Women In 21st Century Chick Flicks

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Liverpool Screen School

(B.A.) Film

Women are supposed to be primarily interested in romantic relationships, getting married, having children, and not having much of a life of their own. (Heyn, 2012)

Women in 21st century chick flicks: Evolved to be degrading for women with derogatory stereotypes

By: Laura Dubler

Supervised By: Lydia Papadimitriou

Abstract

The following work is an analysis of the roles and representations of women in chick flicks. It provides analysis and reasoning behind why women are continuously being shown in negative light and derogatory stereotypes. It looks at a brief history of feminism over the years in order to see how times have changed and how women are portrayed today in contemporary American chick flicks. The films included in this essay (but are not limited to) is He’s Just Not That Into You, Bridesmaids, Confessions of a Shopaholic and 27 Dresses. However it does make reference to other chick flicks such as Legally Blonde, Bridget Jone’s Diary and so forth.

Table of Contents

Introduction

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Chapter One: One Dimensional women

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Chapter Two: Career, Romance and Materialistic Wealth, can women have it all?

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Chapter three: Marriage and Sisterhood

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Chapter Four: White Heterosexual Women

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Conclusion

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Bibliography

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Introduction

This dissertation will look at the common themes that appear in "chick flicks", a casual term used from the 1990’s to describe films that appeal to women (Martin, 2013). Upon hearing the word "chick flicks", one automatically associates it with women and rightly so. The definition in the Webster dictionary states that a chick flick is "a motion picture intended to appeal especially to women"(Webster and Bliss 1924, p1230). The genre chick flicks made its first appearance when Hollywood was established in 1910 (Dirks, 2013), however, at the time chick flicks were known as women’s pictures. It has been noted that the first chick flicks that were made were Morocco in 1930 and Gone with the Wind in 1939, which are both very different to today’s chick flicks. From the early 1990s until the middle of that decade the chick flicks that were made focused on melodrama whereas modern chick flicks are more optimistic (Thornham 1999, p21). Chick flicks are supposed to be closer to feminist ideals. This essay will argue that chick flicks do not support feminist ideals and that they are derogatory to women. I will discuss how women play one dimensional characters allowing for only one character trait, which for this work I will focus on the female comedian. Following this I will look at whether women can have careers, romance and materialistic wealth before going on to look at marriage and how sisterhood affects marriage. Finally I will explore how Hollywood has one standardized image of women they want to portray.

Discourse refers to groups of statements which structure the way a thing is thought, and the way we act on the basis of that thinking discourse is a particular knowledge about the world which shapes how the world is understood and how things are done in it. (Rose 2012, p190)

A film creates discourses about women which consequently the viewers assess themselves against to see if they are like those women in the films. If they are a man, they will evaluate the women in their lives to see if the women correspond to how women are portrayed in the films. Ferris and young stated that

Chick flicks have been accused of reinscribing traditional attitudes and reactionary roles for women. On the other hand they have been embraced as pleasurable and potentially liberating entertainments, assisting women in negotiating the challenges of contemporary life. (Ferriss and Young 2008, p1).

These traditional roles and representations of women in chick flicks are considered derogatory for females by numerous researchers, despite the fact that they were initially made for them.

There are many problems with chick flicks such as they show women competing against women instead of showing sisterhood and they show females as cultural dupes that buy into every consumer trap. Furthermore they display women to be weak, emotional wrecks, dumb, stupid, mindless beings that are solely dependent on men. This excluding what problems women and exclude problems women encounter such as race, sexuality and class. (Bednar, 2011)

Bednar supports the feminist idea that women have been and are disadvantaged in both past and contemporary societies. The world we live has always been and still is a male dominating society where women are oppressed and exploited. This is witnessed in education where women have not always benefited from the same education as men, at work where women cannot do certain jobs or do not get the same pay as men. In the family and in society they are often subject to facing sexual harassment and /or male violence. In order to understand why women are presented in a derogatory manner in today’s chick flicks, we need to look at the different waves of feminism to see how we got to where we are today.

The first feminist wave began at the end of the 1800’s and lasted to the beginning of the 1900’s. This wave promoted gaining legal and property rights; as a result women acquired legal privileges. The second feminist wave grew between the 1960’s and the 1980’s. This wave focused on prejudice in workplaces and in the general public. Overall the central struggles were "around affirmative action, pay equity, rape, domestic violence, pornography and sexism in the media and reproductive choice" (Anon, Women’s conference, 2010). Women gained substantially from the second wave of feminism; in spite of this, equality was still not achieved. Subsequently, the third wave developed in reaction to the repercussions from the achievements that were attained during the second wave. As a result, race and class became vital topics of discussion during the third wave. Conversely this wave no longer focused on particular struggles in the same way as the previous first and second wave had done.

Thenceforth came the post-feminist wave; a term that is frequently misinterpreted and thus it is generally misused. An article, by Rosalind Gill, comments about how post-feminism is one of the most disputed yet essential concepts in media and cultural studies in today’s society. She asserts that the

Debates about everything from the history and exclusions of feminism, to the gender consciousness (or otherwise) of young women, and the ideological nature of contemporary media have crystallized in disagreements about post-feminism. (Gill 2007, p147)

The concepts and notions that come from post-feminism are often diverse and sometimes contradictory.

