Yelling In Public

October 14, 2021

I’m often a very…let’s say...engaged TV and movie watcher. With few exceptions, I find the glowing rectangles to be utterly immersive.

It’s probably one of my more specific symptoms of being a highly sensitive person. (Shout out to any other HSPs reading this.)

Here’s an example. In a particularly compelling scene from the movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, a young tree character named Groot is bullied by interstellar bandits.

I vividly remember feeling telltale prickles in my eyes, wondering “Am I really about to cry for this CG sapling voiced by Vin Diesel?”

Moments later, I yelled reflexively at the screen, “Stop hurting Baby Groot!” as tears streamed down my face.

I was 34, surrounded by strangers in a movie theater. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Emotional investment in something that doesn’t affect our normal lives can be kinda magical. Fiction can provide an emotional orgasm of sorts, an ecstatic release and escape from the day-to-day.

This October, I’ve had low key FOMO as friends watch horror movies to get into the season.

In the last few years, I’ve become too chicken to watch anything that’s actually scary. I still get the appeal, though. When real life is so routinely terrifying, it can feel good to be scared by something that can’t actually hurt you for once.

What are you watching these days?

Does it include a surprisingly compelling CG plant who repeats one phrase for the entire film? Drew Barrymore making Jiffy Pop in a bad wig? A Texas-based massacre involving heavy machinery?

Comment below! I’d love to hear what you’re enjoying.

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