Chick Flicks

P.S. I Love You, Pride & Prejudice, Titanic, Dirty Dancing, Pretty Woman, Ever After - chick flicks. What is it about them that makes our heart melt? From Gone With the Wind and Grease to Moulin Rouge and The Notebook, they tell the perfect story. Whether it's falling for your best friend named Harry or committing suicide because you can't be with your Romeo, they always know what women want to hear. And no matter how extreme or different the plot is, the story is always the same. The woman is trapped. She meets a man who sets her free. There's conflict. And then they're together and forever in love.

Does this appeal to women because they feel like they're constantly trapped? And if so, who's fault is that? Disney is a pro at chick flicks. They help mold us to believe that somewhere out there our Prince Charming is waiting to carry us away on his white horse and that in the meantime we should fight the evil stepmother who prevents us from having what we deserve. Delightful, isn't it? Even my own mother has told me as a child to not let any man treat me as anything less than "a princess."

But that sort of thing doesn't really happen. We find a suitable husband, settle down with a dog and small house with a white picket fence, and have 2.5 kids that we take to soccer practice every saturday morning. I see no white stallion awaiting. And what man in his right mind would willingly love a woman (the bane of his sex's existence) for eternity?

Some movies are a little more realistic than others... Afterall, it's not everyday that a man named Wesley will become a dreaded pirate that follows your kidnappers, climb up a cliff to fight a giant, outwit an Argentinian with poison, come back from the dead, and still save you from the prince that's trying to marry you in front of a priest that can't say the word "marriage" correctly. However, at the same time, how realistic are those movies? How often do you REALLY meet someone online that isn't 49-years-old and still living in his mother's basement? Or have you actually ever heard of two secret agents finding out after years of being married that they love each other unconditionally? No. It doesn't exist.

So should I give up all my whimsical flights of fantasy now? I mean, if I'm just going to graduate from college, get a job, settle down with a man, and take my kids to soccer practice then that's what I should look forward to, right? Why waste time dreaming up something that could never be true? Am I still too childish inside? Am I so naive to think that it could still come true? Not the pirate or secret agent part, but could someone really take me away on a white horse?

But what if I'm so busy trying to find the perfect guy that I take a really great guy for granted and pass up an amazing opportunity? He wouldn't even have a chance. Especially when comparing him to someone like Noah from The Notebook or William from A Knight's Tale... I haven't even met him and my standards for him are already impossibly high. Poor boy. He never saw it coming.