BetterMost Community Blogs > My "Great White North"
Bitch, Bitch, Bitch
Marge_Innavera:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on January 14, 2010, 11:23:20 am ---. . .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.
--- End quote ---
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:
--- Quote from: Marge_Innavera on January 14, 2010, 11:57:09 am ---What's interesting there is that there's no equivalent term for a male-oriented escapist movie that focuses on boobs and car chases.
--- End quote ---
Dick flick.
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on January 14, 2010, 11:29:01 am ---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.
--- End quote ---
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:
--- Quote from: Marge_Innavera on January 14, 2010, 11:53:08 am ---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.
--- End quote ---
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:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on January 14, 2010, 12:16:37 pm ---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.
--- End quote ---
Unless, of course, they've got big boobs and don't wear a lot of clothes. :-\
--- Quote ---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).
--- End quote ---
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:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on January 14, 2010, 01:04:16 pm ---Unless, of course, they've got big boobs and don't wear a lot of clothes. :-\
--- End quote ---
Right. And preferably are also getting in car chases and exploding things.
--- Quote ---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. ... :-\
--- End quote ---
What makes you feel that Meryl is slumming in IC?
--- Quote ---Of course, Apatow appeals to another low common denominator of straight male fantasy. I mean, Katherine Heigl sleeping with Seth Rogen? Puh-leeese!
--- End quote ---
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.
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