I was writing a short story and what I need is the name of a movie which is sad.
The subject is these men are laughing out of control. And I need a well known movie where these men are laughing but it’s totally inappropriate.
I don’t go to many movies. I tried like “hey they’re watching the ending of the Titanic,” where the ship goes down but it wasn’t ironic enough. The movie played itself for farce that when I read it, instead of getting a “wow those guys were laughing out of place,” I got a reaction of “yeah I was so sick of that movie I see why they were laughing.”
The classic is laughing when Bambi’s mother is shot, or when Ol’ Yeller is shot. Although I realize that there may be no good reason for your characters to be watching either, especially in a theater.
He’s asking for inappropriate, not sociopathic. A movie where he’d get dirty looks for laughing, not beaten up because some guys would rather beat him up than admit that a movie could make them cry. Not that I’ve seen either of them. I avoid movies that could reveal a chink in my Armor of Masculinity, though even my father, who apologized for allowing a single tear to moisten his cheek during my brother’s funeral, admitted there are some movies it’s okay to cry during.
It’s not the ideal movie for this, but the thread title makes me thing of Mike Nelson’e review of What Dreams May Come. It goes something like:
"I was all set to start laughing about how ridiculous this movie was, when they killed off the kids. Now I can’t laugh, or I’ll get in trouble. It’s like being yelled at by your mother. "
A few questions:
Are they supposed to be laughing at the movie? As in, something occurred in the movie that just struck them as really funny? Or some external reason?
How is the reader expected to react? Sympathetic understanding but still aware that it’s inappropriate, or in disgust at their lack of decorum?
I’d suggest The Pianist - (you could have them suddenly think of the title wrong), except it might recall Schindler’s List too much (in case you don’t know, the latter was used in a well-known episode of Seinfeld).
Or United 93 — most (Americans at least) will find the subject material too sacred, but it’s almost understandable if someone finds a fictional portrayal absurd.
The Joy Luck Club at the scene where the mother must abandon her babies by the side of the road. I have never heard or seen so many people crying in a movie theater!