Posted on 09/10/2012 8:40:16 AM PDT by C19fan
There’s no denying it: ladies love the chick flicks. For men, they’re instruments of torture they must endure with their woman so they can be rewarded at the end of the night. Women, however, eat them up — especially the under-30 crowd. They’ll drag their boyfriends to them, bond with a group of girlfriends while watching them, or sit at home alone crying to them. Nevermind that they’re vapid, formulaic crap that Hollywood can churn out faster than Sandra Fluke can go through condoms. They’re still successful.
Too bad they also send some of the worst messages to women in the history of mankind. Horrible stereotypes, insulting characters, idiotic relationship advice… it’s all there. Some chick flicks are better at hiding it than others, but generally, you can count on the same thing each time. The worst part is, women are actually starting to believe the lunacy they see in these movies!
So which are the worst offenders, and what damaging messages do they send?
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Too funny. I read the headline and immediately thought "The English Patient." While watching that movie, I wanted to scream. How one could not HATE the supposed-protaganists of that movie, especially Ralph Fiennes, is beyond me.
Same thing with all movies these days. The “good guys” are horrible people. The viewers don’t see anything we would call normal, and they are starting to think the bad behavior on TV and movies might be ‘normal’
ugh
Thelma and Louise. Fried Green Tomatoes.
True story...
My wife (now ex) sent me to the video store to rent ‘50 First Dates’. I’ve picked it up and am browsing the other movies when this little 6 or 7 year old girl comes in with her Mom. The mom says “look there’s ‘50 First Dates’” and the little girl says “If only men were really like that.”
That’s when I knew I was on a fool’s errand.
A bad date movie sets up an unrealistic male role model.
A good date movie is one that makes me look good by comparison.
I’m a guy but “Bridget Jones Diary” is hilarious. Every guy out there has had a “granny panties” experience.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre - the original.
‘Juno’
The "Rom-Com" formula is so infantile it is nauseating.
How could “Love Story” fail to make the top 10 list? I remember girls lining up to see it each carrying boxes of Kleenex, preparing to cry for 2 hours.....
The one that came to my mind was “Sleepless in Seattle.” Meg Ryan is engaged to a great guy. The script makes fun of him because he has allergies. Meg goes behind his back to pursue a guy she’s heard on a radio call-in show. I’m a woman and I hated the movie because of that. It seems to me the film would have worked just as well if Meg had been an unattached career woman.
“Bridges of Madison County” should be on that list. A farm lady is left alone for a few days while her husband works his butt off to bring home money from a fair/convention and she falls for an old, broke photographer played by Clint. I love Clint but he was totally miscast in that movie. Too old.
That really irked me at the time. Still pisses me off.
Especially since Al and Tipper were the inspiration.
Try sitting through the Joy Luck Club, which I watched for 2 agonizing hours when I was dating my wife... (chick flicks are something some of us men do when we are dating but squelch the habit after marriage)..
all men in that movie are bastards and creeps, while women just cry b*tch and moan..
Dirty Dancing was that moment when my husband and I realized we were actually grown ups. We looked at each other and simultaneously said, “Pack that girl up and get her on a bus off to college and away from Swayze today!”
Gawd..I’d forgotten that....thanks for reminding me of it...NOT..(g)
Funny movie..hey she had the kid and gave it up for adoption + Ellen Paige is fricken hot.
Musings on popular memes noted in the list:
- Girl falls for boy, they screw it up and break up, she gets engaged to dweeb, dweeb is left at altar as she finds and returns to boy - who, really, is also a dweeb.
- Negative stereotype is expounded on in a funny but demeaning manner, culminating in a sudden brilliant event where it all works together for great - and very brief - success.
- Men are idiots; loveable under the right conditions, but still idiots. This is a special case of the prior meme. Reminds me of the joke “...are like grapes: dirty & wild, until you stomp on ‘em and leave ‘em in the dark for a while, until they decompose into something you’d enjoy with dinner.”
- One sacrifices everything for the other, who never really appreciates it. Turns out well because, well, one continues sacrificing everything for the other.
- Mean. Like _Seinfeld_, everything in the story revolves around everyone being mean to everyone else. ...but, ya see, it’s _funny_!
- It’s a showdown between Mr. Right vs. Mr. Right, like a 2-hour episode of _The_Bachelorette_ with two contestants and nary a meaningful difference between them other than they’re just two completely different guys. (BTW: I thought _Bridget_Jones’_Diary_ was hysterical.)
- Throw it all away, the feeling is all that matters. Hey, it was the basis for Romeo & Juliet ... except Shakespeare recognized how _that_ ends.
- “I’m going to spend a lot of money. You don’t understand - a LOT of money. An OBSCENE about of money.” At least have the sense to fall for a feeling about a _person_, not just _money_.
