Wednesday, October 21, 2009

A Blonde Walks Into a Bar...


Thanks to television, film, and a never-ending supply of jokes, blondes have been dubbed dumb. In television shows such as "Three's Company," Chrissy is portrayed as the naive, innocent, and ditsy blonde girl who encountered many simple misunderstandings throughout the show. For example, when the police investigated a robbery at her apartment, he asked, "Who would leave an envelope marked 'Rent' with money in it in plain sight? No one's that stupid." Chrissy replied, "But we are!" Her stereotypical good looks also caused her to be lusted after by her male roommate, Jack.

Additionally, the film, "Legally Blonde" is also a play on this label. Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) is a pretty blonde who is very popular in her sorority and with the boys. But by seeming to break the stereotype, she gets into Harvard Law School (mostly to follow her ex-boyfriend rather than to become a lawyer, which in itself is another stereotype) but then realizes that she is more than just a pretty girl. Thanks to her knowledge of designer shoes (an additional stereotype), she is able to win the big lawsuit at the end of the movie, win the new guy (Luke Wilson), and become a successful lawyer. Although Elle breaks the premonition that blonde girls are not smart, the film further deepens the stereotypical view with Elle's stereotypical characteristics, such as her obsession with pink, her over the top outfits, and her puppy.

There is even a website solely dedicated to the apparent ditziness that is supposedly found in all blonde girls (http://www.coolblondejokes.com/) thanks to how they are portrayed by the media.

4 comments:

  1. I love how Elle Woods kicks butt in the court room in the end of Legally Blonde! I think that although she does embody all these typical, comical blonde stereotypes, such as being obsessed with pink, being the president of her sorority, and constantly going to the nail salon- I believe ultimately by winning a court case based off of a murder trial breaks all the dumb blonde stereotypes Elle embodies because she comes out on top!

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  2. The dumb blonde is probably one of the most drawn out, overused stereotypes. I'm almost sick of the humor because its all the same and overplayed!

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  3. Even though Elle did win the court case in Legally Blonde and proved that she is smart, let's not forget that the reason she was able to was because of her knowledge of beauty products! It enforces that what she knows is limited and it just happens to be applicable. It was brilliant, though, to be able to use her cosmetics knowledge to the court room and prove them wrong. I cheered for her!

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  4. Just look at Julia Roberts' depiction of Erin Brockovich--while she may not have been blonde, she knew how to use certain physical assets to get what she wanted. Apparently, women who play dumb are endearing to men, or at least certain kind of men?

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