Some guys get their girlfriend a whole bunch of balloons

[rinue]

It's disappointing when somebody comes up to me after I've shown a film or talked about film and tells me how it was nice but usually they watch comedies and what they like is comedies. This is a bit like announcing dessert is your favorite meal. Of course you like things that make you laugh and would like to feel cheerful and relaxed and entertained and relieved of the burdens of your life. Of course you like comedies. Of course I like comedies. I am in fact A Comedian.

But I really don't see what that has to do with whether dramas are worth watching, any more than wanting to read the Sunday comics section stops me from reading the rest of the newspaper, or liking ice cream means I'm going to stop eating food with fiber in it. This is just not something you have to choose between.

Comments

[valancy_jane]

It's the back-handed compliment. "I normally don't like X, but I like yours." It's meant to be a double compliment, I think, but rarely even comes across as a single.

[rinue]

Oh, sure. I don't think anybody is ever trying to be mean or disapproving and I respond in an appropriately friendly way, because after all what is happening is somebody saying "I am interested and like these things and want to have a conversation with you, and this is the area I know about, what I have watched in the past - do you also like comedies and the classics and is it okay to like those things?" And yes, yes it is okay to like those things, and I wouldn't ever want to make somebody feel stupid for coming up to me and saying that.

I'm mostly pointing out that it's the film discussion equivalent of "nice weather we're having lately."

[valancy_jane]

Sorry, didn't mean to sound like I was correcting you - I know what you mean. I guess I"m trying to say people can be a bit silly but it comes from a good place. Which you know. And I know. So we're in a good place, I guess. ;)

[rinue]

Nah, it was a comment worth making anyway, because I can see how it would come off as meaner than I actually feel about it. I think it's a silly thing to say, but I like the people who say it, and I don't think that's obvious from the original entry because I wrote it on like under 5 hours sleep while trying to get a piece of software to run properly.