"Sigh no more, ladies": In Defense of Chick Flicks

I was supposed to go to Florence today. Instead, I got sick and watched hours of chick flicks (Pirates of the YouTubeian, I thank you). It was a pleasant, if mucous-filled, day.

Of course, this got me thinking. What is it about chick flicks?

After a day of watching Much Ado About Nothing (my all-time favorite adaptation of Shakespeare--can you beat Kenneth Branaugh and Emma Thompson?), Emma (fluff, but the costumes are great), and Pride and Prejudice (don't worry, Comptron, not the Colin Firth version), I decided to weigh in on the question.

As a consequence of at least 8 minutes of pondering, I have two serious answers to why girls like chick flicks, at least of the Enduring Masterworks of the English Language sort that I watched today. There are, of course, less serious reasons too, but those already get all of the press.

1) In all of these films, there are significant misunderstandings or miscommunications or misjudgements between the heroes and heroines. There are also strong doses of dramatic irony. These threaten to torpedo what would otherwise be happy matches.

I think this speaks deeply to the female psyche--we often fear that some inadvertent misunderstanding is going to scare off the man of our dreams, or that something beyond our control is undermining our best efforts, or that we lack the right information to judge a situation properly. Furthermore, we worry that if we say the wrong thing (or say the right thing at the wrong time) or laugh too hard (or don't laugh hard enough) or reveal our insecurities (or fail to reveal our insecurities) or pursue him too much (or pursue him too little) or in any other way communicate an imperfect message, then he will lose interest. These stories reassure us that love--and meaningful relationships in general--is a little more forgiving and resilient than that.

2) In Much Ado, Balthasar sings "Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more/ Men were deceivers ever/One foot in sea and one on shore/ To one thing constant never..." and advises women to give up on hoping for a stable, committed relationship and just be "blithe and bonny." But, of course, in these chick flicks the men do come around to being genuinely head-over-heels in love with their ladies.

Despite our best efforts at being optimistic, we women sometimes worry if Balthasar isn't right. Relational commitment isn't always men's strongest suit, we've noticed. So really, chick flicks are a way of reaffirming the possibility that men can fall in love enough to commit, thereby breathing hope into what might otherwise be a rather dim view of mankind.

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But, you may protest, chick flick gentlemen set the standard way too high. They are suave and courtly and go to extreme measures to win their ladies. They are unrealistic, not to mention unmanly.

I freely grant that that is true of many romantic comedies. However, Benedick and Mr. Darcy have serious, um, personality imperfections. That the ladies manage to see past this should be reassuring. I would also like to add that these stories of imperfect woo-ers are the chick flicks that have a couple hundred years of staying power behind them, as opposed to the lame Hollywood ones with perfect but vapid suitors. We don't mind that you guys aren't always debonair; we just want you to try occasionally.

Finally, for heaven's sake, don't you want to be madly in love with someone, at least around the time that you propose? And, if that involves buying some flowers or getting down on one knee, who cares? It's okay to sometimes make us women happy in the ways that are especially meaningful to us. We'll do our best to return the favor.