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edenfallingThings I have learned about myself over the years:
1. I vastly prefer action movies or serious arthouse flicks to comedies (romantic or otherwise).
2. I have a sympathetic embarrassment squick.
3. Shockingly enough, those first two points are related.
...
This reflection brought to you twenty minutes into watching (500) Days of Summer. Awkward flirting, a young man being a dick to a young woman because she doesn't want to date anyone, and drunken karaoke. *flinch*
(My one consolation is that it's Tom's friend being a dick to Summer, not Tom himself, though he was pretty awful in his own right with the whole "You know what I need" thing when she asked if he needed any supplies at work. Still. That conversation is way too close to my own life for comfort.)
ETA: Am now at the one hour mark, in the middle of the awful blind date, and we are back to drunken karaoke. I think this is a pretty good movie, but ye gods, it is just one painfully awkward moment after another, and it's done with enough realism (even the bizarro moments have emotional realism) that I cannot write it off as farce and try to disengage my empathy. Ow, flinch, ow, flinch, ow. (Yeah, okay, some parts are damn funny, but they're not the parts that stick with me.)
Tom can't figure out where he went wrong. This is because he's too close to the issue and has stupid assumptions to boot. I can tell you exactly where he screwed up. He went wrong from the beginning, when he lied and said he was okay with casual and being just friends, and then assumed that the kiss meant Summer wasn't serious about her "let's not get serious" schtick, instead of saying, "Hey, so what exactly do you mean by 'friends' and 'not serious,' because this is not what I use those words to mean, and also I really like you, so please don't lead me on." Honesty and clear communication are key, and romantic love will not magically grow just because one person in a relationship wants it to.
1. I vastly prefer action movies or serious arthouse flicks to comedies (romantic or otherwise).
2. I have a sympathetic embarrassment squick.
3. Shockingly enough, those first two points are related.
...
This reflection brought to you twenty minutes into watching (500) Days of Summer. Awkward flirting, a young man being a dick to a young woman because she doesn't want to date anyone, and drunken karaoke. *flinch*
(My one consolation is that it's Tom's friend being a dick to Summer, not Tom himself, though he was pretty awful in his own right with the whole "You know what I need" thing when she asked if he needed any supplies at work. Still. That conversation is way too close to my own life for comfort.)
ETA: Am now at the one hour mark, in the middle of the awful blind date, and we are back to drunken karaoke. I think this is a pretty good movie, but ye gods, it is just one painfully awkward moment after another, and it's done with enough realism (even the bizarro moments have emotional realism) that I cannot write it off as farce and try to disengage my empathy. Ow, flinch, ow, flinch, ow. (Yeah, okay, some parts are damn funny, but they're not the parts that stick with me.)
Tom can't figure out where he went wrong. This is because he's too close to the issue and has stupid assumptions to boot. I can tell you exactly where he screwed up. He went wrong from the beginning, when he lied and said he was okay with casual and being just friends, and then assumed that the kiss meant Summer wasn't serious about her "let's not get serious" schtick, instead of saying, "Hey, so what exactly do you mean by 'friends' and 'not serious,' because this is not what I use those words to mean, and also I really like you, so please don't lead me on." Honesty and clear communication are key, and romantic love will not magically grow just because one person in a relationship wants it to.
