The Blonde story.

The Blonde story..

What is it about Blondes? I remember reading Annete Kuhn, a respected feminist critique of films define three types of Blonde stereotypes that have profoundly affected western culture’s perception of women with light or yellow colored hair:

a. Ice-cold Blonde: a blonde who hides a fire beneath an exterior of coldness.
b. Blonde bombshell: a blonde with explosive sexuality and is available to men at a price.
c. Dumb blonde: a blonde with an overt and natural sexuality and a profound manifestation of ignorance.

The common denominator running through all three categories is that Blondes are physically stunning, and no man can pretend to turn away his face from her without casting a surreptiously glance at her magnetic attraction, or experiencing a soul cuddling desire to possess her. A blonde girl with a buxom body coupled with deep blue eyes attracts Male attention like no other category of the feminine sex. Something to do with genetics, I guess…Male testosterone whizzes past its flood gates in a mad rush when masculinity encounters a blonde. It is interesting though to note that it was in a French play performed in 1775, that a courtesan named Rosalie Duthe (a Blonde obviously) was for the first time satirized as “dumb blonde” for the simple reason that she paused for a long time before she uttered any dialogue on stage. She was literally acted dumb or mute; and male audiences found the gesture extremely funny, and in convoluted way vindicated their belief ,that women, however beautiful cannot match up to their intelligence quotients; and will always have to remain the intellectually submissive and sexually satisfying gender. Not surprisingly, the play ran to packed audiences for four continuous seasons. Male chauvinism at its best!! Dumb blonde has however no proven scientific psychological cause whatsoever, or nobody has any reason for why such an opinion exists; but it quite unbelievable how pervasive this notion is in all sections of social, professional and personal life. In psychometric tests, Psychologists are puzzled when blondes are rated less competent intellectually among a choice of Blacks, Brunettes and light haired. And Dumb Blonde jokes are as much part of cultural idiom as anything else. Interestingly, however, Men advocate a reason for Blondes not needing to be intelligent; and the line of reasoning goes like this: Why should one cultivate intelligence if success could be achieved by simply being physically attractive or capable? Not necessarily applicable to Blondes, but we have “Dumb Athletes” as well. They are great when are taken on their physical value, but talk to them at a plane above that, and they woefully fall short of requirements. I don’t necessarily buy this reasoning, but this was epitomized or shall I say immortalized by Marylyn Monroe (arguably the most famous blonde in recorded history) in her movie “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend”. In this picture, her fiancée’s father hates her initially for her lack of intelligence; but eventually realizes that he was wrong in his assessment, and asks her why she continues to pretend dumb. To which Ms. Monroe famously answers “Men prefer me this way…”

You must be wondering why Blondes have interested me all of a sudden. Well, I was watching Reese Witherspoon’s “Legally blonde” and this essay is a result of it. There have been many actresses who have adorned the “dumb Blonde” role. Judy Halliday, Jayne Mansfield, dolly Parkton, Goldie Hawn, Marylyn Monroe (of course...) - all of them promoting the quintessential image of hare-brained ladies, whose only way out in their films was their physical charm. But “Legally blonde” presents a modernist version of the “dumb blonde” girl. Elle woods (played by the highly capable Ms. Witherspoon) is a blonde with a difference. She is happy basking in her physical charm, until she is intellectually challenged by her boyfriend, who does not wish her to be anything else but the little doll that she is. She is fettered by the Stereotype, but circumstances pull her out of that comfort zone, motivating her to get into Harvard to study law; and it turns out that her aptitude for that profession is more than suited than many others who struggle their way to get there. In a way Amanda Brown’s book legally blonde (the movie is based on this book) is an attempt to reverse the deeply entrenched bias against Blonde women The book and the movie however refuses to let the go of the aura surrounding Blonde girls; and at the same time wish to project them as capable enough to succeed intellectually, brushing shoulders with the best of them, using their natural bodily gifts only as a fit accompaniment to their mental accomplishments - and in the end, providing a perfect blend of beauty with brains. The movie in many ways is predictable. The story, characters, settings - all of them are exaggerated; and I would assume that Reese Witherspoon would have breezed through her shots. She is too good an actress to play this role. For a fine young brainy woman like her, the character of Elle woods would have been a complete antithesis of what she believes in.

For those of us who have seen the classic “Gentlemen prefer Blondes” , which probably for the first time pitched the flimsy, hollow image of a Blonde girl firmly in our minds, “Legally blonde” reprises and redefines that notion in the light of modern feminine views on equality and opportunity. Yet, as one reaches the end of this comedy, it is not so much the triumph of Elle woods as a successful lawyer that sticks with us, but more the image of the fragile Blonde who somehow stumbled upon success. And that according to me is the Tragedy of this film. Her character should have had more substance to it, and less of futile pranks and idiosyncrasies sprinkled throughout the film. It seems that the new millennium (the movie came out in 2001) is still unsure of whether the myth of a Blonde is true or not.

On a side note, I wish to end this essay by pointing out that Blonde hair is considered a sign of incompetence in men as well. I was reading a survey of CEO’s of top 500 companies (an overwhelming percentage are obviously Men), and it was found that less than 5% of them are Blonde. Well it may be sheer coincidence that it may be so, but the study derives the fact that somehow “blondeness” in whatever form or shape or size tends to lower one’s estimate of the person in question. Amazing conclusion! I paused a little bit, and thought? Do I have such a bias in me?... Well - the honest answer is “I don’t know…” But it is definitely true that the last century perpetuated this myth, this image to such a deep extent that it now becomes quite difficult to shirk away the unconscious prejudices, opinions that cloud our perceptions. The subliminal triggers that a Blonde evokes in us are far more powerful than we imagine. We may not be swayed intentionally, but there is no doubting that it affects our judgment to a greater or lesser degree at a sub-subconscious level. The visual media, and its popular icons have only helped reinforce this bias, not remedy it.

To me, the Blonde stereotype is very representative of cognitive biases that we carry around all the time. In this case, it is a glaring example; but even otherwise, in our daily living, almost every perception, action or reaction is decorated with such tinges of unconscious pigeon-holing. When we look at somebody, it is always though our filtered consciousness. It could anything - race, color, status, education, wealth, beauty - any of it; but as we grow up and get more and more indoctrinated and opinions reinforced, our prejudices and biases sink deeper and deeper - to a point that it becomes difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction. And that is exactly the fate the idea “Blonde” has met with. The word has acquired a connotation that indicates lack of intelligence and it has remain stuck in public consciousness; and unfortunately to most of us the “word” is more important than the thing itself. And therein lies the enigma and tragedy.

God bless…

Yours in Mortality,

Bala