I absolutely love Legally Blonde (the musical). Elle is such a great character!!
The audience is introduced to her in such an amazing way, with her mathematically trying to figure out what to wear. “It may be perfect for a blonde, but I’m not that blonde. I may be in love but I’m not stupid, lady, I’ve got eyes.”
Elle in general is so good. She’s so smart and she’s legitimately the most interesting character to follow.
But!!! The best!!! Part!!! At the end of the musical, when she says she’s leaving, Emmett confessing that he loves her isn’t what convinces her to stay. Instead, it’s the other female characters showing their support for her!!! The way the girls in this movie support each other!!! The “Greek Chorus” is perhaps my favourite example, if only because they’re so supportive of absolutely everything Elle does!!! It’s so sweet!!! “We came to see our president be legally blonde”? Best line, I love it, it’s so good.
But also, the romance between Elle and Emmett is so fucking good. Emmett supports her through absolutely everything. Emmett is such a great person, but also his musical cue is an oboe, which means I’m biased to like him anyway-
“They laughed at me like they’re laughing at you. We can’t win if we don’t follow through.” “Though it’s hardly my business to say, could it be the real thing in your way is the very man you’re trying to impress?” “But I know it’ll all be worthwhile when I win my first lucrative trial, and buy my mom that great big house out on the cape.” “As I hugged my mom and told her, with the chance I’ve been given, I’m gonna be driven as hell.” All of Emmett’s lines are so good, all of his songs are perfect, Emmett is the best character ever.
I love the ending, when Elle proposes to Emmett. It’s the character coming full circle. She begins the musical by planning an outfit that will be perfect for Warner to propose to her to; “This dress needs to seal the deal, make a grown man kneel, but it can’t come right out and say bride.” “I’ve got t leave Warner his pride.” She’s fulfilling the stereotypical idea of the woman having to be proposed to. She can’t propose to him or look too desperate to be proposed to, because that will ruin his “pride.”
Elle proposing to Emmett at the end shows such an amazing character growth. She knows she doesn’t have to fulfill the stereotypical female role in their relationship. She proposes in a room full of people, proving that she is no longer concerned with her partner’s “pride.” She proposes by saying “Emmett Forrest, please make me the happiest woman I know.” She proposes in the stereotypical male style, but it’s so fucking sweet because Emmett is so excited and they just love each other so much-
But the best way to portray the character growth is two specific interactions. To set it up, the Greek Chorus mentions, in the very first song, that being married won’t come between Elle and their “sacred bond of sisterhood.” Later in the same song, the Chorus sings: “We love you guys.” And Elle responds: “No, I love you guys.” Note that she specifically says “I,” because presumably, Warner doesn’t actually care all that much about them.
Now, in the finale, the Chorus repeats the line, this time to Elle and Emmett: “We love you guys.” But, this time, Elle and Emmett respond together: “No, we love you guys.”
Emmett supports Elle’s interests to the point that she feels comfortable sharing them with him. She feels comfortable introducing her best friends to him and he actually likes them. It comes full circle. Elle finally has someone who supports her completely, just like she supports Emmett completely, they make each other happy. It’s so sweet.
Also, it’s kinda funny because Emmett is Elle’s sugar baby-
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Rewatching the Summer flashback in v9e10 means hearing her say "I love you, just the way you are. Always" as she takes off her emblem and leaves it on the storybook before turning off the light
Meaning that the 'mother's promise' that Ruby's emblem carries isn't that she'll come back, like we all expected when we first heard about it, but that she'll always love her kids just the way they are.
... which tracks with Ruby's emotional spiral after she traded it away
(also adds a layer of heartbreak to the fact that she comfort stims by absently rubbing the emblem shortly before that)
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Was at an event a few night ago that was a one-person show written and performed by a trans woman playwright. The play was mostly what you'd expect as far as the popular, accepted white transfem narrative, and in that to me felt as though it was lacking authenticity. There was obviously stuff she was leaving out.
But the way the audience reacted sticks with me. It was primarily a room of older cis people, and of the trans people that were there, I was one of perhaps three or four trans women in attendance.
During some of the most horrifying parts, audience members would laugh. At the description of conversion therapy and sexual torture, the audience laughed, many of the transmasculine people in the audience included. But to me and the other transfems in the room, as stated after the show, it was very far from a joke and the laugher only served to remind us of our alienation from even the greater transgender community.
After this, and after the passionate climax of the play where the thesis of "Being transgender can be hard but we're lovely and can still live happy lives!" is shouted in full force, multiple transmasculine audience members take a moment in the Q&A to ignore the playwrights direct request for feedback and instead wax poetic about how inspiring her story was for them, how strong she is for still being here, how beautiful she is now.
And I have to wonder whether we'll ever truly be seen as anything other than inspiration porn or a punchline, the pinnacle and the pit. Even in a room full of people, hearing a story that's so similar to my own, I didn't realize how separate I could feel.
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I've always had this thing where I don't like to tell people what I will do or what I want to do. I don't feel like verbally saying sorry is good enough when I say it. I want to either be able to show it in action or else whatever my word would be means nothing.. so I keep quiet more often than not about anything. However, I think that it's important to know that many things actually need to be talked about. That is part of the action. You shouldn't feel like whatever I feel. If you mean it, say it, talk about it. Talk about it. Tell them. Don't beat yourself up until there's nothing left of you.
I want to be clear that I've never held others around me to these standards I have placed on myself. I don't think that way except when it comes to myself. I dunno. That's just how it is. But people's words and communication mean so much to me.
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❀ || Sorry for the silence on my end! I’m getting used to the routine and rhythm of my new workplace, so hopefully soon I’ll be getting back onto here and start getting things done again. Tumblr just feels like a lot when you’re formatting replies and adding graphics and making things all pretty to keep “up to standard” with most people’s expectations (and I do hate being inconsistent with my stuff, so it feels weird to suddenly simplify everything to accommodate myself dgskfg).
That being said, it’ll still be a little while before I feel comfortable coming back here-- just that weird feeling of being overwhelmed. I’ll pop in to send inbox stuff here and there, but writing stuff will take some time due to how demanding it is on here.
Aside from all that-- I hope everyone has a lovely day! I’ll try to get myself back into the swing of things on here soon! ♡
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