Men, do you watch "chick flicks"?

[graceanne]

Sometimes I think I'm a little prissy. I'm a musician and although I enjoy many styles of music, I really enjoy musicals. I've got male friends that look at me with almost disgust when I tell them things like that.

I have one male musician friend (a drummer, if that tells you anything) who says he can't understand why someone would suddenly break into a song out of no where.

I LOVE musicals. Drives K batty; luckily I don't care enough to force the issue. I know the entire score to Oklahoma, Sound of Music, and roger and Hammerstein's Cinderella.

As for the breaking into song out of no where, I do that. Everyone in my (dad's) family, does. It's causes problems with us when we first started kindergarten, evidently bursting into song at the drop of a hat is disrupting. I can be walking and start singing a song if something reminds me of the song; used to annoy K now he's used to it, so it's not big deal.

I also think it's safe to say women will see some action movies or sport related movies just to see some of the male body. We are all human, after all.

I agree - I'm the one who watches NCIS so I can drool over Gibbs. *sigh*

 

[Stella_Omega]

I'm with DVS. I don't go for any one genre, I go for quality -- visual, storytelling, whatever.

 

[DVS]

I LOVE musicals. Drives K batty; luckily I don't care enough to force the issue. I know the entire score to Oklahoma, Sound of Music, and roger and Hammerstein's Cinderella.

As for the breaking into song out of no where, I do that. Everyone in my (dad's) family, does. It's causes problems with us when we first started kindergarten, evidently bursting into song at the drop of a hat is disrupting. I can be walking and start singing a song if something reminds me of the song; used to annoy K now he's used to it, so it's not big deal.



I agree - I'm the one who watches NCIS so I can drool over Gibbs. *sigh*

I've had my share of bad luck over the years, and my sister has often said she thinks I'm being tested (by God, I assume) for some reason. During my recent racist situation, when things were getting really low, she would tell me there was going to be something good come from all of this.

When things did start to lighten up, she'd often break into "The sun'll come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun!"

Yes, our family would often break into song when something or someone reminds us of it. I'm sure it can be annoying to an outsider. LOL.

 

[DVS]

I'm with DVS. I don't go for any one genre, I go for quality -- visual, storytelling, whatever.

There's just something to say for quality in anything. It makes sense.

 

[graceanne]

I've had my share of bad luck over the years, and my sister has often said she thinks I'm being tested (by God, I assume) for some reason. During my recent racist situation, when things were getting really low, she would tell me there was going to be something good come from all of this.

When things did start to lighten up, she'd often break into "The sun'll come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun!"

Yes, our family would often break into song when something or someone reminds us of it. I'm sure it can be annoying to an outsider. LOL.

K HATES it when I sing Annie songs. LOL When the weather is really nice, though, I'm known to suddenly start singing 'oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day, i've got a beautiful feeling, everything's going my way'.

 

[wicked woman]

My girlfriends who do love them are not stupid or shallow - they tend to be very smart, very stressed, and very starved for escape when they watch movies. I don't watch movies for escape.

I like adrenaline/stupid or non-escape thought provoking, or culturally weird old stuff and camp.

ok I'll confess. I like chick flick and for exactly the escape reason. Sometimes I just want to sit back and be entertained and not have to think.

As for why some men might watch chick flicks? Is everyone forgetting how many brownie points you can get for that if they watch it with the girlfriend?

 

[DVS]

My point is not so much whether chick flicks are inherently good or bad, simply that it is not societal pressure which prevents men from watching them but simply personal preference.

ETA: Good movies are good movies, regardless of genre but if I'm going to watch a movie with a crappy plot or bad acting, I'd rather it have zombies or ninjas or exploding helicopters than a lot of people "finding" themselves.

If I must watch a movie with a crappy plot or bad acting, Si Fi is my favorite. I enjoy the old special effects (I look for the fishing line and zippers), the bad B movie plots and monsters and just the over all look. But, if I have a choice, I'll do something else before I'll watch something boring. There are several ways to be bored.

 

[DVS]

K HATES it when I sing Annie songs. LOL When the weather is really nice, though, I'm known to suddenly start singing 'oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day, i've got a beautiful feeling, everything's going my way'.

Wanna get married? I'll bring cookies.

 

[graceanne]

Wanna get married? I'll bring cookies.

Mean old K says I can't marry anyone else. *pouts*

 

[DVS]

Mean old K says I can't marry anyone else. *pouts*

Well, maybe in another life? The cookies will be kind of old by then, though.

