Media Theory: Gender as a Performance

Media Theory: Gender as a Performance

How people appear as ones gender through clothing.

Attempts of Identifying it in Film:

Legally Blond (2001)

    This film in its entirety is about women going up to high ranking and male dominate fields with out switching up and conforming to male standards, to stay feminine. This ability to say female can be seen through out the film with Elle Woods clothing. Elle as a character is able to combines her sex and the gender she chooses to be in the clothing of hot pink when she is not trying to conform, being herself. When trying to be like a scholar, a "man", she loses the hot bright colors and gets darker neutral tones. In this extract she is still in the shadow of her male colleges hence, the darker tones. In the next scene after this extract, she gets to be the lawyer, the one on the stand, who wears the pink. 

    This extract has gender trouble with the Enriqu, the gay man. Gender trouble is when any character falls outside heterosexuality which is here in the second scene. Enriqu the guy trying to be straight to get Ms. Windhelm arrested, for the murder. However, it is revealed with early 2000s logic that since he knows fashion, he must be, no, he is gay. They figure this out by just asking him question in quick succession to trick him. This is contrasted through the budding relation ship that is set up multiple times in the film. The first one was the driving force the second one is the guy who help Elle's theory get proven. This film and it scenes are all about the use of the theory of identity and Gender as a performance the scene I pick felt the most about it, I could find.