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"But even if I crash and burn ten times a day / I think I'm here to stay / I'm gonna find my way."
So my sister recently loaned me the soundtrack for the Legally Blonde Broadway musical, and I liked it to much that I ended up watching the entire show (which was filmed and aired on MTV last year and easily available on Youtube, etc.) this morning.
And let me tell you guys, this musical. I have so many feelings about this musical.
Which definitely stem from the fact that I deeply love the movie, and probably like every other person who has seen the musical ever, I couldn't help making constant mental comparisons to the film as I was watching the musical. There were some pretty significant plot differences in the musical as compared to the film, and some of the changes that the musical made were... well...
Wait, let me back up. I want to talk about the film for just a second. I remember that when the Legally Blonde film hit theaters in 2001, I just sort of rolled my eyes at it, because all of the trailers and commercials that I had seen made the film look absolutely terrible and atrociously sexist as well. But then my mom, of all people - who is a lawyer herself - convinced me to give the movie a try, because according to her the film was not only truly funny but actually had a righteous feminist message as well. If the film was intended to be feminist at all, that was definitely not coming across in any of the marketing that I had seen. But I decided to swallow my skepticism and give the movie a try anyway.
And I'm glad that I did, because my mom was so right. The movie was both funny and genuinely smart in the way that it framed and called out all sorts of different sexisms, in both subtle and unsubtle ways. Of course it was a mainstream comedy film so of course it was neither perfect nor completely sexism-free (is anything really?), but overall, it was just a righteously awesome movie.
It is also, as of now, a righteously awesome Broadway musical.
But in the transition from film to musical, there were some pretty significant changes made to the story that I feel really undermine the feminist message of the film.
So let me try to organize my thoughts about this in a coherent manner and see if I articulate what I liked and didn't like about the musical as compared to the film.
First off, the good:
+ The scene where Elle gets Paulette's dog back by smacking down Dennis with the law. The musical makes it very explicit that this is the moment in which Elle discovers her passion for practicing law; that epiphany moment was definitely missing in the film. The film never really explores Elle's motivations for pursuing a law career other than her need to prove herself "smart," whereas in the musical a much bigger deal is made of Elle deciding that her true calling in life is to use the law to "help the underdog."
+ "So Much Better," the song in which Elle discovers that she's made the list of Callahan's interns and delivers that famous line to Warner. Not only is the song awesome, but it's Elle singing about how she doesn't give a fuck about winning back Warner anymore because her law career is now more important to her. I like that this character moment comes so early in the musical, as opposed to the way that the film saved Elle's ultimate rejection of Warner for the last two minutes before the credits rolled.
+ After Callahan sexually harasses Elle and she has her climatic loss of confidence in her abilities, it's Vivian and Enid who storm the hair salon and convince Elle to fight back, rather than Elle's lone female professor (who admittedly does not exist in the musical version). I just really liked the twist that it was Vivian and Enid who convince Elle to come back, rather than anybody else.
+ There's actually a smart, bookish member of Delta Nu who helps Elle study for the LSATs.
+ During her graduation ceremony, Elle proposes to Emmet. I thought that having Elle be the one to pop the question was thematically much more satisfying than what the film did, especially considering how this whole story began because The Old Elle was so desperate to have a man propose to her. The New Elle knows that she doesn't have to sit around waiting for a man to give her a ring anymore.
+ Warner honestly gets a better flavor of karmic vengeance in the musical than he does in the film. The film, of course, ends with Warner begging Elle to take him back and Elle in turn giving him a taste of his own medicine, rejecting him with a smile and telling him that he's just not smart enough for her. We later find out that Warner graduated Harvard with no honors, no girlfriend, and no job offers - whereas Elle graduates as the valedictorian of her class. There's no way that the musical could improve on that delicious slice of schadenfreude pie, right? Wrong. At first, the musical seems as though it's actually going to be gentler to Warner. In the musical, when Warner begs Elle to take him back, she doesn't mock him as she rejects him, but rather hugs him and thanks him for unintentionally being the catalyst to her achieving all of these incredible accomplishments that she never would have achieved otherwise. But just when you think that the musical is going to let Warner off the hook without giving him the humiliation that he deserves... During the graduation ceremony, Paulette informs the audience that Warner didn't even finish law school, but rather dropped out and became a male model instead. So Elle, the girl who had only ever been valued for her looks and who thought that she was never going to be more than a model or a trophy wife, ends up graduating as valedictorian from Harvard Law school, whereas Warner, the boy who had ambitions of winning a Senate seat before he was thirty years old, discovers that ultimately he isn't good enough to survive three years of law school and ends up as a model being valued for his looks instead of his (not-quite-up-to-snuff) brain. It's a deliciously ironic role reversal, and because I'm such a sucker for dramatic irony, I have to say that I honestly like this ending better than the film's ending.
