Latest / Political Junkie Podcast / Political Junkie Summer Film Festival: Reese Witherspoon’s “Legally Blonde” (2001) with Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

Transcript

Political Junkie Summer Film Festival: Reese Witherspoon’s “Legally Blonde” (2001) with Natalia Mehlman Petrzela · Political Junkie Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: So today we're going to talk about Legally Blonde.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: And the plot of Legally Blonde,
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: for those of you who have not yet watched it,
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: so there will be some spoilers,
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: is that Elle Woods,
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: who is the president of her sorority at a Southern California,
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Los Angeles university that seems a lot like USC.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's called C-U-L-A, but it's a fictional place.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: CULA.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: And she is expecting to be proposed to by her boyfriend,
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: who's a sort of big,
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: handsome,
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: hunky,
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: dumb guy.
• 0:37
  And instead,
• 0:39
  he breaks up with her and he says,
• 0:41
  I'm going to have a political career.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going on to Harvard Law School now.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I need a wife who can really support my political career.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not you.
• 0:50
  And he's basically suggesting that she's really dumb and
• 0:55
  without any substance whatsoever.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: So how does she respond to that, Natalia?
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Natalia.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Well, she is heartbroken because she'd been waiting to be proposed to.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: So she has that sort of like conventional feminine response.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: But then she's like, I guess I'm going to Harvard Law School, too.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: And she basically puts her nose to the grindstone.
• 1:13
  And then I think this really kind of sweet and inspiring way,
• 1:17
  she's both kind of
• 1:19
  so clueless that she doesn't realize that a fashion major from
• 1:22
  this fictional
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: university is like not exactly like the typical candidate.
• 1:27
  But she's also so smart and hardworking that she gets her 179
• 1:31
  on her LSATs.
• 1:33
  And she's such a sort of unconventional candidate that she
• 1:36
  makes it in and then
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: does very,
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: very well there.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: And you know,
• 1:41
  it's a really sort of girl bossy thing because when she shows
• 1:45
  up and apparently
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: this was based on the original author,
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: a woman named Amanda Brown,
• 1:50
  who wrote a novel about her experiences at Stanford law school
• 1:54
  and about showing up
• 1:55
  at Stanford as a blonde and a super feminine person and going
• 2:01
  to like the women's
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: center or something like that.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: And basically finding everybody is a super serious and a,
• 2:07
  totally annoying dyke basically and so and that of course
• 2:12
  there's no lesbian themes
• 2:13
  in Legally Blonde but Elle shows up and all the women are like
• 2:17
  super politically
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: correct and gender non-binary and so on and so forth they really sort of
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: previews a lot of the anti-woke stuff that we're seeing today.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And this is 2001, right?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so, but Elle is also what I think is cool about it.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: And this is Reese Witherspoon.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: She is the ultimate in femininity.
• 2:41
  It's like she does not have a single object that cannot be
• 2:44
  zhuzhed up a little bit
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: and made more feminine.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: What are some of those objects?
• 2:51
  Oh,
• 2:51
  well,
• 2:52
  the main object,
• 2:53
  not to objectify a dog,
• 2:54
  but is her dog bruiser.
• 2:56
  So she carries around this little chihuahua in her rotating
• 3:00
  handbag collection,
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: which are all these like,
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 3:04
  pink and shiny handbags and everything she wears is like
• 3:08
  glittery or sparkly.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: High heels.
• 3:11
  She walks the way you would imagine a Barbie doll walking if
• 3:13
  she actually walked.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: She always has like big glam hair, kind of like Kristi Noem hair.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, 2001 and very, very blonde.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: She wears these little fascinator hats.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's over the top.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Way over the top.
• 3:28
  And yet you start to really cheer for her because all these
• 3:32
  super serious women
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: start bullying her.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: And there's this,
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: big moment where they say,
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: oh,
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: there's,
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: well,
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: she overhears them saying that there's a party happening.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, oh, there's a party.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: I love parties.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: And they really don't want her to come.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: But instead they say, oh, well, it's a costume party.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so she shows up dressed like a Playboy bunny.
• 3:53
  And that is a real pivot in the film because it's one of those
• 3:57
  moments where any
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: one of us would say,
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: oh,
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: my God,
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: I would be completely humiliated by this.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: she's kind of like Scarlett O'Hara in the red dress.
• 4:08
  She just takes it on and marches through this party dressed in
• 4:13
  her bunny outfit.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the pivot.
