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"All [last] week writers were talking about how chick flicks are regressive and are setting women back, and many (mostly guys) have asked why women would be interested in these types of films," Melissa Silverstein wrote today on Women & Hollywood. "I've been quoted in a bunch of pieces talking about the lack of women writers and directors and my desire to see different types of movies with stronger female characters.

"I really don't see these early 2009 films on the same continuum with Sex and the City and Mamma Mia. I just don't. Sex and the City had romance and a wedding, but to me, the film was about the friendship between the women. Mamma Mia also had romance and a wedding but, to me, it was a mother-daughter love story. What's different about Mamma Mia and Sex is that the women are seen from a place of strength, not a place of weakness. Maybe it's the age of the women that gives them more substance.

"I remember that both Sex and the City and Mamma Mia got a bunch of pretty shitty reviews too. I remember when Sex opened that people were making fun of Sarah Jessica Parker's face. I remember people writing that Meryl Streep has ruined her career for appearing in Mamma Mia.

"But I don't remember people saying that women were stupid for going to see these movies. They called us shallow and materialistic but I don't remember being called stupid. While I don't have any interest in seeing Bride Wars and He's Not Into You, I don't agree with the name calling and think it needs to stop.

"Just because you see a stupid movie doesn't make you stupid. Did anyone call the people (both men and women) who went to see Paul Blart Mall Cop stupid? That movies got pretty bad reviews too. It's not my type of movie but it seems that it's OK for guys to act stupid, yet, there is this accepted, nasty misogynistic tone that pervades the criticism of movies targeted at women. Long time movie critic Peter Travers puts it this way in Rolling Stone: "Are women desperate or just desperately stupid? This is the misogynist question at the core of He's Just Not That Into You, a women-bashing tract disguised as a chick flick."

"The facts are clear. Women do direct less than 6% of the films and write only 10%. But I'm not letting women off the hook. We (me too) are complicit in this problem. When we go and see these films and make them successes that means that Hollywood will make more of them. That's law #1 of Hollywood.

"I blame the system for these films. Women writers have credits on all these films (and Drew Barrymore produced He's Just Not That Into You) including the upcoming Confessions of a Shopaholic. Everyone needs a job and if the only movies that get made in Hollywood that you can make any money on are chick flicks you're going to take the gig. Let me tell you, principles don't pay the rent or mortgage even if we wish they would.

"I blame the system for these films. I blame a system that perpetuates stereotypes on a regular basis. I wish that a film like Frozen River could get on 3,000 screen but struggles to keep 100. I wish that women would have other choices in their multiplexes beyond He's Just Not That Into You. I wish that people would stop calling women stupid for going to a movie."

HE comment #1: I for one declared a little while ago that a significant portion of the fans of Paul Blart, Mall Cop came from the lower end of the gene pool. HE comment #2: Silverstein is more or less saying that female moviegoers flock to insipid chick flicks because they haven't much of a choice if they want to see a film with a semblance of a female stamp or sensibility. That's fair, but if she were really honest with herself (and us) she would acknowledge the quarter-of-an-inch-deep vibe that groups of women give off when they go to see these films in groups at the local plex. And when they sit around at a bar afterwards and talk it over. Especially after they've had a couple of glasses of wine. The ghosts of Gertude Stein, Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Parker would weep from shame.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 9, 2009 at 3:30 PM

comment #1

bmcintire says ...

", , , acknowledge the quarter-of-an-inch-deep vibe that groups of men give off when they go to see sporting events in groups at the local stadium. And when they sit around at a bar afterwards and talk it over. Especially after they've had a couple of glasses of beer."

Posted by bmcintire at February 9, 2009 4:29 PM

comment #2

Edward says ...

I try to keep an open mind when the wife and I go to see some of these "chick flicks," but many of them are wretched and insipid. While I can applaud "Sex In the City" for the portrayal of women's friendship, I have to condemn it for celebrating a world of crass consumerism. I have nothing kind to say about "Nights in Rodanthe" a shallow film with pretty cinematography that stood out--not in a good way--from a pedestrian story. "The Notebook" was good, but poorly directed. There have been some decent films in the genre, "Fried Green Tomatos" and dare I add "Beaches" to name two.

Posted by Edward at February 9, 2009 4:29 PM

comment #3

EDouglasCS says ...