The four claims of the post-feminist movement are as follows:

(1) Support for the women’s movement has decreased over the 1980-90 period.

(2) Antifeminism has increased among "pockets" of young women, women of colour, and full-time homemakers.

(3) Feminism has lost support because it has become irrelevant. For women who were feminists when younger, the movement failed to achieve gender equality; for young women in the current era, the success of the movement means it is no longer needed.

(4) A version of feminism has developed, in which women are "reluctant to define themselves with the feminist label, but they approve of and indeed demand equal pay, economic independence, sexual freedom and reproductive choice" (Ouellette 1992, p119 sited in Hall and Rodriguez 2003, p878)

Post-feminism is the "reaction against some perceived contradictions and absences of the second wave of feminism."(Seth) Post feminism aimed to improve sexism, making it fundamentally opposed to the third wave’s intentions of broadening the feminist efforts. Feminism did initiate several social and political differences. Nonetheless, although it recognizes that there are various areas of interest and concern within gender politics, it acknowledges that they are extremely unlike the gender concepts that existed during the first two waves of feminism.

Films with female characters as their focus, addressed primarily to women, will usually have several characteristics such as emotion, a love interest, relationships verses careers and social pressure. Chick flicks incorporate emotions such as love, laughter, anger and sadness because not only does it craft a better film, but it allows the audience to relate to it and enjoy it more. Good looking male characters are common in chick flicks and attract the female audience. Female interaction is a well-known element in chick flicks; women in chick flicks have known each other for years or have related to each other over a common event or strongly dislike each other.

Ultimately, chick flicks constantly portray a stereotypical representation of women and in a sense a male fantasy version of women, which does not support the post-feminist wave. Feminist would argue that if the chick flick passed the Bechdel test it was revolutionary. The Bechdel test is a test "of female characterization in movies" and in order to pass the test:

1. It has to have more than one named female character in the film

2. Two female characters talk to each other

3. about anything other than a man (Bechdel, 1986 sited in Power 2009, p39)

However, having put more focus on films it has become clear that even they pass the Bechdel test, they can still present derogatory stereotypes for women. The majority of chick flicks cast thin, pretty, tall, white, young women which is now the image we expect of women in film. In other words, women in these films confirm feminine stereotypes that today popular culture and women magazines exploit. This puts a lot of pressure on ‘normal’ women to look like them. Women who do not fit this image are rarely seen in films, especially chick flicks. Therefore even if there is one more named female character who talks to the other female character about a problem other than a man, it does not necessarily reinforce feminist ideals. In He’s Just Not That Into You, Bridesmaids, Confessions of a Shopaholic and 27 Dresses, the majority of the women fit this stereotypical image as well as the other stereotypical traits women are portrayed with in chick flicks.

Chapter One: One dimensional women

The filmic representation of women has been a long standing point of contention. More specifically, the portrayal of women in chick flicks from the twentieth century onwards has started debates on whether women were given positive or negative roles and representations. Chick flicks are generally associated with the genre romantic comedy or emotional drama. Thus as long as the film focuses on female issues then it is considered a chick flick. Women watch a chick flick without ever considering it to be degrading to them through derogatory stereotypes and other negative portrayals. This chapter explores why women are made as one dimensional character’s using the example of the female comedian and how humour can be her only attribute. This chapter will aim to prove that it is unfair that women are only allowed one characteristic. Moreover, how that one trait will one way or another lead to a derogatory representation of women.

Despite the fact that feminist movements from the past attempted to

Confront gender inequality; they had a thirst to challenge the simplistic and social attitudes regarding gender roles, thus defying gender expectations, stereotypes and cultural assumptions that were later exhibited in cinema. (Grange 2012, p.4)

Women are increasingly stereotyped in chick flicks, and although men can experience the same type of stereotyping, women seem to be more insulted and degraded through the roles they play. A quote concluded that

Stereotypes abound in all film genres, but the chick flick is certainly a gross offender, particularly in the portrayal of women. The very name of the genre, chick flicks, sums up the attitude people have towards the women in them: brainless. (Heyn, 2012)

Chick flicks can be feminist, for example some illustrate sisterhood and women with careers and romance. However, they are generally more offensive than they are revolutionary. One of the prime reasons is because women are revealed as human beings that can only have one character trait and have to choose between romance and careers.

Exploring women as one dimensional, type casted characters, is not only derogatory but it is also skewed perception of reality. No human being is one dimensional; we all have different facets to our personality. Fenzle pointed out that, although one dimensional role limits the characters; they are less complex and more believable because there will be less retroactive psychological explanations needed. As result, they are easier to interpret, accept and identify with. Three dimensional characters make casting and believability more complicated. This is because the characters need to have more depth to why they do things. What's more is, one dimensional character’s could quite easily be changed for other genders or ethnicity and it would be okay as long as who plays the character is believable (Fenzle,2010). It is however unfair that more women get cast as the one dimensional characters because directors want a more commercially successful story. As stated in Patrice Petro’s book Aftershocks of the new: feminist and film history

Here we are today, with unparalleled freedom of expression and a record number of women performing, achieving, choosing to fulfill themselves and we are insulted with the worst-the most abused, neglected, and dehumanized-screen heroines in film history. (Petro 2002, p35)

This reinforces how the roles and representation of women in Hollywood is not supporting feminist rights and negatively portraying women. It maintains the idea that women are shown as ignorant, image obsessed and unsuccessful unless she has a man or love in her life, which is exhibiting a distorted version of reality.

