Chick flick
Encyclopedia
Chick flick is a slang term
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...

 for a film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 mainly dealing with love and romance designed to appeal to a female target audience
Target audience
In marketing and advertising, a target audience, is a specific group of people within the target market at which the marketing message is aimed .....

. Although many types of films may be directed toward the female gender, "chick flick" is typically used only in reference to films that are heavy with emotion or contain themes that are relationship-based (although not necessarily romantic as many other themes may be present). This term is also applied to films with significant crossover appeal to other, more general audiences, such as Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...

(which was the highest-grossing film of all time until 2009). Chick flicks often are released en masse around Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...

.

Definitions

Generally, a chick flick is a film designed to have an innate appeal to women, typically young women. Defining a film a chick flick is, as the New York Times has stated, more of a parlor game than a science. These films are generally held in popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...

 as having formulaic, paint-by-numbers plot lines and characters. This makes usage of the term "problematic" for implying "frivolity, artlessness, and utter commercialism", according to ReelzChannel. However, several chick flicks have received high critical acclaim for their stories and performances. For example, the 1983 film
1983 in film
-Events:*February 11 - The Rolling Stones concert film Let's Spend the Night Together opens in New York*May 25 - Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the final film in the original Star Wars trilogy, is released. Like the previous films, it goes on to become the top grossing picture of...

 Terms of Endearment
Terms of Endearment
Terms of Endearment is a 1983 romantic comedy-drama film adapted by James L. Brooks from the novel by Larry McMurtry and starring Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, and Jack Nicholson...

received Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 for Best Screenplay, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

Some frequent elements of chick flicks include having a female protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

, thematic use of the color pink (along with metaphorical allusions of the color), and romance and/or dating based storylines. Longtime producer Jerry Bruckheimer
Jerry Bruckheimer
Jerome Leon "Jerry" Bruckheimer is an American film and television producer. He has achieved great success in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. His best known television series are CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Eleventh Hour, Without a Trace, Cold Case, The...

 has remarked about the plots as "How do you cope with money and love?"

MSN.com commentator Kim Morgan has written,
Alternatively, the website http://mypickflick.com is a crowd-sourced
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to a group of people or community through an open call....

 mechanism for determining if a film is a chick flick or not, where visitors can vote for popular film titles to be either a 'man movie' or a 'chick flick'.

History

The concept of movies designed to appeal specifically to women has existed since the early days of cinema and has been known by other colloquial
Colloquialism
A colloquialism is a word or phrase that is common in everyday, unconstrained conversation rather than in formal speech, academic writing, or paralinguistics. Dictionaries often display colloquial words and phrases with the abbreviation colloq. as an identifier...

 terms, including "women's pictures". Those were generally critically panned upon their release. However, women's films such as the 1950s
1950s in film
The decade of the 1950s in film involved many significant films.----Contents1 Events2 List of films: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.-Events:...

 melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...

s directed by Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk
Douglas Sirk was a Danish-German film director best known for his work in Hollywood melodramas in the 1950s.-Life and work:...

- Imitation of Life
Imitation of Life (1959 film)
Imitation of Life is a 1959 American film directed by Douglas Sirk, produced by Ross Hunter and released by Universal Pictures, starring Lana Turner and John Gavin and features Sandra Dee, Dan O'Herlihy, Susan Kohner, Robert Alda and Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson. Gospel music star Mahalia Jackson...

and Made of Honor, for example- are often thought by modern critics as significantly different in tone and content to modern chick flicks. Specifically, critics cite what they see as the ironic and complex criticisms of American culture in those past films.

The 1961 film
1961 in film
The year 1961 in film involved some significant events, with West Side Story winning 10 Academy Awards.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:* Atlantis, the Lost ContinentB...

 Breakfast at Tiffany's, commonly known as one of the 'classic' films from the golden age of cinema
Classical Hollywood cinema
Classical Hollywood cinema or the classical Hollywood narrative, are terms used in film history which designates both a visual and sound style for making motion pictures and a mode of production used in the American film industry between roughly the 1910s and the early 1960s.Classical style is...

, is sometimes considered as an early chick flick due to common elements such as dealing with loneliness
Loneliness
Loneliness is an unpleasant feeling in which a person feels a strong sense of emptiness and solitude resulting from inadequate levels of social relationships. However, it is a subjective experience...

, obsessive materialism
Materialism
In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...

, and happy endings. Molly Haskell
Molly Haskell
Molly Haskell is an American feminist film critic and author. Her most influential book is From Reverence to Rape: the Treatment of Women in the Movies...

 has suggested that chick flicks are very different from the women's films of the 1940s and '50s in that they now "sing a different tune." She feels that they are "more defiant and upbeat, post-modern and post-feminist."

