Although I’m not an avid movie watcher, I enjoyed the discussion surrounding the connection between romantic comedies and feminism. In my opinion, branding romantic comedies as “chick flicks” is anti-feminist. The term “chick flicks” perpetuates a negative stereotype that implies only women can watch these films. Romantic comedies should be for all genders. I think in order to combat this “chick flick” stereotype, film productions needed to introduce new narratives. Maybe film producers are reluctant to change because they think that the traditional rom com tropes sell. Fortunately, movies like “Love, Simon” are changing the idea of what a “typical” rom-com looks like. While this is great progress, this is not enough and more definitely needs to be done. More races, more gender identities, more sexual orientations need to be represented in today’s media.

In this Table Talk, we discussed “chick flicks” also known as romantic comedies. This is one of my favorite movie genres and includes most of the movies I watched growing. The media we consume has a big effect on our personality and world views, so reflecting on how I watched mostly this genre of movies growing up, I hope they would demonstrate good messages for girls to learn from. When we talked about this as a group, I don’t think we ever came to a consensus on whether chick flicks are actually feminist. They often center around female characters, but often, these characters are unsure of themselves of have character flaws that aren’t solved until a man come along to fix their issues. Most older movies in the genre are like this, which isn’t exactly feminist or setting a great example. However, a lot of newer movies in this genre break these clichés, displaying stronger and more exemplary main characters, more realistic relationships, and different types of love, like the movie Love Simon which is one of the first rom coms to feature a gay couple. Though many of the older chick flicks were great examples for feminist women, they are definitely still super entertaining and fun watches and I think I had enough good influences in my childhood that I didn’t turn out like a useless female lead waiting for a man to solve y problems anyways.

This discussion circled around romantic-comedies, sometimes called “chick flicks”. After discussing common themes within romantic comedies, I noticed a lot of older movies usually focused on a main female character who was unsure of their career or other aspect of their life. Then, a male lead character would come and help her find her way. However, some of the newer movies in this genre don’t always follow this trope. Some romantic comedies have been more inclusive such as Love Simon, whose main character identified with the LGBTQ+ community. It will be interesting to see what tropes and themes are more common in future romantic comedies.

Today, I joined other rose members to discuss Romantic Comedies. Romantic Comedies are my favorite movies so I was really excited to discuss this topic with other enthusiasts.  We started the event by watching a comedy video of a couple friends arguing about the topic and then led into our own discussion. During our discussion, we talked about how romantic comedies may not fully represent real relationships. We also discussed the label “chick flicks” and how it can become problematic as it seems to close off the genre from people who are not “chicks” themself. Throughout our conversation, we mentioned many of our favorite (and least favorite) movies and tv shows which was fun to reminisce on. Overall, this conversation was a lot of fun and made me excited to rewatch some of my favorites when I have time.