It occurred to me yesterday my emotional spectrum may actually grow during my entire life. (I know there is hardness and dullness that comes too, but I haven't been dealing with that lately). I'm not sure if this is true or not, but this is what I'm thinking:
I watched Juno last night (really sweet and edgy). There were moments in the movie when I cried (this is normal behavior for me. I've heard so many people say "I don't cry at movies, but PS I love You made me cry and cry". I didn't cry during PS I Love You. The only good things about that movie were the Irishmen). It occurred to me that a lot of the movie watchers were tearing-up during the show. I wondered if we were crying about the same things. For instance, how can a mother who has experienced labor not think of giving birth to her own child during a labor scene? How can someone who got pregnant as a teen not think about the moment she herself had to tell her parents? There are a lot of those moments in the movie that a lot of people may have experienced. There are moments in the movie that a lot of people haven't experienced. Yet we all cried (or were emotionally touched if you aren't a crier like me). A lot of movies are like that. For me, there were moments of poignancy that could not have been personally poignant to the person sitting next to me (no, I was never a pregnant teenager and I've never given birth). Not because she is inferior, but because she is not me. I'm wondering if she had moments of poignancy that are personal to herself. Life is a lot grander than a movie, so I suppose that everyday is like that for everyone. Memories just keep filling a life and so the moments of poignancy must begin to fill every nook of the action happening around you. Or maybe I'm just being sentimental.
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I didn't think of Anna when watching her Labor scene, and I checked with Matthew and he didn't either. Does that mean our life experiences are making us less sentimental or just that we're weird?
No. I'm pretty sure that I'm weird. Maybe you have to be in a particular mood in order to have something set off thoughts about your personal life. And maybe the movie was a complete failure as a means of escapism if I was thinking about my own life. Maybe you just enjoyed the movie more thoroughly than I did.
That labor scene made me cry both times. And I was actually thinking last night about what the motivation behind that reaction was. I still can't place it. Maybe it's the vulnerability that Juno has in that scene, as opposed to the others when she is completely together and okay with the whole pregnancy thing. Maybe I was just content to ride with her emotion throughout, but then, I didn't cry in the van scene. And when Steven and I saw it, he cried in the final scene, when they were singing the song. So I think you're right- it might fail at escapism, but for most people, I think it really makes them reflect on similar experiences in their own lives.
that last scene where they were singing made me cry too... all of the reasons were personal, but maybe all of the personal reasons are universal. The universal reasons are only personal where the tears connect you to where you are currently on the continuum of contentment with love.
I don't think I will ever understand the link between being crass and being cool. Or between being crass and being clever. Or between being crass and being funny. Or between being crass and being edgy.
But maybe I am just upset that it wasn't rated R. And that I attended the film with a thirteen year old.
The film did have some wonderful novelty music that I can add to my collection, though. And the non-crass jokes were really funny. All four of them.
--Your totally uncool brother.
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