Role of Conflict and Power Paper

Legally Blonde Legally Blonde is a movie which shows little variety in characters as all of the main characters presented are highly stereotypical and all are white males and females, who all are upper-middle class. This movie shows how sexism is rooted into society and it does absolutely nothing to challenge that with its characters. The men are all shown to have some form of a position of power whether in the work life or in their personal lives and relationships and use this power to get what they want. Women in this movie are seen to be there simply for the pleasure of the men, and placed in two categories which are mainly based on their appearance or the way they act. This movie is the story of Elle Woods, a very cute and friendly student who is also the most popular girl in her Los Angeles sorority. Elle has just finished her studies in Fashion and is getting prepared to marry her boyfriend, Warner, who will soon be going to Harvard Law School in Boston. Unfortunately, Warner, who is actually a somewhat superficial jerk, decides to break up with Elle, because he wants to find a more serious looking girlfriend who will help his career in politics after he gets out of law school. Although Legally Blonde does have many outstanding points in which the main character overcomes stereotypes and challenges she faces, there are many faults to the movie. Under any feminist movie list, it can be guaranteed the popular movie, Legally Blonde, will make an appearance, because of how the main character must wage the battle of her life, for her guy, for herself and for all the blondes who suffer endless indignities every day.
Identify the Characters in the Movie With this in mind, the major characters in this movie are the following. Elle Woods, played by the actress Reese Witherspoon, is the main character of the movie Legally Blonde. Elle is a very pretty, smart and sweet young woman who decides to completely change her life and go to Harvard Law School. In order to follow her boyfriend who has decided to break up with her. Next is Warner Huntington the third, played by the actor Matthew Davis. Elle’s boyfriend, who is both snobby and shallow, who decides to leave her because he feels he needs to find a more serious looking girlfriend that will help him with his future career in politics. Now Paulette, played by the actress Jennifer Coolidge. An insecure working class hairdresser who becomes Elle’s best friend. Also Vivian, played by the actress Selma Blair. She is Warner’s new girlfriend at Harvard, who at first treats Elle very poorly, to later become really good friends. Then there is a twist with Brooke Taylor Windham, played by the actress Ali Larter, as a successful business woman who makes well known exercise videos, who is charged with the murder of her rich husband. Which leads to Professor Callahan, played by Victor Garber. A criminal defense lawyer and professor at Harvard, who is hired to defend Brooke, and who agrees to let Elle work as an intern on the case. Who leads to Emmett, played by the actor Luke Wilson, a young lawyer and Professor Callahan’s assistant. Who also ends up dating Elle and proposes to her, on graduation day from Harvard Law School.
An Overview of Their Relation to Each Other Although life seems to be going fantastic for Elle Woods at first, she is dumped for being not serious enough. However she realizes the perfect way to get Warner back, by becoming a serious law student. Elle managed to get into Harvard Law School, but that was clearly only the beginning of striving to prove her worth to Warner, professors, fellow students, and even herself. When Elle gets to Harvard she faces Vivian Kensington, who is a threat to Elle because she is a smart, serious, and law student. Which Vivian also had no problem flaunting the fact that she is currently engaged to Warner, Elle’s entire reason for being there. Because of Warner, Elle pretty much meets everyone that is a part of the major characters. The professor Callahan’s class is the class they all meet in at first, which is where Elle and Vivian meet before knowing who they are. Professor Callahan gives Elle a hard time at first, to end up adding her as a part of his intern program for a murder trial. Elle ends up knowing the individual on trial, Brooke, who is very wealthy and does videos to lose weight. They instantly clicked as shown on the movie because of them both being blonde, wealthy, and interested in the same beauty related things. Then Emmet turns out to be Callahan’s assistant, which Elle was not aware of. She met him after being thrown out of Callahan’s class, thinking he was a student like her. Meanwhile the entire movie Elle has a new best friend who changes her way of seeing life, Paulette. Paulette sees life very differently due to the fact that she is not as wealthy as Elle. Therefore helps Elle see the reality of things, when Elle also helps her feel better about herself and boost her self-esteem after being a victim of domestic violence.
Personal Thoughts on What the Movie is Saying About Communication in General In reality this movie may seem more realistic now a days with how society has changed. In general there are many times throughout the movie where communication is not very clear. The fact that there is lies being told at the very beginning of the movie, shows how poor communication is within the characters. Not being honest from the beginning can change the whole path of life for an individual. If Warner had not lied to Elle and told her how he really felt, without leaving any hope of them getting to be together in the future, maybe Elle would not have done all that she did. Elle most likely would not have tried to change who she is to get Warner to be with her again. It all always begins with one lie, even if it is the simplest lie, you never truly know how bad it can actually affect the individual you are feeding the lie to. In my opinion the movie is saying that communication is very important and the way you communicate with others. Anything can be misunderstood, the more clearly and honest you are the better the result.
Analyze the Role of Communication Between the Main Characters and Their Relationships With Each Other In spite of the lies being told at the very beginning of the movie, the characters did communicate well with each other. Through the movie the characters always seemed to communicate more in person, face to face, rather than text messages, phone calls, or by any type of mail. Mainly everything that had to be said was always said on a face to face basis. There were a few phone calls here and there. Which in a few phone calls the characters did not really say much, and were easily distracted meanwhile performing the call. When as to being in person the attention given was very good. Details were always given when trying to prove a point.
Describe Power and Conflict Issues There are many examples of this in everyday life. No matter where you live there is a presence of a male dominated world. It especially extends into the working fields. There are professions that categorically women’s jobs like nursing, school teacher, secretarial jobs. The rest of the professional world is mainly male dominated. In Legally Blonde the male dominance over the legal field is everywhere. This movie is based on a typical good looking girl, the typical female in which society sees as perfect. Through this movie the gender biases and the male dominance over the legal and field is very obvious. It might be a little over the top to get the point across, but it did not take a lot of analyzing to see the gender stereotypes or gender roles because they were practically spelled out and stamped on everyone’s foreheads. Basically this movie pointed out many stereotypes that are very real in our society today.
What is the purpose of self-disclosure? Discuss whether any self-disclosure issues exist between the parties. To clarify, the purpose to self-disclosure could be any verbal or nonverbal communication revealing something about yourself. It is personal information being given to another person, it does not always have to be deep to be useful or meaningful. We as humans want to make ourselves open to others, through self-disclosure, but we also want to maintain a sense of privacy. Therefore self-disclosure issues definitely exist between the parties in this movie. From beginning to end of the movie. Not being truthful about ending a romantic relationship lead to many self-disclosure within Elle and all the other characters as previously spoken about.
Conclusion
In the long run this movie will remain to be entertaining for many years to come. Elle’s sorority life in California is all about mani-pedis, Prada shoes, and snagging the right guy. She may decide to go to Harvard for the wrong reasons, like following a guy, but she learns to value her brains in the end. There is very little language issues and no violence at all. So many young girls who show interest in girly things like fashion, hair, and make up get stereotyped as being superficial and unintelligent. However this movie proves that wrong. It shows that with determination and lots of hard work even a girl like Elle Woods can get into Harvard. That it is not about how you look or dress, but for how hard you work. In addition to being confident in yourself and not letting others tell you how good you can be.

References
Legally Blonde. (1990-2015). Retrieved from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250494/