When I first saw “Legally Blonde”, the film instantly became a favorite of mine. To my ten year old self’s eyes, this film had a beautiful woman, Elle, who was in a sorority -which was awesome- and had a hot boyfriend, which was so far out of my reach that I just lived vicariously through her relationship, until he unceremoniously dumped her. So she, understandably, cried her eyes out, ate dozens of chocolates, and criticized TV and movie “love”, proclaiming that the male love interest was a liar upon saying that he loved his lady.
With a swift kick in the butt, she decided that the only way to get out of her funk was, not to move on and find a healthy relationship, but to stalk her ex boyfriend all the way to Harvard Law School to prove she was serious and win him back. Throughout the course of the story, Elle ends up finding an interest in law and an interest in someone else. Although there were some twists and turns, Elle comes out on top with a law degree and a new boyfriend, soon to be hubby.
Now, my ten year old self stopped thinking about the movie when the credits started to roll, but nineteen year old me started to analyze it.
Based on information from Steve Kaplan’s “Hidden Tools of Comedy" which breaks down the roots of comedy into about ten different roles, Elle’s character can be broken down into “archetypes” that create comedy. She falls into the “sorority girl” and “the blonde.”
The “sorority girl” archetype provides that Elle is in a sorority, is a fitness nut, has a healthy and attractive body, has a bunch of girlfriends, must have all of her decisions approved by her girlfriends, was homecoming queen, and is a coddled-wealthy girl.
“The blonde” archetype provides that she is blonde, and insinuates that she is unintelligent, which is immediately challenged by the title of the film.
And, while it may not be a character archetype, she is a total badass.
The contrast between the archetypes and the situation that she is put in creates comedy, by highlighting the difference between her background and the typical Harvard student’s background. An example of this contrast is when Elle first arrives at Harvard, dressed head-to-toe in hot pink, carrying her tiny chihuahua, followed by a very large moving truck, carrying her countless material items that come along with her wealthy-lavish-living that she is used to, including a plush pink couch, and matching rug.
Probably the most important tool, would be “Winning” which basically states that comedy comes from a character that will do anything and everything, no matter the cost or effect, in order to win. This is the premise of the entire movie. Elle, once making up her mind, decides to do anything in her power in order to win her boyfriend back. The entire film is comprised of the decisions she makes in order to win. She decides to go to law school to win him back. She decides to get one of her professor's internships to win him back, etc. While making these decisions she starts realizing that she doesn’t want to win him back, but wants to win the respect of her peers and professors, but then decides that she just wants to believe in herself.
This is just a reminder that Elle Woods is the bomb and we should all love Legally Blonde a bit more now that there is an “adult reason” to shamelessly watch this film.
