Legally Blonde

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to the Bechdel Cast. My name is
Jamie Loftus, my name is Caitlin Darante, and welcome to
a very special episode of the beck Doel Cast. We
have a little treat for you today, So if if
you're new to the show, we'll catch you up in
a second. But for for our loyal listeners, um, we
are unlocking a much demanded episode of the Bechtel Cast

(00:22):
today from our patreon ak Matreon page. So what you're
going to here today is an episode that people who
do not subscribe to our Patreon have been asking for
us for years and all of our matrons have been
sneakily enjoying for a long time. But it's the Legally
Blond episode. Yes, we recorded and released this quite some
time ago. I think it's around two yeah, two years

(00:46):
ago at least, So it's one of our older episodes
and it's been it's been behind the paywall, but we decided, hey,
we could use a break now more than ever, and yeah,
what a what a delightful movie and episode to share
with people, So we we decided to share. It's unlocked. Yeah,

(01:07):
so it's it's unlocked, And if you like this episode,
and you're not already a matron, it will hopefully give
you an idea of what our Matreon episodes are like.
They're a little looser, they're fun. We don't have to
go into all the detail about explaining what the Bechtel
test is. You already know. If you're a matron, we're
just like you got it. But but if you if

(01:28):
this is your first episode, interesting choice of first episode,
but we will get you caught up, so we since
we don't introduce it this way in in the episode,
we're unlocking. The Bechtel test is a media metric invented
by cartoonist Alice and Bechtel, sometimes called the Bechtel Wallace test,
that requires uh piece of media have the following qualifications

(01:51):
that it has an exchange in which too female identified
named characters talk to each other about something other than
a man for two lines of dialogue. Does it usually happen?
Not so much, But today's movie might fare a little
bit better than normal. Jamie, can we demonstrate the Bectal

(02:11):
test and how how one might love? Okay, Hey Jamie,
Hey Caitlin, would you join me in a little bend
and snap choreographed move with me? Today. This is a
polite way to refer to would you care to engage
in a bit of a bend and then immediately followed

(02:32):
by a snap, uh, well yes, Caitlin, I would love that. Oh,
thank you so much. We're gonna have to do it
separately in separate rooms because we were still social disting,
of course, but I think that would be a nice
little activity for us to make us feel closer together.
A man baby a woman A wow, look at her

(02:56):
challenging the status quo, changing the world as we know it,
eld boss Um. Uh yeah, so so we're we're excited
to be unlocking this episode for your enjoyment. If you
enjoy it, Like Caitlin was saying, check out our Matreon
It's patreon dot com slash Bechtel Cast. It's five bucks
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(03:19):
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(03:40):
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(04:03):
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(04:24):
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(04:47):
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Highly encourage, highly recommend. Freaky Friday. That was a fun one.
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(05:11):
did not cover the movie ghost because we already did
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But we did the original Ghostbusters movie from eight four
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did Pregnancy June. All of our themes are the worst,
but in the best way, and you have to you know,
we highly recommend you join the community because it's really

(05:33):
really fun. Yes, without further ado, please enjoy this very
special unlocked episode legally Blonde. On the Doe Cast, the
questions asked if movies have women in them? Are all
their discussions just boyfriends and husbands? Do they have individualism?
The patriarchy? Zef invest start changing it with the beck

(05:53):
Del Cast. It's a bonus episode of the Bedel Cast.
Is a bonus episode of cast. I think we should
address what's happening here first, so we released two. This
is a Matreon Patreon only episode of the Betel Cast.
We were locked and loaded a month in advance with
two bonus episodes for this month, and then realized that

(06:17):
our doubling down on Titanic, that was the original plan.
Maybe someday we'll release some of the moments they hit
the cutting room floor, but all together we came to
the conclusion that both covering the same movie, particularly covering
the same movie well pretty aggressively drunk, was not the
premium content that you subscribed to the podcast, right. I

(06:40):
went back and listen to that title, the second title,
it is a disaster, and that not good. It's okay. Well,
just just to give ourselves a pat on the back,
we reconvene. We replanned, we both had a bad feeling
that we were both two drunk and to saying the

(07:02):
exact same things, which is that we Likeditanic over and over,
and we've come back with a clear mind and a
full heart. I'm sober, although I'm sick. I don't know
if you can hear it in my voice, but I
do not feel well. I've had two beers. I'm I'm,
I'm it's vacation. Jamie has been activated. She hasn't been

(07:23):
around for literally a full calendar year. Everyone's going to
have to deal with it. But we are. We are
fully prepared for today's episode, which is on Legally Blood.
We just watched it together. We are in Caitlin's bed.
I feel like that's the bonus episode way kind of. Yeah,
it's like the audio is always a little worse and
we are sitting in my bed recording on my iPhone.

(07:46):
It's we shouldn't tell them that. I mean, we have
really good equipment. Everywhere we go. We're swamped with the
finest of microphone as though. I like the reason that
we're in the bed. And then it's like maybe people
were like maybe Aristotle is also in the bed. It

(08:07):
chased in to the bed. Anyways, all I had to
say we are recording and releasing us on a rather
tight turned around because we were so prepared that we
got drunk and did a bad job. But I feel
good about this episode. We both have a wealth of notes.
So what is your history with Legally Blonde? Legally Blonde?

(08:27):
I believe so this movie came out in No One.
I was too young to see this movie when it
came out. For sure, I think I saw it at
some point. My friend in middle school I think, had
a copy of it and we watched it as sleep over,
and then I think I saw it again in high
school and possibly again. I feel like I've seen this
movie maybe three times. Like I'm pretty I know the

(08:49):
general beats of it, but there was a lot of
details that I forgot. I liked this movie. I remember
liking it, and I think like this was one of
those viewing experiences that I was like kind of lunching
my butt a little bit because I was like, oh,
I hope that this movie was as fun as I
remember it being, which generally I think it was generally. Yeah. Yes,

(09:10):
I went for many, many years without seeing this movie.
I didn't see it until I was a grad student
at Boston University where I was getting my masters in screenwriting.
I don't like to bring it up, but I'll be
goddamn classmate of mind did a project on Legally Blonde.
I was like, well, I guess I got to see it,
and I think I didn't necessarily avoid it for so long,

(09:31):
but I didn't actively seek it out because it's the
type of movie that doesn't really appeal to my sensibilities. Well, yeah,
I've given your his I mean, I'm surprised that I
wasn't more into Llegally Blond. I think it was just
like I wasn't the right age when it came out. Sure, yeah,
because I would. I would have been very intellgally Blond
if I had been old enough to see it when
it was released. That makes sense. Yeah, Yeah, generally it's

(09:54):
a fun movie. I'm trying to think of movies that
we have covered. I think Mean Girls as the main
one that jumps to mind of Like, I'm very leary
of covering movies that, you know, it's like I try
try to read sort of what's been written about the movie,
especially in regards to gender based topics. But this is
one of those movies where there's five million clickbit articles

(10:16):
about why Legally Blonde it's a feminist masterpiece. And I'm
always extremely leary of movies that have a million listicles
written about what a feminist masterpiece it is, because usually
that means that there is a fundamental issue, because a
lot of quote unquote feminist masterpieces have to do with

(10:36):
like this is feminism that's palatable for a wide audience,
as opposed to that said, I still think the movie
does pretty well. That's I have not read any of those.
I've read a lot of them. I mean, mean girls,
there's a billion of them. And then there's some about
specific characters like Lydia Diets in feministic Beetlejuice, there's a

(10:57):
million listicles every fucking Halloween about how she's a feminist
icon when she's right and she's not because beetle Juices.
Sometimes they pick the only because feminist icon. I know.
I was like, dude, why are you not reacting to
be amazing shows vacation, Jamie's cards are lowered, her friends

(11:21):
operating lower, and you've also you've played it so straight. Yeah,
obviously beetle Juices. Beetle Juice is the only feminist icon
in the movie. But but all I have to say,
listical feminism is stupid. And I'll say for the five

(11:43):
trillionth time, even though they'll still write up some of
my ship every once in a while, Bustle can kiss
my ass. In terms of like corporate palatable feminism funded
pie a male's hedge fund, so like, it's a tricky
but again, legally blonde most does well. Okay, I'm done, Okay,
got it? Shall I do the recap? Let's okay. L

(12:05):
Woods is a sorority sister. In her senior year of college,
she caught what is it, Delta New or I don't
even know what the night I don't know. She she
goes to a I think it's like c U l A,
which is basically U l Ala. She basically is the
U c l A. Yeah, a good school. So she

(12:26):
is about to graduate. She has a boyfriend named Warner,
who she thinks it's about to propose to her, and
she's very excited about it, and all of her sorority
sisters are very excited that she's about to be proposed to,
but turns out he takes her to dinner to instead
break up with her because he's like, I'm going to
Harvard Law School. He says something the ef fact that like,

(12:47):
I needed Jackie and you're Maryland basically yeah, it's like
you're like he views her. He views her, even though
we know very early on in the movie she has
a four point of g p A at Coula. We
don't on how hard that is, but she has one.
She has the highest g p A in her sorority.
We hear a lot of this, but yeah, he's looking
for a convince. He's looking for an East Coast elite, right.

(13:10):
He doesn't take her seriously. She's like, you know, I
need someone serious, and I just this has been fun,
but I cannot take you seriously. So she's devastated, and
she decides that in order to earn his love back
and prove that she is worthy of his love, she's
also going to go to Harvard Law School. We will

(13:32):
get into this because Warner, while the worst across the board,
has the right to break up with someone, even if
it's for a shitty reason. Everyone has the right to
break up with anyone else. That is just something that
they do not tell you for some reason. That sometimes
if someone says I don't want to be in a
relationship with you anymore, you have to be like, well,

(13:54):
I don't feel great about that, but okay, like anyways, Yes,
that is a fun to my till issue with this movie,
and so is her behavior after that, where she basically
shapes her entire future around essentially stalking him to try
to win him back. It's not essentially following him, you know,

(14:14):
but we'll get there. So she does. She does put
in the work to study Ford and take the l
sads and you know, do this video and the video
essay is iconic. Directed by a Coppola week later in
the movie possibly Sophia, we don't know. I don't know.
She would later go on to direct the worst movie
I've ever seen, The Big Guy Old, you're being dramatic.