Outside of a feminist analysis of stuff that got changed for the musical version, I will say that there are other ways in which the musical is a vast improvement over the film. To start with, Paulette's part is greatly expanded. Not only does she get one of the best songs in the show but most of the funniest scenes as well. Elle's "personal essay" in the musical is a thousand times more awesome than her video essay in the film. The musical also adds a scene where Elle demonstrates her formidable intelligence by exacting a rather clever and hilarious revenge upon Vivian after Vivian tricks her into wearing that bunny costume.
But now, okay, let's talk about the stuff that I really don't like about the musical.
- In the film, Emmet truly played the role of the Token Love Interest (which, of course, is normally a role for female characters). Basically his character had no role in the story, other than to offer emotional support to Elle and act as eye candy for the female audience. He had no backstory, no motivation to do anything other than supporting Elle, and was really nothing more than a "prize" for Elle to win if she could triumph at the end of the film. Like I said, the Token Love Interest. Except I should probably qualify "Love Interest" with an asterisk because no romance ever really developed between Elle and Emmet in the movie. They never even kissed onscreen. It is only through a footnote at the end of the film that the audience is told that Elle began dating Emmet during her second year at Harvard and that Emmet proposed to her on her graduation night. But in the musical, that all changes radically. From his first appearance onstage, Emmet is immediately promoted to co-protagonist status alongside Elle. He is no longer a Token Love Interest. Now he has a complicated backstory and his own subplot going. Along with Emmet's expanded role in the story comes a much more explicit focus on the romance between him and Elle. The musical devotes a great deal of time to developing a romance between Emmet and Elle, even leading up to Emmet singing a dramatic confession of his love to Elle right before she tries to quit Callahan's trial. Now, all of the above isn't really a bad thing, per say - I mean, I can't really fault the musical for shifting so much time and focus onto Emmet, or for wanting to shoehorn an actual romance between Emmet and Elle into the story - but what really pisses me off is that along with Emmet's promoted role in the story as a whole he also gets a promoted role in Elle's story: namely, he's the one who saves her.
Yes, that's right.
In the film, Elle decides on her own that she's going to buckle down and seriously start studying law. In the musical, Emmet has to sing a song to convince her to do this. In the film, Elle makes her own decision to stop "playing dumb" just to please Warner. In the musical, Emmet has to point out to Elle that she's acting stupid around Warner because she's too dumb to realize it for herself.
And then the real kick in the teeth comes during the scene where Elle gets Paulette's dog back.
I already praised this scene in the musical for getting something right - namely, giving Elle a personal motivation to pursue a law career that was completely lacking in the film - but it also, unfortunately, gets something very, very wrong. In the film, Elle is the one who comes up with the legal argument that wins Paulette her dog back, and this is a watershed moment because it helps Elle realize that she is every bit as intelligent and capable as her Harvard peers. In the musical, however, Emmet tags along during this scene, and - UGH FOREVER - it's Emmet who realizes that Paulette and her ex had a common-law marriage, and it's Emmet who has to tell Elle to use that argument to get the dog back.
Because in the musical, Elle isn't smart enough to come up with the winning argument or save the dog on her own. Emmet has to do it FOR her.
So this, right here, is my single biggest beef with the musical. Instead of Emmet being a character who supports Elle, now he's been re-written as the man who RESCUES Elle from her own stupidity and shortsightedness. And he "rescues" her more than once, even! To me this HUGELY undermines the message of the original film, in which Elle made all of those key decisions ON HER OWN without needing a man to sing convincing arguments at her.
The musical even adds a scene where Emmet is in Elle's dorm room, throwing away all of her beauty products and chastising her for not even having taken the shrink wrap off one of her textbooks yet. "Spend some time improving what's inside your head!" he admonishes her. Uh, yeah. In the film, again, this is all stuff that Elle did on her own - Elle decided for herself that she was going to start studying seriously, she decided for herself to get books and her computer, she decided for herself to clean out her dorm room, she decided FOR HERSELF to start improving what was inside her head. Emmet had nothing to do with any of that. In the musical she didn't - or rather, couldn't - do any of that until Emmet came along and told her to do it.
By the end of the musical I was so afraid that Emmet was going to be the one who showed up in the hair salon and convinced Elle to take back Brooke's case. And I was so relieved when it turned out to be Vivian and Enid who showed up in the hair salon instead.
In conclusion, the musical is awesome EXCEPT for how it undermines its own message by re-writing Emmet into the role of Elle's "savior" - whereas in the film she never needed one. So, uh, yeah. I guess those are my thinky-thoughts about Legally Blonde.
...I don't think I've ever written that many words about a freakin' musical before.
