Harry
CibbuanoThe rules of Chickmovietopia
February 13th 2009 22:25
Chickmovietopia is a word coined by MSNBC writer Linda Holmes, who finds a simple strand that connects movies aimed at the lowest common denominator of the female demographic.
She defines a set of rules which come out in these movies, polluting our understanding of how the world should work.
"“He’s Just Not That Into You” — the movie — wants you to believe it will tell you the truth about what goes wrong in relationships... the truth, according to the trailers, is that what goes wrong in relationships is that women are mind-bendingly stupid."
Holmes has made the disastrous mistake of judging a movie based on a trailer - though, in this case, I don't think she cares, having assumed that the film is likely to hit all the worst cliches and predictable plot lines possible.
Her rules are remarkably fitting - I haven't even seen a lot of these movies and they're still familiar:
Have your big moments on the sidewalk
.Holmes finds a few movies that have the same awful reconciliation scene, at the end of the film, where the couple seems like they'll never get together, but then they make up on the street. Preferably, it should be raining.
Every time a movie does this, they're basically imitating, poorly, "Breakfast at Tiffany's", perhaps the most influential American rom-com, and the only one that's done this scene originally and well.
The theory of the emotional flip.
Nearly every culture seems to have this in their romantic movies... if a female and male character dislike each other initially, you can almost bet that they'll get together. It's an obvious point that we all see coming, as it's a classic trope from English literature, first knocked out by Jane Austen in "Pride and Prejudice".
Women who have sex for fun are destined for pain.
This one I don't know about... I always thought that, in a rom-com, having sex for fun was relegated to the one kooky, slutty friend that lives freely from one moment to the next, but is too flaky to settle down. No?
The curative powers of the makeover.
This is the worst point of all, and makes me cringe when I see it in films. In "The Devil Wears Prada", we're taught that Anne Hathaway's success was due to the fact that she recognized that she had to dress in those ridiculously outlandish outfits to fit it, and she was awesome for having the figure to do so.
It's also a point that I disliked about "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", where the lesson is also distilled to wear makeup, do your hair and wear nice clothes.
Are there more rules of the romantic comedy? Ones that make you roll your eyes or shriek in rage? Put your suggestions in the comments below!
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