YThe Greatest Social Injustice of All Time
I have watched more movies the past few weeks than I had in the first half of the year. (I remember Charmaine telling me to watch movies to destress once my exams came round...never actually thought I'd be doing it!) And after the numerous romantic comedies/chick flicks/love stories on the big screen, I realised, one night, while lying in bed trying in vain to get to sleep (so this is what Jac thinks about in her spare time), that they all have one thing in common.
(Hold the rolling eyeballs, please, I know there's more than one thing in common)
Here's the typical romantic comedy formula:
1. Boy meets girl, and usually they hate each other at first sight
2. They end up working together for some noble cause (e.g. Jennifer Garner and whatsisname to save Poise in '13 Going on 30') and somehow end up attracted to each other
3. They work together to get the job done and everything looks fine and dandy until
4. One of them discovers the other did this really horrible thing to him (like how Kate Hudson pretended to fall in love with Matthew McConaughey in 'How to Lose A Guy in Ten Days') and it hurts him and he runs away
5. When the other party discovers what has happened she goes after him (this is the climax)
6. She finds him (usually in this super-romantic place, like the place they first met or something) and says sorry
7. And they live happily ever after
Okay. I love these sort of movies. In fact, they're the only type of movies I watch (go ahead and gag, Ben). But (bear with me here) I have come across a SERIOUS SOCIAL INJUSTICE that plagues almost every romantic comedy I can remember watching.
Consider the following pattern.
Jennifer Garner goes after Matt, who has run away to get married to his fiance after discovering that she intended to stop hiring him as her photographer in '13 Going on 30' and gets a doll house in return. Julianne Moore flies from Ireland back to the US after Pierce Brosnan in 'Laws of Attraction', Julia Roberts literally runs after Michael in 'My Best Friend's Wedding' (but then again, he's running after Kimmy), Kate Bosworth drives after Pete in 'Win A Date With Tad Hamilton' in the rain...
Bridget Jones' Diary, Never Been Kissed, Center Stage...look, even in Spider-Man 2, Kirsten Dunst skips her own wedding to go after Tobey Maguire.
Do you realise, that almost every time, it's the girl that makes the mistake and has to go after th guy to apologise before they live happily ever after? Isn't that unfair?
Why us? And aren't guys supposed to be the one who chase after us? Is this some weird, warped role reversal trick producers pull on us to get $8.50 out of our pockets? Because we're still watching these movies. What happens if every girl follows what these movies say and goes after the guy because she thinks she did something wrong when in fact she didn't? It's almost like they're telling us, as long as we women apologise and be sorry and submissive to our boyfriends we'll live happily ever after.
This is a dangerous conclusion. We must take action quickly before this shallow philosophy robs us of our proud status as females and convinces us that we are nothing but bonsai plants, put on display as symbols of status!
WOMEN OF THE WORLD, UNITE! JOIN ME IN PUTTING AN END TO THIS DISCRIMINATION!
WE WILL BOYCOTT CHICK FLICKS! WE WILL REFUSE TO PAY $8.50 TO WATCH A FILM THAT DEGRADES OUR FEMINITY! WE WILL MAKE A STAND!
jac was here with you
9/21/2004 01:44:00 pm
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