Anyway, the entire musical is available on Youtube, and I would seriously recommend that y'all check it out, especially if you like comedy, music, feminism, and awesome combinations of all of the above.
And let me tell you guys, this musical. I have so many feelings about this musical.
Which definitely stem from the fact that I deeply love the movie, and probably like every other person who has seen the musical ever, I couldn't help making constant mental comparisons to the film as I was watching the musical. There were some pretty significant plot differences in the musical as compared to the film, and some of the changes that the musical made were... well...
Wait, let me back up. I want to talk about the film for just a second. I remember that when the Legally Blonde film hit theaters in 2001, I just sort of rolled my eyes at it, because all of the trailers and commercials that I had seen made the film look absolutely terrible and atrociously sexist as well. But then my mom, of all people - who is a lawyer herself - convinced me to give the movie a try, because according to her the film was not only truly funny but actually had a righteous feminist message as well. If the film was intended to be feminist at all, that was definitely not coming across in any of the marketing that I had seen. But I decided to swallow my skepticism and give the movie a try anyway.
And I'm glad that I did, because my mom was so right. The movie was both funny and genuinely smart in the way that it framed and called out all sorts of different sexisms, in both subtle and unsubtle ways. Of course it was a mainstream comedy film so of course it was neither perfect nor completely sexism-free (is anything really?), but overall, it was just a righteously awesome movie.
It is also, as of now, a righteously awesome Broadway musical.
But in the transition from film to musical, there were some pretty significant changes made to the story that I feel really undermine the feminist message of the film.
So let me try to organize my thoughts about this in a coherent manner and see if I articulate what I liked and didn't like about the musical as compared to the film.
First off, the good:
+ The scene where Elle gets Paulette's dog back by smacking down Dennis with the law. The musical makes it very explicit that this is the moment in which Elle discovers her passion for practicing law; that epiphany moment was definitely missing in the film. The film never really explores Elle's motivations for pursuing a law career other than her need to prove herself "smart," whereas in the musical a much bigger deal is made of Elle deciding that her true calling in life is to use the law to "help the underdog."
+ "So Much Better," the song in which Elle discovers that she's made the list of Callahan's interns and delivers that famous line to Warner. Not only is the song awesome, but it's Elle singing about how she doesn't give a fuck about winning back Warner anymore because her law career is now more important to her. I like that this character moment comes so early in the musical, as opposed to the way that the film saved Elle's ultimate rejection of Warner for the last two minutes before the credits rolled.
+ After Callahan sexually harasses Elle and she has her climatic loss of confidence in her abilities, it's Vivian and Enid who storm the hair salon and convince Elle to fight back, rather than Elle's lone female professor (who admittedly does not exist in the musical version). I just really liked the twist that it was Vivian and Enid who convince Elle to come back, rather than anybody else.
+ There's actually a smart, bookish member of Delta Nu who helps Elle study for the LSATs.
+ During her graduation ceremony, Elle proposes to Emmet. I thought that having Elle be the one to pop the question was thematically much more satisfying than what the film did, especially considering how this whole story began because The Old Elle was so desperate to have a man propose to her. The New Elle knows that she doesn't have to sit around waiting for a man to give her a ring anymore.
+ Warner honestly gets a better flavor of karmic vengeance in the musical than he does in the film. The film, of course, ends with Warner begging Elle to take him back and Elle in turn giving him a taste of his own medicine, rejecting him with a smile and telling him that he's just not smart enough for her. We later find out that Warner graduated Harvard with no honors, no girlfriend, and no job offers - whereas Elle graduates as the valedictorian of her class. There's no way that the musical could improve on that delicious slice of schadenfreude pie, right? Wrong. At first, the musical seems as though it's actually going to be gentler to Warner. In the musical, when Warner begs Elle to take him back, she doesn't mock him as she rejects him, but rather hugs him and thanks him for unintentionally being the catalyst to her achieving all of these incredible accomplishments that she never would have achieved otherwise. But just when you think that the musical is going to let Warner off the hook without giving him the humiliation that he deserves... During the graduation ceremony, Paulette informs the audience that Warner didn't even finish law school, but rather dropped out and became a male model instead. So Elle, the girl who had only ever been valued for her looks and who thought that she was never going to be more than a model or a trophy wife, ends up graduating as valedictorian from Harvard Law school, whereas Warner, the boy who had ambitions of winning a Senate seat before he was thirty years old, discovers that ultimately he isn't good enough to survive three years of law school and ends up as a model being valued for his looks instead of his (not-quite-up-to-snuff) brain. It's a deliciously ironic role reversal, and because I'm such a sucker for dramatic irony, I have to say that I honestly like this ending better than the film's ending.