In the U.S. in the 1980s
1980s in film
The decade of the 1980s in film involved many significant films.----Contents1 Events2 Top Grossing films3 Trends4 List of films: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.-Events:...

, a succession of teenage drama pictures also labeled as chick flicks were released, many by director John Hughes. These often had a different and more realistic tone than previous chick flicks, with dramatic elements such as abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

 and personal alienation being included.

Several chick flicks have been patterned after the story of Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...

 or other fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

s (e.g. A Cinderella Story
A Cinderella Story
A Cinderella Story is a 2004 American romantic comedy film. The film stars Hilary Duff, Jennifer Coolidge, Chad Michael Murray and Regina King and was directed by Mark Rosman. The film's plot revolves around two Internet pen pals who meet at a school dance and fall in love but two different worlds...

, Ever After
Ever After
Ever After: A Cinderella Story is a 1998 film inspired by the fairy tale Cinderella, directed by Andy Tennant and starring Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Huston and Dougray Scott. The screenplay is written by Tennant, Susannah Grant, and Rick Parks. The original music score is composed by George Fenton...

, and Pretty Woman
Pretty Woman
Pretty Woman is a 1990 romantic comedy film set in Los Angeles, California. Written by J.F. Lawton and directed by Garry Marshall, this motion picture features Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, and also Hector Elizondo, Ralph Bellamy, and Jason Alexander in supporting roles. Roberts played the only...

), or even Shakespeare in the case of She's the Man
She's the Man
She's the Man is a 2006 American romantic comedy film directed by Andy Fickman, based on Twelfth Night, a play by William Shakespeare. The film stars Amanda Bynes, Channing Tatum, Laura Ramsey and Vinnie Jones....

and 10 Things I Hate About You
10 Things I Hate about You
10 Things I Hate About You is a 1999 American teen romantic comedy film. It is directed by Gil Junger and stars Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, David Krumholtz, and Larry Miller...

; a large number are adapted from popular novels (e.g. The Princess Diaries
The Princess Diaries (film)
The Princess Diaries is a 2001 comedy film produced by singer and actress Whitney Houston and directed by Garry Marshall. It is based on Meg Cabot's 2000 novel of the same name...

, The Devil Wears Prada
The Devil Wears Prada (film)
The Devil Wears Prada is a 2006 comedy-drama film, a loose screen adaptation of Lauren Weisberger's 2003 novel of the same name. It stars Anne Hathaway as Andrea Sachs, a recent college graduate who goes to New York City and gets a job as a co-assistant to powerful and demanding fashion magazine...

) and literary classics (e.g. Little Women
Little Women (1994 film)
Little Women is a 1994 American drama film directed by Gillian Armstrong. The screenplay by Robin Swicord is based on the Louisa May Alcott novel of the same name. It is the fifth feature film adaptation of the Alcott classic, following silent versions released in 1917 and 1918, a 1933 George...

). Other prominent examples include Terms of Endearment
Terms of Endearment
Terms of Endearment is a 1983 romantic comedy-drama film adapted by James L. Brooks from the novel by Larry McMurtry and starring Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, and Jack Nicholson...

and Steel Magnolias
Steel Magnolias
Steel Magnolias is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross that stars Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah and Julia Roberts....

.

While most movies that are considered chick flicks are lighthearted, some suspense films also fall under this category. See What Lies Beneath
What Lies Beneath
What Lies Beneath is a 2000 American supernatural horror-thriller film directed by Robert Zemeckis. It stars veteran actors Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer as a well-to-do couple who experience a strange haunting that uncovers secrets about their past....

.

After the blockbuster success of the 2008
2008 in film
This is a list of all major films made in 2008.-Highest-grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2008...

 drama
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

/romance film
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...

 Twilight
Twilight (2008 film)
Twilight is a 2008 American romantic vampire film based on Stephenie Meyer's popular novel of the same name. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke, the film stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. It is the first film in The Twilight Saga film series...

, Paul Dergarabedian of the media company Media By Numbers remarked that "[t]he word 'chick flick' is going to have to be replaced by big box-office girl-power flick" and that "[t]he box-office clout of the female audience is just astounding, and it's been an underserved audience for way too long". He also said, "They have no trouble finding money for the things they're passionate about." For that film, Fandango.com found that over 75% of its opening-weekend audience was female.

Examples of chick flicks

  • Love Story
    Love Story (1970 film)
    Love Story is a 1970 romantic drama film written by Erich Segal and based on his novel Love Story. It was directed by Arthur Hiller. The film, well known as a tragedy, is considered one of the most romantic of all time by the American Film Institute , and was followed by a sequel, Oliver's Story...

