How Legally Blonde saved my shitty week.

This week has been a lot about facing my social vulnerability. I am easily manipulated and taken advantage of by people because I take people at their word and give people the benefit of the doubt. And in the midst of the awfulness that causes, and the trauma that brings up, it's easy to feel like I need to change.

So after taking advice from numerous sources, finding ways to manage my trauma response and prevent being re-triggered, I put on my favourite film in the whole world to rewatch it for probably the hundredth time; Legally Blonde. As the story played out, as it always does, I felt better. I felt me come back to myself. I felt my soul re-solidify and my roots become grounded, and I want to explore why it's so powerful to me.

For those who haven't seen it, the plot overview goes something like this; Elle Woods, a hot blonde who's also very sweet and popular, gets broken up with for not being smart enough and decides to go to law school to prove him wrong and win him back.
Not the premise you might expect for self empowerment a reminder to stay true to yourself and yet...

Spoilers afoot from here on out!

Elle Woods is naive; she trusts people, takes them at their word, and gives them a chance. People take advantage of her because of that, and because they assume her to not be smart entirely because she's pretty. They underestimate her at every turn.

The start of the film sees Elle broken up with and heartbroken. She resolves to prove her worth to her ex-boyfriend, to show him that she is smart enough to be a suitable senator's wife. She shows up for herself for questionable reasons, but she puts in the work and gets in to Harvard law.

Not long after starting at Harvard, Elle realises that "I'm never going to be good enough for you, am I?" Instead of that realisation leading to her giving up and going back home, she resolves to put in the work to prove to her ex and the rest of Harvard that she is more than some dumb blonde.

She spends her time at Harvard being her whole self in the face of judgement, cruelty, and people spreading lies about her. She shows up for people, shows them kindness, and puts in the work, because she truly embodies the message that how you act is a reflection of who you are, not who they are.

Over time people come to realise that her kindness isn't an act, and they start to warm to her. Unfortunately her professor sees this kindness as weakness and attempts to manipulate her in a truly awful way. She once again shows up as her truest self by rejecting him and quitting - providing consequences for his terrible actions, even at a cost to herself.

Elle has wobbles where she questions her worth and feels hopeless, but every time she reminds herself who she is and gets back on with being just that. And that is why Legally Blonde is such a powerful film for me, because the core message of it is that shitty people only win if we let them change us. If we let them harden our hearts and abandon our beliefs.

"You must always have faith in people. And most importantly, you must always have faith in yourself."

That quote from the end of the film has been my email signature for many years and it remains something I live by. This week it has been hard to remember it, and that's why sometimes I need Elle Woods to step in and show me how it's done.