Grant came across an interesting story in The Star yesterday: Nick Waters, from Oklahoma, has decided that in order to better understand his wife — and the female psyche in general — he is going to watch 30 “chick flicks” in 30 days.
Yes, the movies (i.e. hyper realism) are going to help him better understand his wife.
From The Star:
Waters, who runs a home-based public relations business in a town of 6,000, came up with the idea in July after watching a chick flick, the title of which escapes him, with his wife, Nicci. “Somehow the conversation came up and I said, `Wouldn’t it be cool if I watched 30 chick flicks in a row to get a better understanding of women?’ And my wife said it was a great idea.”
Starting Jan. 15, Waters will watch a different movie each evening for a month. Some he’ll watch alone, others with his wife, mom and mother-in-law. They’ll discuss the movie, and Waters will write a review and post it by the next day.
I realize that this is all probably in good fun, and maybe watching movies that have no bearing on reality will help him better understand his wife, but I think playing into these kinds of gender stereotypes isn’t cute and funny so much as it is risky (for both the men and the women).
As Grant pointed out, instead of watching movies for 30 days, why doesn’t he just talk to his wife each evening? Surely that will help him understand her.
Hell, maybe this is exactly what he needs to do to “get” his wife. Everybody is different. But in general, I hope that women aren’t watching rom-coms thinking “oh, if only my life could be like that!” and I hope that men aren’t watching them thinking, “oh, is that what my wife wants?”
If you’re interested in Waters’ experiment, you can follow his reviews here, and even suggest movies to watch.
Amy Breen
One Response to “Oklahoma man has no clue”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
I was wildly unimpressed with this guy’s plan. Frankly, I think movies are a great way to avoid social interaction, and, at 90 minutes a rom-com, he’s planning to spend 45 hours this month staring at a screen instead of interacting with his wife.
I’ll concede that it can be relationship-strengthening to take an interest in things that your spouse enjoys, and if she really likes chick flicks, then building a shared base of experience could help.
But no one should look to often male-written and male-directed “chick flicks” for anything except the most stereotypical of gender stereotypes.