(14:37):
But she puts in all the work and she manages
to get accepted to Harvard Law School. And so she
shows up and on the first day she's like, hi,
Warner and he's like, oh, what are you doing here? Again?
Totally fair reaction. This movie would have you believe the
opposite of like, yeah, of course she's here, Like whatever. Anyways, Well,
I mean so many movies depict like a romantic pursuit

(15:02):
in the worst possible ways. So just hang around long enough,
like yeah, just wear them down until they agree to
be in love with you. To wear them down. Narrative
is honestly terrible. But sometimes I'm like, maybe there's something
to this, but there I guess what, there's not, you know, Okay, Sorry,

(15:22):
So she's like, yeah, I'm here, and you know, I'm
showing you that I can be taken seriously. But she
immediately learned that he over the summer has gotten engaged
to Vivian the Jackie that he was looking for Vivian
van Hula or whatever. Yeah, Kensington or something like that. Kensington,

(15:46):
And she's played by Samma Blair and hot. She's a
little be at first, but so a huge be at first,
to a comical degree that I would argue does not
make narrative sense. Anyways, continued agreed. So then she's like, Okay, well,
I will steal him back. Now that's my new plan.
But that's not her idea. That's Jennifer Coolidge's idea. Yeah,

(16:10):
Jennifer Coolidge is she not French? Right, So there's this
whole sequence. So she's like, oh, this is the worst
day of my life. My one true love is gotten
engaged to someone else. I have to get a manicure.
And then Jennifer Coolies like, I did I have a loon?

(16:32):
Hi Hiish she's you know, listen, she's a fellow Emerson
Lione and I respect, she's one of our she's our
God fuck, I fucked that school. I stopped paying their bills.
But like, also she is one of the esteemed graduates.
Jenifer Coolish, well, she yeah, she gives l the idea

(16:55):
that she needs to steal Warner back, so she's like, okay,
I'll just do that. So then she starts to like
really take her studies seriously and proved to her classmates
and her professors that she is smart, because the thing
about her is that she's like still this you know
bel Air raised, wealthy, blonde white girl who is very

(17:19):
privileged and you know, a sorority gal in a very
stereotypical way where she's like, oh my god, like getting
into Harvard, what's hard? And no one takes her seriously, right,
So she's like, I need to do she starts to
like really buckle down and prove to everyone that she
is intelligent and she is capable, and in so doing,

(17:41):
she manages to land an internship with one of her professors,
Calahan played by Victor Garber, and then that leads hot
to a storyline where she helps with this murder case
where one of her former sorority sisters, who like graduated
a few year ahead of her, is accused of murdering

(18:02):
her husband, Van Taylor. Sorry, yes, every wealthy woman's name
is Van Hulu. So because they have this sisterhood L
and Brooke bond and she's like, yeah, I'm gonna look
out for you. Meanwhile, Callahan, who ends up being a
predatory scumbag, is like, I think my client's guilty. I'm

(18:26):
barely going to help her. And then, to be fair,
she looks pretty fucking guilty for a while. What does
guilty look like, Jamie, like standing over her husband's dead
body covered in his blood. Sure, but anyways, so the
movie ends with like her helping with this case to

(18:46):
the point where Brooke fires Callahan after he has like
groped L and it's been made clear to her several
times that he does not believe her. Brooke is a
good character. I like her a lot. Yeah, so she
fires Callahan. She hires L, who is still only in
her first year of law school, to defend her in
this murder case objectively on paper, terrible idea and and

(19:12):
and as capable and as pro l woods as I am.
Really a lucky break that she wins the case and
immediately gets a confession from a Brunette promptly goes to jail.
I'm not pro sending Brunette's to jail, but sure, I mean,
maybe it's intentional that she's a brunette. Maybe it's just

(19:35):
first No, it is for sure, I mean every because
there are barely any women of color in this movie.
The way that the movie indicates don't root for this
one is with brunette hair. That's literally what happened anyways, Sorry,
that's true, Jennifer. The characters we are conditioned to root
for our obviously l Jennifer, Coolidge, Brooke, those are the

(19:56):
three big ones, and they're all blonde, white and Vivian's
Arcter who later comes around for Danning. She she has
front hair. The killer ends up being Burnett, the poorly
handled gay character in it is also well, I guess
she's she's got some weird highlights. It's it's unclear what
her natural hair colors, but I think she's Burnett. Yeah,

(20:16):
she's got darker hair. Basically, she gets a lucky break
pretty much, although it's through her like sort of skill
and deductive reasoning. But she manages to crack the case.
They win, and everything's great, and she has a dumbline
where she's like, hair care is essential. Any cosmo girl
would know that or something like that, and then yeah,

(20:38):
she wins, and then there's like the graduation. At the end,
she's like at the top of her class and meanwhile
Warner sucks. And now she and Vivian are bfs friends,
which this story does go out of its way to
be like by the way, they're best friends, and Warner
ended up alone, which is exciting. I also didn't mention
at all the sort of romantic subplot, although it doesn't

(21:00):
really end up being that. Taken to the very end
with Luke Wilson's character, it's flourte from the beginning and
a star turn by Luke Wilson's middle part. Lots of
crazy two one was a big moment for the middle part. Yes, yeah,
we've got to take a quick break. We've got some
bending and snapping to do, but then we'll come right back.

(21:28):
So that's the story, and there is an awful lot
to unpack. I have pages and pages of notes. Shall
we go by character or topic? God? Well, this is
the fun part about the bonus episode. You get to
hear part of the process, right, So I kind of
want to start just by saying that I think the
reason that I'm kind of lukewarm Luke Wilson lukewarm allout

(21:53):
to a little middle part. I fall in the middle part.
So the first like to act it's really only like
an act three of the movie where all of her
sort of empowerment happens and she turns around and it
goes from her doing everything that she's doing because she's

(22:14):
trying to win back her boyfriend and she's entirely motivated
by proving herself worthy to a man. Well, let's let's
start with that then, because that is and there's two
prominent examples that come to mind. I'm sure there's other
examples that I'm not thinking of, but in regards to
I mean and there's other there's also examples of the
opposite of a man chasing a woman in order to

(22:37):
prove himself and wear her down. But this weird plot,
which at the beginning of the series Crazy Ex Girlfriend
duplicates exactly, is like a woman who has been scorned
or rejected or is feeling very insecure because of a man,
decides to uproot her entire life in order to relocate

(23:01):
improve herself to a man, and then in doing so,
discovers herself in the process. I do not like this
setup at all, and it really frustrates me because I
like this movie. But the inciting incident to this movie
is just like all I it's I don't know, Like
there's a lot of moments in this movie in particular

(23:23):
where it's like there are so many seeds for very
wrong thinking that is being implanted into young girls heads
that I really don't like of just like, you know,
the only way to realize your own potential is to
first be rejected by a man and then change everything
about you, Like it's almost little Little mermaid e like

(23:45):
that would be another example of this of like my
current forum isn't working, so what have I change? And
let's make all the necessary adjustments. And it does like
you're saying, like the third act does have l realizing
oh I actually am, But logistically she never would have
recognized her own potential if Warner hadn't broken up with her,

(24:06):
And I don't like that. I think it's so frustrating
the same, Yes, I was trying to think of movies
where there is a female protagonist who pursues something she
something like going to law school and becoming a lawyer,
just because she's interested in that already, and not because
she's motivated by a man. And I had trouble thinking
of examples, well, one, because there are just so few

(24:28):
movies with a female protagonist, and the ones that do
have a female protagonist, it's often a rom com or
something where she is just straight up pursuing a man
and that's the main storyline. And to be fair, that's
not to say there aren't any examples. I just no, no, no,
I know my like six sore throat head, Well, I
have any trouble thinking of any Well, I also don't

(24:50):
think that like unless there's some sort of like and
it's this, The narrative of a woman going to law
school because she is interested in law is not a
picularly compelling log wine For like, a woman goes to
law school because she's interested in the law and is
smart is a great thing, but maybe not the most
exciting story, so I get. But but again, that does

(25:13):
not justify the ends to to this true, But it
doesn't even have to. I mean, you know, law going
to law school and becoming a lawyer is just an
example something some sort of either professional or creative pursuit
that a woman just does because that's what she wants
to do, and not because she's motivated by proving her
worth to a man and even if she meets a

(25:34):
romantic partner when she is pursuing that thing, that is
a far better president to say. It's like she followed
whatever her ambition was and worked hard and happened to
me this great person. Like that's the right idea. Chasing
a man in order to discover your own potential is
just not a good message to be sending, particularly if

(25:56):
you're aiming at a younger slash teen audience, which this
movie is. Well. It is nice to see a female
character like l who has a lot of drive and determination,
Like she's extremely driven to the point where she within
a matter of maybe a couple of weeks, studies for

(26:17):
and does well enough on the lstats to get into Harvard.
Although murders eales like Elwoods Is with a lot of flaws,
I think a really good character. I think she's great,
and part of that is like nostalgia attachment, but I
really do like her. I agree. I like that she
is extremely driven and active. Her motivation at the beginning

(26:40):
and throughout most of the movie is misguided, and it does.
It does turn around because by the end that storyline
with Warner resolves itself. By he comes around, He's like actually,
I just saw you in that case, and you are
the woman I've wanted this whole time. I can't take
you seriously now. And she's like, She's like, I've been

(27:00):
waiting so long for you to hear this. But if
I want to be a partner in a law firm
by the time I'm thirty, I'm going to need a
boyfriend who wasn't such a bone head. And to be honest,
Caitlin clapped and I was crying. So however it worked.
To me. That's kind of one of those moments where
it's like, cool line, cool feminist line. So I think

(27:24):
that this more responsibly than a lot of movies of
its type, but does play into the like you go
girl style of feminism. That and here's what I'm interested
in hearing your thoughts on this, because I my notes
kind of looped in on themselves on this topic. But
so l Wood, there's this whole overarching narrative in this

(27:46):
movie of weird, very black and white West Coast East
Coast stereotypes of like everyone from the East Coast is
mean and not horny at all. Everyone from the West
Coast is really hot and rich and like more fun
and it's clear like the East Coast is like demonized
for the bulk of this movie and all the characters

(28:08):
who we meet there, with the exception of the East
Coast white trash community, which I appreciate regardless, it's like
there's a lot of this movie to me feels like
l Wood's reclaiming the pink, reclaiming you know, this feminine
appearance in this very visually motivated Oh god, I sound

(28:30):
a million years old, but like this like you know,
like reclaiming conventional hotness in an intellectual sense, but it
feels like kind of a safe, very marketable choice to
be like we're going to reclaim hot women, you know,
like it's to an extent, is like the good thing

(28:52):
about it. And this is where my nose caved in themselves,
because like, oh, is she just like reclaiming conventional hotness
that's not particularly interesting, Like oh, hot women can be
lawyers too, It's like okay, like okay, great, But with
the way Ellen her friends on both coasts, who were
more traditionally feminine, they do seem to be doing it

(29:14):
for themselves. And it's not that I noticed very like that.
You don't get those lines of like, well, if I
don't do this, A man won't like me if I
don't do that. Like it does seem like they do
it because they just like they place value on it.
But the whole like she's wearing pink in a courtroom
and her boobs are big, does not totally track with me.

