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2. Soaring emotional climax
It sucks: Seemingly every chick flick has the requisite scene when, after the dramatic falling-out with the dude, the chick realizes that, OMG, she does totally still love him after all. Either that or shit goes down like in The Notebook, the film based on that Nicholas Sparks tearjerker. This film is such a master manipulator that it could probably talk your mom into bed and then sell you a 1990 Honda Civic with bald tires right before winter.
My friends warned me I would cry; I shrugged them off, because I never cry. But I did not expect the film's dangerous three-punch combo: old people, lifelong love, and terminal illness. It was sad, yes, but also insincere, each moment designed to work me over. I felt as much victim as audience.
But it doesn't have to:
So I was shocked that I enjoyed Out of Africa, the 1985 film starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford that's based on Danish writer Karen Blixen's time farming coffee in Africa. Instead of feeling like my brain had been hijacked, I felt genuine empathy for Blixen, whose life was a constant struggle to possess both the land and the man she loved, each of whom steadfastly refused to belong to anyone. Probably because she is peerless (and therefore unable to be tried by a jury), Streep convincingly portrays a woman who craves love and companionship but is also stubborn and unwilling to sacrifice her personal freedom and self-respect. And if we're honest with ourselves, isn't that what we all really want?
1. The very idea of "chick"ishness
As frustrated as I am by the romantic lies perpetuated by chick flicks, I can't help but wonder why dude-centric crap like Transformers -- or seemingly any film in which a chubby slob like Seth Rogan falls in love -- are not viewed as niche films and are instead marketed to everyone. Maybe instead of dismissing films about the experiences of women as "chick flicks," it's time to start judging them based on their artistic merit irrespective of their target audience.
Follow Angela Lutz on Twitter at SF Weekly's Exhibitionist blog at @ExhibitionistSF and like us on Facebook.
