Tuesday, September 16, 2025

An Analysis of the Bizarre Strength of Elle Woods

Since the film adaptation of Amanda Brown's bestselling novel Legally Blond premiered in 2001, Reese Witherspoon has evolved into the Book Maven of Hollywood. Sharing this title with the OG, Oprah, Reese's Book Club has more than 2 million members and her production companies have adapted (and help create) blockbusters like Wild, Gone Girl, Where the Crawdads Sing, Big Little Lies, Little Fires Everywhere, and Daisy Jones & the Six to name just a few from the big and small screens. 

As a writer of female-driven fiction, there are few things I attempt to manifest more than seeing that coveted RBC round, yellow sticker on one of my novels. Being chosen for Reese’s Book Club is an outright guarantee that your novel will become a bestseller. So, how did a girl better versed in Prada than legalese catapult Reese into maven status? 

I think the key blockbuster quality that Legally Blond has is the character of Elle Woods. To point back at the bizarre behavior argument from my previous post about The Hunger Games, all blockbuster protagonists seem to make bizarre choices, like all the time. When your response to getting dumped by your boyfriend is to kill your senior year by studying non-stop so you can attend law school clear across the country to win him back, girl, you are dead smack in bizarre territory. 

Nobody in real life makes decisions like this. And if they try to, they almost always fail. But we want to make crazy bizarre leaps of faith like this, don't we? The admirable thing about Elle is that even when she’s failing (which is rare), she’s still growing and leveling up. 

From a thematic standpoint, Elle bets on herself. Always. She has moments of doubt, but they’re short-lived because one of her unique opinions or quirks swiftly offers up an outside-the-box solution. Elle’s character teaches viewers (and readers) that when you believe in yourself you can accomplish anything. It’s self-doubt that holds you back, not your perceived flaws. In Elle’s world, nothing that is part of her makeup is a flaw. It’s simply a fresh way to approach a familiar problem. 

If only we could all live that way, thinking our flaws are actually our strengths. The Legally Blond franchise lets us escape into that world and live vicariously through Elle’s inner courage.  

Elle could’ve been written as a sorority girl caricature–and she still frequently acts like one–but she has unique opinions and an admirable drive to do hard things. She goes all in on whatever she’s committed to. Whether it’s a toga party on campus or her first day in court, Elle fully commits to the task at hand in unique and unexpected ways. She subverts our expectations of someone who looks and acts like she does, and it’s hilarious and satisfying when she proves everyone wrong. She teaches us not to judge a book (or ourselves?) by its cover…even when it has a round, yellow Reese’s Book Club sticker on it. 

xo

B

10 comments:

  1. I was unaware that Reese Witherspoon had a book club, but I'm definitely going to check it out now. I agree that Elle Woods' character jumps into action before thinking over her options, but I believe that's precisely why we love her. She has the means to go to another university without financial hardship, but it isn't a crutch. Warner gets into Harvard by bribery, whereas she displays talent and hard work. In fact, her recognizing her privilege and helping her peers has perhaps saved sorority images everywhere.

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    1. My husband's cousin has a book on the RBC list! It's been a wild ride for her, for sure.

      I love love that Elle acts before she thinks. She's very literally the epitome "I think I can." and wears her heart out on her pink sleeves for everyone to benefit.

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  2. I was anti sorority in undergrad, but then I ended up with a daughter who became president of her sorority. I saw a different side of the sisterhood and how they supported each other and improved the community through fund raisers. Rewatching this movie reminded me of all the great things about embracing our feminine qualities that are often denigrated.

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    1. I'm still sorta anti-sorority, but understand it more than I did when I was younger. In undergrad, the sorority sisters/fraternal brothers I met seemed like they fell into two categories: 1. buying friends (Greek life is EXPENSIVE) and a built-in group of people to hang out with 2. or using it to network for later life. I can totally see where it fills that need to belong when you're starting college and adrift/alone for the first time as an adult.

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  3. Your line "it's self-doubt that holds you back, not your perceived flaws" is a great take away. A lot of blockbusters preach this to audiences with strong, admirable characters. Throughout her travails, Elle remains true to herself, doesn't conform, and emerges victorious. These kinds of stories inspire us, which is why we love them and revisit them over and over again.

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  4. I generally agree with everything.

    One alibi, you wrote this:

    . . . When your response to getting dumped by your boyfriend is to kill your senior year by studying non-stop so you can attend law school clear across the country to win him back, girl, you are dead smack in bizarre territory.
    Nobody in real life makes decisions like this. . . .

    Although it's probably true for most people, it didn't seem all that unrealistic to me. I happen know a good number of lawyers, including the kind that get themselves into elite law school. It's not a representative cross section of Americana. Among that bunch, I would not be surprised to see some of them pushing themselves into law school for far less. Not all of them are like that--thank goodness--but there are enough that are for me to see this part of Elle as easily within the realm of possibility.

    I don't mean to be critical of law students. Some become very adept at "being human." Others, however, maybe not so much. If I were to write a horror novel, it'd be about a law student in the law library late some evening on a weekend. Some subset of the school's law students, without very much embellishing at all, easily could provide all the "scary" the plot would need.

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  5. "Nobody in real life makes decisions like this. And if they try to, they almost always fail. But we want to make crazy bizarre leaps of faith like this, don't we?"

    What a solid take! This I think is the main core about it. Maybe this is something that separates blockbusters from indie-house art films. Yes, it's refreshing to see a regular person going about their regular day, and all the struggles that entails. That can be impactful in it's own way. But when unique, daring, and yes, bizzare, characters go on screen or on the page and pull off the wild stunts we just can't get enough.

    I'm not a psychologist (I did minor in it undergrad for whatever that's worth), but I'd chalk it up to part escapism and part optimistic self-insertion. We want to see ourselves in characters and we want to see that we might be capable of incredible things too. Maybe that's what it all boils down to?

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  6. I appreciate your observation that Elle is more than just a sorority caricature. In fact, when you brought it up, it occurred to me that that's the premise of her story arc: Elle Woods is a picture perfect sorority sister that learned to be more than that. She's almost presented as too smart to be "just" a sorority girl, what with her whip-crack comebacks and practical work ethic. Maybe Greek life was holding her back?

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