do you think that I'd look better as a blond?
I’ve been thinking about the back-and-forth comments between Rita and Deby at the end of Bella versus Rosalie. For one, who would have guessed that Madonna, who I believe is an amazing performer and is undoubtedly an incredible success in all ways measurable, could be such a lightening-rod for woman on woman strife? What is it about her, anyway, that gets people going? It also made me wonder more about Bella’s issues with other women.
I’ve touched on Rosalie in that other rant but her case could stand to be revisited here. Upon first laying eyes on R in the cafeteria at Forks High, before even learning her name, we read:
The tall one [Rosalie] was statuesque. She had a beautiful figure, the kind you saw on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, the kind that made every girl around her take a hit on her self-esteem just by being in the same room. Her hair was golden, gently waving to the middle of her back.
To me, all that we’ve learned so far is that Rosalie Hale is pretty and blond. Yet already Bells’ self-esteem is taken down a peg, just by looking at the table across the way.
There are some other blonds that Bella takes issue with in the book. Remember the hostess at La Villa Italia restaurant in Port Angeles drooling all over Edward the night that Bella was almost attacked? B uncharitably refers to her as “unnaturally blond.” Not to totally diss poor Bella, she does recognize that she’s uncomfortable with, and maybe a bit jealous of, all the attention that Edward gets. But them’s the breaks when you’re dating a hottie. Just get over it, girl!
And then there’s Lauren. You know, the girl in the same lunchtime crew of kids, sort on the periphery of Bella, Angela and Jessica? We kind of learn about her in dribs and drabs. I had to re-read a large part of “Twilight” (not that I minded!) to pull the picture together a bit. We’re first introduced to Lauren in a telephone conversation between Jessica and Bells. Jess is very excited that Mike has finally agreed to take her to the Girl’s Choice dance. Bells then suggests that Jess has Angela ask Eric and “standoffish” Lauren who “always ignored me at the lunch table” ask Tyler. This way Bella brilliantly unloads Mike, Eric and Tyler so she’s free to mope over Edward some more.
The tension between Lauren and our heroine grows when Bella starts hanging out with Edward. She overhears Lauren suggest to the other kids that B should lunch “with the Cullens from now on.” For her part, Bella notes Lauren’s “slick, silver blond hair” as she eavesdrops. I don’t know about you, but I think that that term, ‘slick,’ is usually meant as an insult. At La Push, Bells is even more brutal, describing Lauren as having “pale, fishy eyes.” What’s this hostility about?
We eventually discover pages and pages later, while shopping in the department store for dresses, that Lauren is upset with Bella because of Tyler’s infatuation with same. Apparently Lauren’s into Tyler and his interest in B bugs her. Isn’t that perfectly normal? Wouldn’t you be peeved if the guy/girl that you were into, who actually agreed to take you to a dance, was publically humiliating you by showing excessive interest in some other person that was also part of your school clique? Look at it from L’s perspective: she is under the mistaken impression that Bella has agreed to go to prom with the silly fool. And Bella! Why doesn’t she just clear the air with Lauren? It’s not like she’s into Tyler. I guess it’s kind of funny to torture Tyler by abandoning him the day of the prom but doesn’t that sort of screw Lauren too? She doesn’t deserve that! She just wants a Bella cast off, after all. What’s the biggie?
I think that Bella mishandles this for a couple reasons. She’s kind of self-involved, living in her eighteenth and nineteenth century British romance world, completely wrapped up in her fantasies of Edward. Of course the real Edward starts to take more of her time and attention too. Surely that’s a distraction. But I really think that Bella has blond envy.
She’s totally bought into the whole nonsense that blonds have more fun.
Wrong! Look at all the stereotypes attached to blonds: we’re told in a million different ways that though we’re sometimes beautiful we’ve got a bunch of other very yucky qualities too. Apparently we’re shallow if not outright dumb. Isn’t that the whole humor behind blond jokes? That cult movie, “Legally Blond,” really runs with this twisted blond notion. And just because it all works out for the Reese Witherspoon character doesn’t erase all of the blond negativity. What’s the message in “Mean Girls,” another huge cinematic hit? In this one, the “plastics,” AKA the popular shallow girls, are led by a sadistic “bad blond” who nearly becomes paralyzed in apparent brunette retribution. Sure, sure, it’s all smoothed over by the end, but all I can say is “whatever!” And then there’s the quintessential blond for girls: Barbie. It’s true; she really does have everything. Yet the one key accessory that she’s always missing is only found in the intellect department.
Maybe being blond gets you more noticed, but that’s not always a good thing. Just look what happened to Rosalie in her human life!
Madonna had “blond ambition.” She’s not really a blond. And why would she want to be? Madonna seems perfectly happy being ‘Madonna,’ thank you very much! Bella craves the attention and admiration that she fantasizes these Rosalies and other slick, bottle blonds get. She can’t see the bigger picture: everything comes with a cost.