(29:36):
Of like we're going to reclaim Victoria's secret hotness but
in that current room, Like it just I don't know
it was that supposed to be empowering, you know, like
Victoria's secret models who have higher ambitions. It's just a
very small group, you know, right. I also had trouble
processing this idea of she's a very cartoonish character. Not

(29:58):
to say that there aren't some people like that out there.
I mean she is, and she's a great great cartoon
but so she's, you know, this very stereotypical like loves pink,
loves shopping, knows fashion, loves to get her nails done,
like feminine, she's smart, right, there is a there is

(30:19):
a like, but the twisted Yeah, so she's just like
sort of you know, hyper feminine woman. And I think
the movie seeks to sort of dismantle this stereotype that
pretty blonde sorority girls can also be intelligent and good lawyers,
which is true and fair, but who the message that
it just seems like a very narrow It's like, who

(30:42):
is this for exactly? Not to say that, like stereotypes
shouldn't be dismantled, it just seems like a very bizarrely specific,
deeply marketable. There were barbies of Elwoods, you know, like there,
it's a very marketable stereotype to be dismantling, and it's
not even it's not dismantling it in a visual way
at all. So the visual aspect is kept intact, therefore

(31:06):
keeping all the marketable parts of it kept intact. There
is a part where, like her costume choices, they change
a bit in the middle of the movie where she
doesn't dress quite so pink. She has a blue outfit
on at one point, but then it's a beanie You're
just like she's lost herself. But then towards the end again,
when she makes her grand appearance as the new person

(31:29):
that Brooke Taylor hired to defend her, she's got this
like it is a great I mean, her entrance in
that scene. To be fair, they do a full body
shot of her, which I usually take issue with, but
the outfit is more than the outfit in that scene.
To me, that outfit also represents like she's going to

(31:49):
be herself and do this as well, which I think
is a good message, like represent yourself the way you
want to, but your I will. You mentioned like there
was a r B of l Woods, and that's why
I know, throughout Western cultural history, the beautiful blonde female

(32:11):
form has been the most sort of easily digestible feminine
form for like Western culture to consume, and like that's
sort of been the ideal and we all have to
strive for that and da da da, Right, So maybe
that's why that choice was made to like represent that
type of archetypal stereotypical character in this movie. I mean, okay, now,

(32:34):
no not. My mind is kind of changing a little bit,
where for sure there are more pervasive, culturally relevant, immediately
relevant to people's everyday lives stereotypes to be dismantled in
major releases. I think it is sort of a sneaky
win on behalf of the of the filmmakers that they're

(32:56):
able to make that commentary pretty effectively while keeping all
the visual marketing intact. But then I mean now that
you when you said, like, you know, the whatever, the
sort of playboy ideal of shout out to my former employer,
playboy who can truly kiss masks um, but the the
you know, like that conventional ideal of the blonde women.

(33:19):
I guess it is sort of like where that that
trope is very much like. As much as the boobs
and the hair are critical to that image, what is
equally critical to that image is complacency doing whatever they're told.
And the way that women who look like that are
are viewed from like just a camera aspect is always

(33:42):
in a way that's supposed to be pleasing, and thought
is never implied. So now that you said that, I'm like,
maybe it is like it it is interesting. I don't
think it's the most relevant commentary, but it is interesting.
I don't think it doesn't one like there's right now
we should have been thinking about a lot of things

(34:02):
in two thousand one, and maybe blonde wealthy women were
not women the list. But but it is comment They
do comment a lot on it. I think by the
end it takes a while, but by the end it's effective.
I mean there are moments where she does say like
you know, no one takes me like I get sort
of discriminated against because of my hair color because I'm

(34:25):
a blonde. Imagine being in an actually marginalized person saying
that I'm like, oh, I'm so fucking sorry that you're
so hot and red and you got it. You still
got it into Harvard like, well, can we talk ye,
let's talk about good segment. Well, I wantn't to just
really say quickly that I think that we should, right now,

(34:46):
right here, claim the new stereotype for a female character,
which is the but the twist is where it's like
she's either she's very hot or she's very ugly, but
the twist is she's smart or she could be hot.
Maybe maybe take off her glasses it right, Yeah, it's

(35:08):
like she's hot, but the twist is she's smart or
she's smart, and the twist is she's also beautiful. There's
a really I have not seen the show, but my
my good pal Catherine Cohen in New York does a
great one woman show called but the twist is she's
gorgeous one of my favorites. Great turn of phrase, and
I feel like it's a trope that's used a lot. Yeah, Okay,

(35:31):
So the scene with the admissions board at Harvard who
are reviewing her video essay and trying to determine whether
or not to accept her I think the only all
males scene in the movie that I can think of
same with more than it's no no. There's a few
times where middle Park Wilson and Victor Garber, or as

(35:51):
I like to call him, Thomas Andrews Mr Andrews like
I'll try, I didn't build stronger, she's oh, and then
earlier the mo she's strong and true just like you,
dumb fuck Oh, but it's sad when he does and
stops the clock. Anyways, But there there are a few

(36:14):
I feel like one on one scenes with Luke Wilson
and Victor Carbert. But in terms of like this is
a scene full of men versus the number of scenes
in this movie that are full of women in a
way that it's just like, whoa great, this is the
only one. Yeah. So in this scene we see around
eight six or eight eight old white guys old mostly yeah,
mostly older for sure, all white men, basically deliberating on

(36:38):
whether or not to except l to Harvard, and they're
looking at her essay, which most of the time. She
isn't a swimsuit. She's a weird choice. But also I
feel like that is like an unabashedly Elwood's choice. That is,
for all the implications of it, I do appreciate that
she is true to herself in the video. I mean

(36:59):
she's playing to her strengths, which is that she was
the president of her sorority. Yes, like, that's one of
my favorite parts of the movie. It is an iconic
the days of our lives, like the evil Stephano and
like it's it's great. It's I used to watch the
soap operas amas, so basically the whole scene is them.
I think there's one guy who's like, I don't know,

(37:22):
and then all of the other ones are trying to
They have decided they want to accept her, basically because
they find her attractive, and they're trying to rationalize why
it's an okay decision to let her in, right, because
they're like, well, she cares about animals, and she's creative
and she likes music because she was in a Ricky
Martin video. And it's like, this is a challenging scene

(37:43):
because written on paper, nothing that is being vocalized is
inaccurate or wrong. Does l Woods necessarily deserve to be
at Harvard at the beginning of the movie, and don't
really think so. I mean, she has the correct scores

(38:03):
and she has good grades, but it just I don't know,
Like I I struggle with the fact that she has
lit Like, it seems unlikely to me that someone who
has a bachelor's degree in fashion management and has no
background or previously indicated interest in law would get into
Harvard Law School realistically, no matter who you are, that

(38:27):
just seems unlikely, especially because Harvard. It's Harvard, probably the
hardest school in the US. Ticket you could get into
a law school with those qualifications, good els at scores
four point oh and whatever you happen to major in
Harvard Law School. I don't think so. But we also
find out later that Warner also doesn't totally deserve to

(38:48):
be there, so because Harvard's a fucking like you know,
Harvard is like sort of known for that sort of
weird nempotis, Oh, his father gave a call to somebody
then he I mean, regardless on paper, that scene would
look in theory like they are naming her qualifications, and

(39:09):
it ends by saying el Woods Welcome to Harvard. But
the tone of that scene is very she's hot, we
got a letter, you know. However, it just I feel
like it just credits they're protecting this a little bit
in a way that's like, well, so there's a whole
lot I want to say about that one. I think
that is sort of almost a foreshadowing of what happens

(39:30):
later on, where she learns that she basically only got
that internship because her professor found her attractive, because he
makes a pass at her, and then she has this
whole thing where she's like, garber crap. Law school was
a mistake. I don't even deserve anything I got because
we wanted me for my looks and stuff like that,
which is a whole thing I want to get into later.

