The blonde spectacle
The Blonde Spectacle is a theory defined by scholar Laurie J.C. Cella in reference to Anita Loos’s novel, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.The theory applies to the character of Lorelei as well as Loos style of writing. Loos characterizes Lorelei Lee as a ditsy, buxom blonde, who uses her image to captivate the men around her and manipulate them . Cella’s definition of the “Blonde Spectacle “ is the “illustration of feminine seduction as an illusion” and characters “construct their own images out of their audiences desires for beauty, confidence and blonde fantasy… they use their audiences desires to their advantage” . Therefore the character is fully aware and intentionally creating this “blonde spectacle.”. Furthermore the author, Loos, narrates in the form of Lorelei Lee’s diary, intentionally using grammatical, and syntax errors, to allow the reader to feel dominant over Lorelei’s character, which only draws the reader into the “blonde spectacle” as well. Cella derives examples for her theory from Anita Loos’ 1925 novel and Howard Hawks’ 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, starring famous blonde Marilyn Monroe.
The syntax and grammatical errors noted in the novel by Cella are intentional, to not only provide the reader with Lorelei’s unintended humor, but as Cella suggests, to give the reader a “false sense of superiority comparable to Lorelei’s hapless suitors.” Therefore Anita Loos’ herself uses the “blonde spectacle” to draw readers into a secure feeling, though they are reading a satire on their own class. Moreover Cella writes that the grammatical errors in Loos’ work are “purposeful misnomers that elicits more than just another blonde joke.” Cella uses the following quote from the novel for this example:
“A gentleman friend and I were dining at the Ritz last evening and he said that if I took a pencil and a paper and put down all my thoughts it would make a book. This almost made me smile as what it would really make would be a whole row of encyclopediacs.”
The examples Cella refers to from the film include the scenes where Dorothy’s character posing as Lorelei uses the”blonde spectacle” herself; though her character is the polar opposite of Lorelei. In the film, Dorothy charms the courtroom just as Lorelei would. She becomes the “blonde spectacle” demonstrating how easily it can be turned on and off. Another example Cella draws from the film is the a closing scene when Lorelei meets Mr. Esmend Sr. , and asks Gus for three minutes alone with his father, presumably to work her charm and convince his father that she should marry him, stating “a man being rich is like a girl being pretty”, defending her interest in money.
Cella’s argues that though Lorelei seems dim witted, her narrative voice can even disconnect the reader from her obvious guilt. The syntax Loos utilizes allows the audience to view Lorelei as a victim. Cella uses the example of Lorelei’s “brush with [...]”; she discusses how her grammar displaces her from the revolver, "the revolver had shot Mr. Jennings." Cella states that “read this way, Lorelei's frequent misnomers and grammatical errors take on more significance, suggesting that everything Lorelei chooses to include in her diary demonstrates her awareness of audience expectations and her subsequent disregard for these expectations.”
Both the characterization and the narration are part of the “blonde spectacle” that Cella describes in her paper, Narrative "Confidence Games": Framing the Blonde Spectacle in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (1925) and "Nights at the Circus". Lorelei’s character moves from the dumb blonde to a critique of the dumb blonde, because she is always aware of her audience and the spectacle. Cella believes that characters such as Lorelei “challenge static notions of identity and self through their deft rhetorical constructions of the blonde spectacle. In their capable and confident hands, we participate in the joy that comes from their appropriation of the "blonde joke.” The attraction of Anita Loos’ novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is it’s timelessness. The contemporary stereotype of the gold digging, dumb blonde is a popular one, and so Cella’s theory can be applied to not only literary works, but some social behaviors and trends as well.