September 18, 2008
Why "Chick" Flicks Aren't
Let's Stop Writing Our Own Oppression
Not making money, as we speak.
Recently, women have been demanding that their demographic be recognized, and female producers and directors have been making enormous strides in Hollywood. But there is still a general consensus that movies aimed specifically at women, so-called "chick" flicks, do not sell. Sure, the SATC movie broke records, but I'm betting The Women and Nights in Rodanthe won't. Generally, when a major women's movie comes out (Evening, for example) it performs horribly at the box office. Granted, Evening didn't get great reviews. But let's be frank, this is not the reason it didn't do well. It didn't do well because it was an obvious "chick" flick.
What constitutes a "chick" flick? There are several lists compiled by experts. In 2004, O Magazine published Karen Durbin's list of the 50 best "chick" flicks (note: the current O link mysteriously cuts the list down to 20). But the original list is clearly revisionist: it includes a conspicuously multi-national, multi-ethnic group of films, and I suspect there was quite a bit of deliberate effort to include female directors. The inclusion of the movie Girlfight, for example, is a political statement more than an objective representation of the general populace's opinion.
I am similarly skeptical of film scholar Molly Haskell's assertion that "the modern chick flick is removed from the melodramatic 'women's film' of yore." In general, scholarly assessments of cinematic value represent a minority view. If we are to understand the "chick" flick, we must think like movie producers, not scholars, and look for the lowest common denominator in audience perception.
My solution to this problem was an unofficial poll of male friends, which produced fairly consistent results. Generically speaking, tragic melodrama was still the strongest indicator when it came to "chick" flicks. Upon being asked what movies were the best examples of the "chick" flick genre, Beaches, Steel Magnolias, Terms of Endearment, and The Notebook came up again and again.
The participants were also asked what defined a "chick" flick. The best definition I received was, "a movie in which women show emotional strength while still remaining in traditionally or stereotypically 'feminine' roles." This astute observation puts its finger on the first problem with reading "chick" flicks as feminist works: they exploit the gendered stereotype of women as emotional beings, precisely in order to showcase the fact that this is where women's strength lies.
Wow, it sure looks like it's about women...
There is nothing inherently wrong with celebrating women's emotional strength, but this choice of subject matter is almost inevitably linked to tragedy. After all, how better to showcase psychological endurance than to show women in horrible situations? Dying family members, sacrifice of self for child, destruction of marriage and/or unhappy marriage...the list goes on and on. The "emotional" generic parameter really does limit the content of a "chick" flick. There is always crying, another gendered activity, and more often than not someone is dying. Even films that purport to celebrate female friendship, which should be a neutral topic, seem pre-destined to bring in at least one tragic event that tests said friendship.
