Analysis of Semiotics in the Film Called "Legally Blonde"
It has been 18 years since Legally Blonde premiered in theaters all around the world. At the time most critics considered it a typical romantic comedy, however, nowadays is for many a landmark in the feminist movement happening in the modern cinema. The 2001’s film had lot of meanings within the signs and codes showed throughout the film and therefore drawing from a semiotics approach this essay will explore the way that those cinematic signs and codes convey meaning to the film.
A person when confronted with a stop sign or an emergency signs knows how to automatically read it and if necessary respond to it, but why? How a person has gained this ability of knowing how to deal with such signs and codes? It is all explained trough Semiotics which is the study of signs and sign-using behavior. It was defined by one of its founders, Ferdinand de Saussure, as the study of “the life of signs within society. ” Even though the word was used in this sense in the 17th century by the philosopher John Locke it is only during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the work of the philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce and Saussure, that it’s ‘created’ the idea of semiotics as method for examining singularities in films. For example, when a person is driving or walking and comes across the different colors of a traffic light, the response is immediate. Almost without even thinking, the person knows what to do due to the color beaming in front. This happens since the traffic lights themselves were learnt as a sign. This sign has been established over a long period of time and people have been taught since a very young age how to react to it. Therefore, it has become part of this unconscious cultural knowledge that people contain and learn just by living in society.
Our thoughts and actions are not accidental. Everything that a person thinks and does have a reason beyond it even if the person believes it doesn’t. That is due to a methodical planned set of cultural messages and conventions which depend on our capability to understand them instinctively and immediately. Semiotics is a tool that analyses the way in which supposed meanings are clearly understood by the people. As time went by so did Semiotics, to quickly summarize that evolution one must start at the beginning: semiotics begun as the study of the meaning of words (linguistics). Later on, it moved into studying society’s behavior (anthropology and psychology), after, it became a way into sociology and philosophy which is the study of culture and society. Following that, it moved onto analyses of art products like films or literature and more recently became a practice for researching and analyzing consumer behavior.
This way it is possible to create movies with semiotics as a foundation. Film communicates denotatively and connotatively. The sound and the image are denotative, it is what it is. In the meantime, these sounds and pictures are conative and the way the scene shot is intended to bring out specific emotions from the viewer. Connotation usually includes an objective understating, emotional implications, ideological expectations and social standards. As indicated by Christian Metz, 'The study of connotation brings us closer to the notion of the cinema as an art (the “seventh art”)'. Within connotations, it exists paradigmatic connotations. A low angle shot of a camelia creates a feeling that the camellia is by one way or another overwhelming and superior. This happens because unthinkingly, the brain compares it to the overhead shot of a camelia where the focus is not the flower or even if it is, its value is underrated. Syntagmatic connotation would not contrast the camelia shot with other potential shots, however, contrast it with real shots that go before or after. The importance lays to it since its contrasted with different shots that we really see.
Firstly, there is metonomy which is the capacity of a sign to communicate to something while just being a piece of it. An example is the Pisa Tower, which is a metonomy for the city of Pisa. The film doesn’t need to show the name of the city or the whole city, it only shows the viewer the Pisa Tower and that is enough for viewer immediately understand where the action is taking place. Another strong semiotic tool for filmmaking is the use of metaphors, which are characterized as a check between two things that are in theory different from each other however share some similar characteristics. For example, a shot of a plane followed by a shot of an eagle would be metaphorical, deducing that the plane is (or resembles) the eagle. This is an implied comparison between both and therefore it is a metaphor.
On the other hand, narrative in film is known for being more limited. There are only two elements: the story displayed and the process of telling or narrating it. Film narrative theory tries to uncover the evidently 'roused' and 'common' connection between the signifier and the story-world to uncover the more profound arrangement of social affiliations and connections that are communicated through narrative structure. “A story might be told in different shapes and forms, like through oral or composed language; motions and through static or moving images. There is narrative in all genres, from fantasy to comedy. In these forms, narrative exists consistently, in everything. Narrative starts with the historical backdrop of humankind. ' Film uses a mix of dialogue, sounds, visual images, activities and gesture to make the story.
