On chick flicks

Chick flicks.  Words that inspire a cavalcade of reactions in most men.  Most of these reactions are not, well, positive.  I am certainly one of them.  In my experience, most movies tagged as "chick flicks" are contrived, hackneyed, and treacle.  They are, by and large, awful.

Suffice to say, the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML and I have not reached a consensus on the movies we see on "date night."  Many times, I'd wind up seeing the chick flick she'd wanted to see on the plane and it would confirm my suspicions that it was awful.  I'd get off the trip and let SML know that we'd been wise not to see said movie.  Once our daughters were old enough, they started going with their mom to the latest chick flick, usually drivel inspired by author (and I use that term so, so loosely) Nicholas Sparks, and all was good.

I wrote my senior thesis on the role of grace in Southern fiction (God bless you, Flannery O'Connor! and shame on you, Mr. Sparks) and have always enjoyed Southern fiction.  Knowing my affinity for that genre, SML insisted that I read The Help after she'd read it.  It was one of those reads that I considered thought-provoking and figured if the book were made into a movie, I'd probably go see it. 

Last night was date night and we decided to see "The Help."  It was, in a word, moving.  It was really, really good.  Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called it "a deeply touching human story filled with humor and heartbreak...makes The Help an exhilarating gift."  You can read his review here.  There were moments of soaring, laugh out loud humor juxtaposed with scenes of racism that made you terribly uncomfortable, as they should have.  I asked myself several times during the movie, 'Did people really treat other people this way?  Simply because of the color of their skin?'  It wasn't easy to watch.  But I'm glad I did.  The author of the book, Kathryn Stockett, has said she could never truly understand what it was like to be black at the dawn of the civil rights movement, "but trying to understand is vital to our humanity."

She's right.  Trying to understand is vital to our humanity.  I liked what I felt, yes felt, in absorbing the message of this movie.  I'm not too proud to admit I really liked this chick flick.  You know what, it wasn't a chick flick.  It's a movie about humanity.  I'm glad I saw it.  And sit through the credits so you can hear Mary J. Blige crush the movie's theme song.  It's an incredible performance.