 

[ownedsubgal]

I'm going to answer anyway - I'd pick a DVD of a virtual yule log before I'd pick these movies. They are emotionally fake and completely annoying.

my feelings exactly when it comes to chick flicks. fake, trite, ridiculously stereotypical, mindless, blank, etc etc...i have zero tolerance for these movies. Daddy otoh is mildly entertained by many of them...mostly for the opportunity to perv on some actress he finds hot (like, he will watch ANYthing with sandra bullock), but he also gets into the story at times or at least finds them a light escape. he really loves "pretty woman" for instance, and i just can't explain that at all.

i tend to like harsh realism in my movies...especially with a specific cultural focus, like Schindler's List, or The Color Purple, or Daughters of the Dust, or Eat Drink Man Woman, or Raise the Red Lantern...you get the idea. if i'm in the mood to see a romance, it needs to be between really screwed up characters with some heavy pervy undertone, like Lolita or L'amant.

and if i really do want a mindless escape, which is rare, i want to see a really awesome graphic old-fashioned horror flick.

 

[BLoved]

My theory is that if you took 100 men into a room, one at a time, and showed them two DVD's, without titles or known actors, with one DVD case showing a loving couple on the cover and one showing a guy with a gun jumping out of an exploding helicopter, and you told them they could choose whichever DVD they wanted, watch it in private, and no one would ever know which they'd chosen...I still think the majority would choose the exploding helicopter.

I don't think men choose not to watch chick flicks because of societal pressures, I think they don't watch them because they're boring.

But I could be completely wrong.

Men?

Thanks to a very violent history human society has conditioned men in general to revel in the martial arts.

However, there has always been a minority of men who reject the conditioning and seek a path of peace and harmony. In past ages these men would most likely have taken on religious orders.

Last week I watched "Julie & Julia", "Mamma Mia" and "A Walk to Remember" with my Beloved.

Monday I watched trailers for "Iron Man 2" and "The Last Airbender" with a friend.

Tomorrow I watch "Avatar".

To say all men want to watch exploding helicopters is to ignore the existence of a wide range of men who are poets at heart, if not in deed.

It is to ignore the virtues of tenderness, compassion and empathy which many men feel for the ones they love.

 

[kaycee217]

my feelings exactly when it comes to chick flicks. fake, trite, ridiculously stereotypical, mindless, blank, etc etc...i have zero tolerance for these movies. Daddy otoh is mildly entertained by many of them...mostly for the opportunity to perv on some actress he finds hot (like, he will watch ANYthing with sandra bullock), but he also gets into the story at times or at least finds them a light escape. he really loves "pretty woman" for instance, and i just can't explain that at all.

i tend to like harsh realism in my movies...especially with a specific cultural focus, like Schindler's List, or The Color Purple, or Daughters of the Dust, or Eat Drink Man Woman, or Raise the Red Lantern...you get the idea. if i'm in the mood to see a romance, it needs to be between really screwed up characters with some heavy pervy undertone, like Lolita or L'amant.

and if i really do want a mindless escape, which is rare, i want to see a really awesome graphic old-fashioned horror flick.

Before I saw this post, I was about to post:

"I enjoy "chick flicks" if they are clever, funny, and realistic.

I particularly enjoy movies where romance/love is the main theme, but the characters end unhappily ever after.

Life can be miserable and painful sometimes. I enjoy movies that reflect this."

I swear.

 

[BiBunny]

I like comedies, romantic or otherwise, as long as they aren't just flat stupid. There's enough bad shit in the world; I don't want to watch more bad shit in my spare time.

 

[00Syd]

I generally dislike romantic comedies. Bumping into the love of your life in an awkward situation < explosions and car chases.

 

[YourCaptor]

Chick flix, boring, and many chicks I know say that too about most of them.

I suppose some are good... can't think of any?

Oh, I love the "the beach", thats pretty chick flicky

and "beauty and the beast", that was good too.

 

[rida]

You know, people rage against porn but I think romantic comedies are far more damaging to our cultural psyche. Who the fuck can live up to that ideal?

Agreed.

And every time I see a movie couple wake up together, after a long night's sleep, roll over and start sucking face...WITHOUT BRUSHING THEIR TEETH FIRST...I want to scream. Ick.

And that is why you should start by sucking dick/eating pussy

 

[rida]

I LOVE musicals. Drives K batty; luckily I don't care enough to force the issue. I know the entire score to Oklahoma, Sound of Music, and roger and Hammerstein's Cinderella.

