What would Elle Woods do? In Legally Blonde (2001), Elle makes impressive leaps and inspires the audience through her strength in character and tenacity.
Synopsis: Elle Woods is a fashion merchandising major who works her way into Harvard Law School in an effort to get her ex back.
If you’ve never watched Legally Blonde, do yourself a favor and add it to your watchlist. In the meantime, I’ve compiled a list of moments in Elle’s story that we could all do well to learn from and remember. For example, the way she transforms her grief and loss, being herself when it would’ve been much simpler to conform, and owning her place in an environment that is not quick to accept her.
I was vigorously nodding my head and cheering her on like every two minutes! I think many people can see themselves in Elle. She is someone who is judged immediately, barely given a chance to prove herself, and constantly underestimated and looked down on.
She isn’t a saint, as none of us are, but that’s alright. Perfection doesn’t build character, it doesn’t cement strength. The people who never fail clearly aren’t doing anything. However, Elle Woods does plenty in Legally Blonde. What would Elle Woods do?
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What Would Elle Woods Do?
1) Respectfully Decline By Knowing Her Facts
While dress shopping with her friends for her date with Warner, her boyfriend, and hopeful fiancee, one of the employees assumes she’s simply a rich, dumb blonde. The employee attempts to trick her into buying a discounted dress from last season for full price.
Elle seems to be able to get what’s going on from the start of the deception. Maybe to give the employee the benefit of the doubt, she questions the making of the dress, clearly understanding the process. After all, she’s a fashion merchandising major.
Rejecting and proving people who have the wrong idea about you is empowering. Being respectful and knowledgeable in response can interestingly make them feel even more annoyed in the end. Maybe they realize they’re actually the ones who possess that ignorance they thought they could amuse themselves with through you.
2) Transform Grief from a Breakup
Warner: “If I’m gonna be a senator, well I need to marry a Jackie, not a Marilyn.”
Don’t get me wrong, Elle did have her time to grieve. This included movies and chocolates and chocolates being thrown at said movies. However, when she stumbles upon a story in a magazine about her ex’s brother and his “serious” girlfriend, Elle has an epiphany.
Her ex breaking up with her subsequently broke her self-esteem, forcing her to reconsider where she should place it. Should it really rest in the control of others, or in our own hands?
Call it a distraction or call it the exact motivation needed to move forward in life — nonetheless, Elle Woods is now determined to get into Harvard Law. To prove not only to Warner and to her parents, but deep down to herself too, that she is worth more than what she is given credit for.
RELATED POST: The Best Ways to Get Over Someone You Never Dated
Break-ups are complicated, messy, convoluted situations. Everyone deals with grief in different ways, but it’s important to be transformed for the better by the negativity in our lives instead of letting it change us for the worse. Circumstances out of our control are akin to bullies: You can either stand up or stay beaten down.
3) Be Herself
Elle is not shy when it comes to the age-old saying “Be Yourself”:
- For her application to Harvard, she created a video essay that is definitely very her. In contrast, I imagine other applicants would take the opportunity to buff their intellect to further impress admissions.
- When asked, she hands a pink and scented resume to Callahan, one of her professors. She believes it “gives it something extra, don’t you think?”.
- She turns heads upon her arrival on campus, dressed in her all-pink outfit and carefree demeanor. It’s totally out of place at her new school.
I’m not saying to purposefully do things that are unorthodox to stand out, Legally Blonde is a fictional movie after all. The thing is, we can get caught up in following rules and maintaining order that we slowly lose who we are.
The world would be lackluster if it were not for individuality and creativity. Hold onto yours.
4) Let Her Friends Help Her
Elle’s best friends, Margot and Serena, from college (pre-Harvard) are presented as a bit single-minded in the film. Yet, I think they’re clearly great friends. When Elle brings up her plan to get into Harvard Law School they see that she’s serious. They help her realize her goal instead of invalidating it.
Both friends actively help her study and keep her accountable. For instance, Elle is maybe a few weeks to months into studying for the LSAT when she notices people outside partying and having fun. All that studying/effort for something that may not even work out is probably getting to her. Margot and Serena help keep her on track.
