Speech | “Bimbos are actually misunderstood geniuses,” claims artist Taika Mannila

“Bimbos are in reality, misunderstood geniuses”, claims the artist, first-time non-fiction writer Taika Mannila. Beneath their glitter shell beats an empathetic, humorous and feminist heart.

Mannila wants to throw the traditional meaning of the term bimbo into the scrap heap, i.e. a joke for a young and attractive woman who is considered stupid.

According to him, what appears as a bimbo can be a polished performance.

“A walking total work of art,” defines Mannila.

Mannila urges to watch Paris Hilton.

Hilton, who belongs to a rich family of hoteliers, became a global celebrity in the early 2000s in a reality TV series. The media of that time condemned people like Hilton mercilessly. He was branded as a pee party with only Korean looks and a bottomless purse.

In 2020, Hilton surprised her critics by revealing in a documentary This Is Paris, that the hyped up superpiss of previous years had actually been a show. So the role.

“Hilton had deliberately changed his voice and played a stupid blonde,” explains Mannila.

More recently, some twenty-somethings have discovered Hilton, Britney Spears and other turn-of-the-millennium entertainment celebrities and put the barks aimed at them to good use.

“Young people have taken over bimbo as an empowering identity and expanded its meanings.”

Bimbous is back, this time as a desirable part of identity. The bimbo trend was also behind the Barbie movie and its massive popularity.

Taika Mannila, 35, is known Inka Valima with what he did Bimboficationfrom the podcast. Based on the program, they wrote a non-fiction book of the same name for Into publishing house last year. The duo ironically call themselves “bimbo researchers”.

The covers of the book are naturally pastel-colored, and the work contains, in addition to the facts, plenty of humor faithful to the subject.

Who is considered stupid and who gets to be funny? Mannila considers these questions among the most interesting.

“Inka and I have come to the conclusion that very often the woman labeled as a bimbo is actually a comedic genius. His humor is just misunderstood. His intelligence or fun have not been appreciated or they have been underestimated,” says Mannila.

Bimbo's appearance is confusing, Mannila explains. The hair is flowing long and the silicone breasts are bursting out of the sequined top with spaghetti straps. Some of the men mistakenly classify a woman who looks like her as simply a fisher of attention. That is, in feminist terms, a servant of the male gaze.

“We haven't been able to look deeply enough at the overall work,” says Mannila.

Exaggerated sexiness can be part of a well-thought-out pee role. Or “hyperfeminine aesthetics” with enlarged breasts and lips can also repel the male gaze.

The idea goes that when you take feminine aesthetics far enough, the male gaze will no longer grasp it, which, according to Mannila, is due to the fact that in the end, many men still value so-called natural beauty.

In this way, the appearance of the bimbo turns into a protective armor and frees society from the norms and conventions.

Fun you don't have to look far for a bimbo. Mannila thinks he's a comedian Krisse Salminen is a prime example of a master of intelligent bimbo humor.

Throughout his twenty-year performing career, Salminen has made the audience wonder when he's serious and when he's just putting on a show.

“He can still be in that borderland. No one really knows what is a role and what is not,” Mannila praises.

In addition, Salmi has the skill of empathy, which is an essential part of bimbo.

“Krisse's release is gentle. Even though he's so witty sometimes, he's never mean.”

Like when Salminen gently encouraged Paavo Väyrynen to inhale helium from a May Day ball and sing in a TV show. There was no need to be shy, and Väyrynen threw himself into it with enthusiasm.

In Mannila's opinion, Salminen teaches empathy by performing while taking the other's feelings into account.

Salminen receives a “genius label and a medal” from Mannila also for managing to continue his public career year after year.

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Kongari bimbos creditably break the boxes that society forces public women into.

In his book Mannila and Valima cite Madonnawho has said that her most feminist act is not retiring.

The same applies to “bimbo legends” such as the octogenarian singer To Dolly Parton, which has fans among both traditional country listeners and the queer crowd. Parton is aware of his camp value and makes full use of it in his jokes (“It's going to be expensive to look this cheap”, he is reported to have uttered).

In Taika Mannila's opinion, conga bimbos like Hilton, Parton and Salminen creditably break the barriers that society forces public women into.

“As long as you are young, sexy, sharp and behave according to certain frames, you can be. But as soon as you overstretch, get old or get tired, you're moved aside,” he says.

Mannila's favorite bimbo is an American actress Jennifer Coolidgewho rose to world fame only in his sixties for his role as an emotional solo traveler on HBO White Lotus in the series.

Bimboficationin the book Mannila and Valima summarize their views as follows:

“A warning to those who still dare to wonder out loud whether Coolidge is past his best-before days: you will all be in the eyes of bimbo scholars forever censored!“

• Artist, first-time nonfiction writer.

• Born in 1988, lives in Helsinki.

• Made a Bimbofikaatio podcast in 2021–22 and a nonfiction book of the same name in 2023 with Inka Valima.

• In the spring of 2024, Mannila and Valima will publish bimbo-themed video essays.