So here’s the news. Women across the country really wanted to see He’s Just Not That Into You even though it got rotten reviews across the board. 80% of the audience was women, and 60% of the audience was over 25. As someone who thinks about women’s films and the women’s market the success of a movie like this (which I did not see and am not very interested in seeing) gives me pause.
I was expecting the film to make at least $20 million. Think about it. It opened on over 3,000 screens. Had a high profile cast. Had a lot of marketing behind it. Smartly opened right before Valentine’s Day when women in relationships and not in relationships are pondering the state of their relationships or lack thereof.
But it beat all expectations and made $27 million beating The Pink Panther 2 (which looked bad), the new thriller Push and last week’s box office champ Taken.
All week writers have been talking about how these types of 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. 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.
H/T The Rope of Silicon
Wow, Melissa, well said. To be honest, I was one of those people who mocked women for seeing SEX AND THE CITY because I hate that shallow, materialistic crap, but you gave me a pause when you mentioned that awful “Paul Blart: Mall Cop.” Good point.
I remember when a lot of fanboys mocked girls for seeing TWILIGHT. Like nerdy, dorky loser guys are any better for being so goddamned obsessed with Star Wars, the Dark Knight, and other shit? Please. It takes one to know one, right?
I will have to share your blog with others. This is an excellent post.
yea, the starpower there is just overwhelmingly enticing. i KNOW it’s bad, but im sure i’ll still get around to seeing it when its out on video! sometimes ppl WANT a guilty pleasure they dont have to contemplate too deeply, too, esp during a recession, you know?
I was VERY disappointed with DREW BARRYMORE for freakin’ producing this shallow, materialistic, woman-whining, man-obsessed crappy movie. But the good news is that she’s directing and producing an awesome, riot grrl movie “WHIP IT!” with Ellen Page, so that should be her “compensation” for producing such a shallow film.
and Jennifer Aniston really needs to stop making such stupid movies.
I wont waste any time watching these movies and avoid the trailers if I can.
I admit an urge to yell at the women who spent $20 mill on divisive crap like Bride Wars.
Those who spend money on crap like that do not seem to be allies, they do not seem to have a clue about the feminist movement past or present.
They seem to be spending their dollars without conscience, without awareness that they are making a statement with every dollar. A statement that affects my career DIRECTLY.
I hope your readership expands far enough to reach and wake them up!
I’ve seen both HJNTIY and BW. Both were hideous, but if I want to support the women who helped make these films, then I have no choice but to see this drivel. In their defense, these films did focus on female friendship and its importance; granted, some of the women were completely crazy and did some truly stupid things, but in the end both films showed the value of female friendship.
Like Melissa wrote — no one bashes men for seeing movies with little plot or substance. As usual, there’s a double-standard when it comes to women.
I didn’t see HJNTIY so I can’t say how good it is or not. I’ll probably see it so I can comment on it from a place of knowledge. I am sure it performed well because the cast is filled with name actors. Unfortunately, I think the only way the studios are going to consider films with intelligent storylines for women is if films like HJNTIY do well. They need proof that a female audience is real and a viable market for whom to make films. It’s a very sad, backwards situation that we need to rely on films like HJNTIY to perform well in order to get better films for a female audience made. But having worked in the studio system, I know that it’s all about box office. So I revel in the performance of the film so other female-centric films have a chance.
He’s Just Not That Into You seems like a cute movie. I enjoy the standard “chick flicks” that often get mocked but just because I enjoy one type doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the more serious women-driven films. People are more complex than that. I know guys who wanted to see HJNTIY just as much as me. It’s okay to have silly movies, just as long as they aren’t the only things that get made.
I wrote a very long feature on this back in September. Basically, Sex & The City (and the like) is female escapism, which is a wholly different genre than male escapism. Male critics go crazy because they don’t get the difference. Simplistic version – female escapism is about women being allowed to be selfish, while male escapism is about selfish men learning to be selfless.
I’ve written several essays involving gender and film, but this is the one that most speaks to what you’re talking about:
http://scottalanmendelson.blogspot.com/2008/09/sex-and-city-movie-and-difference.html
Scott Mendelson
I think it is a vicious cycle. Hollywood churns out these regressive chick flicks and women flock to them because that’s all there is (serious films with complex female characters, like Frozen River and Wendy and Lucy,had extremely limited releases). Then these fluffy chick flicks make lots of money, so Hollywood keeps churning them out. It’s an endless, vicious cycle.
I have not and will never watch dreck like Bride Wars. I plan to boycott Confessions of a Shopaholic, too.
I did see He’s Not… because I didn’t think it would be that bad. However, the more I thought about it after the movie, the more I realized how poorly it portrayed women. Ginnifer Goodwin is desperate and man-obessive, making a fool of herself. Scarlett Johannsen is a bimbo who goes after a married man. Drew Barrymore is Johannsen’s friend who encourages her to pursue the married man (nice morals). Jennifer Connelly is an emotional wreck who’s more upset that her husband smokes than the fact that he cheats on her. Jennifer Aniston is a woman who breaks up with her boyfriend for not marrying her but takes him back so she won’t be alone.
And it’s not over. At the He’s Not… screening, there was a trailer for an upcoming Sandra Bullock movie where she stalks a guy after having a one night stand with him. Ugh.
And Aniston will make another crappy Rom Com called (ick) The Baster about how her male friend secretly impregnates her with his sperm. EEEEWWW!!!!!!!!
At least Coraline had a feisty, strong female hero.
Interesting discussion.
Scott makes a very good point……which leads back, once again, to the need for women writing about & critiquing films – NOT just women writing about women made/centered films but women writing about man made/centered films. I think it is just as important for women to critically engage films made by men & to analyze how we are being portrayed in these films as well.