    (1970)
  • An Officer and a Gentleman
    An Officer and a Gentleman
    A Officer and a Gentleman is a 1982 American drama film that tells the story of a U.S. Navy aviation officer candidate who comes into conflict with the Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant who trains him. It was written by Douglas Day Stewart and directed by Taylor Hackford...

    (1982)
  • Terms of Endearment
    Terms of Endearment
    Terms of Endearment is a 1983 romantic comedy-drama film adapted by James L. Brooks from the novel by Larry McMurtry and starring Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, and Jack Nicholson...

    (1983)
  • Sixteen Candles
    Sixteen Candles
    Sixteen Candles is a 1984 American film starring Molly Ringwald, Michael Schoeffling and Anthony Michael Hall. It was written and directed by John Hughes.- Plot :...

    (1984)
  • Dirty Dancing
    Dirty Dancing
    Dirty Dancing is a 1987 American romantic film. Written by Eleanor Bergstein and directed by Emile Ardolino, the film features Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in the lead roles, as well as Cynthia Rhodes and Jerry Orbach...

    (1987)
  • Beaches
    Beaches (film)
    Beaches , is a 1988 American comedy-drama film adapted by Mary Agnes Donoghue from the Iris Rainer Dart novel of the same name...

    (1988)
  • Working Girl
    Working Girl
    Working Girl is a 1988 romantic comedy film written by Kevin Wade and directed by Mike Nichols. It tells the inspiring story of a Staten Island-raised secretary, Tess McGill , working in the mergers and acquisitions department of a Wall Street investment bank...

    (1988)
  • Steel Magnolias
    Steel Magnolias
    Steel Magnolias is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross that stars Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah and Julia Roberts....

    (1989)
  • When Harry Met Sally (1989)
  • Pretty Woman
    Pretty Woman
    Pretty Woman is a 1990 romantic comedy film set in Los Angeles, California. Written by J.F. Lawton and directed by Garry Marshall, this motion picture features Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, and also Hector Elizondo, Ralph Bellamy, and Jason Alexander in supporting roles. Roberts played the only...

    (1990)
  • Ghost
    Ghost (film)
    Ghost is a 1990 romantic drama film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. It was written by Bruce Joel Rubin and directed by Jerry Zucker.-Plot:...

    (1990)
  • Thelma and Louise
    Thelma and Louise
    Thelma & Louise is a 1991 film co-produced and directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri, the film's plot revolves around Thelma and Louise's escape from their troubled and caged lives. It stars Geena Davis as Thelma and Susan Sarandon as Louise, and co-stars Harvey Keitel as a...

    (1991)
  • Sleepless in Seattle
    Sleepless in Seattle
    The film was originally to have been scored by John Barry, but when he was given a list of 20 songs he had to put in the film, he quit.#As Time Goes By - Jimmy Durante #A Kiss to Build a Dream on - Louis Armstrong #Stardust - Nat King Cole...

    (1993)
  • Mad Love
    Mad Love (1995 film)
    Mad Love is a 1995 romantic drama film directed by Antonia Bird and starring Chris O'Donnell, Drew Barrymore and Matthew Lillard. The screenplay was written by Paula Milne. The original music score is composed by Andy Roberts.- Synopsis :...

    (1995)
  • Waiting to Exhale
    Waiting to Exhale
    Waiting to Exhale is a 1995 romance film starring Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett, directed by Forest Whitaker. The movie was adapted from the 1992 novel of the same name by Terry McMillan. Loretta Devine, Lela Rochon, Dennis Haysbert, Michael Beach, Gregory Hines, Donald Faison and Mykelti...

    (1995)
  • The First Wives Club
    The First Wives Club
    The First Wives Club is a 1996 comedy film, based on the best-selling 1992 novel of the same name by Olivia Goldsmith. Narrated by Diane Keaton, it stars Keaton, Goldie Hawn, and Bette Midler as three divorced women who seek revenge on their husbands who left them for younger women...

    (1996)
  • My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)
  • Titanic
    Titanic (1997 film)
    Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...

    (1997)
  • How Stella Got Her Groove Back
    How Stella Got Her Groove Back
    How Stella Got Her Groove Back is a 1998 romance film, directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan. The film stars Angela Bassett, Taye Diggs, Whoopi Goldberg and Regina King. This film is an adaptation of Terry McMillan's bestselling novel by the same title...

    (1998)
  • One True Thing
    One True Thing
    One True Thing is a 1998 American drama film directed by Carl Franklin. It tells the story of a woman who is forced to put her life on hold in order to care for her mother who is dying of cancer. It was adapted by Karen Croner from the novel by Anna Quindlen. The movie stars Meryl Streep, Renée...