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Madonna looks to have become what you say as a “lightening-rod for woman on woman strife.” and it’s probably because she’s so rich and powerful and gets what ever she wants, and most women want that, attention power and sexiness!
When you say” Bells’ self-esteem is taken down a peg, just by looking at the table across the way,” it happens so much with a lot of women thinking because another woman is gorgeous she’s going to ruin any of her own chances at sucess!
Remember the hostess at La Villa Italia restaurant in Port Angeles drooling all over Edward the night that Bella was almost attacked?
<<<Yes she sounded cute, and Bells was pissed that she was so at ease with herself and able to flirt and catch a man she liked attention. She was kind of spitting at her mentally, like almost saying,"you bitch stop looking at my man!"
‘slick,’ is usually meant as an insult.But I really think that Bella has blond envy.She’s totally bought into the whole nonsense that blonds have more fun.
<<Yes, she is blond "hating" at that point, so the writer must not be a blonde in order to portray blondes as these stupid slick beautiful creatures!
And just because it all works out for the Reese Witherspoon character doesn’t erase all of the blond negativity.
<<<True….Hollywood Endings are not reality by any means, being blonde is hard work, and sadly the movie on some level perpetuates the blonde stereotype even more. It makes it fun to laugh at blondes, and it's not really that way for blondes they are serious people too!
In regards to BARBIE:
It’s true; she really does have everything. Yet the one key accessory that she’s always missing is only found in the intellect department.
<<<Yes she's just a doll and little girls project their imaginations upon those dolls at young impressionable ages so hopefully in the future Mattel with come up with digital barbies that can recite poetry or do chemistry or do vocab building as well as be perfect in the physical department! Or maybe they should add a little cellulite and zits to make them look more realistic and do away with this whole physical perfection bullshit that's crammed into girls minds at an early age anyow!
Maybe being blond gets you more noticed, but that’s not always a good thing. Just look what happened to Rosalie in her human life!
<<<<Yah….being blond can be a huge curse at times when unwanted attention comes from guys who see blondes in the similiar way they see a lot of bottle blonde or real blonde porno's as a non-human or object-type of receptacle for there fantasies or sexual needs! Also all the dumb jokes associated with blondes and media representatives and movies portraying blondes as dumb just makes the problem bigger with peoples distorted perceptions of blondes. People just want to have power over others whether it be their blond hair social or financial status or whatever and sometimes people feel better about themselves if they can look down on someone else like a blond.
Madonna had “blond ambition.” She’s not really a blond. And why would she want to be? Madonna seems perfectly happy being ‘Madonna,’ thank you very much! Bella craves the attention and admiration that she fantasizes these Rosalies and other slick, bottle blonds get. She can’t see the bigger picture: everything comes with a cost.
<<Madonna plays on the fact that blondes get more attention and she's willing to do what ever it takes to get people to notice her. She doesn't really need to be blonde though and she's proven that to many degrees. Bella wants the flash and finesse she sees the lighter ones getting, but I also think the writer is trying to emphasise Bells as a darker more intelligent "smarter than the rest of those blonde underlings," and play up her brunetteness which is supposed to be smart and serious and librarian type.
I like this, and it truly reads to me woman vs. woman. Blonds have it all looks, men,popularity and Madonna's case her blond ambition leads her to be hero to a lot of young women even if they're not blond. Young women may get the idea if they are sexy and blonde they can make lots of money and get lots of heads to turn.
I think that blonds get teased so much in jokes because they are slick and silvery and often times do get looked at more so people that are jealous intend to dehumanize them by making jokes that make them sound super dumb! I know being a blond myself I feel discriminated against immediately sometimes just for being blond and sometimes feel like I have to prove I'm extra smart or intelligent just to escape the stereotype. I once wore my hair pulled back completely to hide my blondeness, and wore some black glasses and very conservative clothes to a job interview so I wouldn't be so blonde;which was strange cause I should be proud to just be myself and let my hair down, damm it!
Other times I take humor in the whole blond stereo type thing and play the role cause it can be fun just to be a dumb blond sometimes and get attention for it! Sick but true! After all a lot of my child hood heroes on TV were Chrissy from Three's Company Farrah Faucet, of course Barbie and Lonnie Anderson! They all seemed successful and all they had to do was be cute and sorta ditzy and they got all the laughs and all the people wanting to be just like them. Well, Barbie was plastic! It's not hard to try to be like her with fake boobs and botox injections and other plastic fillers!
I think Bella is hissing at blondes as the usual winners in the world. She probably wishes she was blond to get Edward to turn her into a Vamp faster. She was so jealous of Rosalie to paint her as the quintisential Sports Illastrated Swimsuit model. Images such as those do take a notch out of most womens self esteem cause most of us will never look like them. So why do women take a notch out of their self esteem when they see a pretty blonde? Why should it matter? Our society puts values on blondes as sex symbols that don't think much. Most men think this is great…cause then they have more power-over a woman who's pretty-who can't think much! Somehow it's just not as sexy to the rest of the world to have brown hair and pursue library books.
