will not succeed in law school. Law schools do not have a cookie cutter major that is required for undergraduates to declare in order to apply for law school. So many students are put down for the type of majors that they have. I am a Communications major at my college and I constantly have people come up to me saying, “Oh you’re a Communications major? What can you even do with that? I bet it’s easy.” The reason why these questions are irritating for me is because my school is primarily health science majors (nursing and pre-physical therapy) so I am the minority at school. I am considering going to law school and knowing that if Elle Woods, being a fashion major, confidently applied and got in, then I shouldn’t be afraid to apply.
Her dedication to her future is extremely motivational, especially for me. Whenever I am feeling down and not very motivated to do what I need to do, I will watch Legally Blonde and *BAM* I have the energy to get what I need done. It may sound silly that a fictional movie motivates me to get stuff done. When I watch the movie and see how people doubted her and how hard she worked to show everyone how talented and skilled she really is shows me that I can do the same.
Finally, I am in love with her self-confidence and kindness toward others. She does not let the haters bring her down during her journey into law. People would rudely state to her that she was not smart enough to get into law school or get into the internship program once she started attending. When being faced with constant negativity, it can be hard to see the positive in yourself. If I was in her shoes, I probably would have given up on law school and go on with life as pre-determined by my label-ers. I personally struggle with self-confidence, so seeing her stand up to those who doubt her and being able to prove them wrong is awesome to watch. Not only does she have such great confidence, she is not arrogant. She is willing to stick her neck out there for anyone that she meets and is a loyal friend. She even stayed sweet as pie to women at the law school who would bully her and try to make her feel bad about herself. She did not resort to anger and just stood up for herself, while staying kind. She embodies how we should be acting in our everyday lives.
And remember, “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people don’t shoot their husbands.” -Elle Woods (This is one of my favorite Legally Blonde quotes that always leaves a smile on my face and I hope it did the same for you).
