Packaged Melodrama

@gurujee (216)
India
November 10, 2011 1:18am CST
I have come across a number of persons men and women alike virtually shedding tears while watching tragic movies in movie theaters. The selfsame people often keep a stoic silence and show no signs of love and sympathy on occasions when very tragic events unfold in front of their eyes in real life. I find this paradox difficult to fathom.
1 person likes this
2 responses
• Philippines
10 Nov 11
The behavior, attitude, and innate traits of a person can be inconsistent across a particular span of time or situation. To put it simply, context matters. When some people cry at the movies, it doesn't necessarily mean that they should show the same emotion in real life. For example, victims of natural disasters don't always show extreme misery or sadness in the aftermath and it doesn't necessarily mean that they're not capable of expressing the same emotion at a different time. For a more mundane example, people crying at the movies may do so because: (1) they may feel comfortable with the person that's with them; (2) the environment of the movie theater is conducive to such expression of emotion (because no one will see them); or (3) a lot of other factors. So, what I'm really trying to say here is that there's no real paradox here: we, as human beings, are not necessarily consistent over time.
@gurujee (216)
• India
10 Nov 11
You are absolutely right when you say that it is all due to inconsistency in human behavior. No one compels us to react to a situation in a particular way. What I find it difficult to understand is the lack of feeling and utter insensitiveness that characterize the behavior of some people in real life situations.
@EdnaReyes (2622)
• Philippines
10 Nov 11
Some people have different ways of showing of emotions. But this person you are talking about is really different I think they're really going on for a show off and want to be in with the crowd. You know what I mean? They're nonsense showing off make them really a turn off.
@gurujee (216)
• India
10 Nov 11
Yes, there are people who have no sense of reality and do not know how to differentiate between reel life and real life.