• 4:16
  And finally,
• 4:18
  she starts being taken seriously because she starts to figure
• 4:22
  out how to mesh
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: her femininity with her intellectual side, right?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 4:28
  And I think one of the things that's interesting is like the
• 4:30
  kind of foils of the
• 4:31
  other kind of women that she's like up against there and who
• 4:34
  are her tormentors.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: So there's definitely like,
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: there are no lesbian themes in this movie,
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: but like one of the figures who is her counterpart in many ways is,
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: is this minor character who's like,
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: yeah,
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: I have like a master's in feminist studies from UC Berkeley.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: And,
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: she's like clearly supposed to embody this like over the top,
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: like kind of like left wing lesbian character.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so there's her and she just like hates this over the top femininity.
• 5:00
  And then I think there's also this interesting East Coast,
• 5:03
  West Coast thing going.
• 5:05
  And like her ex-boyfriend Warner's new love interest,
• 5:09
  who's supposed to be wife material,
• 5:10
  is
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: isn't just like a little arm candy political wife.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: She's like a serious young woman who's also at Harvard Law School,
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: who wears these like turtlenecks played by Selma Blair,
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: and who went to presumably like Choate or somewhere like that.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: So there's those kind of like serious women who she's up against too.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: But sorry, what's the other thing that you asked me?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: Why are we rooting for her?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Why do we start rooting for her?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was like rooting for her.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: I was just like
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: You go, girl.
• 5:38
  I mean,
• 5:38
  pulling off that Playboy Bunny outfit at a Harvard Law School
• 5:42
  party,
• 5:43
  including we knew.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: She doesn't know.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: But we know.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: The viewers know that it's a trap.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, right.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's very clear.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you're rooting for her because these other women are such bitches.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like, they're so judgmental.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: They're so rude.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: They're the mean girl bullies.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I think there's also this kind of,
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: like,
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: interesting inversion that's happening that's,
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: like,
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: very unsubtle.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: But, like,
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Reese Witherspoon,
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: her character,
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: Elle Woods,
• 6:08
  is usually who you would think of as being the kind of queen
• 6:11
  bee mean girl.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: She's the president of her sorority.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: She's like this perfect blonde.
• 6:16
  She's supposed to be the intimidating one that's circling fat
• 6:20
  on the rush girl's
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: bodies and et cetera.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: And instead,
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: the side of her that comes out is,
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: yes,
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: a little bit guileless and wide-eyed,
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: but it's
• 6:30
  friendly and sweet and earnest and actually open to engaging
• 6:35
  with these other people.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, these other people are these like horrible, judgmental monsters.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I think it, yeah, that's kind of the way I felt about it.
• 6:45
  So we're sort of circling around the piece that doesn't get
• 6:49
  talked about as much,
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: which is why this is set at Harvard University.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: And there's one simple answer for that,
• 6:56
  which is that Stanford and UCLA refused to let the filmmakers
• 7:01
  use their names.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so they set it at Harvard.
• 7:04
  It's kind of interesting that Harvard said yes,
• 7:06
  and I couldn't find any details on that.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: But why is Harvard the place that is perfect for this to happen?
• 7:16
  Well,
• 7:16
  Harvard is just like it's this recognized brand,
• 7:20
  like internationally,
• 7:22
  right?
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like Harvard represents so many things, too.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: This was like a feature film shown at multiplexes everywhere.
• 7:29
  This was not like an independent film making this like
• 7:32
  sophisticated commentary on
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: the Ivy League.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think that,
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 7:36
  everybody knows Harvard and it represents both incredibly elite
• 7:41
  like education,
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: but also I think it's like,
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: as I mentioned before,
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: this perfect kind of East Coast counterpart to what she was.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that, like, I find it interesting.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: There are a couple scenes in there that I thought were fascinating where,
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: she comes from Bel Air and she's really wealthy.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: And a few things happen.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: One,
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: she kind of says to Warner,
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: like Warner Huntington III or whatever his name is,
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: her boyfriend,
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: who's like,
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: you're not wife material,
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: and I'm like from this elite background.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: And she's like, I'm from Bel Air.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: I live across the street from Aaron Spelling.
• 8:16
  And like the idea that like,
• 8:18
  yeah,
• 8:19
  she's very wealthy,
• 8:20
  maybe wealthier than he is.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: But that's kind of like new money and kind of trash.
• 8:24
  And then similarly,
• 8:25
  her own father is like,
• 8:27
  you're going to go to law school?
• 8:28
  Like law school is for like sad people who are angry about the
• 8:32
  world and want to
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: fight all the time.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you belong in like, you know, being a decorator or something.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so that was like really interesting.
