Black Legally Blonde

I also don`t see the point of internalizing the message that black women should compare our struggles to rich, privileged blonde white women, but I recognize that this is just another aspect of cultivation theory. 166.8K like, 1K comments. TikTok video by OuatedePhoque (@ouatedephoque7): “#мюзикл #блондинкавзаконе #legallyblondethemusical #legallyblonde #культурныеразличия”. оригинальный звук. The moment when the only black man on stage (the African prince) is so brazenly exoticized and moments like this set the tone, and rather unpleasant. Maybe Legally Blonde`s mission is not to be smart about race. But there is a certain expectation for this purpose, when in the program the note of the director with “EMPOWERMENT! That`s the word that came to mind when I was constantly reading the script for Legally Blonde. Certainly, Cassie Abate, our director in question, has more in mind for women in terms of empowerment, which is important and certainly the best part of Legally Blonde. It`s fun and exciting to see women perform well in academic, professional and social settings. It`s done in a culturally relevant way in the Texas state version and creates hilarious stage moments, especially any scene In which Paulette plays, who learns to stand up to her ex to get her dog back, or to resume her sexuality with the “fold and snap”. Listen to me: Yes, she is a white upper-class, blonde woman.

What could be the possible relationship? I`m a black man and I saw so much of myself in her while I was studying law. This film is one of my absolute favorites and a constant source of inspiration. Take, for example, the first scene at Harvard where Elle`s classmates compare her accomplishments and exclaim how impressed they are with each other`s lives. A bearded black man comes to the fore and presents himself as a “prince in my own country” who was forced by a coup. It is not difficult to assume that the country in question is located in Africa, given the emphasis and attitude given to the figure. The joke is clearly not about race, but about the fact that he came to Harvard because of his royal position, but I was wondering if the character wasn`t a black American? Later, when we met Emmett, the “hellish” law student from modest backgrounds, I asked the same question. There are arguments about power and privilege in both places that can be made in a smarter way through the use of race. Making Emmett an African-American character doesn`t fix how white a Legally Blonde musical is, but it does add a whole new dimension to his dialogue with Elle. It highlights the struggle he had to overcome and celebrates the person he has become when we meet him (even before She transforms him by taking him shopping), making his rise to power much more interesting throughout the play. It even makes a wonderful juxtaposition against Warner, because as the story is now, She only trades one rich white friend who thrives at first for another at the end. But in a subversive turn, Elle`s inner growth is not reflected in a hard chick makeover ala Grease. He is a character who refuses to play by the rules of men and accept that the law is a world of men.

She takes ownership of the world, gives it new colors and a brilliant makeover. In blonde, of course. We have rigid expectations about how a musical theater cast should look, sound, behave, and based on those expectations, musicals tend toward a white audience and a white cast. I don`t want to take away Hamilton, The Lion King or other musicals that embrace diversity, racial differences or global cultures, but the history of the musical is written in whiteness. He owes his ancestry in part to the minstrel show, where white actors wore black faces to denigrate African Americans through performance. Much of the form of musical theater comes from Europe – Edwardian musicals, ancient Greece, Renaissance – these are the true ancestors of tradition, and it is not a small role that they are the ancestors of white Western civilization. They color our expectations with the colors of the show, and it`s a resolutely monochrome palette. Obviously, not everything is peaches and roses, because black women treat much more.

These are just a few parallels that struck me. Enrique wears a glittering green shirt with a Virgin Mary on her back, speaks with an exaggerated accent, and leaves Cher CDs in the pool house, all ahead of her disturbing public outing. But paradoxically, any demonstration or culture of sexual attractiveness such as diets, heavy makeup, and flirting behavior is often ridiculed at best and completely dehumanized at worst. An exception is her friend Serena, played by actress Alanna Ubach, who is of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent and is best known for voiced Mamá Imelda in Pixar`s “Coco,” though Serena largely disappears in the middle of the film when she is completely immersed in Harvard`s legal experience. Perhaps that`s why we Americans elected Trump president. After all, it is easier to enjoy whiteness on stage than to fight it, to oppose power and privilege. Everything has its price, even laughter. She quickly intervenes to defend her new friend, Jennifer Coolidge`s Paulette Bonafonté Parcel, in a dog custody fight with a terrible former partner, and she fiercely protects Brooke`s alibi in the murder trial (as a thin white woman, she is aware how bad it would be if the secret of fitness icon Brooke`s liposuction was revealed).

I work as an admissions consultant at Texas State, so you`ll forgive me if I make a professional comment or two about the stage she`s admitted to Harvard. First, the idea that anything but an essay or a written personal statement is acceptable review material is both ridiculous and too real.