Outside of a feminist analysis of stuff that got changed for the musical version, I will say that there are other ways in which the musical is a vast improvement over the film. To start with, Paulette's part is greatly expanded. Not only does she get one of the best songs in the show but most of the funniest scenes as well. Elle's "personal essay" in the musical is a thousand times more awesome than her video essay in the film. The musical also adds a scene where Elle demonstrates her formidable intelligence by exacting a rather clever and hilarious revenge upon Vivian after Vivian tricks her into wearing that bunny costume.
But now, okay, let's talk about the stuff that I really don't like about the musical.
- In the film, Emmet truly played the role of the Token Love Interest (which, of course, is normally a role for female characters). Basically his character had no role in the story, other than to offer emotional support to Elle and act as eye candy for the female audience. He had no backstory, no motivation to do anything other than supporting Elle, and was really nothing more than a "prize" for Elle to win if she could triumph at the end of the film. Like I said, the Token Love Interest. Except I should probably qualify "Love Interest" with an asterisk because no romance ever really developed between Elle and Emmet in the movie. They never even kissed onscreen. It is only through a footnote at the end of the film that the audience is told that Elle began dating Emmet during her second year at Harvard and that Emmet proposed to her on her graduation night. But in the musical, that all changes radically. From his first appearance onstage, Emmet is immediately promoted to co-protagonist status alongside Elle. He is no longer a Token Love Interest. Now he has a complicated backstory and his own subplot going. Along with Emmet's expanded role in the story comes a much more explicit focus on the romance between him and Elle. The musical devotes a great deal of time to developing a romance between Emmet and Elle, even leading up to Emmet singing a dramatic confession of his love to Elle right before she tries to quit Callahan's trial. Now, all of the above isn't really a bad thing, per say - I mean, I can't really fault the musical for shifting so much time and focus onto Emmet, or for wanting to shoehorn an actual romance between Emmet and Elle into the story - but what really pisses me off is that along with Emmet's promoted role in the story as a whole he also gets a promoted role in Elle's story: namely, he's the one who saves her.
Yes, that's right.
In the film, Elle decides on her own that she's going to buckle down and seriously start studying law. In the musical, Emmet has to sing a song to convince her to do this. In the film, Elle makes her own decision to stop "playing dumb" just to please Warner. In the musical, Emmet has to point out to Elle that she's acting stupid around Warner because she's too dumb to realize it for herself.
And then the real kick in the teeth comes during the scene where Elle gets Paulette's dog back.
I already praised this scene in the musical for getting something right - namely, giving Elle a personal motivation to pursue a law career that was completely lacking in the film - but it also, unfortunately, gets something very, very wrong. In the film, Elle is the one who comes up with the legal argument that wins Paulette her dog back, and this is a watershed moment because it helps Elle realize that she is every bit as intelligent and capable as her Harvard peers. In the musical, however, Emmet tags along during this scene, and - UGH FOREVER - it's Emmet who realizes that Paulette and her ex had a common-law marriage, and it's Emmet who has to tell Elle to use that argument to get the dog back.
Because in the musical, Elle isn't smart enough to come up with the winning argument or save the dog on her own. Emmet has to do it FOR her.
So this, right here, is my single biggest beef with the musical. Instead of Emmet being a character who supports Elle, now he's been re-written as the man who RESCUES Elle from her own stupidity and shortsightedness. And he "rescues" her more than once, even! To me this HUGELY undermines the message of the original film, in which Elle made all of those key decisions ON HER OWN without needing a man to sing convincing arguments at her.
The musical even adds a scene where Emmet is in Elle's dorm room, throwing away all of her beauty products and chastising her for not even having taken the shrink wrap off one of her textbooks yet. "Spend some time improving what's inside your head!" he admonishes her. Uh, yeah. In the film, again, this is all stuff that Elle did on her own - Elle decided for herself that she was going to start studying seriously, she decided for herself to get books and her computer, she decided for herself to clean out her dorm room, she decided FOR HERSELF to start improving what was inside her head. Emmet had nothing to do with any of that. In the musical she didn't - or rather, couldn't - do any of that until Emmet came along and told her to do it.
By the end of the musical I was so afraid that Emmet was going to be the one who showed up in the hair salon and convinced Elle to take back Brooke's case. And I was so relieved when it turned out to be Vivian and Enid who showed up in the hair salon instead.
In conclusion, the musical is awesome EXCEPT for how it undermines its own message by re-writing Emmet into the role of Elle's "savior" - whereas in the film she never needed one. So, uh, yeah. I guess those are my thinky-thoughts about Legally Blonde.
...I don't think I've ever written that many words about a freakin' musical before.
Anyway, the entire musical is available on Youtube, and I would seriously recommend that y'all check it out, especially if you like comedy, music, feminism, and awesome combinations of all of the above.