In an article "In defense of One Dimensional Characters" the author argues why script writers devise one dimensional character. It has been stated that

The abundance of one dimensional female character in fiction leads to a limiting discourse around the essential dignity, talents, personhood and general value of women as fully realized human beings in real life. (Fenzle, 2010)

This quote endorses the idea that directors, who are creating one dimensional character and exploiting them in chick flicks, support this ‘trend’. By doing so, they are being sexist in a politically and morally harmful manner. Consequently creating one dimensional female characters is going against the rights which feminists have fought over for decades. Additionally, they are tolerating the idea that women can only really have one facet of their personality.

Bridesmaids is a chick flick by Paul Feig, the film follows the journey of a bride with plenty of disasters along the way from the engagement, to the engagement party, then the bachelorette party, to the bridal shower until the actual wedding day. The film includes different kinds of bridesmaids, however, it does focus on the maid of Honor (Annie) and one of the other bridesmaids, (Helen) who are competing as to who can be the brides best friend. This film is interesting because, although the women are one dimensional, they all have different personalities. As a result, this leads to some interesting, comical and insightful scenes. Moreover, it has a female comedian in it which is a rare representation of a one dimensional female character but it is also a rare representation of any women in any film.

Comical characters in film have, for a long time always been men as women were usually classified as "not funny". This has been an unfair assumption as it was the script writers who never wrote comical parts for women. Moreover, Hitchens stated that

Humor is a sign of intelligence (and many women believe, or were taught, that they become threatening to men if they appear too bright), it could be that in some way men do not want women to be funny. They want them as an audience not as rivals. (Hitchens 2007, p58)

An article in the Guardian deliberated how Hollywood is a male dominated industry, where the majority of roles from directors to screenwriters are male because women are seen as having a "lack of experience" and a "risk" (Potter, 2004). Hence, with men controlling the industry they will insure women do not pose as a threat to men. Bridesmaids tries to diminish this stereotype as a group of female characters that bring elements of comedy to a film. In an article written by Daisy Buchanan she maintains that

Being able to perform and create comedy does not require buckets of testosterone – but you do need to have courage, strength, tenacity, a vivid imagination and the ability to communicate with and respond to everything around you. None of these qualities are unique to dudes. (Buchanan, 2012)

This statement reflects that women can play comical men’s roles just as well as men, as long as they have the acting skills and confidence to do so. According to the quote above, being funny should consequentially put women on par with men.

Bridesmaids was trying to be a feminist film for women rather than a derogatory film, however, it certainly had some setbacks. In the majority of chick flicks the funniest woman, who will generally appeal to all genders, is usually obese, unfeminine, crude, rude, sexually unattractive and sexually aggressive. In a sense the obscene and unappealing attributes is what is supposed to make us laugh, as in Bridesmaids when Megan uses food as her role play. This could be considered as deprecating to women, as why can’t a woman be beautiful and fashionable and funny. Could the answer be that this would make women equal to men and men would feel threatened by this type of character.

If an elegant woman came out with the lines and acted like Megan in the film Bridesmaids she would be probably be frowned upon and people would more likely be disgusted at how she is acting and her attitude. This idea is supported with a quote by Christopher Hitchens from Vanity Fair; he states "humour is largely aggressive and pre-emptive, and what's more male than that?".(Hitchens 2007,p60) This is seen in the film Bachlorette where the women who are meant to be funny are pretty and thin and as a result reviews state it to be "the raunchy, vulgar cousin of Bridesmaids"(Patrick, 2012). Hitchen as analyzed female comedians and concluded

There are more terrible female comedians than there are terrible male comedians, but there are some impressive ladies out there. Most of them, though, when you come to review the situation, are hefty or dykey or Jewish, or some combo of the three. (Hitchens 2007, p60)

This confirms that the more "butch" you are the more funny you seem to be, and the more likely you are to get away with what is considered ‘male humor’. If you are pretty and skinny it will be seen as incorrect for you to use crude humor. If you look like a lady, stereotypes would have you in a lady-like fashion. Moreover, woman can only be one dimensional and therefore cannot have several facets. As a consequence being the funny character needs to be her only trait. Audiences have argued that this is derogatory to women, as the women in the film have to prove they can be as humoristic and comical as men and they have to do so in a style established by men. This proves that although female comedians are making a break through, they are doing so in pejorative manner.

Chapter Two: Career, Romance and Materialistic Wealth, can women have it all?

The combination of careers, romance and materialistic wealth are often explored in chick flicks. Women in the films generally have one of the three above. They are fighting to be able to have a successful career as well as romance, and be their own heroines rather than depending on a male. In Hollywood, women with a career were "treated as compensatory or secondary to romance, marriage and most of all motherhood". (Boozer 2002, p51) As a result of this women are represented in the traditional roles where romance and satisfying their male companion is their prime goal. Women climbing the corporate ladder are now seen in film, in spite of this they generally need to be prepared to sacrifice. Hollywood is a male dominated industry, yet as time has gone by women in film are slowly being given room to be intelligent and have careers. In 2001, three out of the five Oscar nominations were for best female actresses who were a single, working woman. This establishes how times have changed and how Hollywood has started to represent women outside their traditional roles. On the other hand, the undertone of a single working woman is her lack in traditional aspiration, such as looking after children and being a housewife.

