This guyifesto (not quite a manifesto) is in answer to a couple of questions that have come up since this blog got rolling:
The first one is something people sometimes ask me, mostly when they want to know whether a particular film fits the definition of Chick Flick. My favorite discussion of this issue is the male/female dichotomy offered in the well-known philosophical treatise, "Sleepless in Seattle." At dinner, Rita Wilson starts talking about "An Affair to Remember" and begins to cry. "That's a chick's movie," Tom Hanks' character Sam Baldwin offers, dismissively. Then he adds: "Although I cried at the end of "The Dirty Dozen." He and the brother-in-law launch into a parody of their emotional recollections of the war movie. (See two clips of these scenes at the end of this post.)
It's not that simple, though. A lot of films are not so obvious. A recent poser is the film "50/50," often described as a bro-mance. Sure it focuses on men, and there's some unrepentant crudeness. (Check out the trailer scene where Joseph Gordon-Levitt shaves his head with Seth Rogen's clippers.) Still, the dominant themes appear to be tenderness, love and loyalty - which might put it over into a more feminine interest category.
Not only that, but different movies appeal to different people, not to different sexes. My wife is more likely to see a violent Coen brothers film than I am while I'm the one who pushes for trips to see the romances - the schmaltzy ones, anyway.
- What is a chick flick?
- Is "chick flick" a demeaning term?
The first one is something people sometimes ask me, mostly when they want to know whether a particular film fits the definition of Chick Flick. My favorite discussion of this issue is the male/female dichotomy offered in the well-known philosophical treatise, "Sleepless in Seattle." At dinner, Rita Wilson starts talking about "An Affair to Remember" and begins to cry. "That's a chick's movie," Tom Hanks' character Sam Baldwin offers, dismissively. Then he adds: "Although I cried at the end of "The Dirty Dozen." He and the brother-in-law launch into a parody of their emotional recollections of the war movie. (See two clips of these scenes at the end of this post.)
It's not that simple, though. A lot of films are not so obvious. A recent poser is the film "50/50," often described as a bro-mance. Sure it focuses on men, and there's some unrepentant crudeness. (Check out the trailer scene where Joseph Gordon-Levitt shaves his head with Seth Rogen's clippers.) Still, the dominant themes appear to be tenderness, love and loyalty - which might put it over into a more feminine interest category.
Not only that, but different movies appeal to different people, not to different sexes. My wife is more likely to see a violent Coen brothers film than I am while I'm the one who pushes for trips to see the romances - the schmaltzy ones, anyway.
Add Comment
RSS Feed
