ipl-logo

Stereotypes In Legally Blonde

1050 Words5 Pages

Comedy and Theme
The texts in the genre are all consider Comedy. Each of these are comedies, together they identify race, gender and social class within their storylines. Stereotypes play a large role in making these movies laugh out loud, funny. The main characters in the movies are the actors playing out the stereotypical roles of their race/gender/social class. The chosen movies by which to identify these themes were created over the previous twenty plus years are, Legally Blonde identifying gender and social class, Trading Places presenting social class and race, and Get Hard pushing the bar with race and social class stereotypes.
Commonalities and Chosen Issues
In Legally Blonde, a 2001 comedy directed by Robert Luketic, the main …show more content…

The entire movie is based on stereotypes and perceptions of gender, race and social class. A very wealthy investment banker, James, is set up by his soon to be father-in law to take the fall for his illegal behaviors. Facing jail time, James mistakenly identifies Darnell, a black man owning and operating a valet service, as a carjacker solely based on the color of his skin, assumes Darnell has a history of being in jail based on his statistical reviews. Darnell a hard working honest man looking to make a living for his family, reluctantly agrees, and doesn’t deny his nonexistent jail time, to train James how to survive in prison for a large sum of money. Because Darnell has never been to prison he can only train James on stereotypes of prison behavior. After James failing all attempts of strength training, Darnell attempts to train James to attempt homosexual activity to stay “safe” in prison. Farrell states, “We’re playing fictitious characters who are articulating some of the attitudes and misconceptions that already exist” (Ge & Bennett, 2015). This is a push the bar R-rated comedy that race, gender and social class throughout the film. Walking a fine line between funny and hitting home, I feel this film, will help bring to light many of the stereotypical feelings many have encountered, and by making fun of these stereotypes, may just help those moviegoers in realizing how outlandish some of these stereotypes

Show More
Related
1443 Words | 6 Pages

The film Girl’s Trip has been applauded for being a celebration of blackness in the primarily white film industry. The majority of the cast and the writers for Girl’s Trip are people of color. The film was much more successful than its “white counterpart” Rough Night in box office revenue and reviews. However, most of the black characters in Girl’s Trip shift through various controlling images throughout the movie. The reason these stereotypes are less obvious than they are in some other films is because each characters portrays multiple stereotypes and different times throughout the film.

Read More
656 Words | 3 Pages

While watching this movie it does not take long to realize that most of the characters are black men. Also the communication style between the characters is very different from an average American that may be watching the movie. Through viewing the culture and communication styles of the characters it is very easy to tell that the director of the film has some experience in this type of life style. A good example of this is when Tre tells the story about hooking up with a girl. He tells a story about sneaking into a girl’s house then the grandma coming in and almost catching him (Singleton, 1991).

Read More
235 Words | 1 Pages

The nonfiction story, Band-Aid For 800 Children, written by Eli Sastow and the fiction story, The Red Umbrella, written by Christina Diaz Gonzalez, are two different stories focusing on family separation. Both stories are written throughout perspectives, showing struggles families have to go through. Both stories have similarities and differences, however, this will be focusing on the similarities. Both stories revolve immigration and family separation.

Read More
824 Words | 4 Pages

It is truly evident that the fundamental focal point of the whole motion picture is bigotry. Bigotry is characterized as the conviction that all individuals from each race forces attributes or capacities particular to that race, particularly to recognize it as substandard compared to another race, which prompts preference and oppression somebody of an alternate race. The film determines its attention on bigotry in the unified states. As we clearly all know, prejudice has been one of the greatest issues that american culture has looked since its establishing and even previously.

Read More
580 Words | 3 Pages

Society is built upon a grand scale of assumptions and misunderstandings, all of which tend to lead us in a path for the worst. There is, however, a remedy for our seemingly infinite list of problems that lead us to war, hate, and unrest. Unfortunately, this remedy is not very likely to be found because we have not been looking in the right places, which happen to be right beneath our noses. You see, we as a society have spent our lives writing books, directing movies, and painting murals, and yet we have overlooked our own genius; Footloose, The Breakfast Club, and Dirty Dancing. These three movies all share a common thread, and it’s not their epic soundtracks and classic ending scenes.

