#Marilyn Silverstone

[federer7]

Kindergarten Playtime in a Girl’s School. Gangtok, Sikkim, India. 1960

Photo: Marilyn Silverstone

[gliklofhameln]

The Hasidic district, Jerusalem, Israel. 1956.

Marilyn Silverstone/Magnum Photos

[1000-celebrities]

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𝘍𝘦𝘮𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦, 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘢 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘬 𝘚𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 💋🍒

[blairwinterss]

cher 💅🏻

(these don’t belong to me)

[gabriella-nastasja]

Clueless and Legally Blonde Redefined Bimbo-Core

by Gabriélla Siebritz 

Two movies that are now considered cult classics have redefined and reshaped society’s view on femininity (more specifically hyper-femininity), through the lens of two bubbly blondes who love pink. 

These two films put its female leads at the forefront of showcasing how women embracing femininity doesn’t make them any less valuable or less smart than the other less “blonde” women featured in each of their respective stories. 

Throughout both movies, the leads (Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, played by Reese Witherspoon, and Cher Horowitz in Clueless, played by Alicia Silverstone), are consistently doubted because of their shared blonde heads of hair and love for traditional femininity that they outwardly express. 

These two films address the stereotype of “dumb blondes”, and the presumption that women who are overtly feminine must be simplistic bimbos. Cher Horowitz and Elle Woods are two characters who proved that yes, the patriarchy was wrong: you can be both beautiful AND smart at the same time.

Ultra-feminine women depicted in the media are often depicted in a negative way; either they’re a gorgeous demon bombshell using their beauty to commit horrors unto unsuspecting men (think Jennifer’s Body), the mean girl (think Regina George from Mean Girls), the airhead (think of Marilyn Monroe’s characters) or, the opposite to the less-feminine and “more relatable” main character (think Brooke Davis versus Peyton Sawyer from One Tree Hill or Jessica Stanley versus Bella Swan from the Twilight movies). 

In short, femininity = negativity. They’re boy-obsessed, mean and “catty”, fashion forward and makeup dependent, and sometimes they’re even murderers. 

During the storyline of Legally Blonde, Elle is made the butt of many “dumb blonde” jokes because most assume, upon looking at her, that she is not serious enough about anything other than herself. 

From the jump, Elle has been underestimated, most notably by her boyfriend and parents who are meant to love and support her, thinking/assuming that she’s not cut out for law school, which is Elle’s goal throughout the film.

Elle is not dumb (she got into Harvard after all), but others rarely see past her “blonde hair and big boobs”, assuming that because she enjoys shopping and has a fresh manicure, she must be shallow and dim-witted. 

At first, Elle’s motives for taking the LSAT’s and getting into Harvard Law are mainly to win back her ex-boyfriend, Warner, played by Matthew Davis. He (fake) sympathetically breaks up with her one night, because according to him, he needs “a Jackie not a Marilyn”, for the future of his career. 

After being dumped by Warner for not being “serious” enough (she says, “So you’re breaking up with me because I’m too...blonde???”), the peppy sorority blonde follows him to Harvard Law School - where we get the iconic phrase: “What, like it’s hard?”- to win him back at first, but later it’s to prove him (and others) wrong.

Legally Blonde sources its comedy from juxtaposing Elle’s bright-pink bubbly attitude and wardrobe against the prestigious and intellectual atmosphere of Harvard Law School.

Elle ultimately proves her doubters wrong, not by conforming to their expectations, but by demonstrating her worth while remaining true to herself. She’s shown to be ambitious, driven and dedicated to her studies, all while maintaining the same beauty routines she’s always had. 

Aside from Elle, everyone is dressed in muted or neutral colours. For example, Elle’s “rival” at the school, Vivian Kingston, is seen wearing predominately blues, browns and blacks in her clothing while Elle always has a touch of pink and obvious “girly-ness” present in her clothing, whether that’s through the hot pink pleather jacket and skirt she has on upon arriving at Harvard, or simple butterfly clips that keep that her bouncy blonde curls in place. 

Elle’s appearance is central to her character because it’s what people use to pass judgement and make assumptions about her. The entire film’s premise is that yes, Elle is a proud blonde, but she’s not a dumb blonde. 

And the same thing can be said about Cher Horowitz, the main character from Clueless, another and similar coming-of-age comedy about a self-empowered blonde girl. 

Cher also initially seems like a vapid valley-girl, others often seeing her as some “ditz with a credit card” (it’s assumed by other characters that Cher is nothing but an airhead, i.e that she’s “clueless” about life and only cares about herself), but the film shows there is nothing wrong with what Cher likes.

Although Cher’s story is more subtle and complex than Legally Blonde, as Cher does have some flaws, and the film is not built around proving others wrong, the premise is the same as Elle’s story.

While Cher may not be tackling law cases, she (just like Elle) is continuously trying to better herself as a person and do good for others without giving up her personality and the things she enjoys. 

Cher has a subtle intelligence of being aware of how the world works without sacrificing her personality. As a rich and privileged white girl, Cher actively steps out of her bubble and works on herself but doesn’t change herself to achieve that.

Like Elle Woods, Cher has a detailed knowledge of fashion, unabashedly enjoys makeovers, and carries a pen with a poofy-pink end, even helping her father with his upcoming trial-casework. 

While Legally Blonde and Clueless successfully advocated for the stereotypical blonde girl, other movies not-so-subtly demonize hyper-femininity. Such examples are the High School Musical trilogy and Mean Girls.