They understand Elle’s ultimate goal is to get into law school. Not to mention, they are the reason Elle gets this idea in the first place. To cheer her up, they convince her to go to the nail salon, which is where she discovers the magazine.
We should strive to have friends we trust enough to let them help us. We don’t always have to carry the weight of it all on our own; good friends may offer to help you out at times like these. It’s okay to let people help you.
5) Not Let Other People’s Expectations Become Her Responsibility
She gets into Harvard despite the low votes of confidence from people around her: Warner, her guidance counselor, and her parents. Those people were talking her out of it before she even began studying and putting an application together. Instead, she committed to her goal by putting in place good plans followed through with hard work.
Other people’s expectations of you are not your responsibility. Don’t allow their opinions to fester in your mind and dishearten you. Elle could’ve set her initial drive aside and reasoned with them against law school. Rather, she chose to trust herself first.
6) Ignore the BS
During orientation, the students circle in small groups and are asked to say a little about themselves. In an attempt to impress, this quickly turns into people stretching the truth, or embellishing it to one-up each other. It’s all about being the best here and squashing the competition.
Elle is oblivious to this or doesn’t care to participate. Amongst other things, she instead speaks about being crowned Homecoming Queen, her recently obtained fashion merchandising degree, and her cute dog Bruiser.
This is also evident in her conversation with Warner when he discovers Elle now goes to Harvard Law with him.
Warner: “You got into Harvard Law?”
Elle Woods: “What, like it’s hard?”
7) Keep Her Cool When People Try to Undermine Her
Vivian, with the help of the professor in their first lesson, successfully humiliates Elle. In all fairness, if Elle had been more prepared, this humiliation would be less likely. That still doesn’t excuse their behavior though, especially Vivian’s.
Elle is kicked out of class due to having an incomplete assignment, but she keeps her cool as she exits. It’s a similar situation when Elle tries to get into a study group at the library and is rejected because her peers don’t take her seriously.
When people try to undermine you, you don’t have to give them the full satisfaction of knowing the degree to which they’ve affected you. They don’t need to get an emotional performance out of you on top of being the person to drop pig’s blood on your head.
8) Talk it Out, Work Through It
Finding out Warner has a new girlfriend, let alone that it’s the same rude girl that helped her get kicked out of class, sets Elle off. She clambers towards self-care in the form of a pedicure in her distress. Immediately, Elle confides in the employee about her woes. Paulette, the woman doing Elle’s nails, listens. In fact, they have an even exchange of confiding and friendship burgeons.
Not much good comes from bottling things up. That tactic might work for a bit, but something always gives.
Let it be on your terms: talk it out with someone you trust and work through it.
9) Stand Up to Bullies
After giving her genuine opinion to a question Professor Callahan asked, Elle is laughed at for her optimistic perspective. Alternatively, Vivian gives a manufactured answer to this.
Vivian knew this would go over smoothly with the professor, win the class over, and be closer to objective truth. She then proceeds to taunt Elle by showing she’s got it all already: the guy and the wits.
Instead of letting it get to her, Elle decides on the spot to change her mindset. She stands up rather than staying beaten down, telling Vivan to her face that she’s up to a challenge. She understands that she won’t magically get certain things she wants, but she can use her strengths to try a new approach.
10) Use Her Strengths
When something isn’t working, use what you know already does work, to help move along what isn’t.
What would Elle Woods do? Study in a bikini outside in Massachusetts to distract an entire group of football players and get Warner’s attention.
At this point in her story, Elle still believes Warner will come back around to her. However, it should be said that unless the person you like is actually Cher Horowitz-level clueless, you shouldn’t need to try so hard to get someone to like and accept you. As you are should be more than enough.
11) Own It
…and put people in their place as she does so.
Public Service Announcement: If anyone invites you to a costume party and it’s not Halloween, do not wear a costume. Or at least bring a change of clothes just in case.
Vivian and her friend trick Elle into dressing in a costume for a non-costume party. Elle is so excited to be accepted into the group, I suppose, she doesn’t question the details. However, why would you even want to be surrounded by people you don’t like simply to fit in? It should go both ways.
Anyway, their goal was obviously to make fun of her through public embarrassment. Unfortunately for them, this didn’t work because Elle owned the situation.