Read More
522 Words | 3 Pages

In the essay “The Common Elements of Oppression” from Suzanne Pharr’s book Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism we learn about the different types of oppression. While watching the film Milk (2008) many of those elements of oppression are being strongly depicted. Throughout this piece examples will be given on how the film depicts three of those elements as described in Pharr’s book. The three elements of oppression that were the strongest in the film are: a defined norm, stereotyping and isolation.

Read More
953 Words | 4 Pages

Diaz also describes how these girls will react when put into certain situations. The story is built upon multiple stereotypes again different races of women. The different stereotypes range all the way from social class, to ethnicity and where she comes from. These stereotypes influence him on how to treat each girl even though they all should be treated with dignity and respect, not just being used for sex.

Read More
1121 Words | 5 Pages

The decision to attend a white school is a tough one and Junior understands that for him to survive and to ensure that his background does not stop him from attaining his dreams; he must battle the stereotypes regardless of the consequences. In this light, race and stereotypes only makes junior stronger in the end as evident on how he struggles to override the race and stereotypical expectations from his time at the reservation to his time at Rearden. How race and stereotypes made

Read More
1285 Words | 6 Pages

Each of these concepts are utilized at the advantage of men, and the disadvantage of women, and has shown to provide detrimental consequences and results for women in society. However, in this film, and other films by Tyler Perry, appear to take the added step to combat these aspects that are present in the media’s portrayal of women. While these are present in the movie, he often makes a point to combat it with an inverse portrayal of each

Read More
1180 Words | 5 Pages

Towards the beginning of this movie, many blacks were looking at the white men with hatred for raping and nearly killing a ten year old black girl. The men transformed the innocent little girl’s life forever. The men were instantly

Read More
1600 Words | 7 Pages

As defined by the Oxford Dictionary, ideology is “A system of ideas and ideals, especially one that forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.” In film, the main ideological topics represented are gender, class, race, and sexuality. Although Dude, Where’s my Car? has been reviewed as “Dude, your movie sucks” by The Austin Chronicle and having a “thin, laughless plot”, gender, race, class, and sexuality ideological ideas can be found scattered throughout it. Dude, Where’s my Car? has four main choices for race: White, Black, Asian, and Latino.

Read More
418 Words | 2 Pages

Moreover, demonstrate consequences are taken to oppress racial and ethnic minorities to keep them in a subservient position. Overall, this film has provided me with a visual depiction of how stereotypes are a mental tool that enforces racial segregation and self-hate. The label of “White” became a necessity for Sarah Jane to achieve in society. To attain it she needed to move to a new city, change her name and deny her mother.

Read More
1839 Words | 8 Pages

Cultural theories by Kathleen Rowe, Laura Mulvey and Stuart Hall can help the audience seek an explanation to how these stereotypical gender roles are portrayed in the movie and how it can create power for the specific

Read More
745 Words | 3 Pages

Stereotyping is an issue that affects all ages, genders, and races. Not all stereotypes are bad, but when you maliciously stereotype it becomes a problem. In S.E. Hinton’s young adult novel The Outsiders, stereotyping is a significant issue. There are two gangs in this novel, the “greasers”, and the “Socs”. The greasers live on the east side and are known as “hoods”.

Read More
610 Words | 3 Pages

Black women are treated less than because of their ascribed traits, their gender and race, and are often dehumanized and belittled throughout the movie. They are treated like slaves and are seen as easily disposable. There are several moments throughout the film that show the racial, gender, and class inequalities. These moments also show exploitation and opportunity hoarding. The Help also explains historical context of the inequality that occurred during that time period.

Read More

More about Stereotypes In Legally Blonde

Related Topics

Open Document