Question for kayaker:
Is Rudy a “chick flick”?
Is Bend it Like Beckham a “chick flick”?
The fact that this thread is in ATMB suggests that their is a certain “word police” aspect to it, don’t you think?
Not saying I think there should be. Just noting that it wasn’t shuffled off to IMHO. Somebody thinks its important enough to remain here.
No. All that indicates is that the OP is a question about moderation. Whether there actually is or isn’t any word policing happening doesn’t change that.
OK, maybe “uplifting” wasn’t a great genre term, but then again, out of your list, I’ve seen Rocky on tv for the fight sequences. I thought Talia Shire’s role was formulaic and poorly done. I’ve seen Slumdog Millionaire just out of respect for Danny Boyle’s work. The rest I haven’t seen. Babe. The pig movie? Maybe add that genre to my “do not like” list, talking pig movies.
I do not mean to be denigrating. I’ve never suggested that I’m a “proper Man”. I just do not like rom-coms, movies with talking pigs, Hallmark Channel movies, uplifting movies, etc and was trying to simplify things by calling them chick-flicks because in my experience the movies I do not like are movies I hear women talking about. Maybe “Hallmark Channel Movies” would be a better “genre” for me to dislike, but that leaves out rom-coms, I think (I’ve never actually had access to the Hallmark Channel).
Give those movies I don’t like Oscars. Put them on your “best movie ever” lists. But for me, I don’t like them and won’t be watching them. I liked the original Saw, and I’ll admit to it.
MrDibble: never seen Rudy, nor Beckham. I originally thought Rudy was the talking pig movie, but further investigation shows it to be a “dealing with adversity to excel” movie and I probably wouldn’t want to see it. I like football and would watch a Beckham highlight reel, but no, the summary I read puts the movie on the list of films I’d never watch.
When I think of the term chick flick I visualize a film in which a man or men play the specific role of love interest to the female actor/s, who take up the majority of the screen time, and the plot revolves entirely around that which separates the union of the couple or couples, and its happy resolution.
This type of plot can certainly be high art (Jane Austen more or less invented it), but the term refers to those popular drecky genre films marketed to women, and yes it is derogatory.
In other types of films, which may include the ultimate resolution of romantic tension, and female protagonists, there is something else on center stage, like road trips, monsters, murder, apocalypse, war, pestilence, whatever.
In my milieu, the movies I hear women talking about are generally the latest Marvel or Star Wars release. Which happen to be the same movies I hear men talking about. So “movies I hear women talking about” isn’t really a distinct genre I can understand.
I wasn’t asking if you’d seen or want to see them, just how you’d class them.
Clearly you have *Rudy *in a different category from “chick flick”.
Having now read a synopsis of Bend It Like Beckham, would you class it as a “chick flick”?
I don’t like rom-com movies either. But it’s because they’re formulaic and trite. Whether i “hear women talk about them a lot,” which is kind of irrelevant, and likely a purely subjective perception on my part, is not the issue. Marvel movies are formulaic and trite, too, and I don’t like those either. In any case, none of that is really relevant.
What’s relevant, as I said in post #35, is that it’s the use of the term itself–any term–that imbues it with its connotation. If I use any particular term in alignment with its historical connotation, then I end up perpetuating that connotation, regardless of my intentions.
It’s an overcoming diversity feel good movie with a romance thrown in. I would. Although I’m expecting to be called an idiot, yes, movies like that are movies I’d call chick-flicks, although I guess maybe I need another term for movies that share a few characteristics. Suggestions?
I do not want to insult anyone. I just want to watch movies I like and not watch movies I do not like.
Another example…I loved Seinfeld, but hated Friends. To me, Friends was just a little too far in the direction of chick-flick.
Movies without enough explosions? I am told Rush Hour 2 is not a “chick-flick”.
There are films that both men and women may like. For instance, my wife watched John Patrick Stanley’s “Doubt” with interest and so did I.
I know women who recommend Quentin Tarantino’s work, and men who enjoy movies by Woody Allen.
The term ‘chick-flick’ will always sound derogatory - I may think of it when I bump into certain shows that bore me to death, but I know better than to use it.
