March 2, 2017
SHE ALMOST HAS IT:
Women Have 'Chick Flicks.' What About Men? (GLORIA STEINEM, MARCH 2, 2017, NY Times)
I was on a flight from New York to Seattle recently when a long delay on the tarmac prompted the airline to offer us a free movie. As the flight attendant read the choices aloud, a young man across the aisle said, "I don't watch chick flicks!"I knew what he meant, and so did the woman sitting next to me. A "chick flick" is one that has more dialogue than car chases, more relationships than special effects, and whose suspense comes more from how people live than from how they get killed.I wasn't challenging his preference, but I did question the logic of his term. [...]Still, this was not the problem of the guy on the plane. He was just trying to find a movie he wanted to watch. His "chick flick" label might help him avoid certain movies, but shouldn't he have a label to guide him toward movies he actually liked?
The key difference, of course, lies in the type of relationship depicted. If the guy ends up with the woman it's a chick flick. If he ends alone (or dead, preferably in the obligatory crucifix scene, or with other men, which is the same thing) it's a guy flick:
Casablanca
Shane
The Maltese Falcon
The Magnificent Seven
The Searchers
The Great Escape
The Godfather
Spartacus
The Sand Pebbles
Bridge on the River Kwai
Double Indemnity
Sunset Boulevard
Lawrence of Arabia
Citizen Kane
Gone With the Wind
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Cool Hand Luke
On the Waterfront
Chinatown
Gladiator
Master and Commander
Braveheart
Patton
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Exorcist
Pulp Fiction
Posted by Orrin Judd at March 2, 2017 8:22 AM