Chick flicks vs. guy flicks

[thirteenbyseven]

Guy Flicks vs. Chick Flicks | The Ultimate Movie Making Guidebook!

I was in a weak moment, tired and deadheading back to LAX after a long trip and attempting to kill time. It just happened that my airline had a movie on their latest IFE offerings I'd been trying my best to a avoid. Yup, fresh from the Oscars, A Star is Born. While it didn't lower my testosterone level appreciably I marvel-- excuse the pun-- how much that genre has changed recently.

Venturing into the quicksand I'll say that this latest retool of A Star is Born used a tried-and-true formula of casting a male lead that is more attractive than his female counterpart. Lady Gaga, as immensely talented as she may be, isn't the stuff most men lie awake at night jerking-off to, while Bradley Cooper with his country-western beard, aw-shucks voice lowered an octave and baby-blues probably appeals to a good percentage of women. Heretofore, movies like "Star" and Titantic with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio also followed a conventional chick flick law of attraction which states that the female must have redeeming qualities beyond mere physical appearance which so entice a man that he's woven into her spell. And then throw-in lots of sex tears and ever-after love, even after the male lead croaks.

And then there is 2019 Captain Marvel starring Sacramento's Brianne Desaulniers as Brie Larson. Disney spent a gazillion dollars shoving this movie down our collective throats. Out in Los Angeles Disney-owned KABC sent their own George Pennacchio-- no relation to the Disney-owned cartoon character Pennochio-- to the movie's premiere in Hollywood where we learned bus loads of little girls had been shipped-in to watch their new female role model in-action (and make sure the theater was full.) The Thunderbirds flew in from Nellis AFB near Las Vegas and performed a fly-over of Hollywood Blvd. in the missing man formation to honor a member of that elite aerobatic team who had been killed in a plane crash subsequent to giving Brie Larson tips on-set how to act like a fighter pilot. Lastly Disney, perhaps using the same accounting methods that Donald Trump used when he inflated his net worth from a paltry 788 million to 5 billion according to Forbes, now says Captain "Marvelet" is setting the world on-fire.

My question is how are they achieving this? And more importantly how many men are actually paying to watch it? Back when Titantic was in theaters, groups of coffee-klatch women would party together and go see DiCaprio drown in the Atlantic several times a week: Few men would have that devotion. My guess is there are even fewer male homo sapiens who want to watch a revisionist Marvel character with an attitude "Men? I don't need no stinking men!!!

What say we?

 

[Enid]

Guy Flicks vs. Chick Flicks | The Ultimate Movie Making Guidebook!

Venturing into the quicksand I'll say that this latest retool of A Star is Born used a tried-and-true formula of casting a male lead that is more attractive than his female counterpart. Lady Gaga, as immensely talented as she may be, isn't the stuff most men lie awake at night jerking-off to, while Bradley Cooper with his country-western beard, aw-shucks voice lowered an octave and baby-blues probably appeals to a good percentage of women.

Really? Any recent examples besides this movie (which I have not seen)? I feel like I see great-looking woman with average-looking large doofus guy way more.

(As an aside: Lady Gaga is gorgeous, IMO. And Bradley Cooper, while a good-lookin guy, does not toot my horn.)

Guy Flicks vs. Chick Flicks | The Ultimate Movie Making Guidebook!

And then there is 2019 Captain Marvel starring Sacramento's Brianne Desaulniers as Brie Larson. Disney spent a gazillion dollars shoving this movie down our collective throats. Out in Los Angeles Disney-owned KABC sent their own George Pennacchio-- no relation to the Disney-owned cartoon character Pennochio-- to the movie's premiere in Hollywood where we learned bus loads of little girls had been shipped-in to watch their new female role model in-action (and make sure the theater was full.) The Thunderbirds flew in from Nellis AFB near Las Vegas and performed a fly-over of Hollywood Blvd. in the missing man formation to honor a member of that elite aerobatic team who had been killed in a plane crash subsequent to giving Brie Larson tips on-set how to act like a fighter pilot. Lastly Disney, perhaps using the same accounting methods that Donald Trump used when he inflated his net worth from a paltry 788 million to 5 billion according to Forbes, now says Captain "Marvelet" is setting the world on-fire.

My question is how are they achieving this? And more importantly how many men are actually paying to watch it? Back when Titantic was in theaters, groups of coffee-klatch women would party together and go see DiCaprio drown in the Atlantic several times a week: Few men would have that devotion. My guess is there are even fewer male homo sapiens who want to watch a revisionist Marvel character with an attitude "Men? I don't need no stinking men!!!

What say we?

What exactly is the question in this part?

All I can say is that I think strong, independent female characters are finally gaining traction in Hollywood. Yay. I am very happy for that, personally. Do I think guys will be into it? Sure, I think some will. Hopefully more than some. I find it distasteful to think that the level of interest in a female character has solely to do with her physical appeal.

 

[Enid]

Edited to add: I find it distasteful to think that the level of interest in a female character has solely to do with her physical appeal and compliance with what makes male penis/ego happy.