Yeah, I regularly call people who went to see Paul Blart: Mall Cop stupid... just as I do anyone who buys the marketing of a movie thinking it'll be what they expect. He's Just Not That Into You was sold as a romantic comedy and it's clearly not that... unless I missed the humor in relationships that don't work out, infidelity and women who use men as "friends" they can just toss aside when Bradley Cooper is ready to cheat on his wife.

Posted by EDouglasCS at February 9, 2009 4:41 PM

comment #4

EDouglasCS says ...

Yeah, the above is a spoiler but I highly doubt anyone who'd see this movie would read Wells' blog.

Posted by EDouglasCS at February 9, 2009 4:42 PM

comment #5

Gordon27 says ...

Any points she's making -- and there are some good ones in there -- is quite damaged by her use of 'Mama Mia' as a positive.

The Blockbuster in my town was closing, and I stopped in to see if they had anything good for sale, and they were showing 'Mama Mia', and people in line at Blockbuster were laughing at how bad it was. That says a lot, at least to me.

I don't judge people as stupid for the movies they see, but I will refer to people as stupid for the movies they like.

Posted by Gordon27 at February 9, 2009 4:48 PM

comment #6

Sabina E says ...

gordon27, look,I agree, MAMMA MIA! is a stupid horrible film but it's one of the highest grossing hit films in the UK, and numbers don't lie.

Posted by Sabina E at February 9, 2009 4:55 PM

comment #7

Gordon27 says ...

Sure they do. If somebody said that Fantastic Four represents a great image for happy families, and therefore Fantastic Four is a good example of a comic book movie, I'd think they were possibly an idiot and definitely saying something stupid.

Also, 'He's Not That Into You' was the #1 movie of the weekend, and its opening weekend was almost exactly on par with 'Mamma Mia', so the two movies should be equivalent, if box office says anything about quality.

Posted by Gordon27 at February 9, 2009 5:03 PM

comment #8

Noiresque says ...

I really don’t find the Sex and the City film is as offensive to women as many suggest. It's indulgence in fashion and luxury is hardly more devious than the reasons why people buy Vogue or Architectural Digests magazines - to look at the pretty pictures. I'm not saying the movie does not have its cake and eat it too. But to suggest that it would serve as an ideal recruitment film Al Qaida is a cheap shot.

Wasn't a big part of the movie was about how being caught up in the ideal of the image, the coveting of a product and the refusal to be compassionate and forgive can be detrimental to a person and to a relationship and to what is real? Carrie's disastrous fantasy wedding, Jennifer Hudson renting designer bags online, Samantha indulging in food and shopping so she would not have to face the truth about her crumbling relationship, Miranda’s staunch refusal to forgive Steve and even Charlotte’s fear of Mexican food and gorging on Poughkeepsie pudding are evidence of people indulging in dreams and ideals for fear of facing up to reality. No, the film is not intellectually complex, but it's hardly guilty of indulging in the life of luxury without giving some thought to what drives the desire for stuff, and how it impacts the personal and social aspects of life.

Posted by Noiresque at February 9, 2009 5:08 PM

comment #9

erniesouchak says ...

The most offensive thing about "Sex & The City" was its sheer laziness -- the filmmakers' assumption that fans of the show would be so grateful to see these women together again that they didn't need to bother with creating a coherent plot or developing any characters. As a result, we were treated to the hilarity of diarrhea in Mexico and horny lapdogs humping everything in sight. Yeah, those are some strong, sexy women.

I think intelligence and lack thereof have very little to do with why people see a given movie. Lots of intelligent people seek out entertainment precisely because it is mindless. My mother has 2 graduate degrees, and she ran to see "New in Town" and reads Harlequin romances. Is she stupid? Or does she just not want to have to put any thought into her entertainment?

Posted by erniesouchak at February 9, 2009 5:48 PM

comment #10

fattyhadaparty says ...

"...she would acknowledge the quarter-of-an-inch-deep vibe that groups of women give off when they go to see these films in groups at the local plex. And when they sit around at a bar afterwards and talk it over. Especially after they've had a couple of glasses of wine. The ghosts of Gertude Stein, Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Parker would weep from shame."

Jeff, the spirits of Gertrude Stein, Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Parker just possessed the bodies of my three sisters, who then conference-called me and asked you never to defend their integrity again.

The moment I listen to your advice about the emotional and intellectual depth of women as a gender, is the moment I start having sex with them. But you and I both know this all just a smokescreen. It's not gonna work, Jeff. Rogan is mine. Back the fuck off!!

Posted by fattyhadaparty at February 9, 2009 6:06 PM

comment #11