[entertainment] movies, books, etc & how to make me _hate_ them instantly

[wispfox]

There is one nearly certain way to make me instantly hate a movie, book, or television show. (Nearly certain because if there are enough other positive factors, I might wait it out)

Have intentionally awkward situations as a form of entertainment. I'm fine with it to show character development (although it'll still make me uncomfortable), as long as the characters actually _do_ develop.

I _hate_ movies, TV, books where the characters make me feel the need to (or actually do it) yell at them every five seconds to stop being stupid about something, and say or do [foo] already!

I completely cannot understand this as a form of entertainment, but apparently it's a popular enough one that my disliking it as strongly as I do confuses people.

Yeah. This is really intended as an FYI, actually. I'm not really of the opinion that anyone would be able to explain it to me and have me actually comprehend it. :)

edit: I note, incidentally, that I am ok with, and can be amused by, things which come across to me as making fun of the genre. That said, though, my tolerance for movies and TV is low enough that such is fairly unlikely to be watched by me unless someone else suggests it.

edit edit: I may or may not be ok with movies that make fun of other genres that I can't deal with. Like... horror movies, TV series, or books which are intended to make people jumpy are _not_ good. Even, sometimes, if they are intended to make fun of such things.

Comments

[catya.livejournal.com]

yah. i've been known to get up and leave the room. (not for books, though, just screen)

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

i've been known to get up and leave the room.

If I'm not the one in charge of watching it, and there's no way of convincing people to watch something else, it's nearly certain I will leave. I might not if I can read or play games while in the same room, but I only tend to try that if I really want to be with the people in question.

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

I quit listening to an audiobook once because I was just cringing. (For the record? Hide from the Shopaholic series.)

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

...

the name alone would scare me, I think. :)

[dilletante.livejournal.com]

yeah, that bugs me too. i never saw the appeal of "there's something about mary" and m. and i walked out on "really bad things"...

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'd even blocked "Really Bad Things" out of my mind.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Oddly, I think that I did watch Something About Mary. Possibly because I was less certain of my own preferences then, and I was with people. I don't recall.

But yes, painful movie, that one. Less bad than some, though! (Like Meet the Parents, as mentioned below)

And I will never watch "really bad things", based on this. :)

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

gnNNAAAAAA. Oh, god, I am with you. "There's Something About Mary" is one of the worst movies ever made.

[fraterrisus]

don't ever, ever, ever go see Meet The Parents, then.

even DeNiro's acting couldn't save it.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I think that's a movie that someone at some point made me sit down and watch because it was their favorite movie, ever.

I will never watch anything he recommends again.

[leiacat.livejournal.com]

I don't go for that either. The humor of stupidity doesn't appeal at all (unless it's really, really clever, and that's rare). Sometimes I can tolerate the stupid if other aspects are good enough, but generally it makes my belly twitch uncomfortably.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I can tolerate the stupid if other aspects are good enough, but generally it makes my belly twitch uncomfortably.

Yes. This, exactly.

[ian-gunn.livejournal.com]

Never read the Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant. I kept hoping the main character would grow and get a clue. He never does. The most dissatisfying set of books I have ever read and I'm still not sure why I kept reading them. Well, there are more dissatisfying books out there but not that I kept reading.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

I did read those, when I was much younger. And there _were_ enough other nifty things that I was willing to read them. But that was then, and I'm not reading any of the new ones.

This is actually what finally made me stop reading Wheel of Time. Sure, part of it was the lack of ever ending _any_ plots threads, but it was largely about yelling at the characters all the time. Especially when Min got all girly.

[ian-gunn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was a long time ago that I read them as well. There must have been something about them that kept me reading them. At the moment I all I can remember is the annoyance I felt toward the main character.

Ah good, I have not read the Wheel of Time series yet even though half my friends do. Now I have additional reason not to. :)

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Ah good, I have not read the Wheel of Time series yet even though half my friends do. Now I have additional reason not to. :)

Yes! Don't! It's not worth it, much as it was really interesting in the beginning.

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I actually rather like The Wheel of Time. But I also haven't read the latest book, as I've decided to wait until there's two or three books I haven't read...

[ian-gunn.livejournal.com]

Ah, one of those series where you want two or three out so you have a good chunk to read all at once. Right.

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

Well, I read the first nine as a chunk too. *shrugs* And it's not as if they're short chunks, but they're better as a sequence than as individual books, imo. First book was better than the rest, blahblahblah.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

I liked Wheel of Time at first.

And then he didn't tie up any threads, ever.

And then he made Min be all girly and disturbing.

[ian-gunn.livejournal.com]

Shortly after making this comment I had a sense of deja vu. Did that comment sound familiar? Did I make a very similar statement to you on LJ sometime in the six months?

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Not that I'm aware of. :)

[ratatosk.livejournal.com]

I'm the same way. Intentionally awkward situations can make something nearly unwatchable for me. I have almost bruises in Laura's arm going to movies she loved but that I can't sit through, gripping her arm while cringing. Moulin Rouge was the worst in recent memory for me -- I have no idea how anyone else could stand it.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

I was actually good with Moulin Rouge, probably because I was making fun of it (and amused by the random music - enough to think about buying it for the sheer oddity value) the entire time. I even was making fun of it (and feeling a little bad about it) near the end when everyone else in the room was trying to not be emotional.

But, yeah. Not as bad as some, but yeah.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Actually, I felt like this particuar one was intentionally making fun of similar movies, and that's why it was ok (and make-funworthy, instead of yell-worthy).

[ratatosk.livejournal.com]

Hm. That doesn't seem to neutralize things for me unless it is really blatant. So The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra was mostly fine. Another movie I remember being completely intolerable for me was Top Secret, which I think was also a genre parody.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this. (Though I can't say I'd put Moulin Rouge in that category...)

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Moulin Rouge: Me, either. But, I can see that, even if I don't have the reaction.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I dislike awkwardness too. It's one of the major themes of Monty Python that never did anything for me except make me uncomfortable.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Odd!

I don't associate Monty Python with awkwardness, generally (although sometimes, sure). Mostly, I associate it with amusement.

Re: stupidity as humor

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

Yah. This is something that I find abhorrent as well. I suspect it might be a "at least -I'm- not that dumb" sort of thing. It's the only way I can figure it.
Movies and books are bad and I leave or put them down if I see this. Where I see this the most is that is seems to be the basis for just about every single stinkin' sitcom out there. I don't understand how people can stand to watch them. But then, I don't have to, and they can. It works out.

[fourgates.livejournal.com]

You may find Act Two of Episode 182 of This American Life (http://www.thislife.org) ("Cringe") interesting. It talks about how a lot of entertainment is designed to elicit a cringe response. I found that this analysis made me jaded about some (now obvious) media manipulations. Alas, they didn't hire someone for Trading Spaces who glues grass to walls just because she's quirky. Perhaps some people of a certain temperament (count me in) just don't like to cringe as much as the majority.

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

The majority of the books and movies on here (that I know of) I avoided on general principle. Embarassment is not the foundation of good material.