Are "Chick Flicks" Just 'Emotional Pornography'?

His blog project, which has picked up national media attention in the past few weeks, asks the question, "How far would you go to understand the opposite sex?"

With the help of his family, friends, and Internet strangers, he compiled a list of 30 films from the past three years and watched one each night leading up to Valentine's Day, ending with a screening of Valentine's Day on February 13. Each day he blogged his thoughts on the previous night's selection, highlighting his observations on what the movie taught him about women. The blog is now becoming a book and has inspired many to take the "chick flick challenge."

But do chick flicks really speak for women? Do we want them to? As Kate Harding at Broadsheet pointed out, only 11 of the 30 films were directed by women (though this is more than the 9 percent of female-directed films in 2008's top 250). The state of chick flicks has been lamented by many -- director Nora Ephron's list of favorite romantic comedies included only one released since 1990 (Sense and Sensibility, a Jane Austen adaptation). There are few traditional chick flicks that I could actually point to as in some way reflective of how I think -- particularly as a Christian woman, and the ways my faith convictions should shape my thinking on the stuff chick flicks are made of: relationships, marriage, and what makes a "happily ever after."