As for the breaking into song out of no where, I do that. Everyone in my (dad's) family, does. It's causes problems with us when we first started kindergarten, evidently bursting into song at the drop of a hat is disrupting. I can be walking and start singing a song if something reminds me of the song; used to annoy K now he's used to it, so it's not big deal.

When things did start to lighten up, she'd often break into "The sun'll come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun!"

Yes, our family would often break into song when something or someone reminds us of it. I'm sure it can be annoying to an outsider. LOL.

Add me to the breaking into a song (usually a parody) at the most absurd moments

And I love musicals too.

(Have not done the "breaking into inappropriate song" during a scene yet ... I wonder how that would go )

 

[cop1047]

After I read the thread I was curious what movies I own could be chick flicks.

The closest I have is the following and I

Cinderella Man - bought it for the boxing and real life story
Dances with Wolves - its dances with wolves
Gran Torino - I said closest, not true chick flicks. I don't think anything with Clint Eastwood could ever be considered a chick flick.
The Thomas Crown Affair - probably the closest thing to a chick flick I own. Rene Russo is drop dead gorgeous a good all around mystery good twists and the bowler cap scene is always fun to watch
Seven Pounds - It was on sale, hated it
Yes Man - comedy more than the romance

When I think chick flick I think 16 candles.

I have to agree with the above that quality is the key. I've always wondered how movies like Scary Movie and the other spoof-like movies ever made money.

 

[Lizzie_Borden]

OK, so while camping last weekend, my pals and me had a fairly heated discussion about all kinds of boy/girl, sexism, stereotype sort of stuff. One of the topics that came up was "chick flicks". My friend S, said that it bothered her that there were negative connotations to that descriptor, as she felt it would prevent men from watching otherwise good movies because they didn't want to be seen doing something "girly".

From there, she argued that by preventing men from enjoying this kind of entertainment society was missing the opportunity to foster empathy and other desirable traits among males.

Now me, I come at it from a different point of view. I think that whether you call them chick flicks or "tough as nails movies" that has little effect on whether men will watch them.

My theory is that if you took 100 men into a room, one at a time, and showed them two DVD's, without titles or known actors, with one DVD case showing a loving couple on the cover and one showing a guy with a gun jumping out of an exploding helicopter, and you told them they could choose whichever DVD they wanted, watch it in private, and no one would ever know which they'd chosen...I still think the majority would choose the exploding helicopter.

I don't think men choose not to watch chick flicks because of societal pressures, I think they don't watch them because they're boring.

But I could be completely wrong.

Men?

I'm not a man, but even I find chick flicks boting for the most part.

Give me the choice between Love Actually and Die Hard, and I'll take Die Hard any day, my crush on Bruce not withstanding

 

[naxalite0906]

Ive no shame in saying I watch them, or choose to watch them if I feel I might enjoy them... Problem is, when I see a review or something that says it isnt, it generally puts me off... But this is the case for any movie. I mean, Im not a fan of mindless action films either, I just want a good film to watch.

However, stuff like dirty dancing - fuck no! But, even though they are not films, I am partial to sex and the city and desperate housewives *hangs head in shame*

 

[Keroin]

Ha! This is all very interesting.

And very different sorts of responses to my real life experiences. You'll note in my OP I said that I believed the "majority" of men would not choose the chick flick over the action movie. So, yes, of course not every man is going to roll that way. And not every woman wants to watch movies with Hugh Grant in them.

However, among my large circle of friends, what I've witnessed is very much in line with this. And it's not a judgement call, despite my love of zombies and ninjas and exploding helicopters, (I also watch good movies, BTW ). But when a group of us get together to watch a movie, if it is all women, the choices usually lean to a more narrative style of flick; if it's all men then it will almost always be action; if it's a mix of genders then there's usually a compromise (one of each or a comedy or an action movie without too much gore).

And yes, there are many different genres of movies but I'm not asking "Men do you prefer foreign language documentaries over Bruce Lee films?" What I want to know is, "Given the choice between a chick flick and an action movie, and only those two, which would you choose?"


ETA: L has watched many chick flicks and enjoyed them very much. He's more of a softie than me in many ways. But he doesn't pick those movies. If he goes to the video store to get a movie for himself, I know it will have some kind of action component. It just will.

 

[Keroin]

http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/crank_2_high_voltage_photo.jpg
Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!

LOL.

 

[Keroin]

This?

http://www.filmfortress.com/images/protector_review.jpg

Or this?

http://moviesworth.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/walktoremember.jpg

 

[00Syd]

http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/crank_2_high_voltage_photo.jpg
Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!

LOL.

Haha that movie turns mindless action into an art.