Jessica Kolditz / Scroll Photo Illustration
Sharing a tender moment with his date while watching a romantic flick, Dan Hawkes, a junior from Sugar City, Idaho, sheds a few tears.

Chick flicks and the men who watch them

Genevieve Erickson ERI03003@BYUI.EDU Scroll Staff

 It is a situation guys all over the campus can relate to. They’re on a date, hanging out with their girlfriend or spending the holidays with family and someone suggests watching a movie.

If the group is mainly female, action movies are vetoed, dramas turned down, horror/suspense refused and the inevitable “chick flick” wins. The men in the group groan.

Evan Hansen, a junior from Weiser, Idaho, said, “in my house the women rule, so the ‘chick flicks’ always win.”

Trying to describe what exactly makes a movie a “chick flick” isn’t easy. Most guys agree that romance plays a major part, but not all movies with a love story are “chick flicks.”

“[It’s where] the main focus of the movie is romance, not action,” said Daniel Shaw, a junior from Alexandria, Va.

“A ‘chick flick’ has a lovey-dovey feeling. It ends when either the guy and girl fall in love or one of them dies,” said Bryan Thomason, a sophomore from Weiser, Idaho.

“They let women who are unlucky in love feel good about men and relationships,” Shaw said.

As much as they may groan and deny it, there are some things guys like about “chick flicks.”

Hansen said a plus of watching romance movies is that you can always talk about them afterwards without getting bored.

Sometimes guys dislike “chick flicks” because of what girls do. Harvey Bragg, a freshman from Medford, Ore. said he hates it when girls giggle too much during movies or even worse, when girls swoon over guys in the movie.

Hansen said, “It makes me want to say ‘What am I? Dirt?’”

For guys who hate “chick flicks” but have a girlfriend who likes watching them, Hansen suggests a compromise. “She gets to watch one ‘chick flick’ for every action movie you watch together,” Hansen said.

Sometimes watching a “chick flick” is inevitable, particularly around this time of the year. It’s Valentine’s Day and girls want to watch “chick flicks.” Guys offer advice on how to survive when forced to watch a “chick flick.”

“Grin and bear it. Be patient. They’re usually short,” Shaw said.

“If you’re with a girl, it’s a sacrifice you have to make sometimes,” said Ethan Anderson, a freshman from Blackfoot, Idaho.

“At least watch it with a girl. If you have to watch it you might as well get something out of it,” Bragg said.