Chick flick

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The term chick flick is slang for a movie that appeals mainly to women or young girls, either by design or popular consensus. The term is relatively new – dating back to that bumper crop of women's movies in the 1980s and 90s that included classics like Beaches, Pretty Woman and Ghost. The concept of movies designed to appeal specifically to women has existed since the early days of cinema and has been known by other colloquial terms, including "women's pictures". However, women's films such as Brief Encounter, Gone with the Wind and many classic 50s melodramas such as Now Voyager and several directed by Douglas Sirk, it might be argued, are sufficiently different in tone and content to be considered substantialy different and "chick flicks" to be seen as a sub-genre of women's film.

Film critic Molly Haskell suggested that chick flicks are very different from the women's films of the 40s and 50s in that they now "sing a different tune". She feels that they are "more defiant and upbeat, post-modern and post-feminist".

One key element of chick flicks is a respectable female lead struggling with a romantic predicament. Another prevalent theme centers on the close relationships among female friends. Due to the focus on romance or relationships, chick flicks are typically categorized as romances or romantic comedies.

Several chick flicks have been patterned after the story of Cinderella or other fairy tales (e.g. The Princess Diaries, A Cinderella Story, Ever After, Pretty Woman and Roman Holiday), or even Shakespeare in the cases of "She's the Man" and "10 Things I Hate About You"; a large number are adapted from popular novels (e.g. The Devil Wears Prada) and literary classics (e.g. Little Women).

McFedries, Paul. Chick flicks. Word Spy. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.

Feel Good Movies. Crème de la Crème (Esparagon.com). Retrieved on 2007-02-25.