The chosen film to go through a semiotics analysis in this essay is the 2001’s Legally Blonde. The story follows Elle Woods, portrayed by American actress Reese Witherspoon, the character has it all. She is the leader of her sorority, Miss June on the campus calendar and above all, a natural blonde. Her boyfriend, Warner, he’s the most handsome guy on campus and Elle just wants to marry him. However, Warner thinks that Elle is just too blonde, and this belief is stopping him from popping the question. After a while, Warner goes to Harvard Law and reunites with an old sweetheart from prep school. Elle feels threated by this new girl and does everything to be accepted into Harvard law to go after her man. However, Elle soon realizes that law school is a lot different from the comforts that she is used to. Now, Elle must fight for herself, for her boyfriend and for all the blondes out there who suffer from humiliations every day.
As the film was released on July 13, 2001, the critics and reviews were mainly positive. The film received two nominations in the 2002’s Golden Globe Awards, one for Best Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy and another one for Reese Whiterspoon as Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Now Witherspoon is a household name in Hollywood, however, in early 2000 she was still fighting for her spot in the limelight. And with her part in American Psycho and then Legally Blonde the actress went on to gain international fame. Legally Blonde was a hit on the box office, making more than 141 million dollars worldwide. Due to the success of the first film, a sequel was made in 2003 and a spinoff called Legally Blondes in 2009.
In Legally Blonde, there are numerous signs present that make a general message. The pink title, by itself, as of now implies that this story is going to be told by ladies or a lady and that somebody who is blonde will be portrayed. The story of the movie is told from a lady's point of view and its signs are focused towards ladies in the age scope of the late youngsters and mid-twenties. As indicated by Anne Friedberg (1993) 'Identification with a film star does not entail a cognitive choice, but it draws upon a repertoire of unconscious processes. ” The films main characters are youthful and charming surely understood on-screen, characters that numerous ladies may identify with or seek to resemble. These components are utilized to draw the viewer’s attention or interest.
The signs in the film point toward the possibility that high society blonde, Caucasian females, in their mid-twenties, act along these lines, yet it tends to be changed on the off chance that you invest enough effort on it. The general overview of a blonde female is idiotic or silly. As indicated by stereotype, Elle's blondeness is a denotative sign of being unintelligent. Throughout the start of the film this stereotype is supported. For instance, Elle was very naïve to accept that Vivian, as Warner's new wife, would get to know her. Elle accepted Vivian’s invitation for a customer party and went dressed in a Playboy Bunny dress. The Playboy bunny represents a profoundly sexual selection of pieces of clothing. Elle introduced herself as an object to her friends. By showing with that specific dress, it gave the message to her friends, that she was silly. The bunny ears of the outfit are the denotative and the connoted is Playboy Bunny picture. The whole outfit means feminine sexuality. In a joint work, the denotative and connotative signs delivered a message of a wonderful, detached and sexual.
W. Hesling says, 'Metz considered the cinematic institution not only as a film-industrial constellation, but also as a 'mental machinery' absorbed by the public. This mental machinery consists of the ideological characteristics of the Hollywood cinema. . . '. Moreover, films have direct impact on its viewers. Some of the time they leave us supposing, and others give straight and clear statements. Some even give us false expectations and make us want to change ourselves, which could be a good or bad change. The apparatus theory expresses that 'the actual environment and machinery of the cinema activates a number of psychoanalytic desires within the spectators'. In different occasions, films influence onlookers without them notwithstanding monitoring it. The new wants we achieve are stifled and put away in our oblivious. Afterward, they might be interposed in our cognizant lives. The film can be seen in different ways and send various messages relying upon the viewer. It appears to personify women to give a lesson of morals to the viewer. The director uses objectification to demonstrate the uninvolved and emotional stereotypes and how alarming they can be. At that point, challenges these stereotypes and give the impression of empowerment to women. This film is a genuine case of how movies can send messages that empower women and give them subjectivity, rather than embody them.
