The Inexplicable
So last night, I was powering down by sitting on the couch watching Jackass 2 when my wife walked in.
She watched as a guy threw up in the glass helmet he was wearing, then she did a quick 180 and exitted upstairs, where she asked how a smart man like myself could be entertained by stuff like that.
I thought about an answer, and then realized that I really didn't have one.
It's funny, because I make my living analyzing what works and what doesn't work in screenplays, and a lot of it is logical -- it's easy to spot when stories don't come together, when characters wander around without much going on, when dialogue just sort of sits there.
But why I enjoy watching a guy get his testicles frozen to a block of ice is beyond me.
Theories?
posted by Scott the Reader @ 10:53 AM
14 Comments:
It's the whole "Stopping to watch a car accident" thing. People have always been/will always be fascinated with events that are disgusting and/or frightening. It's a way for them to "experience" it themselves, with out actually having to go through it.
I think it's the male/female thing.
[note-- the following are very rough and hypergeneralized observations,
Women are bilogically empathic and supportive, while men are biologicaly competitive and aggressive.
Women hate to see another man suffer, while men laugh that some other schmuck is clearly below us on the great totem pole of being.
Or maybe not.
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B
I know for myself I'm willing to watch just to see how far any one person will go -- and like Cathy K. said "experience it without actually going through it" or plain and simple: not having to end up being the Jackass
Brett -- I don't know, I tend to be fairly sensitive, and I can enjoy a woman's movie like The Joy Luck Club or In Her Shoes with no problem at all.
My wife and I actually have very similar tastes in movies, until it comes to something like this, where the gulf is wide.
Very good question, Scott. I can't stand movies like that, and I tend to enjoy most anything "a typical guy" enjoys. I guess we each just like what we like. I loved Studio 60 on TV, as flawed as it was. I'm still trying to figure that out. ;)
(Sorry, broken link in the previous comment, so deleted)
In a word: Schadenfreude.
"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die."
But, since few people are willing to die (intentionally) for the sake of a movie, they do the next best thing and freeze their testicles in ice.
Broadcasting how much you loved "Jackass 2" isn't going to help boost your stock as a "professional" reader, Scott. BUT I think we all have an unpopular movie vice. When I'm real tired I LOVE to watch "The Three Stooges," but when I'm not tired I think it's stupid. Is that strange or what?
- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA
I am so showing this thread to my husband. I laughed my ass off at both JACKASS MOVIES and I don't think he fully appreciates how magnificent a woman that makes me.
Possibly.., "Glad that isn't me.." combined with something that precisely isn't sitting at home watching TV..
Andrew
On second thoughts perhaps your wife thinks that you, as with all men, are crazy.... and it doesn't, ah, really matter what you watch ..etc.
My theory? You're a man, plain and simple. My FI-ance is afflicted with the same diagnosis.
I think it's one of those "better you than me" things.
Though there's probably a bit of vicarious pleasure in watching someone do something totally outrageous.
It seems very obvious. You spend all of your time analyzing. Sometimes you will gravitate towards the antithesis of that.
No script to dissect. No story to hear of. No characters to care about, only stupid people doing stupid things.
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