Role of Conflict and power Paper
Kimberly Ferrusquilla
BSHS/385
9/22/2015
Jeffrey Engbrecht

Role of Conflict and power Paper
In this paper I will write about the movie “Legally Blonde”. This movie is about a sorority queen that was dumped by her boyfriend, she decided to follow him by enrolling into law school where his ex is currently enroll. She later realizes that she is a better lawyer than she ever imagined. In this paper I will identify the characters in the movie and provide an overview of their relation to each other. I will include my personal thoughts on what the movie is saying about communication in general. I will also analyze the role of communication between the main characters and their relationships with each other. I will describe power and conflict issues. I will also write about the purpose of self-disclosure. Lastly, I will discuss whether any self-disclosure issues exist between the parties.
The main characters in this movie are Elle, Paulette, Professor Callahan, Vivian, and warner. Elle is the main character of the movie who serves as the female lead challenging the norm of how society views women. Society may view women as loving, girly, and pink. Elle fills all of the stereotypes of a college girl age. Paulette is Elle’s friend. They both benefit from its relationship; Paulette learns to be assertive and Elle realizes their potential. Professor Callahan, hired her as an intern only to make sexual advanced on her just to make her believe that she can never become a good lawyer. Vivian, who is successful both academically and professionally, comes off as cold and unattractive. In this movie no one believed Elle had what it takes to get into Harvard and become a good lawyer. This portrays the first example of society stereotyping as her not achieving something with intelligence. Elle proves that they are wrong as she gets into Harvard Law School and staying true to herself. I believe that in this movie it shows how to be successful, even though no one else believes in you. The one person that can make it happen is only you. Do not let anyone else tell you that you cannot do something because everything in this life is possible. It also explains that society view women as girly girls who wear pink, and have small dogs in purses. They view those women as dumb and not willing to become successful in life. In this movie it shows that we should not judge a book with its cover. We have to meet a person without making assumptions. Legally Blonde it is a great movie because it gives women hope. They can achieve everything that they commit to themselves.
Nothing gets done without power. Power is the control, influence and exercise of authority over others (Role of conflict, 2013). Power is a necessity in our society. Most conflicts become power struggles, someone want to have the power of whatever conflict they are having. Power may be good if there is a need of someone to lead in order to get things done. According to the skills of self-disclosure, Power may be bad when someone abuses and it can become devastating. Self-Disclosure is when a therapist shares their own personal views or experience with a client with the purpose of improving the client’s emotional or mental state (skills of self-disclosure, 2015). It is a great idea to let their client know that they have a deeply understanding, so they can feel more comfortable. Therapist have to be careful and not go too deeply into their story because that will not help the client at all. It will be about the therapist not about the client if they talk a lot about the therapist experience. As a therapist they have to be careful because sometimes the client may look the therapist as a friend not a therapist if they show a lot of self- disclosure. In this movie Paulette show some kind of self-disclosure. She is the only one that believe in Elle. She was always there for her and was by her side all the time. No one else showed self-disclosure towards Elle
The film Legally Blonde is an example in the society that we live in. People think that the prefect girl should be blonde, blue eye, tall, and girly. Society thinks that a girly girl like Elle is consider a dumb girl. . In this film it want to tell society that we should not judge a book by ts cover. People should not look down at someone by the way they look. They tought that Elle was a dumb girl that was not going to be a good lawyer, not even graduate. Elle proved everyone that thought that she was not going to progress wrong. Anyone can progress, they just need to commit themselves to whatever they want to accomplish. People should not led their dream to go away just because someone tells them that they cannot achieve it. In This life everything is possible. This film teaches us a great lesson. It teaches us that society views women differently than men. That a girl has to be boyish in order to accomplish things. Society has to understand that any kind of girl can take a boys place, they just need to commit themselves in order to achieve it.

References

The Skill of Self-Disclosure: What You Need To Know - MastersInCounseling.org. (2012, November 1). Retrieved September 26, 2015.

Role of Power in Conflict. (ND). Retrieved September 26, 2015.