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Author
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Topic: Grown Men Cry?
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Ouroboros
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posted 01-06-2002 11:38 PM PT (US)  
OK, so I'm watching The X-Files, right? And agent Scully has a bad dream about Moulder that really shakes her up. She goes to talk to agent Skinner about it, who is staying in a motel room just a few rooms away from her (they're "in the field" on a case). Scully breaks down and starts sobbing during while talking to Skinner and he comforts her.Now, as I watched, I realized that watching her crying didn't make me think, "Gawd, what a weak person," or anything of that effect. If it had any affect at all on my perception of her character, I'd say that my impression of her strength was fortified by both her appreciation of an emotional situation and her willing to let it affect her. But then, just because this is the kind of thing that I tend to think about, I imagined a role reversal - what if it had been the reverse? Agent Skinner breaks down and cries while Scully comforted him. He's such a hard ass that it probably wouldn't make a difference to his character. But what if agent Dogget did it? Or, worse(?), agent Moulder? Would you think, "Ugh - what a weakling! What a wussy!" What would the general population think? And why?
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Echo
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posted 01-07-2002 12:21 AM PT (US)
Real men cry.When a man cries in front of a woman it show's us how much he ot only trust's us but he has value among the human race.Men...we don't laugh at you when you cry ather we find your tears endearing and human. |
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Ouroboros
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posted 01-07-2002 12:53 AM PT (US)
Other than Michael Landon in Little House on the Prairie (ugh!), I can't think of any male who regularly managed to get away with crying.Here's an example: Anchorman Dan Rather for the CBS national news in the United States broke down and cried on the David Letterman show regarding, and shortly after, the attack on New York. He expressed misgivings about crying while he was doing it and Letterman responded, "God, Dan, you're only human." However, after the fact, Rather was widely criticised by the media and by ordinary citizens for having cried on national television - the common lament being that he should demonstrate more strength than that. Lame, I think, that he should be negatively criticized for that - but, that's what we men must put up with in this society. No? |
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Ouroboros
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posted 01-07-2002 05:51 AM PT (US)
I just realized what it is that allowed Michael Landon to get away with crying - it was that he always cried out of JOY. I can't remember him crying over something sad. He was always "strong" in those situations, I think. |
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Gladrial
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posted 01-07-2002 08:58 AM PT (US)
I think that scientists are finding that people live longer if they don't suppress their feelings. I think that includes men. What a person feels is real, regardless of gender. However, there was this boy in my neighborhood that was a wussy and would cry his heart out everytime he fell on his bike while the others just got up and took off again. While the other kids called him "sissy" and he became a victim of ridicule, I was thinking maybe he had a low threshold of tolerance to pain. I think it is the same with our emotions, some people have a lower emotional tolerance and things make them cry easier. It made me like Dan Rather better, because he cried. I really had disdain to him prior and then I realized , he is just human like the rest of us so I became more tolerant of him. |
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Ouroboros
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posted 08-09-2002 10:30 PM PT (US)
And why was I watching the X-Files?! |
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