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Writing: The Pretty Smart Girl

How your character can embrace femininity and academia

By Ted RyanPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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Usually in fiction, women have to sacrifice their femininity or let it become a vital part of their identity - while downplaying their other traits. However, Elle Woods is a character who not only keeps both attributes, but thrives in her authenticity.

Legally Blonde's Elle Woods (played by Reese Witherspoon), a fashionable sorority queen, is dumped by her boyfriend. She decides to follow him to law school. While she is there, she figures out that there is more to her than just looks.

The Cinderella-like transformation is a common trope, which sees the female protagonist lose their typically nerdy/awkward style and embrace a more mature and feminine look. This can often be written to show the transition from childhood to adulthood or overcoming insecurity and finding new confidence. However, unlike Elle - some characters aren't able to balance both the Cinderella transformation with their established characteristics.

This is seen in The Craft (1996) where Neve Campbell's Bonnie Harper transforms from the shy sweet girl to a vain and cruel character when a healing spell gives her confidence she never had. The thing with this transformation, Bonnie's persona is almost like looking at two different characters - there's not a hint of the kindness of any other traits she previously nor does she rediscover it. Although this is addressed within the writing and Robin Tunney's Sarah does confront Bonnie over how cruel she's become, but this does not cause her to reflect or feel bad.

However, there are some characters who keep their identity, even after this transformation. In The Princess Diaries (2001), Anne Hathaway's Mia Thermopolis is an unapologetically awkward nerd. However, her new Royal heritage and Cinderella transformation does not change her character. When Mia losses her bushy hair and glasses, she is still the same loveable nerd we've followed throughout the film, this transformation surprises even her. It more reflects her maturing into a young woman, rather than losing the person she's always been.

Elle's Cinderella transformation is more internal, rather than external. Due to her quirky and eccentric personality, Elle finds it difficult to be taken seriously at Harvard - everyone just assumes she's a "dumb blonde" as soon as she walked into a class. She initially tries to dress more like a law student - glasses included, which is definitely not the transformation she expects and causes further scepticism from classmates and lecturers. With this transformation - Elle's first attempt at looking studious - fails because its inauthentic to herself.

The constant ridicule and insults finally spurs Elle to not worry about what others think, but to take herself seriously. With her embracing the fact she got accepted into this prestigious university on her own merits, we see Elle committing to her studies and actively participating in class - proving just how smart she is. Yet, Elle maintains her bubbly and optimistic persona alongside this new academic environment. Her Cinderella transformation comes with her internal transformation - she still wears vibrant colours, but her style matures in subtle ways that still reminds us of the pink-loving fashion major we met in the first few minutes of this film. Making sure your audience can still identify your character is crucial in writing, especially when balancing feminism in academia.

This is a coming of age for Elle where she does grow-up, but she refuses to sacrifice her morals or her eternally optimistic personality in the face of accepting change. This character broke the trope of the pretty blonde, because Elle was smart all along - she's just constantly undermined as she is established as a character who speaks her mind without hesitation. But scenes in class prove that although she answers in her own way, the answers are right and she presents strong arguments.

Unless the change is pivotal to the plot, a character should still be identifiable from what you've established. There are many different traits and quirks to build your character upon, no one has one identifiable trait. Always think of your cast as three-dimensional and don't be afraid to subvert the tropes of a particular character to make them more human. In Elle Wood's case, this proves that your character can be balanced as both feminism and book smarts

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About the Creator

Ted Ryan

When I’m not reviewing or analysing pop culture, I’m writing stories of my own.

Reviewer/Screenwriter socials: Twitter.

Author socials: You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Goodreads as T.J. Ryan.

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