(39:51):
So it's I think foreshadowing that. However, I think a
lot of people would come to Elwood's defense, and I
think it theirs, because the thing is that she is
extremely determined, and yes, she does have the resources to
pay for a nicely produced video essay that a lot

(40:11):
of people would not have the resources to do because
like her get We'll get to the class thing too,
because her class thing is a major thing in this
but like her sort of advocating for herself as a
reason that she should be accepted to Harvard in the
video essay, are not that compelling of reasons because she's
saying I already use lawyer jargon in everyday use because

(40:32):
like you see someone cat calling her and then she
turns out and she's like, I object another iconic from it.
It's great, But I think that her main qualities in
the movie that I like her for because I'm not
necessarily as on board with Ellwoods as maybe you or
bigger fans of the movie. However, I do appreciate her

(40:55):
for her determination because she and I think that quality alone,
I mean, maybe not alone, but that because later on
she she does show a lot of improvement when she
first gets to law school. By the end, she one thousand.
Like I mean, even at the midpoint in the movie,
you're like, Okay, this woman does deserve to be here.
She's working really hard. And to clarify, I mean at

(41:17):
the time of this scene, sure, I don't think that.
It's like by the end, it's like, man, she really coasted,
Like she works so fucking hard and does a lot
of amazing stuff. I just mean, in regards to this scene,
the movie is implying that she is perhaps not being
admitted for all the right reasons, regardless of who she
is as a person and the fact that she clearly

(41:39):
you know, deserves to be there. But this scene kind
of nags her in a weird way. Right. There's a
part where these group of men who are deliberating about
this says something like, oh, well, she's a fashion major,
is if like that's the reason why she shouldn't be here?
But then another one says, well, we've never had one
be for and aren't we always looking for? Diversity is

(42:04):
clearly not the type of diversity that like admissions board
people should be considering. But I think that's played as
a joke. I think so too. Yeah, but I think
this scene is a comment on how it's so often
a group of rich, old, straight white men making decisions
that affect the fate of a whole bunch of different

(42:26):
types of people. They end up making the right call
for l because she does prove herself eventually, but it's
kind of a fluid. But yeah, basically, like I said,
they accept her because most of the men in this
room have seen this video of her in her bathing
suit and been like, yeah, I definitely see her here
at Harvard. And the implication is it because I want

(42:47):
to see her here at Harvard, Yeah, and not because
she necessarily has the qualifications. Because there's one character who
keeps me like, well, I don't know what about this thing,
and they're like, no, it's she's a friend of the animal.
The thing is like that he Okay, not to harbor
in the scene too much because this is a small
scene in but yeah, I don't mean to demonize el

(43:09):
in any way. In that scene. She has no control
over how these men are viewing her. I do think
that the movie is implying perhaps at the very beginning
of the movie, and you could view that as possibly
like maybe she's not a character of any gender who's
randomly like, you know, my ex boyfriend's gonna do this,

(43:30):
I'm just gonna go on their exact career path, like
they probably wouldn't get into a graduate school of the
career path that's the opposite of what they've been doing,
just because they decided three weeks before the hell sets
that they wanted to whatever. El Woods is still a
great character to be. That scene is weird. It's not
I don't even think it's bad because I don't I

(43:51):
don't want to like be like, oh, they're making you know,
they're not saying exactly what I want to be said,
and therefore it cannot be a scene in a movie.
I think it's a lot of commentary, but I don't
like that it negs the main character, even though she
overcomes it. Anyways, Yeah, I'm sorry. This is a very
complex movie. You know. I just realized how many things

(44:13):
we have to talk about. I'm like, I'm ted, And
this is Jamie saying that we need to take a
quick ad break. But we'll be right back to the
year eighteen in just a second, and we're back to Okay.
The next thing I want to talk about is while

(44:35):
she does have a number of female friends in the
beginning of the movie with her two sorority sisters, one
we know his name is Margot. I think they both
have names. We if the second character of the to
her two main friends in California is named Blinking, you
would have missed it because we missed it. Yeah. Yeah,
I was like trying to pay close attention and I

(44:57):
never figured it out. So there's the there's a a
blonde woman whose name is Marco. And I hate that
I'm reducing women to their hair colors, but because we
don't know their names, I don't know how those are
the only time. For the most part, there's are the
only two types of women we see in this movie
are blonde. White blonde and white brunette. Were with a
few but mostly yes. Right, so there the woman with

(45:19):
like shorter, kind of auburn burnette hair. I don't think
we ever actually learned her name on screen. I hope
we do. She does have those friendships, and those are
two women who support her, except that they're basically supporting
l in her pursuit of being proposed to buy Warner
and not necessarily her pursuit of going because whenever L'
is like, oh, I'm studying for the els ads, I'm

(45:41):
gonna go to Harvard Law School, and they're like, why
would you do that? And then there's a phone call
later on when they again, to be fair, she's never
displayed an interest in law. Never Yeah, And then but
there's a scene whenever, like she gives them a call
and she's like, has he proposed yet? We want you
to come back so that you can leave law school.

(46:01):
That scenes sucks. At first. I appreciate how her friends
in California are supportive of what she's trying. I don't
think that they should, like, you know, a real friend
would be like, you don't do that, Like you know,
like if you were like, hey, I've fallen in love
with a carpenter, I need to start working in construction
in Indiana tomorrow, I would say, hold the fund. Actually,

(46:25):
do not do that. That's a bad idea. However, their
support of can't discredit them for that. But then when
even when she does go to Harvard and starts to
have a vested interest in her own education, that whole
scene they don't ask about school at all, and it's like,
the whole scene is about the blonde woman's wedding and

(46:46):
we miss you, and also we didn't tell you that
one of us is getting married before we went wedding
dress shopping, but we're friends. Weird. Anyways, that storyline does
resolve itself by the two of them showing up in
her big case of the end a lot of third magic,
But until then, it's just a whole lot of like
why are you in law school? Law schools for losers?

(47:08):
But she to have her displayed in interesting like, which
is as that does make sense, which is part of
the problem about a movie where the main character the
thing that they're not interested in. Also, it seems like
she was very like I mean, even if we go
back to that admission scene where she did have all
these fashion industry based accomplishments, seems like you were passionate

(47:30):
about that and then she and I mean, it's a
testament to her intelligence and her character that she's able
to make a total switch and still excel at it.
But it's like you seemed like you're doing pretty well,
like you had a four point oh in this industry
that you were already working in. But sure old wait
list showed Warrener, you know, throw all that away. Maybe

(47:54):
though she gets her law degree and then she ends
up working in fashion law. You know that branch of
law off I'm sure exists. I mean, like well, I mean,
and in terms of like Elwoods character staying always tur
which I think is why regardless of all the issues
of like she's a rich white lady with limitless means,

(48:16):
I think that the reason people connect with this character
so strongly is she never abandons her interests and her
like the essence of who she is. At the beginning
of the movie, we see her grow as a person
and grow into herself a little bit, but like she doesn't.
There's not that total Princess Diaries style one eighty from

(48:38):
I was like this and now I'm the opposite, and
it's better where Elwood's remains herself and grows as a person.
I think that. I mean, that's why I like her
a lot. And even though it's very like God in
the Machinery at the in the in the scene where
she's able to extract a murder confession from a brunette

(48:58):
because of her knowledge of how perms work, which is
I think a really well written scene and goofy, you
know see, I think I have some problems with that scene,
but I mean I think that it's one of those
things where for me it's like comes down to like
from an entertainment aspect, I feel like the right choice

(49:19):
was made of like that is fun to watch, of
like she's using her knowledge she's had the whole time
in order to accomplish a new goal. I think that
that at its core is interesting. I think that on
the other hand, having her be like really heteronormative girl
knowledge put a brunette in jail. You know, like that

(49:40):
not as good because like it would be great to
see her definitely use the law to put her as
opposed to using perm knowledge. Character Wise, it makes sense
to me, right exactly because the movie sets it up
that like L is the only one who could have
figured this out because of her knowledge of hair care
and fashionality, because she's a similar thing happened where a

(50:00):
character that she's trying to sort of incriminate the pool
boy whose characters they mightn't remember into but salvataere yeah,
because he has made the statement that Brook Taylor, the
person that they're defending in this case, he and her
were lovers. And she's like, hang on a minute, that
doesn't check out. And then he says something like yeah,

(50:23):
he makes a comment on her like product shoes. She's like,
wait a minute, he can't have had an affair with her.
He's gay because he knows about product. This movie's queer
characters are not treated well before we get there. I
think that the movie does make that commentary of L
being uniquely qualified to law is made time and time

(50:46):
again because and again it's set up plot wise, it
very easily. If the plot had gone literally in any
other less convenient direction, would not be true and we'd
see her struggle more. But when the main legal of
the movie is a sorority sister who the East Coast
elite have trouble communicating with, L again is the one

(51:08):
who's uniquely qualified to communicate with her. So to me,
because we had already seen LB positioned as like she
is learning and doing very well in law school, and
it's like accomplishing and doing all the things she should
be doing. But the twist is she is also able
to communicate with wealthy blonde women. To me, that tracked

(51:31):
through the end of like where her wealthy blonde woman
knowledge was able to put a wealthy brunette woman in jail.
I don't know. But but even if it is a
problematic through line, it is a through line sure. I mean,
like I said, the movie does make a point to demonstrate, Yeah,
L is the only one that could have won this
case because of her knowledge about you know, hair and

(51:54):
fashion that no one else had. And she makes all
these breakthroughs in this case because her like sisterhood with
the client and all that stuff. So it's being like, hey,
this type of woman can be an asset in the world. However, Okay,
so she does figure out the case by using deductive
reasoning and using her intelligence just figuring it out law,

(52:15):
but like maybe not the core of it, but her
prime skill that makes her figure all this out is
like a very stereotypical, hyper feminine thing where it's like, yes,
hair and beauty and vanity kind of thing bugged me
a little bit, not so much that I still wasn't
on board with that whole, but it's just it was

(52:38):
just a little frustrating that, like, and the thing that
gets her to win the cases marketable, Yeah, like marketable
traditionally feminine qualities. Like, yeah, she is a tricky character
because it's like it's very easy to see almost everything
she does in two very different rice. Again going back
to the movie, really doubling down on like l is

(53:01):
herself and this is what is the cause of her succeeding,
is like sticking to her guns and this sort of
I guess that weighs into the East Coast Women and
Vivian in particular, is that where she has this very
contentious relationship with Vivian for the at least the first
half of the movie, it's her being herself by honoring

(53:24):
the sisterhood Delta new vows between she and Brooke that
wins Vivian's respect. So again, it's like l doing a
very l thing that ends up winning the respect of
someone you wouldn't expect And I really like that. Yeah,
more on that, especially her friendship arc with Vivian and

