A "Chick Flick" And A "Prick Flick" For The Weekend!

In 2017, Gloria Steinem wrote an OpEd for The New York Times in which she discussed how the term, "Chick Flick," invented by men, was meant as a pejorative, or intended to denote any movie with a female lead, a plot that gave you the feels, and "more dialogue than car chases." 

Helpfully, she offered up her own term for its opposite, "The Prick Flick," or any movie with lots of menz in the forefront, oodles of action,  or "prestige" subject matter from the High Church of Hollywood, and few, in any, female characters (besides girlfriend, hand-wringing housewife, or bangable side piece).  

But something funny happened on the way to the post-Covid cinema. Everyone and their kitten, it seems, wants to see both The Chick Flick, or "Barbie," and The Prick Flick, or "Oppenheimer." There's even folks who plan to see both as a double feature on the same day. Are we evolving? Hahahaha! Not so fast, tiger. 

Some politicians have tried - oh, how they tried! - to demonize "Barbie" as the ultimate Chick Flick, going so far as to complain that there's a trans actress in a role, and more urgently, by warning their followers that Ken has no peen or cojones (I'm not kidding) (I assume he has a taint, though I haven't looked at a Ken in a while) (or maybe that's wishful thinking on my part). 

But The Chick Flick is already dusting The Prick Flick in Thursday previews, which means as much as menz like their bang-bang movies, they, too, want in on the pink. 

And what of "Oppenheimer," its poster above seeming to promise one hell of a cum shot explosion? For starters, it's three-hours long - drain that prick before taking your seats, boys! - and it's received rapturous reviews, while the director is being hailed as a "visionary," a denotation strictly reserved for Prick Flick directors making "important" cine-mah. 

Despite it's lesser Thursday take, fear not for its b.o.! "Oppenheimer" is in it for the Oscar-baition long haul, plus it cost almost $50 million less to make "Barbie." But wait, what about the politicians demonizing The Chick Flick? What have they got to say about The Prick Flick? Oddly, they're silent, even though many of them jizzed with excitement about the director's 2008 movie, "The Dark Knight," (also known as "The Ode to Fascist Law Enforcement" and an arguably fawning allegory for George Bush's war on terriers). 

Frankly, I think we are evolving, or at least moviegoers are, and most of them are under 30 years-old. This makes me want to do a happy jig! Because both guys and gals really-really want to see a gleefully silly doll movie and a wrenching true-life story about the atomic bomb. The young'uns will save us, you guys, because at last, the Chicks and the Pricks are jacking and jilling together. 

Photo Credits: Revolver News; Getty Photos; Warner Bros; Universal; Etsy