Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is my favourite movie of all time. Three years ago, I drew my first portrait of Marilyn Monroe, and I’ve been absolutely obsessed with her ever since!
It may seem weird that a child of Generation Z has a favourite movie made in 1953, but this movie is timeless. In case you’re unfamiliar with the film, here’s a link to the plot. These were both Marilyn Monroe’s and Jane Russell’s breakout roles, leading to their star roles in many later movies. While it appears to be just another film about attractive women chasing men, the overarching theme of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is the importance of female friendship. Lorelei (Marilyn Monroe), a woman who places importance on the finer things in life (including finding a rich man to marry), and her best friend Dorothy (Jane Russell), a sarcastic woman with a more realistic outlook on life, stick by each other through everything. Dorothy looks out for Lorelei and Lorelei for Dorothy (in her own way).
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ claim to fame is the ever-popular song “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”, which is another aspect of the film that appears shallow on the outside but has a deeper meaning when you look into it. These two women are trapped in the man’s world of the 1950s.This was a time when women couldn’t own property, made insufficient money if they had jobs, and were effectively dependent on men. To Lorelei, diamonds are not only a thing of beauty but a way to support herself financially if things were financially ever to take a turn for the worse.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a comedy movie, and for the 1950s, I’d say it holds up pretty well. I’m a pretty simple gal, and I will laugh at almost anything. I do think the movie is genuinely funny, which is another reason why I think this movie is the best.
For all you film geeks out there, Marilyn Monroe pioneered the “SMART dumb blonde” trope seen in modern classics like Legally Blonde; this is emphasized by one of my favourite lines in the movie: “I can be smart when it’s important, but most men don’t like it.” Next to Jane Russell’s Dorothy, Monroe’s Lorelei could be seen as dumb, but she is actually intelligent in ways Dorothy isn’t. Her people skills are shown throughout the whole movie, as she can use other people’s notions about herself to get what she wants.
As I stated before, this is a movie about female friendship. Though the two women constantly talk about men, they do so in a way that shows they care more for each other’s well-being than any man. In fact, the closing scene features Lorelei and Dorothy’s joint wedding but the final shot is of just the two women side by side in their wedding dresses.
In my opinion, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is one of the best movies ever made, and it stands the test of time. I should also note I am not a film critic, and know nothing about movies in general, but with a Rotten Tomato score of 98% and an Audience Score of 83%, the stats don’t lie – gentlemen really do prefer blondes, and you should too!