Movies like legally blonde: Cinema have done more than any other medium to perpetuate the stereotype that all women of attractive appearance are helpless damsels in need of a hero to save them. Hollywood has recently done well to debunk this image by depicting a new kind of beauty: one who is self-assured and who can rescue herself from any scenario with her charisma and wit, all while looking lovely.
Legally Blonde is a recent film that defies the old blonde stereotype by depicting the character of Elle Woods as a self-assured, outgoing woman. Having been inspired by a protagonist who refused to play by the rules society had set for her, I set out to research the other bombshells who have shown women of the female gender that they can achieve their goals without depending on anybody else.
1. Legally Blonde 2
It would be improper to kick off this list without first mentioning the sequel. After graduating from Harvard Law School, gorgeous Elle Woods flies to Washington, D.C. to lobby for a bill to outlaw animal testing. This is the plot of Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde.
Characters we’ve come to love, like Paulette (who gave us “You look like the Fourth of July! I’m craving a hot dog bad after hearing that!”), Margot and Serena, Elle’s sorority sisters, Emmett, and Bruiser. Grace, Reena, and Timothy, three of Congresswoman Rudd’s staff employees, are also presented to us.
2. 13 Going on 30
In this romantic comedy, star Jenna (Jennifer Garner) can’t wait to leave her awkward adolescence behind and embrace the enviable life of a “30, flirtatious, and thriving” adult. On her thirteenth birthday, Jenna’s best friend Matt (Mark Ruffalo) gives her some wishing dust, and she receives her wish: she wakes up in New York City as a successful magazine editor in her thirties.
There will be a cute romance and a wardrobe that can compete with Elle’s.
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3. Election
Reese Witherspoon played another driven young woman with political aspirations just a few years before Legally Blonde. Even while Witherspoon’s Tracy Flick isn’t as affable as Elle Woods, she’s just as dogged. When one of Tracy’s instructors (Matthew Broderick) tries to stop her from being elected class president, the competition in their tiny high school turns fierce. Check out Election if you’re in the mood for some nostalgic high school action and a resolutely attractive Reese Witherspoon.
4. Mean Girls
Mean Girls, like Legally Blonde, is a high school comedy that stars an all-female cast and has achieved cult classic status. Cady Heron (aka “kay-dee”), like Elle Woods, is the new girl at school who longs to fit in with the popular crowd. The film features a plethora of Saturday Night Live alums, including Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, and harkens back to the era’s clothes and catchphrases.
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5. The Help
In the early 1960s, Jackson, Mississippi is home to many white families who employ African-American maids. The Help is a touching story about these women. Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone), a young white woman, publishes a book about the maids’ lives.
It’s not hard to see why the novel on which this film is based became a bestseller. The tale is heartfelt and uplifting, and the performances are superb. It’s the perfect movie to watch if you want to feel happy about life.
6. The Blind Side
Based on the true story of Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), a homeless African-American boy whom a wealthy white family, the Tuohys, take in and raise as their own, The Blind Side is a feel-good film (Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw). Michael’s new family is important in his rise through the NFL ranks.
It’s impossible to see this movie without feeling a little bit of a sappy pang. An uplifting tale of family, love, and triumph over adversity. Bullock delivers a fantastic portrayal, and by the end of the movie, you’ll be rooting for Michael.
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7. The House Bunny
Playboy Bunny Shelly Darlington (Anna Farris) has a major dose of reality slapped in her face on her twenty-seventh birthday when she is evicted from the Playboy Mansion because she is too old to continue living there.
She’s depressed since she has no talents and no direction in life, but things turn around when she meets a bunch of sorority sisters who don’t quite fit the sorority stereotype of popular, confident attention grabbers. The former Playboy Bunny discovers her true calling among all these awkward, geeky girls: shaping them from uncoordinated globs of human clay into the ideal sorority members.
8. Sydney White
If life hands you lemons, make lemonade, or in Sydney White’s case, recruit an army of geeks and try to take over the student body. Sydney White (played by Amanda Bynes), a likable tomboy, attends college with the goal of committing to the famous sorority to which her mother belonged before her death.
Sydney learns that her heydays are a thing of the past. Now that Rachel Witchburn (Sara Paxton) has taken control of the university, the shallow sorority has become a force to be reckoned with. Rachel’s insecurity around Sydney prompts her to plot Sydney’s exclusion from the sorority, which she carries out despite Sydney’s completion of the initiation requirements.
9. Two Weeks Notice
In my opinion, Sandra Bullock reigns supreme when it comes to romantic comedies set in the office. She portrays Lucy, a selfless attorney who works for Hugh Grant’s affluent dreamboat character. In the end, Bullock decides to leave and find a replacement because Grant is too dependent on her. But now that she sees how well the new girl is doing, she’s having second thoughts.
10. Princess Diaries
Grove High School junior Mia Thermopolis lives with her mother, Helen, and her cat, Fat Louie. Clarisse, Mia’s grandmother, comes to tell her that she is a princess and the only heir to the Genovian throne, turning her world upside down. Mia’s world is turned upside down by The Princess Diaries, what with the new look and the etiquette classes.
Mia’s transformation from teen to princess makes Clarisse ecstatic, but her newfound celebrity status causes her peers to treat her differently as she is chauffeured to school in a limousine and continuously stalked by the press. Over time, she adjusts to the additional demands of her position as Princess and learns to strike a reasonable balance between her many obligations.
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