| Do women and men like different types of films? Are there certain things in films that one gender prefers over the other? The stereotypical answer is yes. "Boy films," "Girl films," and "Chick flicks," are all terms used in support of this idea. How true is it? That is the purpose of this dissertation. Specifically, three questions were asked: (1) Are there gender differences in movie preferences? (2) If so, what specific properties define these films as gender differentiated? (3) What are some possible reasons for the appeal of these properties to each gender? Using David Bordwell's model of Historical Poetics and a combination of empirical study, content analysis, and literature review, this dissertation addresses these three questions.;An empirical study, using a questionnaire aimed at discovering which films the respondents most preferred, resulted in 31 of 111 total films showing a significant difference between genders on preference ratings. Of these, 28 films were preferred by women and 3 were preferred by men. It was also found, however, that the overall rankings were similar for women and men. One is led to conclude that women and men have preference differences on specific films but tend to agree on the general quality of films.;As a follow-up, a content analysis was conducted on some of the films that showed a gender preference. Seven properties were hypothesized as being potential contributors to gender preference. Four of these: sex of protagonist, number of protagonists, number of expressions of sadness, and number of acts of violence were found to be significant or have promising trends.;Finally, a review of literature from various disciplines in psychology, including such areas as social identity theory, emotion, emotional expression, and aggression, was undertaken to offer possible explanations for the four above mentioned properties. |