People who call out blonde jokes or "hate on" blondes actually might have to think themselves something cerebral to say to a woman who'd not blessed with blonde hair and a swimsuit body! It could make them uncomfortable to be "real" with a brunette for example and they would rather play the power trip to puff themselves up and make themselves feel better about their blond prejudice selves!
Wheh! Thanks for letting me rant you all!
I like this, and it truly reads to me woman vs. woman. Blonds have it all looks, men,popularity and Madonna’s case her blond ambition leads her to be hero to a lot of young women even if they’re not blond. Madonna capitolizes on the attention blondes get and she dies her hair blonde from time to time.
I think that blonds get teased so much in jokes because they are slick and silvery and often times do get looked at more, so people that are jealous intend to dehumanize them by making jokes that make them sound super dumb! I know being a blond myself I feel discriminated against immediately sometimes just for being blond and sometimes feel like I have to prove I’m extra smart or intelligent just to escape the stereotype. It can be a curse when men whistle at you only because the site of the blonde hair conjures up images of porno queens or stereotype tv/movie blondes.
Other times I take humor in the whole blond stereo type thing and play the role cause it can be fun just to be a dumb blond sometimes and get attention for it! Sick but true! After all a lot of my child hood heroes on TV were Chrissy from Three’s Company Farrah Faucet, of course Barbie and Lonnie Anderson! I totally fell into the trap that was being set for me, to be dumb and blonde to be a sucess. They all seemed successful and all they had to do was be cute and sorta ditzy and they got all the laughs and all the people wanting to be just like them. Well, Barbie was plastic! It’s not hard to try to be like her though with fake boobs and botox injections and other plastic fillers!
I think Bella is hissing at blondes as the usual winners in the world: fame fortune and good looks. She probably wishes she was blond to get Edward to turn her into a Vamp faster as if being blonde could be a currency or something! She was so jealous of Rosalie to paint her as the quintisential Sports Illastrated Swimsuit model. Images such as those do take a notch out of most womens self esteem cause most of us will never look like them. So why do women take a notch out of their self esteem when they see a pretty blonde? Why should it matter? Our society puts values on blondes as sex symbols that don’t think much. Most men think this is great cause then they have more power-over a woman who’s pretty who can’t think much!”
Somehow it’s just not as sexy to the rest of the world to have brown hair and pursue library books, and it might make the other people who call out blonde jokes or hate on blondes actually have to think themselves something cerebral to say to a woman who’d not blessed with blonde hair and a swimsuit body! Blondes look like they have more fun but they don’t always, it just seems like that cause of media’s image built around them.
Only one comment this afternoon…come on weirdos…where is all the blonde rally and support?
Blondes face discrimination too, we’re not all bimbos with lots of money and fame: porn queeens or strippers or barbie dolls, no, no no!
Jasmine
I think that you’ve raised really good points here. The problem with the blond discrimination argument is that nobody gets it. Everyone thinks that blonds are really at the top. The idea that the fantasy is not real seems impossible to most folks, esp non-blonds! We’re all discriminated against from time to time, whether you’re Filipino, gay, white, blond, fat, short or too tall, etc. People just like to feel that they’ve someone to blame for their shortcomings is what I think. It’s all bu@#s$%t if you ask me! Why can’t people just accept that we all have our failings and that we should all strive to be the best that we can be rather than using the “blame game” to feel better about our own failings! I hate it!!!
Keep on writing!
Jasper
Jasper,
You are right that everyone gets discriminated in their life for some reason! When it’s for being blonde,it is true no-body gets it, because they think blondes are at the top! It would be ideal if we could just all try to be the best we possibly can and stop blaming others for our own insecurities!
Embracing our differences could help fend off the blamers!
Well as a girl who has been blonde and brunette, I have to say that blondes do have more fun and I always get more attention when blonde. This country is sick about this blonde sterotypes and portrays in constantly in Hollywood, TV, magazines etc. Of course Bella has a blonde ambition, dont most teenage girls???? Not just in the US but in many countries, even where blonde hair is not natural, girls go that route.
Bella just has self esteem issues. The picture you have portrayed for this article is perfect. The girl in the shawdow is not a blonde but the most humble, unaware beautiful person I know just like Bells.
Bad casting for Rosalie, the chick in Twilight is just super average. Edward perfect casting!
People please! I live in So Cal. I am a brunette and am always surrounded by blondes, blondes, blondes! Maybe our society put the idea that blondes have more fun, but trust me, guys are not looking at my hair color…
Back to the books though, Bella is not insecure about blondes, just insecure in general. I agree with Professor Martin that she just has self esteem issues. She’s 17 for God’s sake! Who doesn’t have some insecurity issues at that age?
I do agree that Hollywood put the idea that blonde is the way to go, but Twilight is one of the most popular movie, book series, etc. in the world. Neither Edward or Bella are blonde! What does that show you????