why I prefer my books and movies fluffy and silly

First:  last night's Grey's episode was ok.  It didn't knock my socks off or anything and I didn't see the first 15 minutes because I was on the phone with my little brother.  I don't really feel like I missed much.  Let's just say I'm ready for them to move this storyline with Izzy and Denny along (I read the spoilers awhile back, I know what happens).  If for no other reason than so I can stop reading all the ranting all over the interwebs about how much everyone hates Izzy, hates that they brought Denny back, hates how unrealistic it is.  My response to those people is this:  If you hate the storylines and you hate the characters, please stop watching the show.  You'll feel less bitter about it, I swear.  Also, of course it's unrealistic.  It's Grey's Anatomy.  Realism left the building several seasons ago.  Thank you.



And now I move on to more literary thoughts.  It's been noted that my tastes in movies and books runs to the slightly silly, the romantic comedy-ish, the girliest, fluffiest stuff possible.  I won't deny it.  But there's a reason.


If you look to the sidebar on the right, you can see that Atlas Shrugged is still at the top of the list of what I'm reading.  It is taking me longer than anticipated to finish this book, because it keeps getting too heavy (material wise) and I have to take a break.  The beginning was kind of slow for me and it took awhile to make my way through that.  Then in the middle things started to get really exciting and I couldn't put it down.  And right now I am in the middle of a 60 page speech by one guy.  And while it's a good speech and provides a good recap of what the rest of the book is trying to say, it's still a SIXTY PAGE SPEECH.  And it's serious, and it's kind of depressing and when it came down to it, I decided that reading it around the holiday season was simply not the best idea.  It's been a month since I've picked it up.  It just sits there, on one of the tables in my living room, staring me down and begging me to finish it.  I'm so close to the end, too!  I may try to make it my project for the weekend to start working through it again.  But only in the mornings, and only if it's sunny. 



The major reason I'm having a hard time finishing it is that I'm afraid it's going to have a sad and/or depressing ending.  On one hand I want to find out how it will end ahead of time so that I can be prepared one way or another.  On the other hand, I know I won't do it because I won't want to ruin the rest of the book.  I have this problem a lot.  I stopped reading The Kite Runner a couple of chapters in because I had a feeling something bad was going to happen.  Same with this book my mom let me borrow like a year ago that I can't remember the name of (I haven't lost it, I just can't make myself read it).  They're both still on my list to read in the future, but I really need to work myself up mentally to the depressing stuff.  I have the same problem with movies.  It took me over a month of the DVDs sitting in my apartment before I could watch either Schindler's List or The Passion of the Christ.  


The problem is, I get a little too involved, a little too emotional.  I'm not just sad while the sad stuff is happening on the screen or the page, I stay sad about it afterward for a time proportional to how much it upset me.  Million Dollar Baby had me sitting in the middle of my living room feeling completely drained for about two hours after it was over.  With both Schindler's and The Passion, I was sad for about a week.  I still can't really think about specific scenes without wanting to cry.  I get really upset and then I can't let it go. 



The thing is, I want stuff to have a happy ending.  Especially fiction.  If it didn't happen in real life, and it's all pretty much just made up anyway, there's no reason to leave me feeling depressed at the end, is there?  I know that a lot of people feel differently and they want their entertainment to be as real as possible, so if things are a little too happy and tied up they don't like it.  Well, to that I say this:  Real life sucks quite enough a lot of the time.  Many people don't get their happy endings, depressing crap happens all the time.  So when I'm looking for something to pass the time, and it's already something someone made up, I want it to be happy.  I want the good guys to win, the bad guys to lose, and the guy to get the girl.  It may be cheesy, it may not make for world changing stuff, but it's what I like. 



Don't let this make you think that these are the only sorts of things I read/watch.  I try to have a balance, I try to be well rounded.  If a movie comes out that looks sad but also really good, I will probably still watch it.  Not until it comes out on DVD and I can Netflix it and watch it in my apartment where no one else will see my crying like a small child, but eventually I'll get there.  And any movie that comes along that is really profound and affects a lot of people (see: Schindler's List and The Passion of the Christ) I will hunker down and watch it, because I think it's important to see these things.  I'm just saying that I may limit myself to watching Meg Ryan movies from the 80's and 90's and reading books with silly pink covers for about a month or so immediately following.