    (1998)
  • You've Got Mail
    You've Got Mail
    You've Got Mail is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Nora Ephron, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. It was written by Nora and Delia Ephron based on the play Parfumerie by Miklós László. The film is about two letter-writing lovers who are completely unaware that their sweetheart is in...

    (1998)
  • The Story of Us
    The Story of Us
    The Story of Us is a 1999 American film directed by Rob Reiner, and starring Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer as a couple married for fifteen years....

    (1999)
  • Where The Heart Is
    Where the Heart Is (2000 film)
    Where the Heart Is is a 2000 drama/romance film directed by Matt Williams and produced by Susan Cartsonis, David McFadzean, Patricia Whitcher and Matt Williams. Filmed in Austin, Texas, and Waco, Texas at Baylor University. The movie stars Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd...

    (2000)
  • Legally Blonde
    Legally Blonde
    Legally Blonde is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Robert Luketic, written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, and produced by Marc E. Platt...

    (2001)
  • The Princess Diaries
    The Princess Diaries (film)
    The Princess Diaries is a 2001 comedy film produced by singer and actress Whitney Houston and directed by Garry Marshall. It is based on Meg Cabot's 2000 novel of the same name...

    (2001)
  • Love Actually
    Love Actually
    Love Actually is a 2003 British romantic comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis. The screenplay delves into different aspects of love as shown through ten separate stories involving a wide variety of individuals, many of whom are shown to be interlinked as their tales progress...

    (2003)
  • The Notebook
    The Notebook (film)
    The Notebook is a 2004 romance film directed by Nick Cassavetes, based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. The film stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as a young couple who fall in love during the early 1940s...

    (2004)
  • The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
    The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (film)
    The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a 2005 American film, based on the novel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares released by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was directed by Ken Kwapis and written by Delia Ephron.The film's production budget was $25 million...

    (2005)
  • The Devil Wears Prada
    The Devil Wears Prada (film)
    The Devil Wears Prada is a 2006 comedy-drama film, a loose screen adaptation of Lauren Weisberger's 2003 novel of the same name. It stars Anne Hathaway as Andrea Sachs, a recent college graduate who goes to New York City and gets a job as a co-assistant to powerful and demanding fashion magazine...

    (2006)
  • Enchanted (2007)
  • Music and Lyrics
    Music and Lyrics
    Music and Lyrics is a 2007 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Marc Lawrence. It focuses on the relationship that evolves between a former pop music idol and an aspiring writer as they struggle to compose a song for the reigning pop diva.-Plot:Alex Fletcher enjoyed...

    (2007)
  • 27 Dresses
    27 Dresses
    27 Dresses is a 2008 romantic comedy film directed by Anne Fletcher and written by Aline Brosh McKenna. The film stars Katherine Heigl and James Marsden. The film was released January 10, 2008 in Australia and opened in the United States on January 18....

    (2007)
  • Sex and the City (2008)
  • Twilight
    Twilight (2008 film)
    Twilight is a 2008 American romantic vampire film based on Stephenie Meyer's popular novel of the same name. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke, the film stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. It is the first film in The Twilight Saga film series...

    (2008)
  • The Proposal
    The Proposal (film)
    The Proposal is a 2009 American romantic comedy film set in Sitka, Alaska. Directed by Anne Fletcher and written by Peter Chiarelli, the film features Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds as the leading roles, with Mary Steenburgen, Betty White, and Craig T. Nelson in supporting roles...

    (2009)
  • Sex and the City 2
    Sex and the City 2
    Sex and the City 2 is a 2010 American romantic comedy film directed by Michael Patrick King. It is the sequel to the 2008 film Sex and the City, which is based on the HBO TV series of the same name....

    (2010)

See also

  • Love means never having to say you're sorry
    Love means never having to say you're sorry
    "Love means never having to say you're sorry" is a line from the novel and 1970 film Love Story starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal. The quotation appears twice in the film: once around the middle when MacGraw's character Jennifer Cavilleri says it, and again as the last line in the film, repeated...

  • Feminist film theory
    Feminist film theory
    Feminist film theory is theoretical film criticism derived from feminist politics and feminist theory. Feminists have many approaches to cinema analysis, regarding the film elements analysed and their theoretical underpinnings.-History:...

  • Female buddy film
    Female buddy film
    A female buddy film is similar to a buddy film except that the main characters feature females, and it is centered around their situation. The cast may be mainly female depending on the plot. "The female buddy film is a recent trend in mainstream cinema...

     (A similar genre)
  • Guy-cry film (A similar genre, for males)
  • Chick lit
    Chick lit
    Chick lit is genre fiction which addresses issues of modern womanhood, often humorously and lightheartedly. The genre sold well during the 1990s and 2000s, with chick lit titles topping bestseller lists and the creation of imprints devoted entirely to chick lit...

    (Book media equivalent)
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