Bitch, Bitch, Bitch

[Marge_Innavera]

. . .like "chick flick." That's a term I find offensive -- not so much the words themselves, but what they signify: a movie so trivial or silly (often merely because its main characters are women) that no male moviegoer would be interested.

What's interesting there is that there's no equivalent term for a male-oriented escapist movie that focuses on boobs and car chases.

IMO, "bromance" sounds like some kind of arcane cooking term.   

[serious crayons]

What's interesting there is that there's no equivalent term for a male-oriented escapist movie that focuses on boobs and car chases.

Dick flick.

That's interesting, too. I never thought of "chick flick" as indicating that the movie was trivial or silly, just that its plot dealt with themes or subjects of more interest to women than to men--like relationship stuff, as opposed to car chases and explosions.

I guess either way it stereotypes both the film and the audience.

Maybe both of our reactions to those two terms highlights our personal sensitivities. I'm probably reading the "trivial and silly" part into the term a little bit, because I am all too aware of the phenomenon that girls and women are much more open to seeing movies about boys and men than the reverse. True, women probably aren't as interested in car crashes and explosions. But they are interested in pretty much any other kind of movie whose protagonists are male. Whereas men tend, at least theoretically, to be less interested in movies whose protagonists are female.

There's a lot of discussion of this phenomenon lately in writing about movies, following the success of Twilight and Mama Mia. Apparently studio bigwigs have traditionally assumed that women-driven movies won't do well at the box office because men won't see them, but I guess there's been some rethinking of that.

When my brother was here over the holidays, I discovered he likes chick flicks! We went to It's Complicated, which I'd been lukewarm about but he really wanted to see (it was pretty good after all), and then he and his girlfriend even went to that horrible-sounding one with Sarah Jessica Parker (is it Did You Hear About the Morgans?), which even I drew the line at. Whereas he doesn't like action, refused to see Avatar and revealed that he's unfamiliar with Judd Apatow's oeuvre. I found that refreshing (but did urge him to check out some Judd Apatow titles -- movies about relationship stuff, BTW, that are spared the chick-flick label thanks to male protagonists and crude humor).

 

[Jeff Wrangler]

No kidding, and after the advent of photography, it was easy to see how fast people aged compared with today.

I spent 7 years working at a Living History museum; that's one of those reconstructed communities where people re-enact everyday life from earlier historical periods.  (Williamsburg is the granddaddy of them all)   In our case it was 1855, an interesting period in the US Midwest, as people were in transition between rural self-sufficiency and widespread use of manufactured goods.  People used to ask me if I'd like to live in that era and I'd tell them no, I'd love to visit.  Every historical era has its plusses and minuses but the "good old days" were rarely as good as we might like to think they were.

This is what I say about my medieval and Renaissance reenactments/recreations. You get to experience the plus side without the minus side--like the Black Death and witch hunts.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Maybe both of our reactions to those two terms highlights our personal sensitivities. I'm probably reading the "trivial and silly" part into the term a little bit, because I am all too aware of the phenomenon that girls and women are much more open to seeing movies about boys and men than the reverse. True, women probably aren't as interested in car crashes and explosions. But they are interested in pretty much any other kind of movie whose protagonists are male. Whereas men tend, at least theoretically, to be less interested in movies whose protagonists are female.

Unless, of course, they've got big boobs and don't wear a lot of clothes. 

There's a lot of discussion of this phenomenon lately in writing about movies, following the success of Twilight and Mama Mia. Apparently studio bigwigs have traditionally assumed that women-driven movies won't do well at the box office because men won't see them, but I guess there's been some rethinking of that.

When my brother was here over the holidays, I discovered he likes chick flicks! We went to It's Complicated, which I'd been lukewarm about but he really wanted to see (it was pretty good after all), and then he and his girlfriend even went to that horrible-sounding one with Sarah Jessica Parker (is it Did You Hear About the Morgans?), which even I drew the line at. Whereas he doesn't like action, refused to see Avatar and revealed that he's unfamiliar with Judd Apatow's oeuvre. I found that refreshing (but did urge him to check out some Judd Apatow titles -- movies about relationship stuff, BTW, that are spared the chick-flick label thanks to male protagonists and crude humor).

I figured It's Complicated was probably OK. I suppose it's OK to see Meryl Streep slumming from time to time. I confess an interest in Did You Hear About the Morgans? because I picked up that they get sent out West. I think I even heard Wyoming mentioned. ... 

Of course, Apatow appeals to another low common denominator of straight male fantasy. I mean, Katherine Heigl sleeping with Seth Rogen? Puh-leeese!

[serious crayons]

Unless, of course, they've got big boobs and don't wear a lot of clothes. 

Right. And preferably are also getting in car chases and exploding things.

I figured It's Complicated was probably OK. I suppose it's OK to see Meryl Streep slumming from time to time. I confess an interest in Did You Hear About the Morgans? because I picked up that they get sent out West. I think I even heard Wyoming mentioned. ... 

What makes you feel that Meryl is slumming in IC?

Of course, Apatow appeals to another low common denominator of straight male fantasy. I mean, Katherine Heigl sleeping with Seth Rogen? Puh-leeese!

Yes. But his movies are genuinely funny and sometimes even sort of heart-warming. They're dick flicks in multiple literal senses, but I like them anyway.

[Jeff Wrangler]

What makes you feel that Meryl is slumming in IC?

Well, it ain't Doubt.

[serious crayons]

Well, it ain't Doubt.

No, though I'm not sure there are all that many rungs between the two (but I've never seen Doubt). And as overall films, I liked It's Complicated better than Julie and Julia or Mama Mia. Maybe not better than The Devil Wears Prada.

[delalluvia]

What's interesting there is that there's no equivalent term for a male-oriented escapist movie that focuses on boobs and car chases.

Action flick/Buddy movie.  Because both invariably have women characters as eyecandy.  And if the hero is not some Rambo/Batman-type loner, he's got a sidekick.

[delalluvia]

Man, I hate spooky houses.  I'm trying to sleep I'm so tired, but my mother's house is spooky.  Not the inside, but outside.  I know in her yard neighborhood cats pass through on noctural jaunts, possums live in the attic, rats argue noisily in the bathroom wall and snakes make housecalls on the backyard rodents, but odd sounds occur often.

My mother has outside motion sensor lights.  Nothing gives you a heart attack more than one of those lights suddenly coming on and illuminating your window.  

We hear strange things.  My cats whip around, having heard the noise as well, but we can't figure out what it is, or what caused it.  We see nothing, don't hear it again.  

I miss my clean, quiet, landscaped, peaceful apartment.      

[Jeff Wrangler]

Man, I hate spooky houses.

When I was a small boy we would sometimes stay overnight at the home of my maternal grandparents, the house my mother was raised in. It was a very old house, built, I believe, in the 1870s. It also wasn't a very large house. There were only three bedrooms. As a child my mother slept in one room--in one bed--with her three sisters, and my four uncles shared another room, and my grandparents shared the third bedroom with my great-grandparents.

Anyway, the attic was entered by way of an enclosed staircase that opened into the back bedroom. The room was so small there was barely room for a large bed, a small nightstand, and a large chest of drawers--which was placed so it effectively acted as a barricade to the attic door. That freaked me out as a small child. I mean, it was like, What were they trying to keep from getting out of that attic?