- If someone’s feelings for you amount to “I like you, I’ll kill you last” - RUN AWAY. TERRIBLY FAST.
That was my first thought, too. Horrible movie and message.
“Love means you never have to say you’re sorry.”
GAGMEWITHASPOON!
Yet another reason why the Nineteenth Amendment needs to be repealed. Women voters draw inspiration for government aid from Feminazi crap like these movies, and destroy our country and the very foundations of freedom as a result! Hollywood has advanced the Communist Agenda far better than Stalin ever could.
Crappy Chick-Flix-To-Be
Not to mention that the abortion was O.K. with the Dad because it wasn’t Swayze’s child or something like that...For a minute,I thought that their might have been a moral voice there but,no.ugh!!!
Frequent observation:
I watch a movie because I want to experience the story of characters living a life more interesting than my own.
Watching people try to put pieces back together after a mundane stupid/obvious/gratuitous mistake does not constitute “more interesting”.
For obvious reasons, I pity those who do find such movies engaging.
Is “Mandingo” a chick-flick?
I thought it was a “dick flick’
Yep...it's the same old story. Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl finds boy, boy forgets girl, boy remembers girl, girls dies in a tragic blimp accident over the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day.
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
I haven’t seen any of those. : ) When my wife gets control of the remote, she does tend to gravitate toward Lifetime, though.
I don’t see why every hero in every film has to be morally impeccable, especially when the film concerned is a tragedy, where one would expect the protagonist to end up going to far in the pursuit of love or some other passionate endevour, and end up paying the ultimate price as a result of his actions.
In the end, the Count suffers for his actions. Not only does the love of his life die, but he ends up horribly injured and ends up committing suicide by proxy by the end.
Yes, basically any movie with Julia Roberts, especially “Pretty Woman”....Man gets whore, Man loses whore, Man gets whore back.
Hey, hey, hey. I went to see “Love Story” with my then girlfriend later to become my wife, now my late wife. It was New Year’s Eve 1970. We were in a long distance relationship at the time. And yes I cried at the end, and after we got home great things happened and I will leave it at that. Watched it a couple of years ago with the advantage of age and perspective and thought it had to be one of the worse movies ever made. However, in 1970 to two young kids (20 y/o) madly in love and battling more than a few obstacles in their lives it was a tear jerker.
For the record I also liked “The Notebook”, “Dirty Dancing” and “Titanic”. I must be in touch with my feminine side.
Try this one:
“Love and Other Drugs”
It is about a Pfizer rep. and the introduction of Viagara. It is funny and you get to see Anne Hathaway naked. Your wife will think its a chick flick.
Wait, hold it, what am I saying - it IS Twilight!!!
Good God, that's hysterical. I am so stealing that.
not because I believe it to be TRUE, btw. I'm a movie outcast with most of my sisters/girlfriends. Can't do most 'chick flicks'. The funniest is the whole Hallmark Channel stuff. Geez. My hubby and I tease my poor sister about her devotion to all the "Love's Enduring Lower Back Pain", "Love's Neverending Saga of Dreck and Glurge", etc. movies.
“Something Borrowed” belongs somewhere in that list. I never saw the movie, but I good the book from the library because it was supposed to be sooooo good.
The theme was that it’s perfectly OK to steal/sleep with your best friend’s fiance and you can justify it because she’s a really selfish person who always manages to have it better than you.
I really only liked a couple of the ones listed, however, those relationships aren’t real and I wouldn’t want to end up with most of those guys.
“An Officer and a Gentleman” should have been on the list.
The same can be said for men, movies, and the 2nd Amendment.
it was after that bs when shakespeare in love won best pic i said never again will i watch the oscars! still ticked about it!
That 50 first date movies was an awful movie. I saw it on tv and I have to say that it was worse than Ground Hog day, but along the same lines.
How about the ten most damaging dude flicks?
They are all super macho guys who can do anything with the shrug of a shoulder, and when they walk into a room, all the women fall down.
A car chase, some swearing, end scene.
I’m surprised “Grease” wasn’t on the list. When that first came out I so badly wanted to see it, but my mom wouldn’t let me because she didn’t think it was appropriate. I have to say I totally missed the message (good, wholesome girls get nothing, but sluts get what they want) when I first saw it and it wasn’t until years later that it dawned on me what my mom meant.
I dissagree. I liked the 50 First Dates movie, but it does create a completely unrealistic male role model.
I liked Ground Hog day the first couple of times I saw it too. But for Ground Hog day to be enjoyable as a rerun it starts too slow and it's got too much annoying attitude and too little humor.
Whereupon I smile, get the check, say I have an early morning and lose the speaker's number.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
