November 13, 2005

Why aren't you reading that essay?

I was going to read this essay -- about "chick flicks" -- but it started with the most annoyingly boring way to start an essay: by quoting a damned dictionary definition.

5 comments:

Meade said...

So I take it you didn't read the essay. That's a shame, as the writer makes some pretty good points about popular culture, feminism, and the marginalization of a class of people, in this case - women.

I like this line at the end: "As someone who was a kid throughout the women's movement, I thought feminism had largely to do with whether your mother was anti-Barbie or Barbie-neutral."

Ron said...

Ann, I feel you were right to pass; pretty cliched writing.

Ann Althouse said...

Commenters are free to summarize the argument. I did skim it, saw nothing interesting, including the Barbie line, went back to the top, started to read, and said, no, this is not a good use of my time. Kind of a "Blink" thing.

knox said...

OMG, the "dictionary definition"... I work in advertising, and let me tell you, once you start looking for it, you realize it is EVERYWHERE.

Harkonnendog said...

Horrible essay. Rather than looking at chick flicks to figure out what they have in common the author dismisses the idea that chick flicks have underlying similarities and says society sucks.

Crap!

Chick flicks ARE chick flicks. The term exists for a number of reasons, which a paid essayist should be able to figure out. If you want to argue that they don't all suck that's an entirely different argument.