 

[thirteenbyseven]

Enid, you are one of my favorite members here at LPSG. I wrote my post hoping you and others would write your opinions on what motivates you to go to the theater to watch a Captain Marvel with Brie Larson. And for the record, Lady Gaga was amazing at halftime with her Super Bowl performance in 2017 and just blew that horrible Maroon 5 garbage this year off the field. Lest we forget (just click-on the youtube link):

But she still doesn't make my whopper go wang!!!

 

[LaFemme]

I’m sure Gaga is bereft at the idea that males are not laying awake feverishly wanking themselves into chapped glory at the very idea of her. I know it keeps me awake. (I mean, the idea that thousands of men aren’t wanking to my gloriousness, not Gaga’s - she can fend for herself.)

In my opinion, what has made every iteration of ‘A Star is Born’ successful is not whether or not the co-stars are people the audience finds attractive. It’s how we become drawn to them. The men in the movies are character actors, their looks are irrelevant. Frederic March, Kris Kristoffeson, Bradley Cooper - just good looking enough to be believable as a star a little past his prime. Even more irrelevant are the looks of the female co-stars, Janet Gaynor, Barbra Streisand, and Gaga. Close your eyes and listen. There’s their power. Especially with Streisand and Gaga. Beauty truly arises from within. The movie is about the strength of women. Who gives a shit about whether someone can wank to it or not? (Well, Hollywood does, but they better start caring. Women are smarter than 50 Shades would indicate.)

I can’t really speak to Captain Marvel. But we need superheroes for girls. Period. Wonder Woman can’t carry it alone. Bring on strong leads. Superheroes. Villains. Real women. People no man wants to wank to because that’s not where we carry our value. Beside, even plain girls are loved and laid. It happens everyday!

 

[thirteenbyseven]

I’m sure Gaga is bereft at the idea that males are not laying awake feverishly wanking themselves into chapped glory at the very idea of her. I know it keeps me awake. (I mean, the idea that thousands of men aren’t wanking to my gloriousness, not Gaga’s - she can fend for herself.)

In my opinion, what has made every iteration of ‘A Star is Born’ successful is not whether or not the co-stars are people the audience finds attractive. It’s how we become drawn to them. The men in the movies are character actors, their looks are irrelevant. Frederic March, Kris Kristoffeson, Bradley Cooper - just good looking enough to be believable as a star aa little past his prime. Even more irrelevant are the looks of the female co-stars, Janet Gaynor, Barbra Streisand, and Gaga. Close your eyes and listen. There’s their power. Especially with Streisand and Gaga. Beauty truly arises from within. The movie is about the strength of women. Who gives a shit about whether someone can wank to it or not? (Well, Hollywood does, but they better start caring. Women are smarter than 50 Shades would indicate.)

I can’t really speak to Captain Marvel. But we need superheroes for girls Period. Wonder Woman can’t carry it alone. Bring on strong leads. Superheroes. Villains. Real women. People no man wants to wank to because that’s not where we carry our value. Beside, even plain girls are loved and laid. It happens everyday!

View attachment 1617774

LaFemme, a magnificently written reply worthy of an op-ed! Have you considered a second career as an entertainment writer to replace those industry lap-dogs employed by mainstream media?

 

[thirteenbyseven]

Edited to add: I find it distasteful to think that the level of interest in a female character has solely to do with her physical appeal and compliance with what makes male penis/ego happy.

Well the song title was Shallow......

 

[LaFemme]

LaFemme, a magnificently written reply worthy of an op-ed! Have you considered a second career as an entertainment writer to replace those industry lap-dogs employed by mainstream media?

Nope. Too busy with my current writing career!

(But I have no shortage of opinions!)

 

[thirteenbyseven]

Nope. Too busy with my current writing career!

(But I have no shortage of opinions!)

A simple cursory glance at your writing style made me suspect you could connect subject and predicate. A writing career is not for the faint-of-heart.

 

[286798]

I'm not into Marvel type flicks, but Brie Larson is gorgeous so I think some men will go because they'd like to see her, some will go see any Marvel movie, and some will go because it's practically the only action movie out now.

I think there will be a strong showing from women because *girl power*.

 

[MickeyLee]

I'll leave it to Ms @Enid and Ms @LaFemme to elevate this thread beyond dick centric ass-suckery.

 

[EllieP]

It takes a whole lot to get me into a movie theatre these days. And nothing on the marquee recently makes me want to brave the dark to listen to popcorn munchers and sniffles.

I think Gaga is beautiful and Cooper is nice looking. But remember Streisand and Kristofferson? I love Barbra's voice, but Kris? Ooooo! But he's my type. I kinda like older guys.

 

[thirteenbyseven]

I'll leave it to Ms @Enid and Ms @LaFemme to elevate this thread beyond dick centric ass-suckery.

….and then there are others to which "center" has assigned a slightly lower flight level.....

 

[Mule]

The sooner we get away from stereotypical gender roles and all the bullshit expectations and involuntary pigeonholing that goes along with them, the better.

 

[TexanStar]

Guy Flicks vs. Chick Flicks | The Ultimate Movie Making Guidebook!

