Chix Flix
By Samantha Cook
It’s a decade since the first Bridget Jones book was published, and a plethora of imitators followed in its wake but, despite marking the beginning of a literary phenomenon, the hugely successful film version of Bridget Jones’ Diary joined an existing canon of films rather than being a trailblazer.
The Rough Guide to Chick Flicks by Samantha Cook is the perfect fan’s guide to the fifty essential films in the genre, and includes profiles of the icons of chick flicks and plot précis. Often considered a guilty pleasure owing to the frothy substance of so many of these films, Cook approaches the subject matter from a different perspective and incorporates many films which do not fit the formulaic stereotype and are categorised by their strong female narrative or the positioning of women in centre stage.
The format of the book is akin to one of those interminable list programmes with which Channels 4 and 5 seem determined to pack their schedules, but slightly less annoying and so is ideal for dipping into. Charting the genre from its origins in melodrama in the late nineteenth century, the book also races through the glamorous Hollywood classics of the 1930s, the ubiquitous blonde bombshells of the 1950s and the invasion of feminism in the 1970s. Cook skips through chick flicks in their many different incarnations making use of the classic literary juxtaposition of the Madonna / whore female figure.
Some of the icons of the canon are somewhat surprising representatives of chick flicks but are indicative of Cook’s emphasis on strong female figures; Jodie Foster and Susan Sarandon amongst the modern figures and Hepburns, Katharine and Audrey, representing the earlier period. Cook also examines the link between literature and film considering the prolific cinematic output inspired by Jane Austen – Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, not forgetting the modern adaptations such as Clueless. Toni Morrison and Alice Walker are also included, along with a discussion of the adaptations of Beloved and The Color Purple again emphasising the importance the strong female narrative.
Cook also provides a definitive list of the top ten chick flicks of all time with the coveted number one position occupied by Thelma and Louise which, in addition to being a chick flick, is also a road movie, a buddy film and a harrowing representation of women in oppressive relationships. Oh, and she slates Notting Hill, the nauseating ‘film’ in which Julia Roberts plays a famous actress and Hugh Grant a bumbling upper class Brit, which in itself makes the book worth the cover price.
Rough Guides, £9.99. Review by Helen Griffiths |
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