(53:44):
then one of the other notable female characters, Enid. So,
as I said many many moons ago, she has a
couple of female friendships that are strong and supportive and
that's great, and then she has another one in Paulette,
which can talk about in a second. But then she
has these The movie sort of poises her against these

(54:07):
couple other female characters who are classmates of her. So
it's basically saying like, oh, well, these, you know, Vivian
and l and Enid our classmates, and therefore they're sort
of in competition because everyone's going to be vying for
the best grades and these coveted internships and and stuff
like that. I mean that makes sense, and also that
it does. However, Vivian is introduced and immediately their enemies

(54:30):
because the first scene you see Vivian is her being like, yes,
I agree, professor, she's unprepared kick her out of class,
and then the scene right after that is yeah. The
scene right after that is L learning that Vivian and
Warner are engaged, and then there's a bunch of scenes
after that where Vivian like makes a point to flaunt
her engagement to Warner in front of L. So basically,

(54:55):
even though she's in law school and pursuing alat and like,
this is a passion of hers that we are meant
to believe throughout her whole life, unlike L, who just
decided two months ago, I'm going to go to law school,
which is that's another Still, it's a fun Victor Garver's
character sucks, but that's a fun line in the movie Wait,
which one slightly misogynsts, but it is fun. It's like,
I do you think she woke up one day and

(55:15):
was like, oh, go to law school? Because that is
literally what happened. That is what happened. But so with Vivian,
we're meant to believe is this passionate about law person.
Yet the movie spends so much time showing her being
very petty toward L and basically only caring about her
engagement to Warner. I think Vivian is a totally dissonant,

(55:40):
underwritten character as a whole. Again, switching to the other
side of this, the movie has everyone wanting to be
firmly in Elwood's corner the entire movie. The way Vivian
reacts to l in the first third to half of
the movie is always too much, Like it's always too much,

(56:01):
hey's my boyfriend now, and like I want you to
leave class because I don't like you, Like it's too much,
and they're they're laying it on too thick. Fundamentally, I
don't think it's fair to demonize Vivian to have it
seem like how ridiculous that she feels like it's weird
that her fiance's ex girlfriend uprooted her life to go

(56:27):
to the same school as him, Right, that's uncomfortable and
they're forced together over and over. The scene where this
was clearest to me because there are Vivian, by and
large overreacts is too mean, goes too out of her
way to make l unhappy, like, and there's the big

(56:48):
plot points of like, oh, it's a costing party but
it's not actually a cost part and stuff like that.
But there is one scene in which it's another just
weird bizarrow like okay two thousand one kind of scene
where L shows up because she wants to join Warner's
study group, and Vivian is clearly uncomfortable, and I don't

(57:09):
think the movie wants us on her side, but it's like, yeah,
of course, she's like, you don't want this person who
objectively would seem perhaps a little unhinged forcing themselves to
be ready, like I'm fully on Vivian. Vivian's corner in
that scene, and she is not nice about it, but
in that particular scene, she's not overly rude about it,

(57:32):
and L, to her credit, takes the hint and says, Okay,
I'm gonna go, And then this very strange thing happens
that she leaves the scene where Enid the only queer
female character we see in the movie. I wasn't sure
if it's like she had heard a rumor that Ellen
said something, or like was just making an assumption about

(57:52):
L based on her appearance or what it was, But
she was basically saying like whatever, like she saidn't like
like maybe there's like a sorority you can join, like
making fun of her, like you said, based on her,
like the way she presents herself in talks and looks,
and then there's a weird like, oh, wouldn't you call
me a dyke? And then l makes a very weird choice,

(58:19):
after just gracefully exciting a tense situation that she caused,
says I don't use that word, but Vivian probably does,
and so she's just like, um, I know I can't
be in the study group. Vivian hates gay people goodbye,
and you're just like that seems of it Like that's

(58:40):
because L, again, to that character's credit, does not go
after Vivian in as rude and antagonistic away that Vivian
goes after her for part of the movie. Granted, it
is a major motivation of her to take quote unquote
Warner from again, it's it's a lot like Warner's should

(59:00):
have been just allowed to break up with L and
be an asshole for the rest of his life, but
then we wouldn't have the movie. So right, A quick
point I want to make about the way that Enid
and Vivian, at least in the beginning of the movie,
and then Vivian has a like a girlfriend character whose
name I don't think we ever learned, but the three
of them are all very mean to bitches, right. They

(59:24):
mock her the way that she looks, in the way
that she talks, which is suggesting that all of these
women who are adults and in law school are so
petty that they are judging L solely on the way
she presents herself, and you know, they're meant to be vilified.
And most of these characters come around at the end
and say I was wrong to judge you like that,

(59:46):
but it's basically saying, like, look how petty these women
are for no reason, which was weird to me. And
then yeah, definitely that scene where Enid's like, you probably
call me a and say something like weird. If you
had come to a party, I would have been nice

(01:00:06):
to you, which I believe because that is what we like.
A nice character. L reminds me a lot of share
from Clueless and even share like chair you know um
that share no share from Clueless. Who we see share

(01:00:30):
who is like I think we talked about on the
Clueless episode is an example of you know, a rich,
blonde white girl who we often see sort of vilified
in movies, but as a nice person who's really who
sweet and oh that's that's nectually. I didn't even thought
of the share parallels in this movie, but there are,

(01:00:51):
especially with the share lels, the sharp share parallels, and
the share lels. I accept it um because at the
top of the movie, when especially when they're on the
West Coast, people can't start talking about how much money
they have, where Warner's literally driving beside El in a

(01:01:11):
convertible and she's like, I grew up in bel Air.
I'm not white trash, which is like, um triggered, but
we are sort of like, oh, you know, L is
kind of a rich bitch, which she she's rich, but
she's not a bit and that while again it is
not the most pressing commentary to be making in a movie,
I think is generally positive of like L seems. I mean,

(01:01:35):
she vocalizes several times she is aware of her own privilege,
but still works hard and is by and large decent
to everyone she comes into contact with. And the main
I mean, granted, this is a very white movie, but
we do see her come into contact with people who
are a different class than she is via Jennifer Coolidge's

(01:01:58):
character Paulette who is sort of like plays into this
like white trash New England trope and l never. I mean,
there's not even an exchange where any judgment is passed
about her class, So you know, again it's like this
isn't like we need to be seeing that rich white

(01:02:19):
women can be good people. But if that is the
protagonist of the movie, I appreciate that choice. That brings
me to a very bizarre scene that happens in the movie,
which is the Bendon Snap. I love the Bendon Snap
scene and if you've seen I haven't seen it on
Broadway because I'm not a millionaire, but I have seen

(01:02:42):
videos of it. The Legally Blond musical is banging. It's
really good. The Bendon Snap song rules. The Bendon Snap
scene is so weird because it's sort of like, look
at l Woods teaching these poor women how to do
this weird thing. I love that thing. Well, the context
of the scene is like that her teaching these women

(01:03:04):
how to appeal to a man better with something that
looks crazy, because it's like the bend over because you
drop something and then snap back up and show your
perky body and it's like really bizarre. It feels so
out of place in the movie. But it is one
of the few scenes where you see any women of color,

(01:03:24):
but it's they're all Bendon and snap. It's really bizarre.
And then this gay man comes out at the end,
or someone who were supposed to perceive as being gay,
and he says something like, oh the abndon snap and done.
That cuts to the last ten seconds of these scenes.
The whole scenes crazy, but the last ten seconds of

(01:03:46):
the scene particularly baffling. It's like a woman like breakdancing
after Benson and snapping, and then cutting to game in
and like a waiters uniform and Elson bringing something out
and being like, oh yeah, it's like, oh, Bendon snap,
cut to two dogs panting and the scene its bonkers bananas.

(01:04:08):
I encourage rewatch of that scene. You know, if there
is something problematic in that scene, I was too sensory
overloaded to recognize it. It was just it's just a
weird fucking scene, and to me, one of the best
parts of the whole movie because the only time that
Bendon is also to the point of like the scene

(01:04:29):
probably should have been cut. The only time the Bendon
snap scene is brought back is when Jennifer Coolidge's character
tries it and it doesn't work. It fails because she
brings we never see a successful bendon sny accomplixed a
very long scene of it being introduced to forty people
for some reason, and then the one time it's brought back,

(01:04:50):
it breaks someone's nose. But she still manages to quote
unquote snag that guy, that the ups guy who she
was interested in, which is perhaps a comment on you
don't need to do this elaborate movement to attract a mate.
You can just, I don't know, talk to someone and
see if they might be interested in you too. Well,

(01:05:11):
can we can we tackle the Jennifer Coolish Yeah, because
she's there's so many females. I mean, this is a
good problem to have, but there's a lot here. Um yeah, wait,
let me. We've been recording for about an hour and
I still have a lot to say that because there's
a whole callahan, I'm exhausted. Um, this is gonna be

(01:05:33):
a two hour episode. It can't be. I literally will
pass out, Okay, Jennifer Coolidge, Yes, Jennifer Coolidge is our
resident poor person in this movie. Her name is pault.
In this movie, L meets her when she has a
full body panic because she has you know, she's she
needs and I do. I think character wise, she's seeking
out something familiar in an unfamiliar place. I do this

(01:05:56):
with eyehop everywhere I go Duncan Donuts exactly, like yeah,
like I understand that. She's like, oh, this is somewhere
that makes sense to me. It's a character based decision
that makes a lot of sense. So she meets Jennifer Cold,
who's a nail technician at this place. Paula introduces herself
as She's like, I'm a middle aged woman who did

(01:06:16):
not graduate from high school. I dated the same man
for eight years and he randomly left me. This is
the worst blah blah blah. Like she she clearly finds
herself to be a very tragic, irredeemable character. Didn't even
get to celebrate my dog's birthday. Yeah right, she and
she misses her dog and l at this point in

(01:06:37):
the movie is like, yeah, that's pretty freaking sad. I'm
so sorry that this happens. And then Jennifer cools. I mean,
her character, I would argue, top to bottom, with the
exception of one scene, really does not send the right
message at any point where right after being like, you know,
she's like one of the only women over forty we've
see in this movie. I'm assuming I don't know if

