The knights too have changed

While I appreciate Amrita Shah8217;s opinion 8216;A heroine for our times8217;, IE, August 14, I disagree with her. She says Legally Bl...

While I appreciate Amrita Shah8217;s opinion 8216;A heroine for our times8217;, IE, August 14, I disagree with her. She says Legally Blonde, the Reese Witherspoon hit, serves as an example that 8220;not just celebrates but venerates an increasingly visible species in the western entertainment industry, namely the ditsy female8221;. What happens is actually quite different. The film and its female protagonist are presented in a 8220;don8217;t-take-me-seriously8221; package but then go on to defy every stereotype attached to both 8220;blonde women with good boobs8221; and 8220;chick flicks8221;. The film and Reese8217;s character, Elle, push envelopes, assert themselves, and attempt to create space for new definitions of the female identity. While Elle appears 8220;a frivolous fashion-victim8221; on the surface, she goes on to blast every assumption made about her 8220;ditsiness8221; without being patronising or sanctimonious. Legally Blonde makes the case that beauty and brains do not have to be mutually exclusive.

Ally McBeal doesn8217;t quite have Elle Wood8217;s physical advantages. But, in a different way, she too makes the case for acceptability. She represents female loneliness in a postmodern dystopia where the pressures on women are no different from those on men, but where there are no knights in shining armour to slay her demons for her. Ally has to slay her own demons 8212; even if they stem from her own self-absorbed neuroses. Besides, she cannot afford to be just beautiful and innocent 8212; those qualities have lost their purchase on the world, especially after the strong feminist movement of the 8217;70s and 8217;80s. Ally represents the darker side of the postfeminist condition 8212; she succeeds in a male-dominated world and yet has no one to share her success with. Ally is a deeply tragic figure 8212; she cries out for our empathy and compassion, not condescending rejection.

Bridget Jones has neither Elle8217;s beauty nor Ally8217;s success. But she, like Elle, does find her new-age-knight. Mark Darcy supports Bridget and loves her for what she is 8212; imperfect and flawed. He helps her succeed, without trying to change her. Both the novel and the film push to create space and acceptability for a new male identity 8212; one that complements its emerging female counterpart and thereby avoids the Ally McBeal syndrome. All of Ally8217;s lovers abandon her when she needs them most. They seem incapable of accepting her for what she is and, doing so, prove themselves wimps.

Shah is right when she says: 8220;By stressing the weaknesses to the point of celebrating them, the creators of these stories seem to be humanising the heroine.8221; But I strongly object to her view that 8220;today8217;s heroines get too much too easily8221;. There are beasts to slay, years of captivity, murderous witches and poisonous potions. But they manifest themselves in new avatars. Do not to trivialise the challenges or the achievements of postmodern women or men. Look beyond the superficial aspects of commercialisation, urbanisation and modernisation 8212; the loftiness of their spirit is intact. As is the goodness of their heart.