chick flicks

Chick flick is slang for a film designed to appeal to a female target audience. The term was first used in 1992. Although many types of films may be directed toward the female gender, "chick flick" is typically used only in reference to films that are heavy with emotion or contain themes that are relationship-based (though not necessarily romantic). (Wikipedia definition)

Here's the thing: although I'm female, I am not the target audience for these movies. The chick flick fan must have some special skills that I lack, because in general these are the movies that annoy me above all others. I've watched my share of them in the last few years because some of my best friends (strong, intelligent women whose opinions I generally respect) enjoy a good chick flick or two when we all get together. And maybe there are some exceptions -- maybe there are some really great chick flicks out there. (Sliding Doors is good, now that I think of it. And Bend it Like Beckham, but that's kind of a different animal. I also liked You've Got Mail. And Sweet Home Alabama is almost good. But I can't think of any movie directed toward women that is truly great.)

The Holiday, Must Love Dogs, Shall We Dance, In Her Shoes, Never Been Kissed, Notting Hill, America's Sweethearts, that one with Sandra Bullock and the wedding and the storm -- I've watched them all, and all had some good moments. But I wasn't really surprised not to want to watch any of them again. A couple of weeks ago I watched 27 Dresses and He's Just Not That Into You. I was pleasantly surprised by 27 Dresses. I thought it had a few story flaws, but generally was well-told, well-acted, and fun. These movies are supposed to be fun, after all. So there's another exception. (But still, it was very good for a chick flick, not good in general.)

Then we watched He's Just Not That Into You, which is the movie that finally prompted me to write something about this. I basically enjoyed this one, too, until the end. Ginnifer Goodwin is cute, Justin Long is cute, Drew Barrymore is kind of scary (she's really uneven, isn't she?), Ben Affleck is good, Jennifer Aniston is fine (I don't really like her, but she was good for this role). But what pisses me off is something I probably can't pin down here. It's something that He's Just Not That Into You represents -- this idea that all women want to get married, that they all want the rings and the dresses and the "happy ending" (anyone who thinks marriage is an ending has some other issues to contend with, but that's somewhat off-topic).

It's like the sock thing: you can't buy a set of women's athletic socks without having a set that includes the color pink. Adidas sock set: blue, dark blue, pink, pink. What pisses me off about chick flicks is that the intended audience is this weird homogenized group of females that don't look anything like my friends or me. These people love pink and big diamond rings and telling their boyfriends what kinds of pants they're "allowed" to wear. Show me the chick flick with the girl who says no to the big romantic proposal or the big expensive wedding and actually, permanently, means it. Show me the chick flick where the two people in the couple actually have something in common. In the usual chick flick formula, the guy and girl might as well be different species. They definitely don't respect each other -- they don't even really want to know each other. They just want to inhabit their own consumerist bubbles and gossip with their friends.

Anyway, maybe this isn't even a fair fight. Of course I don't like chick flicks. I don't like Michael Bay movies either, and that's not news. But I have more of a political objection to this particular movie genre. I'm not stupid, and neither are my friends, and I can't understand why they're willing to be treated like they're stupid. I like movies that make you do at least a little work, a little paying attention. I like to be able to connect the dots for myself, and I want to be able to make more than one picture emerge. One thing I think is worth fighting against is the dumbing-down of everything. It's usually not fun for me to watch these movies. They could be smart, and they're not, and that makes me mad.

To be continued: This is kind of a half-baked argument, but I guess I'll post it anyway, and will likely come back and update it again and again. Maybe I should do some kind of academic research on this, or find some. You could do statistics on what percentage of the protagonists in chick flicks go for the big wedding at the end. What percentage of chick flicks include characters who tell their friends things they should already know, just to deliver the exposition to the viewer? Maybe I could make this a creative writing exercise, to watch some of these and talk about how the stories could be told better.

I don't know if I could stand it, though. I'd rather watch the movies about the quirky friends (there's one in every chick flick, but she's always a sidekick, not the leading lady). Anyway.