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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Aug 19, 2020 20:12:30 GMT
I'm not someone who enjoys feeling sad. I definitely don't seek out a reading experience because I wish to feel sad or depressed at the end. I like happy endings. I don't really understand anyone deliberately seeking out that kind of experience.
Although, as a teenager, I did read a ton of Lurlene McDaniels books which were sad books about kids dying of cancer. I really don't know why I read them, but I did, and I think I liked it. So maybe I was going through a Darth Emo phase. *shrugs*
I will watch horror movies sometimes, which will usually leave me feeling weird afterwards. I have to be in the right mood for them. I don't know why I like those, either. I do know that I enjoy them when I'm feeling really depressed. Watching bad things happen to other people will make me feel better. And sometimes watching stupid people get brutally murdered can be cathartic if I'm feeling really stressed, or angry, or something.
Now crying can be a really awesome stress reliever, so maybe some people like stuff that makes them cry, because after they cry they feel better. I don't know, just a thought.
We all like what we like, and sometimes we don't even know why we like it. And that's cool.
For me, personally, I still prefer happy endings, most of the time. Unless I'm rooting for the villain, of course. Or if I hate all of the main characters, for some reason, I may want bad things to happen to them. One show I liked ended on a cliffhanger that allowed the main villain to win, and that was kind of awesome. So like most things in life, it depends. But still, normally, I do not read books to feel sad, and I want as happy of an ending, as possible.
What about you?
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Aug 19, 2020 20:30:07 GMT
I will add that I do enjoy "A Series of Unfortunate Events" but that series didn't make me feel sad. It was funny and made me laugh. And I super dig the music in the Netflix show.
One poster on Kboards gave a reason why they like sad books, it's because apparently they experience some sort of pleasure from, for example, "watching their dog die in their arms, or watching a friend die from breast cancer." They do feel sad, but they described the agony as "beautiful", so perhaps it's a brain wiring thing. Some folks are rewarded with dopamine when their sadness meter gets so high, and so they seek to relive the experience over and over again.
I've never experienced that myself, but I guess it makes sense that you'd want to relive stuff that makes you feel good.
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Aug 19, 2020 20:32:39 GMT
Tis unfortunate when your thrill means someone else's death. This is how serial killers are born.  But I suppose it's better if the only people you kill are imaginary ones. |
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Post by robertlcollins on Aug 19, 2020 20:48:15 GMT
Not me. I want hopeful and upbeat as much as possible. Thoughtful is fine. Sad is okay so long as it’s happy tears, like the last book in Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series. I do get wanting some sadness. “Sleeping in Light,” the last episode of Babylon 5, gets me every time I see it, yet I do love it. But there it feels like the end of the journey. Catharsis rather than tragedy. Some people like tragedy while others tend to avoid it. Everyone’s tastes are different, which is how there’s always stories for all of us.  |
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Aug 20, 2020 19:46:04 GMT
Not me. I want hopeful and upbeat as much as possible. Thoughtful is fine. Sad is okay so long as it’s happy tears, like the last book in Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series. I do get wanting some sadness. “Sleeping in Light,” the last episode of Babylon 5, gets me every time I see it, yet I do love it. But there it feels like the end of the journey. Catharsis rather than tragedy. Some people like tragedy while others tend to avoid it. Everyone’s tastes are different, which is how there’s always stories for all of us. Sleeping in Light is pure manipulation. Every single element of that episode is tightly wound to make you feel as sad as possible. When it really didn't need to be that way. There was no good reason for the station to be destroyed, other than what Garibaldi saw in a vision of an alternate future. The sadness was a choice on JMS's part, which most people seem to be fine with, but it didn't have to be that way at all. I was so upset (not in a good way) the first time I watched it, I had go immediately go back and watch the whole show again, so I mentally prepare myself for the ending again. Watching the movies and Crusade and Lost Tales, after, helped, as well. I will be doing things a lot differently with TUOK. There will be sad moments, of course, but nothing artificial or manipulative. In a sudden, and totally off-topic twist, I was just reading a super old post you made on Kboards back in 2011, when you were a baby poster. You've got your cute lil pic, and I went, "hey, I know him. Awwwwwee." It's great to go back and read old threads when you know that the author is still out there writing. So many authors just quit or drop out of the author scene completely, and you always wonder what ever happened to them. |
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