I was in a weak moment, tired and deadheading back to LAX after a long trip and attempting to kill time. It just happened that my airline had a movie on their latest IFE offerings I'd been trying my best to a avoid. Yup, fresh from the Oscars, A Star is Born. While it didn't lower my testosterone level appreciably I marvel-- excuse the pun-- how much that genre has changed recently.

Venturing into the quicksand I'll say that this latest retool of A Star is Born used a tried-and-true formula of casting a male lead that is more attractive than his female counterpart. Lady Gaga, as immensely talented as she may be, isn't the stuff most men lie awake at night jerking-off to, while Bradley Cooper with his country-western beard, aw-shucks voice lowered an octave and baby-blues probably appeals to a good percentage of women. Heretofore, movies like "Star" and Titantic with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio also followed a conventional chick flick law of attraction which states that the female must have redeeming qualities beyond mere physical appearance which so entice a man that he's woven into her spell. And then throw-in lots of sex tears and ever-after love, even after the male lead croaks.

And then there is 2019 Captain Marvel starring Sacramento's Brianne Desaulniers as Brie Larson. Disney spent a gazillion dollars shoving this movie down our collective throats. Out in Los Angeles Disney-owned KABC sent their own George Pennacchio-- no relation to the Disney-owned cartoon character Pennochio-- to the movie's premiere in Hollywood where we learned bus loads of little girls had been shipped-in to watch their new female role model in-action (and make sure the theater was full.) The Thunderbirds flew in from Nellis AFB near Las Vegas and performed a fly-over of Hollywood Blvd. in the missing man formation to honor a member of that elite aerobatic team who had been killed in a plane crash subsequent to giving Brie Larson tips on-set how to act like a fighter pilot. Lastly Disney, perhaps using the same accounting methods that Donald Trump used when he inflated his net worth from a paltry 788 million to 5 billion according to Forbes, now says Captain "Marvelet" is setting the world on-fire.

My question is how are they achieving this? And more importantly how many men are actually paying to watch it? Back when Titantic was in theaters, groups of coffee-klatch women would party together and go see DiCaprio drown in the Atlantic several times a week: Few men would have that devotion. My guess is there are even fewer male homo sapiens who want to watch a revisionist Marvel character with an attitude "Men? I don't need no stinking men!!!

What say we?

45% of the opening weekend audience for Captain Marvel was women, 55% were men. 52% of the moviegoing audience in general is women. I haven't seen Captain Marvel, but on the basis of those audience gender ratios I don't know that calling it a "chick flick" is appropriate just because it has a female lead.

 

[1359042]

nowadays with those big Lazy Boy recliners in the theaters, there isn't a movie I won't fall asleep to. People were getting so pissed off when I started snoring through Star Wars

 

[Sagittarius84]

I think "Us" reveals a lot of what happens when the woman is placed as the lead capable character, not defined by her sexuality and looks(tho Lupita is all types of chocolate fine) but rather by her capability and strength, and by proxy why men don't flock to it in admiration. For all the praise of the movie, by woman's eyes the lead woman characters strength only exists as a function of the lead male characters weakness; so where we should be looking at his deferral to her leadership as a strength, something to be admired, it gets reinforced that we shouldn't want to be those men because they aren't necessarily desirable(these are underlying messages intentionally included by Jordan Peele). That is, unless they're a "Steve Trevor"(or the black guy in Bird Box), impossibly handsome by conventional physical standards, and willing to die for the main woman character's progression. Captain Marvel is another example..for her solo movie, women seem to flock to the strong, no man needing power she wields(which I too appreciate), so why is it when tossed into Endgame, instead of possible love interests like a slightly older Spider Man or Tony Stark, that have existed in canon, women seem all too eager to ship her with the only Avenger that probably surpasses her in strength/power, Thor?
I think men have made haphazard attempts at it in the past, but I think it's going to take a woman led effort to make movies by which the weaker men in the midst of these strong woman characters are no longer seen as lesser, or are even seen as desirable foundations by which her strength can be wielded, without him having to be model material.

 

[AlteredEgo]

All the intelligent, analytical things that occurred to me have already been written by our resident Wonder Woman. So, I'll say the shallow things that are also true.

I watch Superhero movies. I'm partial to Marvel, preferring that over DC. I'm going to see "Captain Marvel" at some point because it's my genre.

I may get around to seeing "A Star Is Born". The story is familiar, and I like it, and I love Gaga. I have no idea who Bradley Cooper is.

I will see "Us" because I want to be frightened and shocked while being encouraged to think, which is what Jordan Peele's last movie has led me to expect. My Fireplug has been promising to take me. I also want an excuse to hide my frightened self in his comforting embrace. He's so delicious to hold onto.

When I see trailers for movies, my initial reaction is usually "That looks fucking inane. Why the fuck are these bitches condescending to the audience?" Or, "Yeah, I want to see that."

 

[Sagittarius84]

I have no idea who Bradley Cooper is.

As per your area of "expertise", he's Rocket Raccon of Guardians of the Galaxy..lol

 

[AlteredEgo]

As per your area of "expertise", he's Rocket Raccon of Guardians of the Galaxy..lol

Oh. In that case he's got interesting fur and markings.