Tuesday, January 31, 2012

It ain't easy bein' cheesy

I am, in life, a big sentimental fool. I cry at the drop of a hat. One Thanksgiving, the kids took bets not on whether or not I'd cry, but on precisely when. Sadly I didn't even make it to the toast that year.

In front of a TV or a movie screen or reading a book? I am made of much tougher stuff. Sentimental hooey general doesn't get me. So will someone please explain to me why I was reduced to tears at the end of the Terra Nova season finale? A little girl gives the tough as nails commander a hug and tells him to let her know if he needs another one. I'm getting all verklempt here just typing about it. Ridiculous!

But they got me. I suppose part of it is that the commander is my favorite character in the show. Maybe it's an age thing and I feel a little past lusting after Jason O'Mara although he's definitely cute as a bug. Maybe it's the unexpected tenderness he shows to children despite his total tough guy thing. Maybe it's the man's biceps because those are truly things of beauty. Whatever. I love him.

At the end of that finale, he is beyond comfort. He has won, but has lost so much in doing it. He is utterly alone although he is surrounded by people. A little girl hugs him and I'm completely undone. If you had told me it would make me cry, I would have scoffed at you.

So . . . has anything unexpectedly made you cry recently? Or is there something that ALWAYS makes you cry?

10 comments:

Molly O'Keefe said...

I am right there with you Eileen - husband was gone the other night so I rented The Help. A movie I've boycotted because I loved the book and I knew that the nuance that lifted the book up our of schockly and into great would be missing - and it was, totally was - but the things they got right about women and kids and longing and fear and friendships being both delicate and made of stone - that they got right and I SOBBED. Sobbed. Had to go upstairs and put my head in a pillow.

Stephanie Doyle said...

This is so funny because I was just thinking how this one thing ALWAYS makes me cry...

They are starting a new NBC sports channel with all these sport clip moments.

The one clip is the gymnast Kerry Strug running down the strip to the pommel horse with the bad leg. And I well up every freaking time.

This pasty white little girl who has the whole team counting on her to win gold and she runs down that lane with everything thing she has throwing herself into the air knowing how bad it's going to hurt when she lands...

Yep, tears every time. I'm sitting here typing it and I can feel the tears well.

Anonymous said...

I cry at the unexpected. If I know that everybody cries in a movie, I will not cry. The first time this happened was at the movie "Romeo and Juliet" - the audience was sobbing and I found that distracting and I did not cry.

However, I did cry in "The Lion King" when the daddy lion was killed. I sobbed! But the first movie I cried in was "Stella Dallas" - the original with Barbara Stanwyck.

PS - We've been watching "The Help" in 3 installments so far. Almost done with the movie but it seems just okay to me. Maybe I've seen so many movies on a similar topic - guess that's what happens when you get a bit older - you've seen it all. :)

Eileen said...

Oh, Molly, I'm with you on not seeing movies if I loved the book. I totally haven't seen The Help.

Steph, you're making me well up with the way you describe that.

Kathy, there is something about know that you're "supposed" to cry. It was part of what surprised me about crying at the end of Terra Nova. It was the kind of moment where I usually feel manipulated and don't cry. Instead I was sitting there sniveling.

Maureen McGowan said...

Oh! I think I've missed some episodes of that show. Must find them while they're still on demand.

Almost anything can make me cry. I've been like that my whole life although as I get (cough) older, happy and nostalgic things make me cry more than they used to.

Maureen McGowan said...

Has anyone seen Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close?

The trailer for that movie made me cry every time... but then a few reviews called it manipulative and I no longer wanted to go see it.

I've now see the trailer for The Hunger Games about 15 times and I've teared up 15 times. Funny thing is, I don't remember crying at that moment during the book... I think I gasped. But based on the trailer, Jennifer Lawrence will add some empathy and heart to Katniss. For me, anyway.

Stephanie Doyle said...

Maureen - I'm with you on Hunger Games. Everytime I see the trailer the hair on the back of my neck rises.

And when she's talking to Peeta and he says I just want to die okay and she says I can't think like that (I'm paraphrasing)... I instantly well up.

Not sure why - because I agree I didn't cry at that part.

Anonymous said...

50/50... loved, loved that movie and loved how it made me cry and laugh at the same time.
Steph, love your cry moment. And The Hunger Games trilogy makes me cackle with excitement... I've already booked babysitting so I can see that movie.

Eileen said...

Ooh. I want to see 50/50.

You know what movie made me bawl like a total baby? Young@Heart. It's a documentary about a senior citizen's choir that covers rock and roll songs. I still can't hear some of those songs without falling apart.

Stephanie Doyle said...

I also loved 50/50. Bawled away but it had enough humor and charm to cut through the total sadness.

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