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Chick Flick

Disciplines > Storytelling > Plots > Classic story types > Chick Flick

Description | Example | Discussion | See also

Description

The 'chick flick' is a story aimed at a largely female audience and is typically has a women as central characters with a storyline crafted to appeal to a woman's concerns and sensibilities.

Men are typically peripheral, less intelligent and subservient as the women have fun, achieve great things and generally save the day.

Example

Miss Congeniality
Clueless
Legally Blonde

Discussion

The term 'chick-flick' applies primarily to movies rather than books and other media.

In a male-dominated world and movie industry, most stories are produced from a male viewpoint. Even when the main character is a woman, she is stereotyped and acts within a male-dominated world. Even female authors write into a male frame, either because their thinking has been programmed as such or because they know what sells (at least to publishers and producers).

Nevertheless half the world is female and is increasingly finding its voice, character and preferences. Chick flicks are thus a good commercial proposition which even male producers can appreciate.

Men may still appreciate the Chick Flick. It often involves attractive women, appealing to basic mores. It may give a secret thrill of forbidden voyeurism as they peer into the woman's world. Such stories may also help them understand the female mind, a domain that many men find mysterious.