Over time, the dumb blonde trope has morphed into the 'beauty and brains' dichotomy, which at least allows a whole other crop of women to have their intelligence questioned. This is not a step forward, even if it does represent inching away from Western beauty ideals. Calling a blonde 'dumb' is a surprisingly effective way to curb someone’s appetite for life and confidence in their own abilities, effective enough to render them docile so they can’t unlock their powers. But then think of Valencia in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend or Gretchen in Mean Girls. It’s not blondeness that renders them dumb – it’s their beauty. If blonde is beautiful (and for the record, I wholeheartedly believe Eurocentric beauty standards to be violent colonialist hogwash, but I digress), then as we know from the trope, a beautiful blonde will empty your wallet (Rebecca Romijn, Femme Fatale), ruin your marriage (Glenn Close, Fatal Attraction) and perhaps even end your life (Sharon Stone, Basic Instinct).