(01:06:59):
she had, but like her character says, she's middle aged.
You know, she clearly feels she is a spinster and
without a man, even though clearly a crummy man because
he randomly left her without a man. She has no
prospects or value. L seems to agree with this at first,
and then before we even find out the next thing
about that character, Jennifer Coolidge says, you know, she finds

(01:07:21):
out about El's predicament and it's like, well, if someone
is haw does you can't get a man, there's no
hope for the rest of us, which is like that
one fucking sucks. And then and then she suggests you've
got to steal him from Vivian, and it's just like, well,
this character is really derailing anything positive. But she's the

(01:07:42):
only poor person and the only not super young person
that we and we have the professor, you know, we
have other stuff, but the most main character that is older.
The one scene that I would say is really good
that she's in is there's one scene focus on her
character where she and L go to the trailer of

(01:08:05):
her loser ex boyfriend, who looks and sounds like a loser,
clearly irredeemable. And I remember that scene clearly, And I
forgot a lot about this movie, but I remember that
scene because of how Paula's character behaves in that scene. Really,
I don't know, like hurt my heart a little bit
because it felt real in a movie that does not

(01:08:27):
very often feel real. She's like psyching herself up to
go and talk to her ex boyfriend. She's like, this time,
I'm gonna you know, I'm gonna get what I want
and blah blah blah, and he opens the door immediately
is obviously dismissive, an asshole, calls her ugly, basically saying like, oh,
let's see what I'm not missing out on, and it
crushes her and she's like clearly very affected by it

(01:08:50):
and starts to back down, and you know, like she's
clearly planned this big confrontation and it sort of like
devolves into these mumbles, and that was, like, I think
it was like a beautiful character moment that was very sad,
and unfortunately L's there and spews out a bunch of
granted made up, but like we're you know, scares him

(01:09:11):
enough that you know their friendship is solidified, and that
L is able to get Paulette her dog back. I
like that sounds a great scene to me too, because
one you see L empowering Paulett and sort of uppresting
another female character, and it's the first time you see
L being super lawyery, where there are a few scenes
before that where she like says the right answer in class.

(01:09:34):
That's beginning to see her kind of like, oh, she
does have a knack for this laughing. And then this
is a scene where you're like, oh, I do see
her potential and she's kizing herself because even though she
wings it, she manages to convince this guy and what
she's saying is not total nonsense, almost makes total sec right, Yeah,

(01:09:56):
it's clitches. She seemed very lawyery in the moment, and
we're like it still looked like at once while doing it,
which is great. I loved I loved that scene. I
think that that's the peak of Paulett's character, and I
feel like they sell her out later by you know,
she has a crush on this UPS guy, which do
they say Ups like, is that product placement? I think

(01:10:17):
they do yea so weird. But anyways, she you know,
ends up. She has a crush on this ups guy.
She breaks his nose with the bend and snap, but
they still end up together. That I think, you know,
like that is not a negative thing. I just don't
like that. It's like, Paul, it's clearly in a lot
of pain from this really bad relationship. She confronts him,

(01:10:37):
she gets what she wants, and now she can use
all this new empowerment to be in a relationship with
another man. And I just I felt like her character
was sold out a little bit because that one scene
with her and Hell was so great for both of
them that I would have preferred her to. I would
have preferred to see her finish her high school degree,
you know, like something like that. That wasn't just like

(01:11:00):
now she does right, which maybe she did, but like,
that's not your attention is called to Oh gosh, she
broke her nose, but it is her boyfriend now, which
is funny. But I just like she's a b character,
but I think she deserved better. I agree, And that's
a rap on Jennifer Bold. The next character I want
to talk about is Professor Callahan a k a. Victor Garber,

(01:11:26):
and how he is a total scumbag. We start to
get a clue of this because at first he seems
like he believes in L and that he you know,
he sees potential in her because she she speaks up
in his class and he's like, oh, yeah, she's got
some good opinions. You and I value her and she's intelligent.

(01:11:46):
But then you get some hints that he's maybe not
so great because he takes on this case of with
this this Brook Taylor murdering her husband, possibly case that
he is the defense attorney for, and the whole time
he's no, I'm pretty sure she killed him. I think
she's guilty, and like, basically, I think we can take
away that he does not respect or trust his client

(01:12:08):
because she's a young and attractive woman, one who married
an older man, but not for his money, basically because
she says flat out, because he's got a good d right,
but he's just like, well, she's a woman and she's
young and beautiful. Therefore cannot be taken seriously. Because later
there's the scene where he makes a pass at L

(01:12:30):
but under the pretense of like here, let let's discuss
your future in your career. What a what a relevant scene?
What a weirdly relevant scene and in otherwise not super relevant. Yes,
he's telling her these things, and at first he's like, Oh,
he's going to hire her to be a part of
his law firm or something, or you know, he sees
potential in her as a as a lawyer. But then

(01:12:51):
he puts his hand on her knee, which I would
argue is the equivalent of a surprise kiss. It's not
a kiss, it's it's a group but it it's unsolicited,
it is non consensual. And this movie does a great
job of treating how this type of act should be treated,
which is, don't touch me. I did not invite you
to touch me. And in the moment that what she says,

(01:13:13):
she says funk off and is clearly like and even vocalizes, oh,
so you didn't mean anything you just said to me
about my What I forgot about this sequence that also
feels just as relevant is that we see the immediate
that prompts a crisis of faith in herself. That makes
a lot of sense of like, she is capable. We

(01:13:34):
know that we've been watching her develop and do very well,
but hearing, you know, just for the sake of this
guy's fucking disgusting inability to respect a woman like she
doubts everything positive she knows about herself, and it prompts
her to, I mean, I think, for the sake of
the plot, immediately abandon any hope of being Alwert. And

(01:13:57):
and at that point we're like, well, this is a
loss for everybody. Like it's just like that was who
that was like kind of a devastating sequence to Yeah,
it's sort of very closely parallels a lot of things
that are happening, you know, in different industries today, where
it's not unsimilar to all the women who quit comedy
because Louis c. K jerked off in front of them

(01:14:18):
in a hotel room, right, and all the women that
like left journalism because of people like Matt Lowery and
Mark Halbert, like all the women who did not go
into directing and producing because of Halvedy fucking wines, you know,
every industry. And in this case, it's law, and I
feel pretty certain that it probably does happen in the
law community, which any of those industry that men are

(01:14:42):
a part of. It happened, which is all industries and
therefore and they're usually in charge of them too, and
and seeing that play out is like really hard. And
then the other thing I forgot that happens is and
Luke Wilson's character. You know, he's a good character. He's
a good like Emmett, middle part Emmett, feminist icon loves

(01:15:06):
L is good at his job, pretty across the board,
both a effective, hot and uninteresting character. The thing I
thought was really cool, if from a plot sense, did
not make a lot of sense, was that L goes
to the nail salon to say goodbye, to pull it
and say like I love you whatever, but this is

(01:15:29):
too much. I have to go home because I don't
believe I can be a lawyer anymore. And somehow we
haven't talked about this character yet because she's really only
in two scenes doing very different things. But there is
an older female law professor who at first is very
hard on L in a way that is like what

(01:15:50):
But she picks her out of her class because she
didn't read an assignment that L didn't know she had,
which which I can see happening. What I can't see
happening is her being like Vivian other character we need
to meet at some point, should L be forced to leave?
And Vivian says, yes, I think she should. I was like, well,
that would never happen in a class. Why would you
ask another student for consent to dismiss your own stiff?

(01:16:13):
I can see L getting kicked out like whatever. That
was bizarre. So so we're taught to think, oh, she's
very stern, and that didn't seem like even a gendered
comment because all the law professors we see are very stern.
But the second time we see her, she somehow goes
to the white trash nail salon. That seems a little
bit out of the way as well. She's in the background.

(01:16:37):
I was like, okay, sure, but at least they make
the most of that sort of baffling reveal of remember
that weird scene from earlier. She's back and she has
that great line of like if you're letting this, what
if you're gonna let one stupid prick rue in your life?
You're not the woman I thought you were, which that

(01:16:57):
powers L to be like, you're right, I'm going to
go back, and that's that's the sort of catalyst that
makes her return to Brooke and finish the Yeah, Brooke
hires her to be her defense attorney, and then the
whole sequence plays out where she solved the case and wins.
And I think that that was like a really cool
choice because at that point we've already seen Luke Wilson

(01:17:20):
say no, you're great, you should you should stay, and
he's right. But I think that that is like kind
of in the interest cassos of how a situation like
this plays out. Hearing another man say you're great, you
should stay, It makes sense to me that L would
be like, thank you, I appreciate that, but it doesn't
carry the same weight of a successful female lawyer saying no,

(01:17:43):
you should be here, And so that I got a
choked up. I thought was such a cool moment. If
even if the fact that Professor strongwill high powered lawyer
goes to the same white trash nails ang L what
stumbles into I'm assuming in malden By accident makes no

(01:18:04):
fucking sense. That was like one of my favorite moments
in the whole movie. Yes, I do like that. Also,
not to give any male characters any credit for anything,
but the sequence plays out where Callahan surprise touches l.
She has the reaction that we're always hoping to see,
which is like, oh, are you hitting on me bad?

