Chick Flicks From An Affair to Rememberto Legally Blonde, “chick flicks” have long been bothchampioned and vilified by women and men, scholars and popular audiences. Like other forms of “chick culture, ” which the editors define as a group of mostly American and British popular culture media forms focused primarily on twenty- to thirtysomething, middle-class—and frequently college-educated—women, chick flicks have been accused of reinscribing traditional attitudes and reactionary roles for women. On the other hand, they have been embraced as pleasurable and potentially liberating entertainments, assisting women in negotiating the challenges of contemporary life. Acompanion to the successful anthology Chick Lit: The New Woman’s Fiction, this edited volume consists of eleven original essays, prefaced by an introduction situating chick flicks within the larger context of chick culture as well as women’s cinema. The essays consider chick flicks from a variety of angles, touching on issues of film history, female sexuality (heterosexual and homosexual), femininity, female friendship, age, race, ethnicity, class, consumerism, spectatorship, pleasure and gender definition. An afterword by feminist film theorist Karen Hollinger considers the chick flick’s transformation from the woman’s films of the 1940s to the friend- ship films of the 1980s and those of the “return to the classics” trend of the 1990s, while highlighting the value of the volume’s contributions to contemporary debates and sketching possibilities for further study. Contributors: Deborah Barker, Carol M. Dole, Suzanne Ferriss, Holly Hassel, Lisa Henderson, Karen Hollinger, Myra Mendible, Lisa M. Rüll, Margaret Tally, Maureen Turim, Kate Waites, Mallory Young. Suzanne FerrissisProfessor of English at Nova Southeastern University. She has co-edited two volumes on the cultural study of fashion: On Fashionand Footnotes: On Shoes. She is also co-author of A Handbook of Literary Feminisms. Most recently, she co-edited, with Mallory Young, Chick Lit: The New Woman’s Fiction,also published by Routledge. Mallory Youngis Professor of English and French at Tarleton State University. She has published on a variety of topics, from the Odyssey to Texas women’s literature and, with Suzanne Ferriss, has co-authored several articles on chick culture. She co-edited, with Suzanne Ferriss, Chick Lit: The New Woman’s Fiction, also published by Routledge. Chick Flicks Contemporary women at the movies Edited by Suzanne Ferriss and Mallory Young First published 2008 by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library,2008. “To purchaseyourown copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2008 Taylor & Francis All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN 0-203-93555-1 Mastere-bookISBN ISBN10: 0–415–96255–2 (hbk) ISBN10: 0–415–96256–0 (pbk) ISBN10: 0–203–93555–1 (ebk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–96255–1 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–96256–8 (pbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–93555–2 (ebk) For Steven and Craig Contents List of images ix Acknowledgments xi 1 Introduction: chick flicks and chick culture 1 SUZANNE FERRISS AND MALLORY YOUNG 2 Women’s films: comedy, drama, romance 26 MAUREEN TURIM 3 Fashioning femininity in the makeover flick 41 SUZANNE FERRISS 4 The return of pink: Legally Blonde,third-wave feminism, and having it all 58 CAROL M. DOLE 5 Asoundtrack for our lives: chick-flick music 79 LISA M. RÜLL 6 The southern-fried chick flick: postfeminism goes to the movies 92 DEBORAH BARKER 7 Something’s gotta give: Hollywood, female sexuality and the “older bird” chick flick 119 MARGARET TALLY 8 Simple pleasures: lesbian community and Go Fish 132 LISA HENDERSON viii Contents 9 Chica flicks: postfeminism, class, and the Latina American dream 158 MYRA MENDIBLE 10 Chic flicks: the new European romance 175 MALLORY YOUNG 11 The “babe scientist” phenomenon: the illusion of inclusion in 1990s American action films 190 HOLLY HASSEL 12 Babes in boots: Hollywood’s oxymoronic warrior woman 204 KATE WAITES 13 Afterword: once I got beyond the name chick flick 221 KAREN HOLLINGER Selected filmography 233 Selected bibliography 239 Contributors 245 Index 248 Images 1.1 Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) attracting her boss’s attention 6 1.2 In Bride and Prejudice Austen’s Jane and Elizabeth Bennet are transformed into Jaya and Lalita Bakshi (Namrata Shirodkar and Aishwarya Rai) 10 1.3 The Asian-American romantic comedy Saving Face subscribes to and subverts chick-flick conventions 11 3.1 Before: Dick Avery (Fred Astaire) photographing Jo Stockton (Audrey Hepburn) and Marion (Dovima) in the Embryo Concepts bookstore 46 3.2 After: the “gamine” turned “bird of paradise” 46 3.3 Before: Mary (Parker Posey) strutting her stuff on the improvised “runway” in the library 49 3.4 After: “Party girl” turned librarian 50 3.5 Before: Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) reacts to the first step in her makeover: Jimmy Choo stilettos 53 3.6 After: the “fashionista” applies finishing touches 53 4.1 Elle (Reese Witherspoon) arrives at Harvard in “Malibu Barbie” attire 65 4.2 Elle appears at a law-school party inappropriately dressed 69 6.1 Washing windows for Shelby’s wedding 99 6.2 Idgie’s (Mary Stuart Masterson) bad influence on Ruth (Mary-Louise Parker) 104 6.3 Frank (Nick Searcy) claiming his wife 106 6.4 Sidda’s (Sandra Bullock) initiation 111 7.1 The “Calendar Girls” (Helen Mirren, Julie Walters, et al.) are temporarily seduced by the bright lights of LA 126 7.2 Erica (Diana Keaton) finds an age-appropriate mate in Harry (Jack Nicholson) 128 9.1 The Latina maid (Jennifer Lopez) gushes subserviently at the white, male senator (Ralph Fiennes) 163