# Drama question: What kind of scenes are you no longer able to watch? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 16, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525 "2014-10-16T20:02:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/21 "2014-10-17T02:16:42Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > Character actions which are motivated by deliberate stupidity as it’s the only way to advance the plot. I have a hard time watching classics like The Three Stooges anymore as I see what’s coming and just want to yell at the screen. Of course, it’s a feature in many modern movies/TV shows as well, making viewing very frustrating. I hope the day never comes that I can’t watch the Stooges. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/22 "2014-10-17T03:08:25Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > I hope the day never comes that I can’t watch the Stooges. That’s [Comedy question: What kind of scenes are you no longer able to watch?](http://www.notrea.nnn) Down the hall. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/23 "2014-10-17T03:16:25Z")
Violence to women or animals will do it. I used to enjoy Criminal Minds until I got tired and sick of their “how can we torture a woman this week” approach to shows. Anything with harm to an animal gets turned off immediately, but that’s not a change. I could never stand that. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/24 "2014-10-17T03:29:55Z")
Parents abusing their children in a purportedly comic program. Since I saw the dad headbutting his son in an early episode of _Shameless_, I haven’t watched it since. Also, I can’t really define it narrowly, but I find a lot of comedy painful where the joke is what an angry and offensive ass a character is making of himself. Archie Bunker would be an example. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/25 "2014-10-17T03:42:39Z")
I am always 100% freaked out by animal abuse or death. Even in _My Dog Skip_ where the kid is yelling at his dog to go away (cuz he’s mad at the dog) I can’t stand it. I’m sure child abuse and death has always made me uncomfortable but now that I have nieces it’s much more traumatic. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/26 "2014-10-17T03:42:57Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Just to be clear, there was a time when you were OK watching child abuse? > mmm No. I just didn’t read the thread topic ccompletely.:o ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/27 "2014-10-17T03:56:11Z")
Child abuse, even if the plot is about it and there’s nothing explicit shown. Wife watches way too much of the cop show/torture porn that passes for prime time post CSI: Crime Scene Investigators, but having children of my own put the last nail in that baby coffin. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/28 "2014-10-17T04:05:22Z")
Anything I was ever able to watch, I still can. I mean its all fake innit? ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/29 "2014-10-17T16:52:50Z")
1. Rape scenes. 2. Torture. 3. Violence toward women, children or animals. 4. Harm, torture, or death of an animal. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/30 "2014-10-17T16:57:28Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > 1. Rape scenes. > > 2. Torture. > > 3. Violence toward women, children or animals. > > 4. Harm, torture, or death of an animal. So we’re clear: are these things you were formerly able to watch, but now cannot? Or have you never been able to stomach them. Also, why does the harm, torture, or death of an animal distress you more than the harm, torture, or death of a man? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/31 "2014-10-17T18:49:58Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > Awkward, uncomfortable character interactions in movies. That’s pretty much my pet peeve too. I think it’s because I find them so aversive in real life, that seeing ones engineered to be maximally awkward and uncomfortable just makes my skin crawl. For example, Jon Favreau’s awkward answering machine bit in “Swingers” was just horrible to watch. Oddly enough, there’s only a certain subset of this in comedy that really makes me cringe (the Seinfeld/Arrested Development style). ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/32 "2014-10-17T18:57:03Z")
Murders and other bad stuff in the Holocaust. And it wasn’t Schindler’s List that made me unable to take it any more – of all movies, it was Life is Beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/33 "2014-10-17T19:05:43Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > So we’re clear: are these things you were formerly able to watch, but now cannot? Or have you never been able to stomach them. > > Also, why does the harm, torture, or death of an animal distress you more than the harm, torture, or death of a man? Let’s say, I used to be able to tolerate those things; now I can’t even do that. I have to mute it or fast forward. Or leave the room. As to your second question, interesting, isn’t it? I think it’s because animals are innocents and men (people) are not. I could probably handle watching a woman get beat up or tortured if it was a turn-the-tables kind of thing and she’d started out as the beater/torturer. I think, the more I’ve learned about power imbalance, the less sympathetic I am to the character who has the power vs. the powerless character that’s having awful stuff done to them. Children and animals being the ultimate innocents, I can’t think of a reason that justifies beating, killing or torturing either one. I worry about the animals in disaster flicks (which I LOVE, especially post-apocalyptic dystopias) and I’m not satisfied until I’m sure that they lived through the entire movie unharmed. I think there were dogs on the Titanic that I’m still upset about. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/34 "2014-10-17T19:07:11Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Murders and other bad stuff in the Holocaust. And it wasn’t Schindler’s List that made me unable to take it any more – of all movies, it was Life is Beautiful. Ima co-sign on to this as well. Also, Saving Private Ryan ruined me for war movies. