Lessons I learnt from Elle Woods

Elle Woods in her colourful glory
Photo credit

When I watched the film Legally Blonde for the first time, I thought it was a stupid film. A silly girl dressed in bright pink joins Harvard out of nowhere. Her funny gait, inane talk, feather pens and pink curtains just don’t fit in with the serious profession of law. But one boring afternoon when I was in the mood for chick flicks, I decided to give it another try. And thank God for it! I kinda liked the film and its sequel and filled many a boring afternoon with it. Doing this made me realise that we dismiss so many things in life in the first look. But on closer look, our perceptions change. And so did my perception of Elle Woods. Here are a few things I derived from it:

Looks are deceptive. Elle Woods with her shocking pink clothes, clicking her stylish heels and carrying a pink laptop in her manicured hands just doesn’t say 'law student'. The colour of her hair doesn’t make things look up for her either. She bemuses everyone as she confidently strides into law college in her unique attire. And it isn’t surprising that people don’t take her seriously. At least initially. How many times do we look at a well dressed person and think competence? How often do we look at a heavily made up woman in skimpy clothes and label her dumb? It’s human nature to jump to conclusions through initial impressions alone. And that’s why we are all so obsessed about how we look and people’s perceptions about us. But many a times we ourselves are pleasantly surprised to discover our initial impressions proves wrong. So why be in a hurry to judge!

Break the mould. Once in a while. A fashion major applying for Harvard Law sounds bizarre. And shooting your Harvard admission video in a bikini sounds downright catastrophic! But Elle Woods proves that as long as you follow your passions with conviction, things can work out. You will need to work towards. Very hard at times. But as long as it makes you happy, it doesn’t always have to be logical. Life is not a series of linear incidents. You are allowed to choose different paths, turn around or head off in the opposite direction. 

Elle in her wedding sandals
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People will pull you down. When Elle Woods decides to go Harvard Law school, everyone thinks it’s a stupid idea - her parents, teachers, friends. Even the admission committee is shocked to find an admission video in a bikini! But the conviction she brings to her candidature is commendable. Similarly, there will be no dearth of people telling you how stupid you are being in pursuing your ideas. Fight that prejudice and stick to your path. Your success will shut your detractors up. Better still, people will soon find another target for their naysaying and move on. 

Give a little extra: You can’t be surprised when Elle Woods nonchalantly hands out a pink and perfumed resume for a law internship! It’s Elle Woods!! Be it helping Paulette get her dog back or teaching her the famous ‘bend and snap’, not giving out Brooke’s alibi or lying to get David a date - Elle woods is happy to do that little extra for people around her as long as it makes them happy. We all lead a busy life and perhaps don’t have a lot of time to spare. But if we look around, we can also give that little extra to others. A little time. A little kindness. A little generosity. And that could make a huge difference to someone’s life.

There is always something to learn from everything around us. I am glad I watched this film and it got me to rethink so many common facts of life. Do you have a film that set you thinking? Drop me a line in the comments. I would love to hear all about it. 

Re-invent yourself!

i know that people who know me personally would know the motivation behind this post. They may say that i am sending out this advice to others because it worked out for me. But i know there’s a way it can work out for everyone.

For people who have been wondering what all this about, here it is. You know how we were all excited about even simple things in life when we were teenagers. Movies with college friends or a getting a new top made us so happy. And then we grew up. Real life took over, we got busy with our jobs and just forgot to do things that make us happy. Even things that we might not have done before. Our sense of adventure definitely went down with age and responsibilities. And it does come to us as a surprise when we see others probably do something drastic to their looks or their clothes. Some of us even wish we could be that brave and try different things out.

So today’s post is about - why not? Go ahead and re-invent yourself. This is as important as anything else that we do in our life. Probably more important because this is just for You! A caveat tho - trying different things isn’t a one time thing. You may have changed your hairstyle 10 years ago and thought you were cool. But you left it at that. And now you think - gone are those days when i could do crazy stuff. i am grown up and responsible. Well, we all are! But should that stop us from doing things that will us happy. And trust me, when you look around, those things might not even be as expensive or crazy or time consuming as you think.

i have been doing that every couple of years. For me, it’s mostly my hair. i feel the best way to make a difference to how you feel - and look - is to play around with your hair. My fantasy has always been to have really short hair. But i always chicken out and decided go as short as it would suit me on the eve of hitting the 3rd decade of my life. i wasn’t generally too brave above short hair in the front but i did it. And it looked and felt awesome. And since then, it’s been something new every couple of years. Straight hair to now, bangs! i never thought i could get this adventurous but i guess the part of the fun is in stretching our limits.

i understand that if you are a management consultant, you may not want to turn up at a client meeting in hair that’s streaked red. But i am sure there can be other crazy things that appeal to you. How about getting on to the bandwagon of coloured pants for men? Or getting some fuchsia pink lip colour for the women. They are not permanent but can definitely brighten up your day. And you can go around with a spring in your step because you just got cooler than you were!

All i am saying is - stop dreaming and go do what you always wanted to but just chickened out. It wont cost your life. It’s just little changes in your hair, clothes, shoes (remember the pencil heels you wanted to always own?). Anything that makes you hold up the finger to life and say - you can be unfair and stressful and demanding, but that will not stop me from finding the time and the inclination to do what makes me happy!