This mirrors the beliefs which lead to the backlash effect that occurred in the mid-1980s, after the third wave of feminism, as society was criticising women’s new found equality and attempt to improve their status by achieving success outside traditional role. (Grange 2012, p7)

This could explain why chick flicks ensure that they always resume to their traditional role: because that is how society believe women should be portrayed.

When a chick flick portrays a woman who has a career and is successful, they more often than not get stripped of something like love or other female traits. For example in 'The Propsoal' Sandra Bullock who plays Margaret Tate appears, throughout most of the film, as arrogant and uncaring. In other words chick flicks rarely show a woman who can have it all. In the words of Cobb,

The young post-feminist women who expect career success learns her lesson not to become just another selfish feminist with an unsuccessful personal life (Cobb 2011, p40).

This just reinforces the idea of the subordination of women’s working life, and concentrating on the search for romance, remains.

The film Confessions of a Shopaholic, is about a college graduate who is a shopaholic. In order to fund her shopping addiction she takes a job as a financial journalist at a New York finance magazine. She is in a lot of debt and is being tracked down by a debt collector. However despite this she still struggles to save the money in order to pay off this debt. In the end, after a few bumps along the way she finally sells all her belongings in order to pay off her debt. This film is interesting because despite Rebecca’s issues with money, she is a smart journalist and is shown in the film as an exceptional writer. She is creative in terms of her fabrications, this is seen in the articles she writes and how she solves her problems. This is promising representation of women as it reflects the idea that a woman who has no idea about finance is intelligent enough to get herself a job has finance adviser.

Nonetheless, Confessions of a shopaholic summed up shows that

In times of relentless economy, aggrandizing unemployment rates, increasing debts, and low personal and collective cheerfulness, P. J. Hogan's Confessions of a Shopaholic may be a comedy about consumerism and materialistic possessions that comes out at the wrong time.( Between the Frames, 2009)

This quote suggests that women are not smart with their money and have a materialistic obsession. This unpredictable film about the flaws of a dynamic girl who is addicted to shopping constantly, advocates a patriarchal assumption that a female is debt and nothing further. Despite being a good journalist Rebecca Bloomwood has no idea about money and is obsessed with materialism and consumerism. This accentuates the idea that if women can only have one thing over the other.

Despite the fact that women are smart and have good jobs that they excel at,

they often find themselves simultaneously undermined by stigmatizing qualities; finding it difficult to gain and maintain a romantic connection, for example, or watching her less intelligent friend/sister/colleague get all of the attentions of others. (Demory, 2013)

This is seen in Confessions of a Shopaholic, where Rebecca’s focus, despite initially coming across as intelligent, is constantly on materialistic possessions like designer clothes and shoes, rather than her job or the fact that she is thousands of pounds in debt. Moreover in Bridesmaids the only thing that is preoccupying Annie’s mind is her best friend’s friendship with Helen. She is obsessed over how close they could be and where she stands rather than her friend’s wedding or the fact she does not have a job, a house or even romance. In He’s Just Not That Into You, Jennifer Connelly that plays Janine is more concerned about someone smoking in her house rather than her husbands (Bradley Cooper) affair.

The above illustrates that women sacrifice what they should consider important, such as a career, for more insignificant things such as bags and boys. This portrays women as "hysterical fashion-mongering man-craving anorexic caricature" (Maher, 2009), to the extent that chick flicks as a result are returning to the pre-feminist and misogynistic cliché times. In Confessions of a Shopaholic Rebecca Bloomwood lives to find, buy and wear designer clothes and as seen in the scene where there is a massive sale on designer goods, she will fight to the death for these upmarket, overprices clothes. Furthermore one of her greatest accomplishment in her job is when she matches an Yves St Lauren coat with a dress.

What’s more, feminist women would argue that women in films cannot dress nicely, in nice dresses or pink as they deem it stereotypes women and makes them appear stupid and weak. This is seen in Ferriss and Young’s book where they state "Extremes of femininity can be socially unacceptable, causing embarrassment and possible misreading."(Ferriss and Young 2007, p68) Therefore, although dressing nicely and being girly does not link with a woman’s intelligence or common sense, people stereotype. As a result, the audience believes that if she looks good she cannot be smart. Rebecca Bloomwood is obsessed with designer clothes, looking her best and looking girly, however none of this affects her ability has a journalist. The same is argued with the famous chick flick Legally Blonde, although Elle does appear like a bimbo who loves pink, makeup, boys and shoes, she is still a good lawyer and the clothes or colors she wears will not affect that. However wearing pink and being fashionable does clearly make it harder for women to be taken seriously at first.

