The late ’90s to early 2000s are remarkable in their remembrance of a variety of things: the rise of supermodels, avant-garde fashion like the currently popular crop top or a variance of the inseam of jeans and the true birth of everyday technology like the laptop or video gaming. However, arguably the most prevalent effect of this time period was the movies. Classics like Jurassic Park, Titanic and Forrest Gump rose in popularity, and are the pinnacle of modern culture in today’s society. While there are movies for every holiday, like Scream or Home Alone there is a niche group of films that most girls are aware of today… chick flicks.
A chick flick is a genre of movie that is directed towards a stereotypical female audience, catering to the generic interests of a generally younger woman, such as finding love, the intricacy and betrayal within female friendships and, of course, pink.
There is, perhaps, a “holy trinity” of movies that can be defined by the stereotypes above. 1995’s Clueless, 2001’s Legally Blonde, and 2004’s Mean Girls. While each of these films stays true to these major requirements, they each have their own storyline. Clueless, based on the novel Pride and Prejudice, follows high-school student and diva, Cher, as she navigates her life while finding love and friendships, all while deciding what shoes go best with her designer dress. Legally Blonde circulates around a similarly rich and beauty-conscious college student, Elle Woods, as she determines that her beauty is not all that matters, but also her brains. Mean Girls is arguably an outlier, as both Elle Woods and Cher Horowitz have good intentions and gentle hearts, while Mean Girls illustrates the often conniving and strategically vile manners of younger women. Regina George, the birth of the classic “mean girl” trope, is the third and final pillar in the trinity.
As aforementioned, each movie is fluid in its general tropes, love birds, friendships and the always misunderstood overpowering femininity. From a simple search online, one can find that pink symbolizes romance, sweetness and innocence — all traits of the “perfect woman” to the blinded male eye. We often associate pink with Valentine’s Day, or the less enchanting pink tax, which most women are all too familiar with. Pink is representative of the delicate female archetype — that we must be talked to gently and that we know nothing at all. However, these three movies, if one takes off the mask of generalization and stereotypes, demonstrate that there is power in pink.
There is psychology in fashion, which is why wardrobe directors hold immense amounts of authority in how the audience views the film. For example, think of Game of Thrones: by simply viewing a character, we know where they stand in the rankings of society. Daenerys is first seen in a pale pink, long dress. We view her as pure, almost like a child. She holds no rank and no power. Her hair is kept down, her face is lightly flushed and there is a gentle motherly look on her face. She is nothing but a wife to be given to a king. As the seasons progress, and Daenerys gains more standing in who she is, she begins to wear stronger colors, such as white, which emanates austerity and a sense of “cold.” She is also seen in blue, which represents reliability as well as stability. Although it is a trope in the show that each braid symbolizes a victory, Daenerys’s hair being up, slicked back and no longer loose is another show of her general power — that she is no longer a girl, but a strong woman. This factor is seen in the workplace today: never let your natural hair down, but rather out of the way, asking to hide your natural femininity. In the final, tragic scene, Daenerys is wearing black, which signifies strength, anger and, of course, power. Her clothes are no longer loose but fitted to perfection, structured with points that broaden her shoulders, further illustrating her high standing in regard to other characters. If you are unsure about the truth behind color theory, also pay attention to the color grade of the film and the surroundings. Is there a sad scene where the character is not wearing blue, but the surroundings have a cooler tint? That is the continuous use of color psychology, to further convince the audience to feel the same emotions that the character is feeling.
There is a famous quote by Oscar Wilde that goes “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” This holds true in the three pillars. When one views a woman wearing skirts or frilly blouses, adorned in pink or bows, we view them as nurturing, as they are the core image of what is to be feminine, to be a woman. The wardrobe directors of these films use this form of psychology to cement a general first-glance understanding of Cher, Elle and Regina. They care more about what skirt goes with what top, if their makeup and hair are done just right and, most importantly, that they are presumably dumb. This classic idea of the “girly girl” is used to the advantage of the directors, creating a vision of what these characters are probably like, and then using the film to uncover who they are at their core. This is the true power of pink: allowing the people around you to create an idea of who you are in their head, which is why each of these movies gained so much popularity. Each film invites you into the lives of these characters, assuming that they are flighty and hold no more emotion than a rock, but then proving that they can be strong, smart and even mean. Mean Girls capitalizes especially on this notion, providing picture-perfect “Barbies” who end up creating conniving plans and are rotten to their core. Clueless paints Cher to be narcissistic and stuck-up when, in reality, she creates charities and makes friendships due to her kind heart. Legally Blonde dresses Elle in all pink for her court case, with the jury expecting her to know nothing more than an average person walking the streets, but Elle turns the tables with the use of knowledge surrounding both beauty and law.
The power of pink, as cliché as may be, is being true to yourself while overcoming stereotypes. Allowing yourself to be feminine while holding solidity in your own form, whether that be socially or academically. Pink gives you the opportunity to shock others, falling out of the modern-day mold as you embrace your core strengths. This is not to say you have to prove yourself to others, but the next time you wear pink, think more of how it speaks to you as a person, reflecting on your personality and who you are rather than if you look a bit too girly for that 8 a.m.