Friday, May 27, 2011

Is Legally Blonde an insult to female lawyers?

I love Legally Blonde, every time it's on tv, I just have to watch it.I've seen this movie a billion times, but it never gets old. The movie is about this sexy, ditzy blonde, who decided to go to Harvard Law school to get her boyfriend back. It's hilarious, she doesn't fit in with these top notch intellect, but at the end she prevails, and becomes top of the class. This was inspiring, it shows that you don't have to be the geek or the nerd, and you can still succeed in whatever the geeks or the nerds do. My lawyer friend on the other hand would beg to differ.

My friend who just graduated from law school instant message me one night and demanded that I stop watching Legally Blonde. I thought she was joking, but apparently she wasn't. She claims that Legally Blonde depicts a good lawyer as any women who is hot and can read a book. The movie basically makes fun of the law career as something that anyone with a pulse or a brain can do. She got even more upset when I told her about this Korean show called Prosecutor Princess, which is about this hot fashionable women who just graduated from law school. She continue to explain the complexity and obstacles that law students must conquer in order to reach their goals: the abstract thinking process of the LSAT, the amount of case studies that they have to go through, and the bar exam is no joke.

I do feel her pain, she graduated with huge amount of debt, and the job she obtained is barely enough to pay for food. This reminded me about the time when I ask this high schooler what she wanted to do in the future. Without hesitation, she shouted out "I want to be a lawyer because I can argue really well and because I am pretty." Her parents agree though, they said she is pretty good at back talking therefore she should be a lawyer. That's hilarious because the law career is not about arguing, back talk, or even physical appearances, it's about providing factual evidence, support, and debate in a professional manner to save your client from getting his or her ass sued. Because of their ignorance, I recommended her daughter to buy a strip pole, it could come handy in the future.


Anyways, my lawyer friend continue ranting about how doctors are getting overpaid. She explains that a doctor and a lawyer has about the same amount of debt from school. However, after a doctor completed his residency, he or she will bring in over $200,000. Some even get as high as half a million, and yet they are still out there complaining about meds school loans, not being paid enough, and not getting the respect. I couldn't help but laugh, and change the conversation about the show Scrubs. Scrubs pretty much make fun of doctors and nurses. Look how lazy these idiots are, and yet they are qualified to save people's lives, doesn't that make fun of the medical career? She counteract my argument by explaining that even though they have the lazy, comical demeanor, the show nevertheless depicts their actual intelligence. It's true Elliot from Scrub is the hot blonde, but she prove herself worthy by performing her tasks the way a real life doctor would do. Her medical vocabulary is adequate and her procedures are done correctly. Elle Woods from Legally Blonde on the other hand just looks like a chicken running around with her head cut off.

She further argue that Elle Wood only won the case because she got lucky, she got the case where hair and fashion are involve. Elliot on the other hand received her promotion to private practice was due to her work ethics. This was a tough one, my friend does have a good point, and because she was very upset, I decided to do my best to win this argument. I asked her, "have you seen Children's Hospital in Adult swim?" She nodded her head, and I continued,"do you think it's even remotely possible to heal a critically ill patient with the medicine of laughter AKA Clown Medicine?" She cracked up really hard and said "I take back everything I said about lawyers being disrespected in the media."

Bottom line is, the media makes fun of everything, so don't take it seriously!!!!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The good thing about movies and tv series is that, we can always go away from the norms. If Elle Woods was the typical prim, firm and bright as the conventional female lawyers, the story would be totally different. Lawyers, were mostly born to have serious personality. Lawyers relates well with logic, and sometimes perfection. Elle Woods' character is like a horror to a lawyer's persona which is put in the pedestal as soon as they hit law school. Perfection sometimes go with pride. I'm not a lawyer but I do know I share some qualities fit for one.
Your friends reaction is pretty normal for her personality. It's so true. It shouldn't be taken seriously at all. :-)

Jyoti Mishra said...

I've heard a lot about it.
gonna watch it asap !!

Unknown said...

hahaha, loved the Legally Blond. Great post. I have not seen that movie but will look for it now. Thanks sweetie

Cubicw86 said...

You guys will totally love Legally blonde, it's very inspirational. But keep in mind the average lawyer is not the Elle Woods type, the media makes fun of everything :)

Guy Chambliss said...

On the basis of its entertainment value, the film Legally Blonde is a good movie. It is fun and entertaining, and let us leave it at that. In reality, the journey to become a lawyer is difficult and challenging. And like most professions, it has its good points and bad points.

Cubicw86 said...

@Guy Chambliss: I totally agree, in real life there is no way anyone can pull off an Elle woods unless they are a genius. But it's still very funny and inspirational lol

Alana Gorecki said...

The media is very playful about everything and the reason why people rarely react about it is that they know that it was only for fun. Lawyers are very intelligent people and a very professional job, so this is not much of a big deal for them. But a lawyer’s rant to a doctor’s pay is a totally different matter.

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