Furthermore, Confessions of a Shopaholic, is considered a ‘screwball comedy’ which was initiated in the 1930’s and "introduced a momentary reversal of romantic roles, in which the lead female comedienne devises madcap routines in order to snag the leading man."(Lucida, 2009) These films have never been popular with feminists, because although feminists do want to see the women get what she is after; they dislike the idea that what she wants is a man. This is also seen in Legally Blonde where Elle Woods, played by Reese Witherspoon, works really hard to get into law school and to prove herself; however the motivation behind it all is to try and get a man back. Confessions of a Shopaholic is considered to be a third installment ‘screwball comedy’ with the variation that she is "self-absorbed, and has and addictive personality" (Lucida, 2009). In Confessions of a Shopaholic, Rebecca, like Bridget from Bridget Jones Diary, is a woman who devotes her time and energy to self-indulgence and materialistic wealth. It would be more innovative for women if they tried to do some good with their money and attain achievements through their careers, or spending their energy trying to gain respect and steadiness through relationships and marriage.

This obsession with appearance, clothes and shoes provides evidence for The Marxist theory of commodity fetishism (Strinati 1995, p50).

Women of all ages are constantly being shown images of these ‘perfect’ women, taking great pleasure out of the consumption of material possessions and reaping the ‘rewards’ of looking good.(Culshaw, 2011)

Confessions of a Shopaholic is the main film that supports this idea as the storylines main point is her obsession with material possessions, or there is Helen in Bridesmaids who is clearly obsessed with what she looks like. However, this stereotypical image of women being obsessed with what they own and what they look like is progressively becoming less and less prominent in films. This can be confirmed in the films explored as they focus more on the women’s issues with men rather than what they look like. For example, He’s Just Not That Into you, the film places the attention on how women fixate over men and how needy they are rather than the way they look or what they want to buy. Moreover, in 27 Dresses, the focus once again is the protagonist’s obsession with weddings and pleasing the man she loves rather than her materialistic possessions.

Whether the heroine is weak, independent or scraping by, the film more often than not ends with the woman finding happiness through a man. Every female targeted film is composed of stereotypes and chick flicks without them pose a problem. Chick flicks illustrate that "women are supposed to be primarily interested in romantic relationships, getting married, having children, and not having much of a life of their own" (Heyn, 2012). Many chick flicks convey that being single is tragic and pitiable and if they do not have a man, they are portrayed as emotional wrecks. By exhibiting women obsessing over men, it makes them appear irrational and crazy, overly sensitive and looking for drama. A lot of chick flicks reveal women in dysfunctional relationships and don’t really care if who they are with are emotionally absent or abusive. This statement indicates that women would rather be in any relationship than be alone. The reason behind this is because people want to be loved and therefore we can relate to the character’s desire to be with someone. In Bridesmaids, Annie is one of the only characters in the film who is single. Although her character does show a certain amount of independence and saneness, it also shows that she has a lot of insecurity and diffidence about being single.Women want a prince charming, even Annie when all goes wrong with her friends, starts chasing the man she loves. Moreover, Annie resorts back to traditional women’s role by trying to win him over by going into the kitchen and baking for him.

The common theme in these films and several others is the male usually makes some kind of positive feedback to the girl in which the girl rejects and then looks like the heartless person in the situation. This type of positive feedback or "saving the damsel in distress" is a key part of psychoanalysis and voyeurism, which structures how the spectator sees image of women in narrative cinema, voyeurism is a way of seeing that is active; it distances and objectifies what is looked at, it deals with castration anxiety by investigating the woman and then saving her, [this is created by] putting distance between the male and female protagonists of a movie. (Rose 2007, p117) .

This is seen in 27 Dresses, which tells the story of when Jane’s sister gets engaged and unfortunately for Jane it is to the man she loves. Sadly she is obliged to be her sister’s maid of honor. The male protagonist (Kevin) is interesting to delve into as he supports Rose’s statement above. Kevin tries to help Jane when she is upset about her sister marrying the man she loves. In chick flicks, the tendency usually is that the male cannot reach the female for a while and then eventually there is a turn in the film where he can finally save and support her. Jane however, pushes him away and as a result appears as ruthless and unkind. As a result the female protagonist comes across as the antagonist in the relationship and makes the audience feel sorry for the man. This is just another example reflecting how women will not only do things out of character in order to get what they want, but directors portray them in a derogatory manner in order to make the men look more heroic.

This is all proves how women are made to appear like they can’t have it all. They need to choose between pursuing romance, sisters or a job; as Ferriss and Young stated that

Some chick flicks, promote the choice of romance, family, and love over career and independence. Such films such as Kate and Leopold (2001), 13 Going on 30 (2004), Raising Helen (2004), and the Family Stone suggest that a career-oriented woman is a lonely and unhappy one, (Ferriss and Young 2008, p7).

In 27 Dresses, Jane is stuck as a personal assistant even though she is capable of more. This demonstrates that she is choosing romance and her dream guy over a dream career. This verifies the notion that chick flicks endorse traditional gender roles. There are the rare chick flicks that do portray women who manage to ensure both romance and career such as Legally Blonde (2001). The media obliges women to act and do the things they do (find love, get married, have kids, and be a housewife) due to the fact "our society is still largely organized around traditional sex role divisions" (Sharpe 1984, p164), thus creating stereotypes. As Haskell stated "if we see stereotypes in film, it is because stereotypes existed in society" (Haskell 1987, p30). 27 Dresses, just reinforces the idea that Katherine Heigl plays offensive stereotypical roles over and over again. Although she nobly works and helps other to be happy without looking after her needs she fits the stereotype that women are fixated on getting married. Moreover her role indicates that women who have careers or focus on careers will under no circumstance be happy, that the rude bad boy characters of the film is usually the needy woman’s soul mate and finally that in the end a flawless and impeccable wedding automatically leads to a perfect marriage.

