Are "Chick Flicks" in The Pink of Health?
- Alisha
- Dec 18, 2025
- 4 min read
Have chick flicks been left behind in the 2000s? From rom-com classics to today's female-led films, our Film and TV writer, Alisha, looks into what we've lost and what still sparkles.
Have you ever been at a movie night where someone prefaces by saying: “If it’s a chick flick, I’m not watching”? Sigh. Chick flicks are often seen as trashy films lacking in serious subject matter, and ones that only women are “allowed” to somewhat enjoy explicitly.
Whenever I take a trip to IMDb's chick-flick page, it's been a personal curiosity as to why some of these films are grouped together. At the top, there are well-known classics like Pretty Woman. Then, you move down to the high-school movies and hit Heathers. If you scroll further, you get Steel Magnolias. This trio differs so widely in tone, mood, premise and genre that it’s pretty arbitrary to call them ‘chick flicks’, right?
Well, upon further research, it can be confirmed that chick flicks are defined as movies centered around female characters and are targeted towards the female audience. So, they can actually come from a variety of genres. But whenever we hear the term, the boom of 90s-2000s romantic comedies instantly come to mind. An era where films were renowned for emphasizing the pursuit of love in a dull, sometimes cruel, world.
Where Have All The Chick Flicks Gone?
It’s surprisingly hard to pinpoint the current state of chick flicks. As of lately, it hasn’t been a term that’s thrown around much, and there are several reasons why. One theory explores a shift in what the audience views as shallow.
Even though movies that fall under the chick flick genre are still being made today, the spotlight that garnered them as cheap and empty now falls onto films like Wattpad adaptations that are on the rise across multiple streaming platforms. Especially with aspects such as the continued perpetuation of toxic relationships between young-adult characters, like in The Kissing Booth and the After series, as well as the occasional lackluster casting and cheap production, these adaptations are now at the forefront of being “cringe” cinema.
Also, it may be that the formula of the 2000s romcom is overshadowing the definition of the genre. No longer is it about the target audience than it is about the image of a protagonist chasing their beloved through New York City to profess their love that plants itself in our brains and pops up whenever chick flicks are mentioned.
Stuck in the 2000s Time Capsule
Nevertheless, it’s common knowledge that many chick flick cult classics wouldn’t exactly age like wine. Some jokes simply won't land anymore and in response there have been unnecessary attempts at overcorrection.
Movies like 2019's Charlie's Angels and Mulan push forth “#girlpower#girlboss” so aggressively to the point of patronisation. Because they’re remakes, they also suggest that empowered women of today can't get their own story without recycling old narratives with a new script. In that case, retiring the term ‘chick flick’ might finally allow female-driven films to escape a category that no longer fits them.
With ‘chick flicks’ being left behind in the 2000s, the film industry can now start dismantling the idea that stories about women are secondary. With a blank slate, a new path can be formed for female storytelling, involving the recognition of these films as “films” instead of isolation under another umbrella term.
When The Glitter Starts to Fade…
In hindsight, chick flicks tended to perpetuate sexist views and lack representation for non-white and LGBTQ+ characters, making them the butt of the joke or leaving them excluded. As a medium of entertainment aimed at women, chick flicks would’ve been relied on as a means of gender socialisation.
For instance, the make-over montages create images of what one should look like to be accepted into society. The portrayal of slim but indulgent women creates contradictions between one’s figure and relationship to food as diets are frowned upon.
There are also work-based narratives which paint career women, like Miranda Priestley, as self-centered and missing out on relationships and motherhood. So why are they still loved today? There is definitely a sense of nostalgia in the unpolitically romantic bubble of chick flicks that we long for amidst the hum of the jaded world, where injustice and conflict are at the forefront of media.
A Little Bit Of Sparkle Still Remains
What I love most, however, are the female experiences shown in the many roles and expectations we assume: 27 Dresses prioritises finding one’s self worth while being a stable support system to others; Legally Blonde challenges the notion that unapologetic femininity and intelligence are mutually exclusive; The Edge of Seventeen explores how overcoming teenage self-loathing doesn’t come without its challenges. No matter the year of release, when done right, they seem to hug you in all your conditions.
Undoubtedly, chick flicks will forevermore be dismissed as unserious and boring, which tends to happen with things that are deemed feminine. Another sigh. So don’t be a snob, just watch a chick flick.
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