The question is about a word. Is it not word policing if the answer is “no problem here, carry on, go about your business”? Police aren’t just bad people who round up the bad guys.
I don’t understand what you’re attempting to say. People are explaining the meaning of the word and how others interpret it. Do you think the dictionary is “word policing” because it specifies how words are used?
Or whether there’s crying in baseball?
Of course not-- the dictionary isnt word policing, it is the code of laws that the word police are sworn to uphold!
I think you mean “adversity”, not “diversity”…
And you just described Rocky. :dubious:
Can’t really help you, I don’t draw distinctions between movies, or sitcoms, based on the degree of female representation, and it seems you do, since that’s the only difference I can see between the sports movies you’d call chick-flicks, and the ones you don’t.
I mean, you already have all the neutral identifiers, like rom-com, uplifting movie, feel-good movie, but none of those seem to work for you. For some reason.
I would class both *Rudy *and *BILB *as “uplifting sports movies” and leave it at that. Hell, I’d class *Rocky *as that, too.
Heh. Yeah, I’m gonna take the dogs out for a walk. Thanks for giving me plenty to think about, and thanks for not ridiculing my adversity/diversity swap.
Stay well.
I don’t make the rules around here and I would hesitate to ban the use of almost any word, except obvious hate speech or gratuitous vulgarity, but I think that last point is right on the mark. I associate “chick” with the slang of the 50s and 60s and the rampant misogyny of the times. So in my view, go ahead and use it if you want, but prepare to be judged accordingly.
Someone above mentioned watching Beavis and Butthead. I’ve occasionally watched it, too, and I’m sure they use the word “chick” frequently. But the reason the show is funny is that they’re caricatures of incredibly immature morons.
There’s an interesting book about how television was and remains a remarkable record of the culture of the various eras we have evolved through. There’s an episode of Father Knows Best in which Betty, the elder daughter, decides she wants to be a civil engineer. IIRC, the school guidance counselor tells her it’s a completely inappropriate occupation for a girl, her “wise” parents try to talk her out of it, but she persists. She takes up an internship where all the other (male) engineers make fun of her, she blunders various technical things, and comes home each day in tears. But hark! There is a happy ending. One of the engineers asks her out. He arrives with a bouquet of flowers and in the meantime her mother has dressed her up in a very pretty dress, and Betty learns the proper place of a woman in the world, which is apparently to be decorative, take care of her husband, and raise a family. So she quits the engineering job and a happy ending ensues. This is the kind of era and value system that “chick” evokes in my mind. One might have said at the time that the moral of the story is that chicks should not try to venture into professional occupations, which are solely the domain of men. It also (again, just my opinion) tends to objectify women, and characterize them as weak and dependent and as sex objects.
It is not at all comparable to “dude”, which has gone through several changes of meaning over the years, but doesn’t have that kind of history. In the 19th century and perhaps beyond, it referred to a man excessively obsessed with dress and appearance, synonymous with “dandy” – think of the New Yorker logo featuring a well-dressed man with a top hat and monocle. By extension, in rural contexts it came to mean something like “city slicker”, and eventually just morphed into a casual expression for “man” or “guy”. Whereas “chick” I don’t think has ever changed its meaning, and hearkens back to the era I just described.
Speaking as a moderator, context matters.
In most cases, chick is going to be in the same general group as words like broad or skirt. It is often used to refer to a woman in a demeaning or objectifying sense, and it’s exactly the sort of thing that we are trying to eliminate here on the SDMB (see the numerous other threads about misogyny here).
That doesn’t mean that the word is always offensive. Rilchiam saying “I’m a chick” is not insulting or demeaning anyone in that particular context.
Being female doesn’t necessarily excuse using the term, however. On the internet, we often don’t know if you are female or not. Heck, for all we know, you could be a dog. Since we usually don’t know who you are, we don’t necessarily know the context you are speaking from.
Generally speaking, “chick flick” is not considered offensive. However, it can be used in a demeaning manner, so again, context matters.
Not offensive: My girl friends and I are hanging out this weekend, can anyone recommend some chick flicks for us to stream?
Offensive: That film is just some stupid chick flick, I want to watch a real movie.
(Just my opinion.)