Aahana Swrup
The teen comedy series ‘Elle’ finds the memorable Elle Woods as she forays into her junior year of high school. However, there is one major blunder in what could’ve been a smooth sailing path. Instead of LA, the 16-year-old is set to move all the way to Seattle, where her new high school, Rainier West, awaits. The shift from sunny California to Seattle brings many cultural shocks to the protagonist. For one, in Rainier West, the social order seems to be entirely upside down. Jocks are more or less non-existent, and the popular girls would never be caught dead on the cheerleading squad. Instead, Kimberly, a non-conformist activist who has a perpetual dislike for Elle’s pink wardrobe, peppy personality, and out-of-touch priorities, enjoys the unofficial title of the Queen Bee. Thus, in Rainier West, Elle finds a new kind of challenge.
Rainier West is a Fictional Establishment
Given the fictitious parameters of ‘Elle,’ many of the narratively relevant elements end up retaining their fictional identity. As a result, Rainier West, the high school Elle enrolls at in Seattle, remains a fictional establishment with no direct counterparts in real life. Although fans may be able to find Rainier Beach High School in the Seattle Public School system, the latter has no tangible connection to the on-screen educational establishment. In fact, the Point Grey Secondary School, located at 5350 East Boulevard, in Vancouver, Canada, serves as the filming location for the exterior of the on-screen high school.
Thus, Rainier West only exists within the fictitious confines of the series. In the show, the high school plays a crucial role in the development of the plot as Elle and her friends uncover a corrupt conspiracy at play. The school’s designated troublemaker, who harbors a notable dislike for the principal, believes that Mr. Anderson is engaging in funds embezzlement from the school’s yearly budget. Therefore, along with being the hotspot for Elle’s social life, the school also ends up serving an important narrative function. Although much like the establishment itself, this storyline is also a work of fiction, it introduces some grounding themes into the series.
One of the prominent wake-up calls that Elle receives in Seattle is the claustrophobic nature of her worldviews and social problems. Growing up in Los Angeles’ Beverly Hills has padded her formative years with a sheltered lifestyle, which has made her naive in some ways. Therefore, the corruption plot at Rainier West and her vigilant involvement in its uncovering become a defining arc in her character development. Lastly, the school also offers a fun easter egg for fans of the prequel series’ source material ‘Legally Blonde’. The high school shares its initials, R.W., with Reese Witherspoon, the original actress behind Elle Woods, who also serves as an executive producer for the series.
Read More: Why Does Elle Move to Seattle?
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