• 8:41
  And I thought Harvard just provides like the perfect known
• 8:44
  place where they don't
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: have to do a lot of work to establish the context,
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: but to kind of set up that contrast really well.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's right.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: And weirdly, I was at Harvard yesterday doing research.
• 8:55
  And one of the things that really struck me is that the lawns
• 8:58
  are incredibly lush
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: and they have perfect mulched circles around the trees and
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it just like screams old money.
• 9:09
  Whereas if you go to Stanford,
• 9:12
  for example,
• 9:12
  it's really,
• 9:13
  really beautiful.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: But the entire climate is different.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can't you can't do that kind of thing there.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: But,
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: the other thing I was thinking about,
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to stick with this old money,
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: new money theme for just a second,
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: which is.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: But when she applies,
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: and there's everything,
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: they don't have video interviews at Harvard Law School.
• 9:36
  But when she applies,
• 9:37
  there are all of these old white men sitting around in suits.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: And let me just say,
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think there's a single black or brown character in the movie,
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: is there?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: No, well, the lesbian woman is kind of like ethnically indiscriminate.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah.
• 9:51
  The entire admissions committee,
• 9:53
  they're all of these stuffy white men in suits.
• 9:56
  And one of them is reading her CV and it's like she's a fashion
• 10:00
  major and she was
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: president of her sorority.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, who is this person?
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then the head of the admissions committee says,
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: well,
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: we do say we're interested in diversity.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is not how most of us understand diversity.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: So here's a question.
• 10:20
  This whole film series is about the American cultural
• 10:24
  fascination with Harvard.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Why is it spoofing Harvard?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Is it elevating Harvard?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: What does this movie do for the brand Harvard?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well,
• 10:38
  I too was kind of surprised they allowed themselves to be in
• 10:41
  there because they
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: don't exactly need,
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: to pay for brand placement.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think it's spoofing Harvard.
• 10:47
  I think it's spoofing that kind of older,
• 10:51
  you know,
• 10:51
  elitist,
• 10:52
  exclusionary culture.
• 10:53
  Because remember,
• 10:54
  like,
• 10:54
  they say,
• 10:55
  like,
• 10:55
  well,
• 10:55
  I guess we need to be a little more diverse.
• 10:57
  And this is their attempt at diversity,
• 10:59
  which it is real diversity in one way.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then she kills it.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: She gets the internship with a top professor.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: She's, like, absolutely crushing it in class.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: She connects with professors.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, she thrives there, and she's able to do it.
• 11:14
  So,
• 11:14
  like,
• 11:15
  yeah,
• 11:15
  I would say it's spoofing sort of that older gatekeeping
• 11:18
  dimension of Harvard.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:21
  I don't think Harvard was—I don't think anyone's not applying
• 11:23
  to Harvard because of this movie.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: But, yeah, I don't think it did that.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: The brand is pretty powerful.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well,
• 11:29
  and then her quote unquote diversity turns out to win the day
• 11:34
  because she ends up
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: in charge of a murder case.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: And actually I'm not going to give this away,
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: but there is something she knows that none of those Harvard people know,
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: not the women,
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: not the men or anything that helps her win the case.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Having never been in a courtroom before in her life,
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: she has special knowledge that wins the case.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, so Natalia, um,
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to ask you one more question,
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: and then I'm going to let you go,
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: and I'm going to let the audience go.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: But you actually watched Legally Blonde 2, which you said is not as good.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: But how does Elle end up using her Harvard education,
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: and does the Harvard brand make it into the next movie?
• 12:15
  Honestly,
• 12:16
  the next one was so bad that I couldn't even get all the way
• 12:19
  through it.
• 12:19
  But like she basically the storyline is that she becomes an
• 12:22
  animal rights activist
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: and she's using that.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:25
  And she's using that her work to her degree to,
• 12:29
  you know,
• 12:30
  fight for Bruiser and his friends.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: But Harvard is not as big of a part in there.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: And it really like there's nothing really new.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: But that said, I did not watch as closely.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't want to disappoint.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: Can I say one more thing, though?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's funny.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: As a woman who was in these elite institutions,
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: I went to Stanford and Columbia in these same kind of years.
• 12:53
  It was so interesting to me to both feel so different from
• 12:57
  someone like Elle Woods.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like the opposite of a...
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: L.A.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: 's blonde sorority girl living across from Aaron Spelling.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm from Boston.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: But on the other hand,
• 13:07
  one of the things that her special power comes from is not just
• 13:11
  the way she deploys
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: her physical femininity and her attitude—
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: But also,
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: like,
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: she takes seriously things like fashion,
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: that murder case,
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: which we won't give away.
