‘Chick Flicks’ Are Touching Hearts of Guys
By YVONNE VILLAREAL
By Yvonne Villareal
Columbia News Service
NEW YORK
ON A RECENT Saturday, Shawn James, a high school sophomore, lingered in the lobby of a Manhattan multiplex after an evening watching “Step Up 2 the Streets,” a dance drama featuring slick hip- hop choreography.
“What’s ‘Definitely, Maybe’?” Shawn asked the usher, pointing to the theater where the movie -about a thirtyish father recounting his past loves to his daughter – was showing.
“Dude, that’s a chick flick. It’s only for girls,” the usher said.
Hollywood has long failed to attract a large number of men to romantic melodramas traditionally marketed at women, but that may be changing.
More men are openly enthusiastic about the genre, with a number of recent Internet-based “Chick Flick” fan clubs for men. And though women in the audience still outnumber men at romance-oriented films – “27 Dresses” drew three times as many women as men its opening weekend in January – new movies melding traditionally “male” oriented and traditionally “female” oriented themes are reeling in more young men.
The initial resistance among many men to watching romantic movies still remains high, especially among young men.
Maybe it’s the genre’s typical storyline: Girl meets boy, sparks fly, they face obstacles that keep them apart but, in the end, their love is consummated, usually with a swoon-worthy declaration .
“It’s the Cinderella prototype they offer film watchers that I can’t stand,” said Chris Hill, 17, a high-school junior in Charlotte, N.C., who grew up watching chick flicks alongside his three sisters. ” You won’t see that in an action film.”
But Hollywood appears to be luring more men in with a new wave of films that merge traditionally male-targeted “buddy” movies with more traditionally female-oriented romantic story lines. “The 40- Year-Old Virgin,”"Superbad” and “Knocked Up” portray the longings and insecurities of the lead male characters. “Knocked Up,” in which a slacker’s one-night stand results in an unexpected pregnancy, drew a 57 percent male audience its opening weekend in June 2007, according to Universal. “Superbad,” about two high school guys with nothing on their mind but booze and girls, lured in a 52 percent male audience its opening weekend in August 2007, according to box office press reports.
“Men aren’t supposed to like sweet, ‘feminine’ things,” said Austin Shinn, 24, of Conway, Ark., but “films like ‘Knocked Up’ have adapted the ‘chick flick’ sensibility to the male film.”
Shinn is one of many young men who have joined online chat groups for male fans of the genre. He joined a Facebook group for straight male fans of chick flicks last November after an awkward experience watching the Disney film “Enchanted.”
“I was the only male at the showing. I was also very out of place. I’m quite masculine with a beard and a sports jacket. That feeling of discomfort prompted me to seek others like myself on Facebook.”
Other men who are in such chat groups say the genre has the potential for far wider appeal. Movies with romantic themes “are equally entertaining for both” men and women, said Matt Sanchez, 23, of Pico Rivera, Calif., a self-avowed fan of “Sleepless in Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail” – basically any movie with Meg Ryan. “Love and romance is built into all of us.”
Sanchez’s view is confirmed by recent studies that show nearly equal enjoyment of the genre by both sexes. Richard Harris, a Kansas State University psychology professor, surveyed nearly 300 college students last year, asking couples and individuals to recall watching a romantic movie on a date and rate the movies on a seven- point scale. Women rated the movies highly, with an average score just more than 6 points. Men also tended to rate the movies positively, giving them an average score of just less than 5 points.
Other research showed that college-aged men and women enjoyed melodramatic story lines, but a lot depends on how the stories are packaged.
A University of Alberta and University of British Columbia survey released in February found that men reported enjoying melodramatic fare more when they were explicitly told the story was fiction, not fact.
Yvonne Villareal, a master’s candidate at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
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