This is the main theme in He’s Just Not That Into You is about finding the one. He’s Just Not That Into You is a romantic comedy, by Ken Kwapis, set in Baltimore. The film follows the life of several men and women and the issues they have in their relationships or looking for relationships. The stories of the different characters interconnect and explore the challenges and issues of interpreting or misinterpreting human behavior and signs. This film reflects how women obsess over men whether it is in a positive or negative way.

He’s Just Not That Into You was a film made based on a book which was centered around the author and his friends and their incidents and occurrences in their lives. However one must realize that not only will the experiences they choose to share be only those of a small variety of men, but usually the fact that they are all friends means there is a high chance they are quite similar. Therefore as the saying goes "like tends to attract like", thus the accuracy of how men treat women in this film is low and would have been much more convincing if it had been written and different men, from different areas and with various backgrounds. He’s Just Not That Into You demonstrates women who are obsessed with marriage and portrays them as slightly psycho when it comes to love.

He’s Just Not That Into You exhibits different women in different situations: unable to find love, a mistress or women’s boyfriend who refuses to commit and as a result it makes the women all either appear whiny, needy, naïve or marriage obsessed. The film creates the impression that women spend all their time thinking about their relationships or even lack of relationships with men. Throughout He’s Just Not That Into You the women on their own are revealed like they have failed; this is degrading since it implies that women without men are worthless. However it is not even the mere idea that they are obsessed with happy endings and true love. For instance Scarlett Johansson’s character Anna is chasing Ben, a married man. Not only does this show women as weak human beings that will let men ‘have their cake and eat it to’ but it gives the power to the men once again.

He’s just not that into you

Relies heavily on the myth of the alpha male and the submissive female who must simply wait for her future partner to come along, knock her on the head and drag her back to his cave where they can live happily ever after. (Behrendt, 2012)

This chapter shows that although chick flicks do try to incorporate post-feminist values in terms of independence and sisterhood, women in the end will not be satisfied without a male companion. Women in chick flicks will do anything to have male company, this is seen in He’s just not that into you where the women go back to men that have earlier in the film left them embarrassed and disgraced. The fact that their ‘sisters’ stand by and let them go back to man who is clearly less than perfect and has previously not shown her respect gives the idea that the women are not empowered by their close friendships. Moreover in most chick flicks, women discuss how they strive to find love and a man they can rely on. This once again does not empower the women’s friendships as men are their focus in life whether they are with one or not.

Chapter Three: Marriage and Sisterhood

This chapter will look at marriage and sisterhood and aims to show that sisterhood is lost in women’s quest for marriage. Between 2008 and 2009, the chick flicks that were made were generally driven by the female friendships; as a result men’s roles were barely present. In the following chick flicks, He’s Just Not That Into You, Bridesmaids, Confessions of a Shopaholic and 27 Dresses, sisterhood is prominent as the storylines differ from the traditional romantic comedy narrative. In all the films mentioned above, the "female friends supply significant emotional and moral support, playing a fundamental role in validating each other’s identities." (Messaris, 2008) The women are seen supporting each other in not only private places, but at work, in the streets, shopping even exercising. As Ray Richmond, a critic, once said

Women are attending films differently to men...They are going in groups, as a sort of sisterhood, and want to see something that appeals to "us." It’s a spiritual pilgrimage, and there’s a feeling with these sorts of films now that it’s more than just a movie: it’s a cultural imperative to attend. (Richmond, sited in Guy Adams 2008, p. 21)

Bridesmaids was the film that focused on this post-feminist idea of sisterhood the most. Bridesmaids show different women in both their good and bad times through their gossiping, low self-confidence and backstabbing moments. The film does indicate that the sisterhood connections are still apparent and "what women can achieve when they love, admire and respect each other for the beautiful and divine qualities that each and every one of us hold."(Tracy, 1991) For example, Megan is not the most beautiful women in the film yet she still gets the man she wants. She is confident and has prevailed over several difficulties. Despite not being the Hollywood beauty, and lacks femininity, she has a heart. Throughout the film she demonstrates that she cares and that she is compassionate. If any of her "sisters" have issues she is there helping them whenever they need it most.

However, betrayal by one of your ‘sisters’ is theme that is apparent in chick flicks. being betrayed by a girlfriend is seen as worse than having been let down by a man. The protagonists in Bridesmaids (Annie, Helen, Lillian) do a poor job and representing sisterhood. Sisterhood is meant to be the feeling of affiliation and friendship and closeness with women. In spite of this, in Bridesmaids the women fight against each other, instead of working together, in order to be the best. This is seen from the very beginning where the two friends of the bride compete throughout the film to be the brides ‘best friend’. As a result of this constant competition, women do things in films that is not widely accepted behavior. This happens in 27 Dresses too where at first one can depict the theme of sisterhood, yet throughout the film it disappears as women become competitive and fight for what they want, regardless of who they hurt on the way. As read in a review

