This post should open with a disclaimer: I have not seen the last ten (or more) chick flick/rom coms that have come out. I have not seen any since The Proposal, which I saw at home many, many moons after its release date. And I watched it to see my friend, Sandy. I have not seen any Katherine Heigl movie since Knocked-Up and I have not seen any Kate Hudson movies since that cute one where the dude from My Big Fat Greek Wedding was a priest or rabbi or something. The last movie I saw in the movie theater was about Eeyore losing his tail.
But tonight, I have another “friend” to add to my celebrity inner circle of my dreams: Mindy Kaling, writer, actress, producer of The Office. I follow her on Twitter and pretend her inside jokes are directed to me. I can just picture brunch with Mindy, Sandy, Tina and me (with Alice and Louis and Tina’s new baby all eating Pirate Booty and playing in the next room with my boys). Don’t worry, Mindy, it would be fun and we’d talk about more than our kids and diaper changes–though there would be some pretty funny stories of Cheerios up the nose and crazy antics at the playground. C’mon, kids say the darnedest things!
Mindy wrote a piece in The New Yorker on the types of women populating romantic comedy movies these days. And the sad fact that we all love these types of movies even though we lose IQ points before the credits roll.
I love her take on the frantic working woman with the severe bun yelling into her headset and reminding people just how busy she is. There are also the zany sidekicks, the sexy weirdos and the super young mother of the male lead.
The article got me thinking about other types of women in films and I came up with two more:
The Origin of the Stupid MILF Trend (Am I the only one who cringes when women seem to aspire to that “status”? Ayiyiyi. Don’t get me started on that one.)
Beautiful middle aged women willing to have affairs with high school boys. They are blonde and attractive and don’t smell at all of wine coolers and Camel Lights. That is how you know they are the movie versions and not the real life ones. (e.g. Jaqueline Bisset in Class–ok it was Rob Lowe but, still. I always thought that actress was Dyan Cannon. Do they look alike or is it just me?)
The Beautiful Girl Misunderstood as the Lonely Outsider
The “ugly duckling” who has glasses or wears her hair in a ponytail. She is usually smart, articulate and bitter. This is the staple of teen romantic comedies and probably the source of my obsession with makeovers and makeover shows. A smooth blow out, some blush, a pair of contacts, some well boosted cleavage and voila–happiness and acceptance.
What other types of women are depicted way too often in films?
I’ve been thinking…Maybe we can form a screenwriting group: you, me and Mindy. We can write the screenplay for that Apples to Apples 4D movie and keep it real.
Mindy, can you see if Tina wants to join us? I’ll bring the coffee and donuts.
