Oh... I thought that they were talking about movies like "Bound," with Gina Gershon... My bad.
Mark
Posted on 01/10/2008 3:10:48 PM PST by blam
True Story? Men Prefer 'Chick Flicks' When They Are Explicitly Fictionalized
ScienceDaily (Jan. 10, 2008) — Characterized by a heart-tugging plot, emotional melodrama is a subtype of dramatic entertainment that fosters deep emotional reactions on the part of the consumer. Often labelled "chick-flicks," "tearjerkers," or "human interest stories," the importance of this form of entertainment is underscored by the popularity and success of movies like Titanic and the "Oprah Winfrey Show." However, despite the apparent popularity of melodramatic entertainment, scant academic attention has been paid to the genre.
Now, new research examines emotional melodrama and finds a significant difference between how men and women view stories about protagonists who overcome challenges through sacrifice and bravery. While women tended to prefer stories that seem to be true, men enjoyed stories more when they were specifically told that they are fictionalized.
"Providing explicit information that the story is make-believe may have enabled low empathizers (males in this case) to relax emotion norms and become more involved in the story, in turn resulting in more favorable evaluations of the entertainment," explain Jennifer J. Argo (University of Alberta), Rui (Juliet) Zhu and Darren W. Dahl (both University of British Columbia). "The more empathetic a person is, the more s/he will be involved and immersed into the story and transported into the world of the narrative."
In fact, the researchers found that men were less likely to endorse gender stereotypes, such as "men should not cry," when they thought the story was fictitious versus true, supporting this idea that they were temporarily discarding social norms and allowing themselves to enjoy the story, according to the researchers.
"At a practical level our research findings speak to an increasingly popular trend in the entertainment industry wherein publishers and producers indicate at the outset of the story or program its level of fictionality (i.e., whether it is based on actual facts)," the researchers write. "Signaling the nature of the fictionality of a story or program may be one possible way of targeting specific segments in audiences."
Jennifer J. Argo, Rui (Juliet) Zhu and Darren W. Dahl, "Fact or Fiction: An Investigation of Empathy Differences in Response to emotional Melodramatic Entertainment." Journal of Consumer Research: February 2008.
Adapted from materials provided by University of Chicago Press Journals
Ill buy you the ice cream, deal?
Deal.
Oh... I thought that they were talking about movies like "Bound," with Gina Gershon... My bad.
Mark
Well, try to remember that Aliens is about 20 years old now...
I just thought of one other role she had... She had a part that lasted about 20 seconds in "The Presidio." She played the MP that was murdered on the base.
Mark
Just saw ATONEMENT, which seemed a little like that. Both masculine & feminine qualities -- romance, sensuality, yet war & intellectual conflict. I highly recommend it.
She was the Irish Mom in Titanic, right?
The only scene that actually brought tears to my eyes was when she was telling the kids a bedtime story before they drowned.
However, one of the FReepers recommended "10th and Wolf". NOT a chick flick.
Marvelous cast (*ahem*), but let me tell you, at one point even I had to look away from it. It is violent, really violent, but unbelievably good! A totally unheard of movie.
Sadly,
I’ve already been spoiled about the ending (I’m glad I was) it has a nasty twist that would have me throwing my shoes at the screen.
My #1 rule is a happy ending. Thank you though!
Best chick flick I’ve seen is enchanted.
Right now I’m doing repeats of Transformers. Just love it when the autobots fall to earth - good music!
Transformers is awesome.
The last one I recall liking was “Serendipity”. In recent years I’ve barely gone to movies because they cost too much and there are so many leftist touch-holes in Hollywood, and they don’t deserve my money.
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