Maybe it’s just my older cranky second wave feminism showing – but I have no desire to see sappy happy films that make women look like bubble heads. They make me wince at the stereotype-ness of it all.
I’m female, and I’ve always hated chick flicks.
Oh and hold the same standard with males.
We can all benefit from more awareness regarding our spending power.
that is oh and I hold the same… etc.
pardon the tiredness typos
I also thing this is an awesome conversation, but while this may get me tar and feathered, I’d have to say that my sentiments don’t quite match the ones stated. I’m not even trying to pretend that I’ve seen nearly as much as Melissa, or anyone else who either follows or work in the media industry, but from my own experiences, and the things I’ve read/seen, I have a very different view.
For one, I think people are questioning the taste of those who’ve seen Paul Blart. In fact on the Reelz Channel (cable network), during one of their news pieces, the interviewer asked about why that film was # 1 and the respondent (either a reviewer or someone in the industry) dismissed the people who saw it as not having taste, and having an opinion that doesn’t count (don’t have a dvr, else I’d tape it and send it your way Melissa). I read your blog Scott, very interesting (and worth a reply in its own right!), but I’d disagree that critics – any critics – need to take wish-fulfillment into their consideration over whether they like a film or not. It’s either good or it’s bad. I guess they could be like Ebert I suppose, since I’m thinking of at least 2 films he said he didn’t like, but also admitted they were not made with him in mind.
But it seems like critics are critics – and critics are human, so they are subject to the same biases. When they don’t like films they talk terribly about them, and talk terribly about the people who like them. I like superhero films, and before the critics were heaping praise on the likes of The Dark Knight and Iron Man, they were very, very critical of other types of films – and not just the films, but the sub-genre itself. Implied in all the praise for the Dark Knight is the idea that finally that type of film is good.
Sometimes I wonder if these things are always going to be mired in this intangible, murky, mirage of gender. A friend of mine had an interesting conversation some years back. He was talking to his younger brother about comic book story lines, and his female friends dismissed their talk as being simplistic and juvenile. But not much longer after that the women engaged in a very lengthy discussion about an American soap opera. And as someone who has seen/read both, they have many similarities.
I used that anecdote because, at least in my lifetime, while men may dismiss a film as being a female film, or something they would not want to see, women have not only dismissed films that many men want to see, but have called them stupid for it; it’s treated almost as a given. I’ve actually had conversations where they would dismiss, say, a certain action film outright until I argued its merits. In fact, I think there is no monopoly on people who may think person “x” is stupid for liking movie “y”. And at least from my experience, women do it more than men. But maybe critics are different?
I also am not terribly stressed that these movies are out now. I mean, besides it being V-Day, isn’t this the weakest time in the year for movies? And don’t studios usually show their weakest films now? I’d worry if it was released in December. But even then I may still be ok with it. I may also seem like I’m not an ally, but I can’t eat my own kind…not when they want to see things that make me cringe, and not even when they say things that make my blood run cold – such as a female respondent to an online article who said that a female needed to be stronger and smarter than male action heroes, and even then she may not believe a woman in that role. I don’t want my desire for films to suppress other people’s desires. Why can’t there be room for all these films? Just like there is room for both films like Milk and Yes Man.
And why is HJNTIY considered a female film and Paul Blart considered a male film? It really seems like it’s arbitrary at times. Like what about Revolutionary Road or The Uninvited? What about Doubt? What makes a film good for women? Men? Both? Why isn’t Slumdog a romance, since love is at the heart of the story? And I have to say, there is currently a fair amount of films out there for women to see other than rom-coms, why aren’t they seeing those? Is that old adage true that women just don’t go to the movies?
I think I’ve just talked myself full circle! Because maybe it doesn’t matter if the majority of the women enjoy those types of films. Maybe we just have to convince Hollywood to make films for us – us who would rather see another kind of film with prominent women in them.
It’s just a really tangled subject all around…sigh. But thanks for helping me to keep it in the forefront of my mind everyone.
thanks.
ps – hey Thomai, I know it must be frustrating, but keep plugging away. If you don’t do what you do, we won’t even have the opportunity to see anything else!
I am a radical feminist with no desire to see “HJNTIY” because of its disgusting portrayals of women. However, I’m going to go because several female members of my family want to see it and the theaters around here have ZERO other female-oriented options. We like to see movies together, and the last one we saw was “The Wrestler” so it’s not like we just go for bubble gum and feeling good, but it’s nice to once in a while see something made for us (even if the makers clearly don’t know us at all). It’s pure bullshit that someone would call us stupid (or tell me to turn in my feminist badge) because of this.
‘Mamma Mia’ was about ‘Strength’?
Maybe the misperception is more about how stories are told when aimed at different genders.
The plot of ‘Mamma Mia’ basically revolved around characters keeping secrets from each other, and a plot that could be easily resolved had the characters just sat down and had one simple, honest conversation with each other. After all, complete honesty is what you should give other people you profess to ‘Love’.
Instead we get forced ‘wacky’ complications, where people are played as pawns. To make it worse, these secrets had notably negative impacts on the character’s lives for a number of years.
This basic problem comes up again and again in ‘chick flick’ movies: a conversation isn’t had that could quickly and easily resolve a simple misunderstanding until there’s a splashy display by the man to win the girl back. This is not a sign of true love – it’s empty and it’s easy. False drama does not validate a relationship’s strength.
What makes this more frustrating for a man is that a lack of honest communication about our feelings is a major criticism of our gender.
I don’t want to see HJNTIY or Blart.
I just want to thank everyone for the awesome comments on this posting. It is so great to see a real conversation on this happening.
Melissa