Seems an awful lot like Women have become more like the ruthless Men that so many of us reject. Since when has it become "uncool" to help one of our sisters in need and instead of taking advantage of her situation so that we can fulfil our wants? (Quart, 2008)

In 27 Dresses, Katherine Heigl’s character was obliged to grow up and take over the mother role when their mum passed away. From this she has always looked after her sister and this shows the post-feminist idea of sisterhood. This notion of sisterhood is carried out through part of the film. Jane’s sister Tess comes and sweeps Jane’s boss (The man she loves) off her feet. Jane initially decides, having not admitted to anyone that he was the man she was in love with, to maintain this sisterhood bond and help her sister plan the wedding. However her sister lies to make her fiancée happy, this aggravates Jane. Consequently she loses this conception of sisterhood and ruins her sister’s chance at happiness. This storyline in 27 Dresses just goes to show that chick flicks do not live up to these post-feminist or even feminist concepts.

Once again, as seen earlier in He’s Just Not That Into You, this film shows that women get jealous and go crazy for love. It demonstrates that women will do anything and hurt anyone, even those closest to them, to get their prince charming. This reinforces the idea that chick flicks are going back to traditional gender stereotypes that women just focus on love and have lost all the feminist and post-feminist principles women have fought for. As seen in Jude Apatow’s films

The question of the post-patriarchal romantic comedy from the unlikely direction of the male buddy movie and derives conflicts over heterosexual bonding from what are seen as the more fundamental conflicts surrounding homosocial bonding. With the exception of Superbad , a high-school coming of age variation on American Graffiti that ends with a shopping date at a mall, all of the movies under discussion here lead to marriage. (Alberti, p6-7)

This quote proves that romantic comedies more often than not end in marriage. Due to the fact that women do anything to their ‘sister’s’ to get to that point gives the impression that women can do as they please to get to the point of marriage and it be justified. This idea in no way, shape or form positively represents women. As read in an article by Alison Winch, she claims that the issues ‘sisters’ have between them are like the relationships in chick flicks.

The girls temporarily separate to get what they want and when they have achieved what they set out to, they eventually reunite, their love or each other is emphatically celebrated to the point where they are seen to be the primary lovers in the film. Their conflict is forgotten, and sugar-coated in romance. (Winch 2012, p77)

This just goes to prove that as long as the women have a happy ending with a man they will redeem their friendship. Jackie Stacey’s observation in the book Falling in Love accurately states

Romance narratives typically revolve around a potential heterosexual love relationship which must overcome a series of obstacles before being fufilled…whatever the problems, they are ultimately overcome and relationship established which may result in marriage or promised permanent monogamy. (Abbott and Jermyn 2009, p95)

This quote shows that in order to achieve a relationship, there will be issues. Sisterhood is clearly one of the obstacles that women sacrifice to achieve marriage. However, like the heterosexual relationship once they have overcome the problems and established their relationship there is a happy ending.

Chapter four: White heterosexual women

Having watched, analysed and researched He’s Just Not That Into You, Bridesmaids, Confessions of a Shopaholic and 27 Dresses I have noticed that the majority of representations in chick flicks is that they do not exhibit homosexual relationships, and in general put emphasis on heterosexual relationships. Moreover recent chick flicks seem to disregard women from different cultures. The different feminist waves have confronted their social standing or a law oppressing their rights, further deliberating "other forms of oppression, in particular ‘race’, class, sexuality and age" (Richardson 1993, p110).

As Cantin affirmed "Hollywood filmmakers like their women like they like their coffee: shrill, stupid and submissive, and usually not black."(Cantin, 2009) This quote sums up the women in Hollywood films. Despite the fact that chick flicks are aimed at women they embrace every negative theory about females that men have ever thought of. Chick flicks portray women as mindless, superficial, one dimensional and that their minds are full with "sleepy headed flies lolling around musing banalities such as whether or not they left the coffee pot on".(Cantin, 2009)

People are permanently, one way or another, trying to find reasons why they should feel superior to the people that surround them. Whether it be "beauty, intelligence, talent, class, money, or something else -- it's an ego-driven insecurity" (Taylor, 2009). This quote reflects how ‘sex’ is what sells. As Hollywood’s aim is to make money, using predictable, one dimensional character’s, with characters that represent ideals we strive for. This defines the society we live in, where one’s social status means more than how one would or should behave towards others. Hollywood is "a sex-driven industry controlled mostly by men (male producers, male writers, male directors, males who run magazines and blogs)"(Taylor, 2009). Since women have adopted more domineering roles in films, the representation of women has declined; "type casted in a narrow selection of monotonous roles" (Grange 2012, p4).

Although Bridesmaids denies this Hollywood stereotype by neither having a bride who is neither stick thin nor the most beautiful woman and she is Latino. The bridesmaids, who instead of all being rather similar, are different and have problems not seen in this kind of film before. Whilst Birdesmaids may be more realistic when it represents women this is not the case for most romantic comedies. Many of the other chick flicks that I explored do not portray real women qualities nor does it really portray them as independent. Many women in chick flicks even if they are independent in terms of looking after themselves they will have one stereotypical fault that will degrade them.

