This movie gives a very skewed perception. Yes, I know it's a movie, but it's stupid.
Whatever you need to do, you do it. There is no wrong. If someone needs to be killed, you kill 'em.
Congratulations O.P. for COMPLETELY missing the point of the movie. The entire point of the movie is that she was stereotyped as stupid because of her "valley girl" voice and blonde hair when in reality she was a smart girl. Did you miss her entire final speech about first impressions not always being right? I think that made the point of the movie pretty damn obvious.
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I feel...like I've been had all my life. Life is pointless. If there is a God, he's the Devil.
I wanted to weigh in for those still debating this (OP stopped hanging around a few years ago it seems). When law schools select students, beyond all idealistic claims about diversity and enriching the student body, they want to look better. They want students who will pass the Bar, get good jobs, and make alumni donations. So Elle comes in with her 4.0, showing she worked and studied hard in undergrad, and a 179 on the LSAT, showing she has the necessary logic skills to survive law pass the Bar. She studied Fashion Merchandising and if the adviser at her undergrad was smart, had her write her personal statement about her desire to work in the fashion industry. In a stack of personal statements from students who aspire to work for legal aid or public defenders' offices or political candidates for pennies, a student who actually wants to make good money in a profitable industry would be appealing. But the notion that "Fashion Merchandising" brands her as unserious or that there's only one 'type' for law school simply isn't accurate. I attended law school with a professional costume designer who had worked for Disney, a corporate headhunter, a retired Marine, several engineers, a few social workers, an oil & gas drill site manager, a few paralegals, and several teachers (and, of course, a slew of fresh from college kids like myself whose undergrad degrees didn't mean much of anything in the real world.)
While the video resume was silly and obviously a movie-ism, showing you have a sense of humor and a personality isn't necessarily wrong. Law schools are already overrun with neurotic, serious, Type-A personalities (check out a law library the week before the Bar Exam some time). Much like being involved in a sorority, having a sense of humor shows you have coping and people skills, that you'll make it through law school without a total meltdown and survive outside the academic environment. I went to school with several people who had been involved in Greek Life and almost all of my fellow students (and professors) could make and take a joke.
I graduated from law school in May and sat the Bar in July. While it wasn't Ivy League, Elle's classroom experiences, the competitive feuding first year, and the crazy mix of people were pretty true to law school.
There's not much more that can be said here that hasn't already been said. The original poster missed the entire point of the movie. Elle wasn't some dumb blonde who accidentally got into Harvard Law School. She got there on her own merit. She was intelligent but had great appreciation for her own beauty, fashion and socializing. But she was not s dumb blonde. That's the entire point of the movie. The movie shows you this from the very beginning when Elle and her friends are shopping for a new dress and she puts the sales lady in her place for trying to shaft her into buying last year's dress. As soon as that scene happens, you know she's extraordinary and not someone to judge so lightly.
The original poster is not the only one to not understand this movie, I've spoke with several people about it and they dismiss the movie as a "dumb blonde" movie and I always try to explain to them that this is not the case.
That boy is a Monster!
Ah, I remember being one of the original 'combatants' of the OP a few years back. Good times :) It's nice to see that so many people realize that a smart, hard-working yet trendy person like Elle could get into Harvard.
shareThere are a lot of unrealistic points of this film:
the fact that Warrener was in one of Elle's classes but not the other one when in law school all of the students are in the same class together, while other groups have classes together as well.
The trial: Elle would never be able to be Brooke's lawyer. A first year intern can't even be in the court room in that way or even get an internship like that and not to mention the whole Perry Mason thing.
The fact that Harvard doesn't even rank students and therefore there will be no top of the class.
The admissions process has way too many holes to even count.
However her getting to Harvard is NOT one of those unrealistic points!
but that's not one of them.
"Just cause you can't beat 'em, don't mean you should join 'em."
Kacey Musgraves
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No that's not what I'm saying, I'm moreso talking about how Harvard Law School works for first year students, which is everyone take classes in sections, meaning that everyone in your sections has the same classes at the same exact time and each section has about 80 students. It's not like taking grad or undergrad classes where you can chose what days and times you want your classes to be. They give you a schedule of when you are taking classes and it's always with the same people and you can't change it either so while there are other options you can't just join it and have to stick with your section. So either Warrener and Elle are in all of the same courses as first years or none of the same courses, that's how it works there. Not sure if it works that way for 2nd and 3rd years but it definitely works that way if you are a first year. Here's a little more about the first year sections:
http://www.law.harvard.edu/current/1l-sections/index.html
"That was the sickest thing I've seen on TV, and I watch Dance Moms"
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Wait, what? So you're saying pretty girls can't be smart? So you think Harvard is just full of men and ugly women? Right...
Tyra Banks study at Harvard and got a certificate and to be quite frank with you, I know a ton of people who are book smart but doesn't appear that way. Don't judge a book by its cover because you'll be surprised. I think that's the moral of the story LOL.
I don't think the op's argument had much to do with her GPA and lsat grade than that ridiculous entry video (which it was meant to be) that would have gotten her refused entry. Regardless of how smart she was, she came across as a total dumba$%
share[deleted]
Actually, if you read some of his earlier posts, you will find that he didn't think Elle would have gotten into Harvard because she was a dumb sorority girl. He went back and edited several of his earlier entries also when people initially called him out on them. This happened quite a long time ago now.
shareShe had a 4.0 GPA and scored a 179 on her LSAT. How is that stupid in any way?
I go to seek a great perhaps.
Clearly you didn't understand the message of the movie.
This is my signature.