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/35 "2014-10-17T19:11:23Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Let’s say, I used to be able to tolerate those things; now I can’t even do that. I have to mute it or fast forward. Or leave the room. > > As to your second question, interesting, isn’t it? I think it’s because animals are innocents and men (people) are not. See, I hear people saying that all the time, and it always strikes me as questionable at best, BS at worse. I’ve owned & loved several cats, and they’ve all been murderous bastards; ask the neighborhood mice and squirrels if you don’t believe. There was a thread recently about a Doper’s dog who suddenly killed his cat, and the vast majority of posters in it said things to the effect of “Sorry, amigo, that’s just canine nature.” As I pointed out recently, male lions will take over a pride by killing the former adult males and then killing and eating the cubs of both genders. Chimps have wars. Dolphins rape. Mother elephants sometimes commit infanticide. Et cetera. Humans are not the only creatures on this planet who do shitty things. > [@](#): > > I think there were dogs on the Titanic that I’m still upset about. :mad: More concerned than the human victims? ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/36 "2014-10-17T19:20:41Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > See, I hear people saying that all the time, and it always strikes me as questionable at best, BS at worse. I’ve owned & loved several cats, and they’ve all been murderous bastards; ask the neighborhood mice and squirrels if you don’t believe. There was a thread recently about a Doper’s dog who suddenly killed his cat, and the vast majority of posters in it said things to the effect of “Sorry, amigo, that’s just canine nature.” As I pointed out recently, male lions will take over a pride by killing the former adult males and then killing and eating the cubs of both genders. Chimps have wars. Dolphins rape. Mother elephants sometimes commit infanticide. Et cetera. > > Humans are not the only creatures on this planet who do shitty things. > > More concerned than the human victims? Okay, I confess. You’ve exposed my misanthropic hatred of people. I like a person, but I hate people. I couldn’t even stand to watch the animals eat _each other_ on that boat in the Life of Pi. But I didn’t give a shit about any person on the Titanic. Your points stand. :o ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/37 "2014-10-17T19:32:06Z")
I can watch _any_ fiction. Because it’s fiction. But those real-life YouTube videos of someone falling/hitting/taking a shot to the groin/etc? Can’t handle those. Other people watch them and chuckle; I cringe and turn away. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/38 "2014-10-17T19:48:16Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > See, I hear people saying that all the time, and it always strikes me as questionable at best, BS at worse. I’ve owned & loved several cats, and they’ve all been murderous bastards; ask the neighborhood mice and squirrels if you don’t believe. There was a thread recently about a Doper’s dog who suddenly killed his cat, and the vast majority of posters in it said things to the effect of “Sorry, amigo, that’s just canine nature.” As I pointed out recently, male lions will take over a pride by killing the former adult males and then killing and eating the cubs of both genders. Chimps have wars. Dolphins rape. Mother elephants sometimes commit infanticide. Et cetera. > > Humans are not the only creatures on this planet who do shitty things. Sure–but there’s reason to believe humans are the only creatures who can empathize with the victims of their actions, think about how their actions will cause suffering, and consciously decide to do those terrible things. That knowledge of good and evil is what makes us not innocent. > [@](#): > > More concerned than the human victims? If you’d extended it to books, I’d say “children’s books where the dog dies,” because at some point I realized I didn’t HAVE to read them, banning them from my life wouldn’t make me a bad person or a philistine, so I did. I’m sure I have a similar rule for movies, although it’s not nearly as common in movies. My contribution: casual racism for yuks. As recently as the second Pirates of the Caribbean, I was all right with the crazy racist portrayal of the island cannibals, but just thinking about that makes me cringe, and when I reached a chapter with a similar theme in the book I’m reading to my daughter, I straight up refused, told her we were skipping the chapter and explained why. I’m not sure if POTC qualifies as drama, but even if it doesn’t, this kind of scene still pops up, and now it so totally takes me out of the story that it ruins the movie/show. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/39 "2014-10-17T19:54:03Z")
Oh yeah, I cannot watch any of that “America’s Funniest Home Videos” shit. You watch something that could easily be a tragedy, and then everyone starts laughing. It’s pretty appalling. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525/40 "2014-10-17T20:03:32Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Sure–but there’s reason to believe humans are the only creatures who can empathize with the victims of their actions, think about how their actions will cause suffering, and consciously decide to do those terrible things. That knowledge of good and evil is what makes us not innocent. In the first place, despite my genial dislike of dogs, anybody who thinks that dogs lack the ability to feel empathy has not paid attention to them. In the second place, I do not understand how non-human animals’ inability to feel empathy for others makes them innocent. > [@](#): > > I’m not sure if POTC qualifies as drama, but even if it doesn’t, this kind of scene still pops up, and now it so totally takes me out of the story that it ruins the movie/show. By “drama,” I did not mean “non-comedic.” I meant “a narrative played out in visual form by live actors.” TV, movies, and theatre, basically, as opposed to books, soundtracks, and so forth. I had a lot more trouble with the Sweeney Todd movie than with the Broadway soundtrack,even though the movie had the advantage of having Helena Bonham Carter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drama-question-what-kind-of-scenes-are-you-no-longer-able-to-watch/701525.md?page=3)