• 13:22
  She's defending this,
• 13:23
  like,
• 13:24
  workout instructor who has this whole workout empire.
• 13:27
  And she understands sort of the intricacies of the way that
• 13:30
  world works and,
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: like,
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: why this woman is not just some dumb gold digger,
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: which is what everybody thinks about her.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I think,
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: like,
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: I really related to a lot of that because,
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: like,
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: as you know,
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: I wrote this book about fitness culture.
• 13:43
  I do a lot of kind of pop culture stuff that there are certain
• 13:46
  gatekeepers and
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: elitists who are like,
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: oh,
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: that's like silly lady stuff.
• 13:50
  And I really related to the way that she refused to kind of
• 13:54
  back down from taking
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: those kinds of that world seriously and the way it ultimately served her,
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: even in the most kind of elite circles.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: So we love Elle Woods over here.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love Elle Woods too.
• 14:06
  And I kind of wish the entire Democratic Party had watched
• 14:10
  Legally Blonde in 2001,
• 14:12
  because I actually think there are some aspects of Trumpism
• 14:17
  that are being
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: incubated there.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: One of which is Elle herself is not working class,
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: but she is an outsider who is rich,
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: who has the touch for working class people.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like at one point she feels so terrible and she's about to quit.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: So in order to make herself feel better,
• 14:35
  she goes and gets her nails done and she makes friends with the
• 14:40
  woman who's doing
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: her nails,
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: who,
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: has a horrible boyfriend.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: And she,
• 14:45
  she teaches that woman some feminine tricks to get her
• 14:48
  self-confidence back so that
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: she can finally,
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: of course,
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: um,
• 14:52
  hook up with the UPS driver who makes these wonderful entrances
• 14:57
  and says,
• 14:57
  I have a package.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's a big package.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I know.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: But Elle is like a soft version and a nice version of Donald Trump.
• 15:09
  She's a rich person who has not lost touch with working people
• 15:15
  and their concerns.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact,
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: what you're telling me about Legally Blonde 2,
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: which I will probably not watch,
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: is on a certain level,
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Harvard rubs off on her,
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: but she's the same person.
• 15:26
  She sort of uses Harvard as a platform,
• 15:28
  but she's the same person she always was,
• 15:30
  right?
• 15:31
  Yeah,
• 15:31
  that's so interesting that that's how you read that whole nail
• 15:34
  salon scene.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: We should say,
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: by the way,
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: for those who have not seen Legally Blonde,
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: that the manicurist is played by Jennifer Coolidge,
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: who is always worth watching.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I read that.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: similarly,
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: that she stays in touch with this kind of,
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: she had,
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: like,
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: what do they say about Donald Trump?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: He's a poor person's vision of a rich person, right?
• 15:52
  That,
• 15:52
  like,
• 15:52
  if I was rich,
• 15:53
  I would wear hot pink designer everything,
• 15:56
  right?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like that.
• 15:59
  But I also saw that whole like continued site of the nail salon
• 16:04
  as so much like,
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 16:06
  celebration of like women's spaces that are not the women's
• 16:09
  center or the kind of
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: like feminist organizing space.
• 16:13
  Like there was so much awesome stuff that went on there among
• 16:17
  the women who were
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: just sitting around chatting,
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: getting their nails done.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I think...
• 16:21
  Given what we know about how the creator of Legally Blonde came
• 16:24
  to this and how
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: excluded she felt from,
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: like,
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: the so-called inclusive space of the Women's Center at Stanford,
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: I think that that's,
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: like,
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: a really valuable statement.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: Well—
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone we know in the Democratic Party,
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: if you are in a decision-making position,
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: you should watch this movie.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: More Elle Woods.
• 16:44
  And Natalia,
• 16:45
  thank you so much for hanging out and talking about this movie.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Viewers slash listeners,
• 16:51
  the next movie on our docket is going to be Love Story with Ali
• 16:57
  McGraw and what's
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: his name?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: That funky blonde guy.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: Why are we forgetting him?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: Allie McGraw is the only one I remember.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: She dies of cancer.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: All the way,
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: we're going to be doing Love Story,
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: and Neil J.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Young,
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: mutual friend of Natalia's and mine,
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: is going to do it with me.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: So keep your eyes peeled for that.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Natalia, thanks so much for taking some time out of your morning.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: Ryan O'Neill.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Christine Bruno.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: You're right.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well done.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Claire.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: This was so fun, and thanks to people for tuning in.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: I've never done a Substack Live, so my debut.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: You're right.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: think we did pretty good don't you me too me too um thank you bye