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Chick Flick Shame

January 4th, 2006

Looking at my DVD library, I’ve pretty much come to terms with my tastes: drama, intrigue, and witty relationship comedy. Action just doesn’t do it for me. And horror definitely doesn’t do it for me.

Case: Minority Report. For an “action” movie, we’ve only three major action sequences, and all of them border on the ridiculous. A runaway jetpack that grills hamburgers? A factory that builds a car with Tom Cruise alive and kicking inside it? A “flush the tank” lever that no one knew about until the moment a hero needed a quick getaway?

I like the movie, but it’s for the Anne Lively mystery and the John–Lara–Burgess dynamic. (plus the philosophical questions about precognition and prosecution for intent.)

Guys and Romantic Comedy

What I’m coming to here is a general commentary about gender tastes. As an almost-twenty straight male, I should want to watch a mindless action movie. But nine times out of ten I’d really rather see something like Legally Blonde or A Knight’s Tale. Both are funny, sweet without being syrupy, and star many gorgeous people.

Is that a statement about what I find meaningful and satisfying? Old people watch soaps because they wish they had more drama in their lives, right? And guys watch action movies because solving problems at gunpoint is so cool.

Action films (in my limited experience) seem to be fueled by attitude and motivated primarily by revenge. Based on the trailer, it appears that the premise of Firewall is “OMG you stole my identity and stole my family and now I’m going to kill you!”

Passion

Really what I’m talking about is passion. A revengeful hero is still filled with passion. The destruction of property and injury to bystanders is apparently justified on the grounds that all ends well.

It’s just that… vengeance and desperation aren’t the only passionate emotions. And no, I’m not just talking about that “love conquers all” crap.

Of all the relationships in Veronica Mars, it’s the love of Keith for his daughter that is the most powerful thing bearing her up. Of the relationships in the Firefly ‘verse, it’s Simon’s absolute devotion to his sister that defines his character. (and even prevents him pursuing a romantic relationship with the very willing Kaylee.)

It’s really the passion that I’m attracted to. An action movie is passion at its gun-toting hippest. A chick flick is the opposite; it’s like emotional pornography, the laying bare of things the rest of society says guys should keep bottled up.

In the end, of course, there’s still more bad apples than good ones in any genre. This isn’t about rushing to the cinema to see garbage. It’s about giving the good stuff a chance, even if the genre is contaminated by angst and character inconsistency masquerading as true passion.

Mike

← Earlier Later → Posted at 10:21 pm to Film, Soapbox, TV.

Discussion

And to think that I thought so highly of you. Chick flicks? I know you’re saying that there are good ones despite the genre, but oughtn’t you be giving other genres the same benefit of the doubt?

Posted at 7:10 am on January 5th by Christine.
I watched “Mr and Mrs Smith” last night with my wife. It was a “mindless action movie” and I agree with you. I found myself saying: “Hey, they each just took 20 bullets in the chest! Strange how none of them missed the armour and hit their heads. Wonder why the guys that are shooting at them don’t have the same bullet-attracting armour?”. I would have rather watched something like Serenity (action with plot and interesting characters), Finding Nemo (good characters and story) or Mythbusters (science and humour.. though not a movie).

Posted at 7:26 am on January 5th by Cam.
Christine: It’s true that it’s not fair to slag all action movies out of hand either. In fact, the complaint I have with the Minority Report fights (they’re absurd) is different from the complaint I typically have with action, which is that it has no context or feeling.

The exception, of course, is action that is funny. A lot of the Firefly brawls fall into this category. It’s just that it seems that so many action flicks (ever seen “Showtime”?) depend entirely on this. A funny punch still isn’t funny unless there was a reason for the punch in the first place.

Posted at 12:39 pm on January 5th by Mike.
I am sorry but you could need some serious movie tips. Eg relationship comedies are as worse as any action movie. Horror movies can be very interesting by the way.

Some great movie titles

Pi, Rabbit Proof Fence, Memento, Cube, Track 29, Arlington Road, The Shawshank Redemption, Barton Fink, Johnny Steccino, La vita e bella, Brazil, The Ring (Japanese original), Delicatessen, C’est arrivé près de chez-vous, Eraserhead

Directors:
Terry Gilliam, David Croonenberg, Jim Jarmush, Hal Hartley

Posted at 7:59 am on January 24th by Bird.
Hi Bird, thanks for the recommendations. Memento and Shawshank Redemption are already on my to-see list.

As for the other recommendations, I’ll keep them in mind. However, I’ve already seen Cube as well as Terry Gilliam’s film Twelve Monkeys. For a psychological thriller, I felt Cube had an awfully high “carving people up -to- interesting discussion” ratio. I mean, a film like The Usual Suspects may be very profane and somewhat violent, but there’s loads to talk about and think about afterward.

I suppose that’s the crux of it. If watching a film isn’t a feel-good experience, it better make up for it by being a social experience.

Posted at 4:43 pm on January 24th by Mike Purvis.
Brazil by Terry Gilliam: a classic

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088846/

Posted at 12:11 pm on January 26th by Bird.

You can use Markdown for style. I love hearing from readers, but please don’t hijack the discussion, use offensive language, or try to sell anything.

Chick Flick Shame

Guys and Romantic Comedy

Passion

Discussion

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