Elle Woods: “Oh, I like your outfit, too, except when I dress up as a frigid b*tch, I try not to look so constipated.”
Sometimes if you act as though the embarrassing thing was planned and you don’t take yourself too seriously, it influences others to act accordingly. Besides the occasional weird looks, nobody else really cared. The whole situation could’ve been a lot worse if she made a scene.
12) Try to Make Things Work
Oh, the things we do for love.
Elle’s love for Warner and her absolute belief that their relationship was supposed to work out drove her to drop everything, make sacrifices, and study rigorously to get into Harvard Law. She wanted to prove she could be “a serious person” for him.
Elle Woods: “I’m never gonna be enough for you, am I?
No matter what she did, it wouldn’t be good enough because he had already made up his mind about her. Even when she got into the same school as him and challenged those perceptions, still nothing. He didn’t want her. He clearly didn’t love her.
Personally, I wouldn’t have broken a sweat trying to get someone like that back. The fact that she felt she had to prove herself/change parts of herself to be accepted by her ex is a huge sign alone that that relationship was not meant to be.
I love the moment she decides to do this for herself. That kind of personal determination is a powerful trait for success.
Elle Woods: “I’ll show you how valuable Elle Woods can be!”
13) Study Hard
There are no shortcuts to getting what you want. If you want something, make good plans and execute them with hard work. This way, one way or the next, success is assured.
Elle applied herself in an effort to get ahead of her schoolwork. She was studying everywhere and anywhere: at the library, studying while on the treadmill, and even while she was getting her hair done at the salon. Unlike what her ex believes, she’s able to relay to herself that she is worthy of her place at Harvard Law and smart enough to keep going.
People can say or think whatever they want about you and that is out of your control. What is entirely up to you is what you do, not to necessarily change their minds, but to elevate your own. It’s one thing to dream, but without concrete steps to at least start, you may never get to where you want to go. Not all success is luck.
How to be like Elle Woods? Have the mindset of not giving up until you get what’s yours.
14) Help a Friend Out
Having been in a similar situation with Warner, Elle helps Paulette find her voice to stand up to an ex. Elle uses what she’s learned in law school to convince Paulette’s ex to let her have her dog back.
Elle’s peer at Harvard, David, was having trouble getting a girl to go out with him. Obviously harboring a superiority complex, the girl and her friend reduced him to being a dork.
David was one of the few people at law school who didn’t polarize her. So after Elle overhears, she makes a scene about how they went out but he sort of played her, painting him as cool. Since those girls were shallow anyway, Elle played into that and it worked for him.
15) Stick To What She Believes
It seems to be an unspoken rule in Elle’s particular classes to answer with the most obvious and agreeable viewpoint. However, Elle is unafraid to share her opinion and stick to what she believes. During one of Callahan’s classes, they are discussing a case in which she challenges Warner’s perspective, and she wins out.
It pays off to trust your unique perspective. Being who you are in an environment that rewards sameness can be a revolutionary act. It takes courage to be true and express what may be deemed unpopular.
16) Entertain and Bring Together an Entire Salon Full of Strangers
Elle demonstrates the “bend and snap” to Paulette and almost everyone in the salon joins in to learn it.
Elle Woods: “When used appropriately, it has an 83 percent rate of return on a dinner invitation. It’s called the bend and snap.”
Yes, this is a movie, something like this is unlikely to happen at just any nail salon. This point is mainly a testament to Elle’s nature. She is friendly, forgiving, and gracious. That kind of energy brings people together.
Read the room. I can’t imagine Elle trying to teach the bend and snap to her classmates at Harvard Law. It helps when you’re surrounded by people who are likely to share the same interests as you.
17) Keep Her Word
Working on the case, Elle gets Brooke’s coveted alibi. However, she is so ashamed of it that she asks Elle to keep it to herself. The truth could ruin Brooke’s reputation.
Elle is pressured to go against her word by those around her.
She stands to gain much if she tells. An easy win for the case, Warner’s potential respect which she desperately sought from the start, and a chance to be hired by Callahan as a summer associate. Despite the adversity in the room, she stays true to her morals and rejects betraying her sorority sister.
