(no subject)

[deckardcanine]

In the last few days, I've noticed something about reaction predictions:

When somebody says something to the effect of "You'll either love it or hate it" or "You'll either laugh or not get it at all," I usually do neither. It doesn't bother me to avoid pigeonholing like that. In fact, it rather amuses me.

When somebody says, "You can't help but laugh," and I hardly even smile on the inside, I feel the slightest trace of annoyance at not sharing the allegedly universal joy, but it's no big deal.

But when somebody says, "You can't help but cry," and I don't come close to crying, I feel like there's something wrong with me. Senses of humor may vary wildly, but differences in compassion are harder to tolerate. Am I callous? Aloof? Simply tough against tears? (I sure don't see myself as a man's man.)

People, please refrain from universalizing specific reactions. A faulty binary choice I can take, but let that be the worst.

In case you're wondering, I read the phrase on crying the other day in reference to the last scene of Brokeback Mountain.

Comments

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

I really annoyed a "sophisticated" friend when we went to see St. Elmo's Fire for the first time. The movie was supposed to be a serious drama about coming-of-age. I perceived it as a black comedy about idiots who did clearly stupid things and suffered the predictable consequences again and again, yet persisted in taking themselves very seriously.

Basically, I wound up laughing uproariously every time that something terrible happened to the main characters.

[carlfoxmarten]

Not everyone perceives the world in the same light as everyone else does.

For example, when I first saw Star Wars Episode 3, I found several parts rather funny (and I don't remember which ones), while everyone else was usually silent.

So, no, I don't think there's anything wrong with you, your life experiences may very well be much different from most other people's, which would explain why you don't agree with their poor excuses for universalizations.

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

Episode 3 was rarely meant to be sad, and few people were impressed with the sad parts. It'd be different if you kept laughing at, say, The Godfather, Part II.

[tabeal.livejournal.com]

Dude you are fine. That happens to all of us, some men just don't like to show there emotions at certain times (the whole bravado thing).

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

In this case, it was more like barely feeling the emotion. From a Christian standpoint, that can be rather bad.