Final Project Option 1
“Chick Flick” Genre Analysis & Critique

We often watch popular films uncritically without consciously accounting for the way in which they set up sex-role binaries (that separate human characteristics into male and female) and from these, insinuate proper heterosexist practices and desires for women and men.

If you have selected this project, your final product will be a cultural critique / report consisting of 1,000-1,250 words in length, double-spaced. It will adhere to MLA format. It will include a works cited page (including the three films and the three readings from the course). No other sources are permitted—do not “Google” or do online hunting to try to side-step this assignment. Plagiarism will result in an immediate zero.

Select a minimum of three films (but no more than five) from the list below to watch:

• Pretty Woman
• Maid To Order
• Sleepless in Seattle
• How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days
• 10 Things I Hate About You
• The Devil Wears Prada
• The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants
• How Stella Got Her Groove Back
• Legally Blonde
• Waiting to Exhale
• Mad Love
• Practical Magic
• The Bodyguard
• Thelma & Louise
• Steel Magnolias
• Beaches
• Dirty Dancing
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s
• Bridesmaids
• Working Girl
• Amelie
• Bridget Jones’ Diary
• Father of the Bride
• It’s Complicated
• The Notebook
• Out of Africa
• Terms of Endearment
• Fried Green Tomatoes
• Sweet Home Alabama

Even if you have seen the film previously, you’ll need to watch it again. You are going to be watching through the lens of someone knowledgeable about women’s studies, feminism, and the concepts in this course. Do not expect to be able to do this project well if you do not watch the films in their entirety—even if you have seen them in the past. These should all be available at your local video store, on Netflix or another streaming service, or can be obtained via your local library.

Your submitted paper should follow this structure:

• A clearly articulated, intriguing, attention-getting title that you develop

• An introductory paragraph that seeks to capture your reader’s attention, introduce the focus of your paper, and has a clearly articulated thesis statement

• For each film, provide a short summary of no more than 150 words that summarizes the plot and provides any necessary background. For instance, when was the film produced? Who stars in it? Who is the target audience for the film? You can organize these in your paper as one paragraph—or three shorter paragraphs.

• Next, you will analyze how various female characters are compared to one another—and also, you will analyze how the romantic narrative is set up and played out as the only narrative of value for women. Do the films you’ve watched set young women up for unrealistic expectations in terms of love relationships and their own identity? You can use personal examples as well. Be very specific in your analysis, provide examples and details, and assume that your reader hasn’t watched these and must rely on the level of specificity in your examples to understand your point(s). This section is probably going to be 3-4 paragraphs in length—at least—to fully respond to the prompt/question.

• Add to the analysis the whole category known as “chick flicks” and examine the assumptions implicit in its use based on our learning and studies in this course. Based on your viewing of these films (do NOT look this stuff up!), what constitutes a chick flick? What characteristics, symbols, motifs, images, and patterns are prevalent? How is “gender” portrayed, written, and expected? Use a gender-based reading—and feminist reading—of the text to conduct your analysis. You must refer to at least three readings from our course in your project—and include these on your MLA-formatted works cited page. This section is probably going to be 3-4 paragraphs in length—at least—in order to fully analyze the “chick flick” genre.

• A concluding paragraph that wraps up the concepts, ideas, and your analysis

This paper should be double-spaced. All ideas not your own, quotes, and paraphrases must be cited. Include a Works Cited page.