I don't do this very often, but I'm going to post something that's not a story! Allow me to give you a moment to recover from your shock. Better? Good, good. I assure you that there is a story associated with this week's GBE2 prompt, but this came to mind first, so here we go.
Have you ever considered one of the oddest things we do, cry over fiction? Kids do it, women are famous for it, and men pretend they don't do it, but we all do! For the love of Mike, I even cried over Piglet's Big Movie (I am currently rolling my eyes at my own soppiness, I promise.) From Old Yeller via Bambi's mother and on through Jane Eyre to The Green Mile, it's like a flippin' river – Darn, now I'll be singing that for a week! Might as well make it the accompanying video - and all over what? People, animals, that don't exist!
Here are just a few of the times I have cried myself stupid over non-existent characters -
1 – Jane Eyre – From the minute her friend, Helen, dies at their school to 'Reader, I married him'. I'm a blubbering wreck!
2 – Old Yeller – Just don't even go there.
3 – The Green Mile – John Coffey. His death is so powerful, especially for someone like me who writes to a Death Row prisoner. From '… Like the drink, only not spelled the same.' to 'Heaven, I'm in heaven', I'm a soggy puddle.
4 – Meet Joe Black – An odd one maybe, but I lost it completely at the end. Laugh, feel free, but I was sitting there, streaming tears, snot and hitching sobs, yelling at the screen “Why didn't you go with him!!”
5 – Criminal Minds – There is one episode (although I've cried at a few) that slays me every time. It's from season one and it has never been bettered, much as I love the entire series. It's called 'Riding the Lightning' and I defy any mother, or any woman actually, to watch it without dissolving into a pile of salty sobbing.
All over a fictional character... And that's the point, isn't it? I'm not a fool. I can tell the difference between reality and fiction, but I still believe. Therein lies the rub, as someone said. I've never lost the ability to suspend my disbelief. I don't just watch these things, I'm in there with them, experiencing and believing right there, in that moment. I think my ability to believe, coupled with both my hyperactive imagination and those moments of truly supreme writing skills on the part of others, come together in the moment and trigger my 'Time to lose it' response.
However, there is another side to this which occurs to me as I write. Some of you will be aware that I have been a life-long fan of wrestling. I followed certain wrestlers for a long, long time. I don't know any of these guys personally, but how about this... I cried so hard over the death of Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Owen Hart and more. Cried like I'd lost family members. Cried over men who didn't even know I existed! I did it when Richard Harris died too, so it's not confined to wrestlers.
These people become real to us, close to us, a part of our lives and we grow to care about them. Their loss is as real to us as would be that of a, albeit distant, family member, because they are a part of our extended 'tribe'. I would be willing to take wagers on most of you having cried over such a death, maybe a sporting hero, or an actor who affected you deeply. (Richard Harris was a convoluted one, but basically he played King Arthur in Camelot and his final speech was beautiful.)
So here's to us. Long may we continue to believe, to extend our love and caring to those we will never meet but who remain a part of our larger tribe, distant but still able to touch our hearts and our tear ducts!
I'm with you over Jane Eyre - for me, the blubbing comes when she hears his voice calling to her, and as for the scene when she finally finds him again - well, there's just no hope for me after that!
ReplyDeleteI cry mostly at happy endings, like when Emile comes back at the end of 'Sound of Music', or when Billy finally makes his peace with Julie at the end of 'Carousel' and ... well, i could go on for ever!
Criminal Minds - fully agree with you! Good take on the theme!
ReplyDeleteOh, I cry at this stuff, too! I cry at the gut-wrenching moments and I cry at the beautiful ones. That's the pleasure in reading and watching movies, isn't it? The being transported?
ReplyDeleteThe only time I've ever cried at the passing of someone famous was when Fred Rogers died. He was such a kind, gentle, loving man that I truly felt (and feel) that the world was poorer without him.
Wait, there was one other. I cried when Princess Diana died, too, though those tears were for her sweet young motherless sons.
A couple of years ago I read David Hamilton's book How Your Mind Heals your Body...he shows research of how our brain shows the same response to a memory as to the actual thing happening. I see it as us relating to and getting into sync with the emotions of people real or imagined we identify with. The way we recognise the atmosphere of a room is the same way we tune into each other in person but I think there is also an element of that kind of thing happening when we read emotive things, it triggers responses that keep us caring about each other and working together...it helps us accept imperfection and still like someone, even ourselves...
ReplyDeleteLeaking eyes are one of my big attributes or faults, not sure which.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen "Undercover Boss"? It's a show where CEOs go under cover in their businesses and at the end, they reward the good and try to help the ones who disappointed them. I have never made it to the end of that show without blubbering as though these bosses were giving me the $10,000 to educate my child or take a vacation with my man or whatever else they hand out.
I feel like being transported into the scene I am watching or reading is pulling my emotions only when it's well done. I love that.
Great blog, btw...even if it isn't a story.
♥♥
Boy, this is so true. Love it!
ReplyDeleteGill, if we get involved in the characters it's natural to have emotions with and for them. They climb inside our heads, hearts and for a while become a part of our world. I've read, and seen Old Yeller so many times I couldn't count if I wanted to, and each time I cry again, you'd think I would become desensitized eventually... not! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI cry every time I watch The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. The only time I saw my father cry was at the end of Old Yeller. I cried at the end of Earthchild, an SF book written by my daughter. I even cry through parts of my own book. I can't even list all the books and movies I've wept through. Yeah, I'm with you here.
ReplyDeleteI am right there with you blubbing over movies and television shows. That is what makes them so good though! If something that isn't real can provoke a giggle or a tear that is proof positive that it is powerful and extraordinary. Awesome take on this weeks topic!
ReplyDeleteKathy
http://gigglingtruckerswife.blogspot.com/
this is the FIRST time i was able to get through your whole blog. i could READ IT!! i think the script writing makes my brain crazy..hehe
ReplyDeletei so HEAR YOU...we cry cuz we RELATE!! thank GOD!! love your relation.....SHIP! :0)
I am definitely there with "Meet Joe Black" and also the original "Death Takes a Holiday". I'm glad someone else shares that thought. Wonderful piece.
ReplyDelete