Can women be cool?

In their blogs following last week's screening of Jules and Jim, the students in my film class took up the question of whether cool is something inextricably tied to the male gender.  (Present company excepted, of course.)  Our post-class discussion yielded opinions on two contrasting poles: (1) If a woman is cool, it is because she cultivates the toughness, detachment, and dominance characteristic of cool men.  (2) Any woman who achieves a certain level of popularity is de facto cool, because the people buying her records/watching her films/etc. consider her cool.

Here's what they wrote about when they got a chance to deliberate on the question in their own spaces.  If you see something that intrigues you, leave them a comment!

• Amanda sees cool love in the relationship of Christian and Sabine from Moulin Rouge.
  
• Emileigh thinks cool love can be found in the fanciful romance of Kate and Leopold.
• Hayley proposes Elizabeth Bennett and Arwen as women made cool by their devotion.
• Julie thinks that Elizabeth Bennett, Bella, and Michelle Obama prove that cool is ephemeral.
• Brittney suggests that Jules and Jim's Catherine is cool because she shares an independent streak with Juno and Idgie Threadgoode.
• Logan equates cool love with Henry and Lucy in 50 First Dates.
• Luke finds cool women in The Chronicles of Riddick, The Devil Wears Prada, and Burn Notice.
• John contrasts the vision of cool love in Moulin Rouge and The Girl Next Door.
• Jason perpetuates a class theme when he chooses Amber and Wilson from House as his cool couple.
• Lucy sees a similarity between Truffaut's method and the artistry of Robert Rauschenberg and Kanye West.
• Amy adds Maggie Gyllenhall in Stranger Than Fiction, Meg Griffin in Family Guy, and Keira Knightley in Pirates of the Caribbean to her personal MFDG pantheon.