What's 'Eating' Me...
My husband and son are out of town so yesterday just my daughter and I went over to our friends house for dinner. After dinner, Lori offered that we watch a movie together, a new favorite she had just seen and loved and she guessed I would love it too. So the girls (Lori, myself, and our two daughters) all gathered around a little tv in the living room because 'the guys' (Lori's husband and son) were watching 'The Stone's' in concert on DVD... Anyway, we four girls snuggled into the large couch together and proceeded to watch 'What's eating Gilbert Grape'... Which I'd heard was a good movie and Lori couldn't stop gushing about what a fantastic actor Leonardo DiCaprio is.
This is where I should tell you that for the most part Lori and I have completely different taste in movies. I usually dislike all of her favorites and she, more often than not, falls asleep watching all of mine. 'Gilbert Grape' was NO different! Truthfully, other than reading the book, 'She come undone' by, Wally Lamb, I've never been more depressed in my life by something meant to entertain me. Part way through the movie I wanted to slit my own wrists in order to escape the hell that was each and every characters life... Well, except for maybe Juliette Lewis character who seemed the only one to be able to look past the pain of existence and find joy in things like the sky and sunsets and of course Johnny Depp's embrace (but how hard is that?)
Lori's daughter could sense how extremely upsetting this film was to me (she's really good at that sort of thing, which is kind of amazing for a 13 yr. old) and asked, after her mom stepped out of the room, if I wanted her to stop the movie. I said, "Well, not unless something good is going to happen to end the suffering of these characters." To which she replied, "No, it only gets worse."... "Gets WORSE? Then please turn it off now!" When Lori came back in the room and saw that we had stopped the movie she couldn't believe I didn't want to see the rest of it. I explained how I REALLY wanted to like a movie she enjoyed SO much but I just found it so dreadfully depressing that it was quite frankly, making me sick to my stomach. A sickness that was only abated after watching 5 episodes of 'Friends' on the DVD set I got for my birthday, after my daughter and I got home... And hey, if you run across this blog and you don't like 'Friends' but you are a HUGE fan of 'Gilbert Grape' please don't bother sending me hate.
Following the abrupt end to 'Gilbert Grape'... Lori filled me in on the ending and we conversed about how she felt the movie summed up what 'Life' really was for so many people. It's all about suffering and hardship... That all I need do is drive down Main St. in our small town and see the homeless shuffle about to know it is true. I agreed, Yes, there are people who live lives of quiet desperation much like those in town or in the movie. But the notion that they're STUCK there, that there's NO END in sight to this desperation, that little joy is found in waking each day because you're not surrounded by loving, caring and supportive people... I can't watch that... It doesn't entertain me... It reminds me too much of my life growing up.
This is where I should tell you that for the most part Lori and I have completely different taste in movies. I usually dislike all of her favorites and she, more often than not, falls asleep watching all of mine. 'Gilbert Grape' was NO different! Truthfully, other than reading the book, 'She come undone' by, Wally Lamb, I've never been more depressed in my life by something meant to entertain me. Part way through the movie I wanted to slit my own wrists in order to escape the hell that was each and every characters life... Well, except for maybe Juliette Lewis character who seemed the only one to be able to look past the pain of existence and find joy in things like the sky and sunsets and of course Johnny Depp's embrace (but how hard is that?)
Lori's daughter could sense how extremely upsetting this film was to me (she's really good at that sort of thing, which is kind of amazing for a 13 yr. old) and asked, after her mom stepped out of the room, if I wanted her to stop the movie. I said, "Well, not unless something good is going to happen to end the suffering of these characters." To which she replied, "No, it only gets worse."... "Gets WORSE? Then please turn it off now!" When Lori came back in the room and saw that we had stopped the movie she couldn't believe I didn't want to see the rest of it. I explained how I REALLY wanted to like a movie she enjoyed SO much but I just found it so dreadfully depressing that it was quite frankly, making me sick to my stomach. A sickness that was only abated after watching 5 episodes of 'Friends' on the DVD set I got for my birthday, after my daughter and I got home... And hey, if you run across this blog and you don't like 'Friends' but you are a HUGE fan of 'Gilbert Grape' please don't bother sending me hate.
Following the abrupt end to 'Gilbert Grape'... Lori filled me in on the ending and we conversed about how she felt the movie summed up what 'Life' really was for so many people. It's all about suffering and hardship... That all I need do is drive down Main St. in our small town and see the homeless shuffle about to know it is true. I agreed, Yes, there are people who live lives of quiet desperation much like those in town or in the movie. But the notion that they're STUCK there, that there's NO END in sight to this desperation, that little joy is found in waking each day because you're not surrounded by loving, caring and supportive people... I can't watch that... It doesn't entertain me... It reminds me too much of my life growing up.
Labels: Depressing, Life, Movies
posted by EmBee at 8:17 AM
2 Comments:
yikes it does sound depressing. kudos to yoru friend's daughter for being so perceptive. i don't blame youfor not regarding such a thing as entertainment, especially if youlived such unhappiness already.
haha, friends fixes everything! answer to all life's problems, i swear. love your taste. xx
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