Mean Girls’ main character, Cady Herron, is the embodiment of the “not-like-other-girls” trope; she’s not fashion forward like the “Plastics” of the film (the popular, hyper-feminine group of girls), she’s not concerned with her appearance in the way that they are and she simply “doesn’t get it”.

Throughout the duration of Mean Girls, Cady pretends to be one of the Plastics at first to help her friend Janice Ian enact her revenge upon them for bullying her in previous years, but as time goes on and Cady spends more time in the company of Regina George (again, another blonde) and her squad, she becomes just like them. 

She becomes obsessed with a boy, obsessed with her appearance, unconcerned about her academics, and becomes a horrible friend to Janice and Damian. 

It isn’t until she denounces the world of hyper-femininity and reverts back to who she previously was, that she is viewed as a good person. 

Regina George (the supposed villain of Mean Girls) and Sharpay Evans, the antagonist of the High School Musical movies are both young, blonde girls who have a bright wardrobe and outwardly show an interest in hair and makeup; both of these characters are shown as “evil”.

Sure, they haven’t been the nicest people but Sharpay is clearly ambitious and driven towards her dreams and goals of being on Broadway, and Regina (although scheming and malicious at times) was quite a smart person - in my opinion - in how she manipulated others. Let’s also not forget that Regina isn’t the only villain; Janice and Cady were just as bad. 

The abovementioned female characters throughout this essay all proudly showcase their girly-ness as not something to overcome, but rather something that can be embraced. Another great example is the Barbie Dolls franchise; Barbie has over 200 careers, all while maintaining her signature pink colour palette.

There is no need to demonize femininity in the media. Shockingly, women can be many things at once. 

[heronstill]

Ph Marilyn Silverstone Girl’s School. Gangtok, Sikkim, India. 1960

[parkerparkore]

MARILYN SILVERSTONE - PORTRAITS WITHIN THE SPACE

British choreographer Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton. London, England. 1956. Marilyn Silverstone.

Marilyn Silverstone, born in London in 1929, seemed destined to pursue a life forever in relation to the camera. Daughter of Murray Silverstone, the polish immigrant “rose to become managing director, and president, international, respectively, of United Artists and 20th-Century Fox, working with Charlie Chaplin and other early film stars in London.” As biographed by all-about-photo.com, Silverstone grew up in New York with the connections needed to become an associate editor for Art News, Industrial Design and Interiors after graduating from Wellesley College, however she soon set her sights to new horizons.

Pursuing photojournalism in 1955, Silverstone would travel all across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, however, India would capture her fascination that progressed into a lifelong, and eventually, a new home. From here is where most of her work stems from.

Silverstone's India photography includes assignments to photograph important political and religious figures of the time, including Ravi Shankar and the Dalai Lama. However, a considerable bulk of her work is of street photography and environmental portraits of the people of India, who would soon become her peers and neighbors as she moved and converted into a Buddhist nun in the late 1960's.

Traffic on the river. Ettamannur, India. 1959. Marilyn Silverstone.

Silverstone's environmental portraits are of stunning beauty and composition. In particular, this simple snapshot river boating has captivated me. A depiction of three rowers on the Ettamannur river in India, the line of action in the snapshot and rhythmic repetition of the rowers create this dynamic motion in the picture. This, paired with the full range of motion by the rowers, give this curved composition to the piece, not unlike a vertically shifted golden ratio. Portrait composited photos of environmental situations need special attention to positive and negative space, to prevent the subjects from seeming crowded or being uncomfortably cropped. Silverstone, as seen in this example, gives ample space around his subjects to take advantage of their full range of motion and having the ability to have that repetition without it congesting the composition.

Not feeling the need to clutter up my photos with stuff and allowing my subjects the room to breathe is something I want to internalize in my own work, and having the confidence to play with size and proportion of my subjects in relation to their environment are inspirations from Silverstone's photographs can positively influence my work. Dynamic photos do not necessarily mean congested space, but allowing the motion and subjects to breathe and soak in their space.

Source: https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/marilyn-silverstone/

[pastirc]

Marilyn Silverstone Young girls intent on learning how to read Iran 1967

[tramxarchive]

Marilyn Silverstone. SOUTH VIETNAM. Village of Binh Khanh, South of Saigon. Members of a Touring “cultural Drama” Team Teach Village Kids a New Patriotic Song, VIETNAM VIETNAM. Those Who Sing Are given Candy. 1966. https://jstor.org/stable/community.9836948.

[federer7]

A carved and painted shrine at a wayside water source. The letters spell the mantra of compassion. The six colors represent the six regions of Samsara (worldly existence). Such shrines are meant to be a constant reminder of pure vision, speech, and mind, giving passerby a chance to earn good karma. Near Gangtok. Sikkim, India. 1960

Photo: Marilyn Silverstone

[agelessphotography]

Villagers looking at slides of themselves, Yumthang, North Sikkim, India, Marilyn Silverstone, 1971

[aswiya]

Marilyn Silverstone 

The wedding of the Maharaja's son. In the zenana (women's quarters of the City Palace), the Maharani of Jaipur (in pink), the groom's sister, the Maharani of Baria, and other women await the formal visit of the Prince before he leaves for his wedding. 

Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. 1966. 

[molkolsdal]

Marilyn Silverstone 

At the height of the blizzard a young boy paddles his shikara skiff, which is now heaped with snow. 

Lake Dal shores, Srinagar, Kashmir. 1968. 

[fidjiefidjie]

Bonjour, bonne journée ☕ ☯️

Le Dalai Lama "Tibet House" Dehli 1965

© Marilyn Silverstone / Magnum Photos

[modernerealisateur]