18) Let Go of the Past and Possibly Forgive
Elle and Vivian sort of bond for the first time when the latter asks for a file on the case. They talk about how Warner is actually not all that. His father made a call for him to get off the waitlist for Harvard Law, he can’t even do his own laundry, etc. In response, Elle is warm towards her and lets Vivian hold her dog, Bruiser.
Essentially, she gives Vivian a second chance. It may not be total forgiveness of Vivian’s past actions, but she doesn’t let what’s past bar her from beginning again.
After all, they had a rivalry over Warner and they both came to the conclusion that he’s not worth it.
19) Set Boundaries and Walk Away from a Bad Situation
It’s an unassuming trap, the trick relies on flattery.
Amongst other things, her law professor compliments her intelligence and then proceeds to make a move on Elle physically. That isn’t what Elle wants, and she knows it’s inappropriate that he baits her with the summer associate opportunity.
Instead of giving in, she puts Callahan in his place and walks away from a situation she wants nothing to do with.
20) Change Her Mind
If you never change her mind, what’s the point in having one?
It’s okay to pivot, it’s okay to alter a pattern of thinking and decide to believe in something new. Break free from illusions and break free from the expectations of others.
Professor Stromwell: “If you’re gonna let one stupid prick ruin your life, you’re not the girl I thought you were.”
Elle is rightfully upset after the Callahan situation because it relayed her negative thoughts. Her inklings that she will never be taken seriously in this space and that she is not worthy of being there.
While venting to Paulette at the salon, her professor imbues her with the clarity and direction she needs at that moment.
She decides not to leave a good thing behind because of bad people. She decides to not let the falsehoods of others become a self-fulfilling prophecy for her. The whole world can be against you and then at your feet again. Therefore, you shouldn’t rely on the ever-shifting opinions of others.
There is plenty out of our control, but it is up to you to show up, never give up, and always try your best.
21) Use What She Knows
Elle gets the opportunity to win the case for her friend. Despite her nerves, she moves through her argument with courage. Turns out her distinct knowledge of hair perms would help her pinpoint a crack in her opponent’s well-crafted story.
Elle Woods: “The rules of hair care are simple and finite. Any Cosmo girl would have known.”
Throughout the film, Elle’s unapologetic girliness and strong affinity for everything encompassing beauty have most judging her based on looks rather than character. Elle takes back her power here. She proves she can become a kickass lawyer without sacrificing who she is.
Where do you start when you think you may fall short? Start from the beginning and always remember who you are.
22) Ignore The Sleazy Ex That Comes Crawling Back
If an ex only wants to be around when they see you living your best life, they do not deserve you.
She could also tell Warner was extremely selfish and lacked potential for redemption by now. To Elle, it would be a wasted effort to make things work with someone like that.
Since he was going into law, he dumped her to seek the image of having a “serious” girlfriend. Later on, he tries to get Elle to betray their defendant by telling Callahan her alibi. The summer job at Callahan’s firm was on the table. With a straight face, he told Elle to “look out for yourself, that’s what I would do”.
Yeah, no. Good riddance, Warner!
Elle Woods: “If I’m gonna be partner in a law firm by the time I’m 30, I’m going to need a boyfriend who’s not such a complete bonehead.”
23) Do The Damn Thing, and with Honors too
Her breakup with Warner led her to the law school path. However, in the end, she chose it for herself. That is the key.
It matters less what happens to us and a great deal more how we choose to respond. You have to be willing to move forward in order to realize your dreams. In the depth of trials, Elle chooses to rise above instead of seeking petty revenge.
She graduated from Harvard Law as #1 in her class and went on to work at a prestigious firm. Yet her success runs deeper. Throughout the film, Elle forges healthier relationships with herself and the people she chooses to surround herself with. And most satisfying of all, she reached beyond what others deemed as her limits, believing she was capable. Affirming that she is capable.
Elle Woods: “You must always have faith in people. And, most importantly, you must always have faith in yourself.”
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Got goals?
Eliminate the noise, be who you are, trust your instincts, and keep moving forward. You can do the damn thing too.
As for finishing said goals with honorary distinction?
…
This post was all about what would elle woods do.