(01:18:26):
Immediately yeah, because he said something like what, I'm just
a man who knows what he wants. And she responds
with and I'm a law student who just realized her
professor is a pathetic asshole. And she gets up, she runs,
and then she runs into Luke Wilson and tells her like,
this whole thing was a mistake. Me coming to law
school was a mistake. And he's like, what are you
talking about? What? And then she tells him Callahan just

(01:18:47):
hit on me. And he believes her immediately, and it's
like clearly upset by the news, but does not doubt her.
And then in turn, and this was like a good
character moment for again, I think the not super well
written Vivian character where Vivian another lots of fun convenient

(01:19:08):
moments taking place in the late second into the third
act of this movie. But just as Elwoods is surprised
touched by Victor Garber, Vivian sees that touch happened, does
not see what happens immediately after, which is l making
it clear that that is unwelcome. So Vivian there's this

(01:19:29):
moment where she's like, she confronts l and an elevator
and it's like, oh, so you almost had me fooled.
I almost thought you were, you know, a good, capable lawyer,
but it turns out, you know, it looks like you're
fucking the professor. And that's another sort of wrench thrown
into their friendship that was developing at that point. So
like that's, you know whatever, that's a plot point to

(01:19:49):
Vivian's character's credit. Later in the movie, when Brooke finds
out l quit, Luke wilson middle part just his part
is just oiled and shining, just a beam of light
is coming out of Luke Wilson's middle part in every

(01:20:09):
scene he appears in. But he says, you know, she
quit and the main reason she quit, which again is
like credit to that character, The main reason she quit
is because Victor Garber hit on her and she wanted
no part of it. And immediately Vivian says, oh my god,
I didn't realize that I've made literally arrested developments out.

(01:20:30):
I've made a huge mistake, which is good and again
tracks with the character of L who even when the
logline of this movie is not good. She is an
honest character through, like she doesn't lie to anybody ever,
and that's like sort of the part of like, that's
part of her core. So it makes sense that, like,
of course she would believe her because Victor Garber's character

(01:20:54):
is notoriously fucking sus as hell, you know, like yeah,
Earlier in the movie, Vivian even makes a condiment at
one point where she's like, do you ever notice how
Calahan will make you get him coffee but he never
makes any of the male interns get And then I
have a conversation about how men are useless, and this
is sort of the spark of the beginning of their

(01:21:14):
friendship because they kind over like Warner being an idiot,
men being useless and her being a little weightless bit yeah,
I love. Then the catalyst that gets Vivian to turn
around from like hating L is that she sees L
sort of protecting the client because you know, there's the

(01:21:36):
whole thing with her alibi and like, I can't reveal
what my albi is because it would ruin my career.
And I was like, sure, I will. I will keep
your secret as safe as I can, and Vivian's like
that was actually pretty classy, so that makes her respect
l and opens the channel for that like made me
feel great. I've had not to be like this is

(01:21:57):
like my fucking life right now, but I've had experiences
like that tour. It's like you just get off on
the wrong foot with someone, usually because of a man,
and then later like realized that perhaps the man is
the big fucking idiot, and it is good and we
can be friends even though we're different. That scene really

(01:22:18):
did it for me. Loved that scene and was a
good moment for Vivian. I just Vivian at the beginning
of this movie, just like she. I feel like her
character is exploited to set up fun scenes. I don't
think that it is something that tracks with her character
to be like it's a costume party, see you there.
I mean that from a studio notes standpoint, is because

(01:22:42):
people want to see Reese Weather's been dressed up like
a bunny. That is why they managed to fit it
into the plot. But sort of at the expensive Vivian's
character in that moment. I think there's a few other
clues that so this is I think it's worth noting
that this movie was written by two women, Karen McCullough
and Astin Smith, and it's based on a novel written
by another woman, Amanda Brown. However, it was directed by

(01:23:05):
a man, Robert Luke Headick or something, and I think
there are clues sprinkled throughout the movie that it was
in fact directed by a man. Basically, the opening montage
of the movie is this whole thing where people are
signing a card for L, which is basically just like
congrats on probably getting engaged tonight, which doesn't end up happening.

(01:23:27):
And um, there's all these shots of her sorority sisters
and sometimes they're wearing next to nothing and they're in
a steamy bathroom getting showers or they're like exercise. They're
just like sexualized and their shots and the like, Yeah,
the whole visual medium, like the way women, the way
the sorority girls are framed is very exactly how you

(01:23:49):
think the sorority girls will be framed. Nothing is subverted,
which is weird because I think the whole point of
the movie is to sort of try to subvert the
stereotype of you know, a on sorority. Yeah that that
L's character is, Yeah, but they're like, but actually all
these other sorority girls, they're still all white head her

(01:24:10):
own ormies who are hot and blonde, and we're going
to frame them like they're basically pieces of meat wearing bikinis.
Speaking of bikinis, there's another scene where l is like
outside sunbathing in what's probably like September October in Boston,
which is not appropriate weather to be sunbathing in, but

(01:24:32):
she's got this k babe, but can be. I don't know,
it's just but like I advocate, the point is she's outside,
she's wearing like a sequin bikini or something. It's basically
to like show Warner what he's missing out on because
he's playing football with like all these other dude bros

(01:24:52):
outside and they all just like basically stopped playing football
and just leer at her for a good twenty seconds,
and she just gives this smile like, Yeah, I'm glad
that you're all leering at me. And it's like a
weird choice. I just did the most cursory amount of
research on this director possible and found out some truly
insane information. If you don't like so. Director Robert Luketic

(01:25:18):
was first of all, was when this movie came out
the first major director, young director. He was given this
opportunity because of a short film he had that went
to Sundance. Which what an exciting male experience to do
one fucking thing and then be given a massive opportunity. Wow,

(01:25:38):
what an amazing thing. That will never happen to us.
But the movie that he debuted at Sundance and other
places was called titsian A Booberini. Just again here what

(01:26:02):
I said the first time. At age three, Robert Lukendick
made an eleven minute movie cop Titsiana Booberini. And people
saw Titsiana Booberini and he said, this guy's going place
give him off features losing my money, Titsiana Booberini. And

(01:26:26):
so I was like, well, what could Titsiana Booberini be about?
And it's not what you think it's about, but it's
still bad. It's about shaming women for a different part
of their body than the title Titsiana Booberini. Would wouldn't
fly this. This sounds fucking crazy. It won Best Film

(01:26:50):
at Aspen Shorts Fest. It won all these awards, and
without Titsiana Booberini, we don't have legally blonde crazy, which
you know, maybe was an original working title Bouberini to Okay.
It's a musical comedy with the story focusing on Titsiana,

(01:27:11):
an Italian checkout girl at a suburban supermarket who is
ridiculed by her fellow employees for her stute upper lip,
meaning she has a dark she has like a light mustache,
as do I let us vote right. So so it's
about a girl with a dark upper lip. The resolution
to this eleven minute film, Titsiana, is that it's a

(01:27:35):
weird Italian joke Titsiana Booberini. There, Titsiana gains new confidence
and acceptance when she discovers a hair removal treatment, and
so she it's sorry, that was the most insane Google
experience life, Titsiana Booberini. What else is there to say?

(01:28:00):
We wouldn't have this, so we cannot possibly consider legally
Blonde a feminist masterpieces Bustle dot com would lead us
to believe, because it wouldn't exist without Titsie on a Booberini,
I can't. He also directed Monster in Law, which is
a j Lo romcom, which is my ship. Also, Jane
Fonda shines in that movie. It's not a good movie.

(01:28:21):
I haven't seen it. But it wouldn't happen with that, TITSI. No,
I cannot believe that. Okay, okay, we're good. Hey yeah,
its officially on the movie officially longer than definitely because
the movie is only an hour and thirty six minutes,
which I appreciate. Keep it tight, I love a short movie.
Keep those TITSI on a booberies nice and tight and hairless.

(01:28:42):
But what the fun? That's crazy, Titsian. Just a few
final thoughts. Yeah, blond, I know it's so late and
we're dying. I wanted to say that Aristotle gets mentioned. Yeah,
that was exciting, but we were like Aristotle, shout out
to our producer Aristotle. Also, I we touched on this before.

(01:29:07):
But there's only really three main male characters, Warner Emmett,
which is Luke Wilson's character, and Callahan Victor Garber. The
rest of the characters with speaking roles, of which there
are many many many are women, which is great. But
I would say before we call this a women's movie,
we have to call it a white woman's movie. Yes. Absolutely.

(01:29:29):
The only really notable woman of color in the movie
is the judge, which is great. Yes, that is great.
There were However, many opportunities for other characters to be
women of color, other students in law school, women in
her sorority women anywhere else in the movie. There. Fortunately,

(01:29:49):
there's no lack of women in this movie, no excuse
for them to not be women of all shape sides,
of colors and in that van. And we've already touched
on this too, but there are two notable queer characters
in the movie, and neither of them really get fair treatment.
The movie is really subscribing to, like some pretty problematic

(01:30:10):
stereotypes in the way that they portray the lesbian character Enid,
and the gay guy's name is Salvator, right, um, because like,
the gay guy knows about fashion and that's what incriminates him,
and the lesbian is like this shrewy woman studies male
hating feminists perfectly right where especially Enid character falls into

(01:30:34):
I mean, both of these characters are literally handicapped by
their own queerness by the plot where Salvator is not
able to pull off his little scheme because of his queerness.
In a scene that I do think it's very funny,
where Luke Wilson's like bla blah blah blah blah, blah,
what was your boyfriend's name? And then he's like, whatever

(01:30:54):
is the Chuck? Chuck? And then Chuck is there there,
He's like what the hell. It's like, Chuck, why are
you because why are you playing party to this? Chuck?
You deserve better than this Chuck. Salvatore is a little sneak,
but because he says something like I misunderstood. He's just
a friend of mine. And then and then Chuck stands up.
He's like, you bitch. It's like, wow, Chuck is drawn

(01:31:16):
aline in the which Chuck deserves better obviously, we also Chuck,
why are you there, buddy? Like is it a money thing?
That's the only thing that you're thinking? But his Salvatore
is literally handicapped by his own queerness. Bad Enid. She
does not fail in the movie. Isn't quite in the
spectacular fun way that Salvator fails, but you really don't

(01:31:37):
see her speak in a scene where she just she
can't stop talking about the fact that she's a lesbian,
like she's just like it's a cartoon character. Although I
did I enjoy the moment where she's talking to Luke Wilson,
who is I guess at this I think the movie
tricks you into thinking that he's a law student, and
then later there's this reveal it's like, no, he's actually

(01:31:58):
an associate at this No, he's just hanging out with
a bunch of law kids. A whole anyway, So he's
in with a bunch of students and you know, it
is talking to him and she's like, oh, the whole
semester is a male term. I'm gonna petition for them
to be called oh Vester's from now on. And I