Women who watch chick flicks come from all over the world. With all the debates about feminism and post-feminism, it should be an important factor to embody women from different backgrounds. They should explore women from different classes who have problems within their cultural circumstances rather than simply focusing on the issues middle class white heterosexual females encounter. 27 Dresses a film by Anne Fletcher, tells the story of a women, after having been a bridesmaid countless times, having to stand by her sister and watch her marry the man she loves. This film does show women of different races through the different weddings she attends from an Indian wedding to a Jewish wedding. However these are all shown very briefly and the story certainly focuses on the triangle between Jane, her sister and her boss: all white, all physically impeccable, all heterosexual. This goes to show that if the film is not based on mix raced or homosexuality, odds are the film will not incorporate it

As result of analysing the different roles women play in chick flicks, I have concluded that although women are trying to play feminist roles they always end up playing derogatory stereotypical roles of the pretty white women rather than revolutionary ones such as a black homosexual.

Conclusion

Women have been fighting for feminism ever since the appearance of the suffragettes. Having watched and analysed a few chick flicks, the question that we can debate is what do they do for feminism? Feminists have been fighting for decades for certain rights and it has been argued that these chick flicks subdued everything the feminists had fought to establish. This was due to the fact that the majority of chick flicks portray women as desperate and reliant on men. Post-feminist women do tend to argue the opposite and claim that "chick flicks celebrate femininity and sexuality" (Culshaw, 2011). However, having analysed each film in depth, it is clear that they still use derogatory stereotype on women which does not portray them in a positive light. As feminist film critic Molly Haskell declared in 1974: "the big lie perpetrated on western society is the idea of women’s inferiority, a lie so deeply ingrained in our social behavior that merely to recognize it is to risk unraveling the entire fabric of civilization" (Haskell 1987 sited in Schleich 2003, p6)

Women initially did not seem to play prominent roles in film and the characters that they did play were not relatable. This was most likely due to the fact that writers, directors and filmmakers were mostly men and therefore naturally their literature and films would be driven from a male perspective. This was an argument that we came across in He’s just not that into you. As a result the roles women would play in film commonly revolved around their appearance and being a catalyst for the male roles and how women are needy without a man in her life. Women were known to "provide trouble or sexual interludes for the male characters, or are not present at all."(Smith1999, p14) Furthermore, even if the woman was the protagonist, she was primarily portrayed as confused or powerless, dependent or submissive, or simply as a sexual individual. No matter how big or small a women’s role was, filmmakers got into a pattern of "sex-role stereotyping" (Smith 1999, p15). As a result, female roles regressed to "cliché motivations and actions or the rest." (Smith 1999, p15)

John Simon once said "today’s American actresses fall mainly into two categories . . . those who in some way deflect, travesty, or blatantly overstate their womanliness and sexuality; and those who suppress it, or have nothing to suppress". (Simon 1967) Men, on the other hand, have always been assessed on their bravery in war, fidelity to friends, belief in themselves and numerous other characteristics and roles. The women in the chick flicks generally did fall into one of the categories mentioned above. In the 1920’s, women were starting to be hired into various domains of the working world. As a result, "men who confused business power with sexual potency (Smith 1999, p15) were made insecure by the presence of women in jobs." However, women took such jobs as a "manicurist, usherette, waitress, cigarette girl, taxi dancer and lingerie saleswomen" (Smith 1999, p15). In other words, these were all jobs in which a working women’s main characteristic was to look beautiful and flirt with all the different male clients that dropped by as seen by Scarlett Johnasson’s role. None of the women in the chick flicks analysed played a powerful female role that other females would be able to associate with. In a way, women simply accepted to masochistically relish watching women scorned in film. If women weren’t used as a sexual character they would generally be regarded as a "nymph, bitch, housewife, whore, essentially passive or nothing any sane women would want to identify with."(Gymnich et al 2010, p16) which is how Bradley Coopers wife comes across in He’s just not that into you.

Films exhaust all their "powers of persuasion" to strengthen an imaginary Golden age where "men were men and women were girls. Traditionally the entire world is male due to the fact man means the whole human race and women are just part of it." (Smith 1999, p15). This is not to say that men and women should swap roles in films, however, women simply would like the opportunity to be heroines and for men to occasionally be placed into situations which have been stereotypically female circumstances in the past. Amending the stereotypes, would allow for new possibilities in films, new film themes, new personas of men and women in film as well as more modern and positive role models for the audiences.

An article by Susan Heyn sums up why chick flicks are insulting to women, she states

They are formulaic in plot, character development, theme, and have virtually no creative merit. But the main issue and interest that I have with these movies is that they represent an extreme social problem. Chick flicks continue to uphold degrading stereotypes, preach to women how they are to behave and what is expected of them, and contribute to distorted ideas of romance. (Heyn, 2012)

The chick flicks that originated in the 40’s supported the feminist rights women were fighting for. The chick flicks then would explore female struggles through their issues with class, suppression and lack of options whilst todays really focus on the minor problems women face like men, jobs and friends.

In conclusion, chick flicks, although they are trying to support feminist ideals, are derogatory to women. The women are given a single trait that they carry out throughout the film and appear like they have no aspirations in life other than romance. By reflecting women like this in the media creates a distorted impression of what women are really like. By continuously stereotyping women like and sticking to traditional gender roles, directors are not supporting the feminist principles women have fought for over the years and bring us back to the pre-feminist era were women were inferior to men.