I have been fighting a cold for about the last two weeks. The part where I actually felt sick went away pretty quickly, but the rest of the symptoms -- the cough, runny nose, a nearly complete loss of my voice -- hung around for the above mentioned two weeks. So I was pretty excited a few days ago when I was feeling healthy again. Until last night, that is, when I came down with a bad fever and chills. Because of that, for the last 24 hours, I've been staying in bed, trying to keep warm and sane.
Which brings me to the chick flicks. I was lounging on the couch, because it makes a nice change from lounging in bed, and one of my favorite chick flicks was on TV. Of course I watched it, and as the amazingly random happenstances unfolded, I realized that these kinds of movies are way better when one is in a fevered haze. I don't know if it's the fever or the cold medicine, but it all seemed so fresh and funny and romantic. This is a movie I've watched probably a hundred times and I can almost quote, but I enjoyed it like it was, say, only my tenth viewing.
This led me to think that perhaps a fevered haze is the optimum state for watching silly, contrived chick flicks. We all know that objectively these movies are bad, but we have so much fun watching them. We love getting caught up in the story, wondering if deeply flawed yet charming leading man and the plucky blond heroine will ever work it out. The escapist nature of these movies is what makes them fun, even though they are sappy, predictable and usually poorly written. However, when one is slightly loopy from the combined effects of a fever and cold medicine, the bad writing and cliched situations are just that much better. You quit nit-picking details and just sit back and enjoy the silliness of it all.
I have decided from now on that I plan on saving the chick flicks in my DVD collection for sick days. Why watch them on days when I'm sound in mind and body and will not enjoy them properly? It's a much better idea to partake of the genre when I can most benefit: when I'm loopy, drugged up and so bored that anything even mildly entertaining seems like a good idea.