(01:32:19):
was like, that's the type of thing that I would
probably say, so I get it, or I would at
least tweet as a joke. But anyway, Um, the very
few people of color in this movie, the very few
queer characters you see, are not done justice at all
by the movie. I will say that I enjoy that
there are several female characters and most of them are white,

(01:32:41):
who are law professors at the most prestigious school in America.
The prosecuting attorney in the courtroom scenes is a woman.
The courtroom as with most interesting But it's like, you know,
it's not necessarily like a statement to have a male
salon with a lot of female characters that are certainly
not a statement to have a sort already full of
a lot of female characters. The courtroom thing felt like,

(01:33:03):
oh cool, yeah, she's a woman, and the prosecuting attorney
who does most and granted she's clearly poisoned. This character
who does not, like many of the characters in the movie,
take l seriously and whenever she's like, yeah, let this
first year law student, but trying to defend her to
find that kind of point L's outfit, you know, it's like,

(01:33:25):
it makes sense, it makes it's not an illogical Okay,
do we have anything else to say before it passes
the Bechtel test? Obviously? In fact, I stopped. There are
many scenes where women are talking where they are talking
about any number of male characters, oftentimes Warner and some
other people. But I stopped. I stop being able to

(01:33:48):
even keep track of the scenes where women are interacting
and saying things that passed the Bechtel tests, which is
because there are so many. My only criticism is that
this movie has trouble. I can't I don't even know
if it's like the issues, They're just not enough male
characters to have this be an issue for them as well.
But the movie is like not great at naming their characters,
but there are so many, so it takes a while

(01:34:08):
for it to pass our version of the test because
there story sisters don't have names, But it passes handily,
although there are several times where two women are talking
to each other but they're being really mean to each other,
which like, I don't like that. But there's like one
see in particular where like Vivian says to L, nice

(01:34:30):
outfit when she shows up in the bunny costume, and
then L says, thanks, you too, accept that when I
dress up as a frigid bitch, I try to not
to look so constipated, and it's like, wow, feminism. And
then and then the last line is you have the ring.
You're just like, oh, how does this scene? The other

(01:34:50):
thing I did want to say about that is that
I really I feel like we were robbed of a
scene where L and Vivian kind of reconciled because it
leaves off where Vivian realizes she's made a huge mistake
because she misinterprets what she saw happening between Callahan and L.
But then we don't really get to see any sort

(01:35:11):
of apology or reconciliation there kind a minute out of
the forty five bended snap sequence and give us that. Yeah,
I also would have speaking to let's write Vivian a
little bit better. I would have liked to see Vivian
confront Warner as well, because because clearly there's a lot
to unpacked there, and we found out midway through the

(01:35:33):
movie that Vivian doesn't take Warner seriously either. Shall we
write the movie, Bob, Yeah, I'm gonna give it. I'm
gonna say this is like a three nipple or like
a lost blood. I've also lot of blood this week.

(01:35:54):
My larynx is literally torn to shreds. Anyway, Okay, so
I'm gonna give this movie three nipples. Um, it might
deserve higher and might deserve lower. I'm not really sure.
To me, it's still like it's a movie in which
the character in the third act is very empowered and
she ends up realizing the thing that she was pursuing

(01:36:16):
for the wrong reasons is her calling and that she
is good at it and that she is passionate about it,
and that's great. However, the whole first very long chunk
of the movie is her pursuing something for the very
wrong reasons. So that's a little frustrating to watch. Also,
we had the whole discussion about a movie that's kind
of trying to like dismantle and subvert the tropes and

(01:36:38):
the stereotypes of a blonde, hot sorority girl, which she's
also but because the movie is just so fucking pink
to me, it almost reads is like those like big
brand pens that were like these are for women because
they're pink, and it's like, there's a movie for women
because look how pink it. There is a level ref

(01:37:00):
feinism to this movie that isn't as egregious as it
could be, but it's present. It's there, The product placement
is there. I'm with you, you're both having a stroke. Um, so, yeah,
there's certainly some problems. I do like the third act

(01:37:20):
of the movie, when basically there's the whole turn of
her coming into her own but not necessarily abandoning who
she is as a person. But she's empowered and she's
found her calling accidentally slashed by stalking her ex boyfriend.
But it works out, so that's good, I guess. Yeah.
So three nipples, one of them belongs to Bruiser, the

(01:37:44):
dog love Bruiser. I usually hate movie dogs, as you know.
I mean, I think Bruiser should have been a cat,
in which case I would have given the movie eight nipples,
and all of them would have been to the bruiser
of the cat in cat facts or whatever whatever I
usually say. But one of them goes to Bruiser and

(01:38:04):
the other two one to pull it, And I'm going
to give one to Professor Stromwell, the strong independent woman
who empowers l at the end to not quit law
school and to be the lawyer she was meant to be. Yes, Queen, Queen, Yes,

(01:38:26):
we love it. I'm so tired. Okay, So what do
I have left? What do I have left? We're so
close to the end. Do I have left in my
body that it's stolen from me? At this point I
think I decid my having crises. Okay, I have to
give this movie two and a half nipples. As much

(01:38:49):
as I do genuinely like it and think it's generally
it is coming from the right place, I would be
lying if I said that, Oh God, what is the
name of the movie again? Legally blond No, no, no, no,
the movie You just forgot what we've been talking about.
I've been bullshit. No, the iconic film that came before it,

(01:39:12):
uh Titsiana boober I would be lying if I said
that the reveal that Titsiana Booberrelli led to this movie
The Man didn't impact my general view of it. I
hope in affectors do. That's a pretty horrifying rug to
have pulled out from underneath you. It's like finding out

(01:39:34):
that like Moanna wouldn't have been made if there wasn't
like Dick Rangers. For like the director of Dick Rangers
four hadn't made a snapchat video that had won an
award It's Sundance. I just it's upsetting. My main issue
with this movie for all the little stuff we picked

(01:39:55):
apart which is valid, not to make our job sound useless.
That Sagan bitching we just did moment one. I don't
like the message this communicates to its very young audience
that an appropriate way to deal with a breakup as
a young person is to not accept a breakup. That

(01:40:18):
is such a horrible idea. And I embarrassingly did this
exact thing in high school because I'd seen movies like
this where it works out for me. I took a
bus to Connecticut. It did not work out. It was
deeply embarrassing. I think about it easily once a day there.
But I mean, like speaking to that larger thing, I

(01:40:40):
am not alone in having done something like that because
of movies like this that convey the message just basically
empowering unhealthy behaviors. And even though it is positive, obviously
the el's plan to win warnerback does not work out,
and does not work out for the right reasons. The

(01:41:00):
fact that she still does have this new, fulfilling life
because of this deeply flawed, problematic plan is just not
a good message to be sending to children who don't
know anything. Just remember, they will believe what hot people
tell them. Like that's just how children very easily influenced.

(01:41:21):
And the reason we do this podcast is because movies
do have a significant impact on our the way that
we yeah. So the fact that so many movies portray
romantic relationships is like or breakups is like, well, the know,
the way I'm going to win him or her back

(01:41:42):
is to stock them for a long time. And sometimes
in movies that works and it's like it happened, And
I can't think of an example top of dumb, but
there are a lot of examples of men doing this
to women in movies as well, probably more. It's just
not good. It's like right up there with my least
favorite movie setups, right up there with the let me
kidnap and re educate a woman and then we'll be

(01:42:03):
in love. They're just I just don't like the foundation
of this movie. To me, along with Tensiana, Boobarella is
deeply flawed. I can't deal with it. L Woods, I
think it's an awesome character. Most of the female characters
have elements of great characters but are not fully fleshed out,

(01:42:24):
possibly because the narrative is a little saturated with a
lot of characters. Anyways, I like the movie. I'm so
tired two and a half nipples. I've given one to Elwoods.
She fucking earned it. I'll give a nippy to pull
it as well, because she deserved better. And I'll give
my last half nip to Vivian. No no inspired awards here,
just giving it to people who are in them. Well. Also,

(01:42:49):
I wanted to known I literally had a physical response
to you, says, so that's our way, way, way, way
too long, and I'm sorrnest I not sorry. You, just
so you know, this is a far better product than
we were originally delivering, which is us drunkenly slowly about
how we like Titanic. Yeah, so for maybe a half hour,

(01:43:11):
and you're welcome that you're not listening to that garbage,
physically winded, just like, yeah, we got to go to
bed time. I hope you enjoyed this. I think you should.
You you fucking should. That was a lot of nuances
we did. We didn't. In fact, I feel like if
we had cut it any shorter, we would have left

(01:43:31):
out some valuable discourse. So here we are giving it
to you straight, to all you, marian. We'll try not
to make all their episodes this long, but hey, they
don't care. Who knows what will happen? Do you love
it to it? They're sick? All right? Well, yes, I
hope you're not too tired. Happy, happy New Years and

(01:43:59):
good time tidings to you, good job wah and a
happy bality. So that was our unlocked Matron episode, available
now on the main feed on the film legally Blonde,
And we don't get used to it. Don't get used

(01:44:19):
to it. All the other ones are. They're staying there,
they're they're locked in the Disney vault, except the Bechtel
the Bechtel Vault. But yes, thank you for listening. We
hope you enjoyed it. It was fun for us to
revisit as well. Um and just like there's no better
like legally it's a good time to watch legally Blonde,
and now in history's darkest hour, it's a fun time

(01:44:41):
to watch legally Blonde. Indeed, so thank you for listening. Uh.
You can find us online in all the normal places.
You can find us on Instagram and Twitter at Bechtel Cast.
You can of course join the damn Matreon Patreon dot
com slash Becktel Cast. There's other stuff. I just remembered
another theme we did, Revenge bur Oh yeah, every every title.

(01:45:05):
The titles are horrific. I love them so much. There's
but we've done a lot and then and then we'll
also do like annual Oscar roundups and stuff like that,
so a little a little more niche fun stuff going
on over there. Um, So I hope you enjoyed this,
And you can also get our merchant t public dot
com slash the Bechdel Cast, and we'll see you next week.

(01:45:28):
Gang ye

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