# Films or TV that make you too uncomfortable to watch **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 3, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209 "2009-08-03T20:06:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/41 "2009-08-04T06:46:20Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > _Family Guy_. Like being nibbled to death by unfunny ducks. I hate this show, but it doesn’t make me uncomfortable…it’s just stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/42 "2009-08-04T06:48:52Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Two words: > > Hard Candy. > > Uggghhhhhhh. That one made me uncomfortable because I spent the whole time wanting to mutilate that girl. And feeling weird that I felt worse for a child molestor. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/43 "2009-08-04T07:41:53Z")
I think that they’re no longer shown on TV (or at least, not so often) these days, but the \*\*Three Stooges \*\*shorts were never, ever funny to me. Painful. I don’t want to see anyone hit in the head with a hammer, or poked in the eye. Not funny. Like others have posted, though, I pretty much watch all medical dramas with one hand covering half of the TV screen. I can deal with a medical crisis in real life, but I don’t want to watch someone bleeding/barfing/being operated upon on television. Bleurgh! ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/44 "2009-08-04T07:55:51Z")
Nip Tuck. And I agree with anything Larry David is involved with. I generally can’t stand pathetic loser comedy. I hated Extras for that reason. Too much stuttering and saying stupid mean shit. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/45 "2009-08-04T14:21:21Z")
Why Nip Tuck? ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/46 "2009-08-04T14:36:23Z")
I agree with David’s kidnapping on Six Feet Under. That’s the scariest thing I’ve ever seen. But, on a regular basis it has to be when they interview everyday people on the Today Show, especially when they do it remotely. The people can’t hear, they don’t understand the question, they get cut off by the interviewer in mid-sentence. It’s just too much humanity. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/47 "2009-08-04T14:46:21Z")
Any Jerry Lewis movie. He was extremely talented but beat a gag to death. The whole movie came to a standstill while he milked a bit 6 different way. I kept thinking" stop already’. He ruined the flow over and over. Then his ego comes through the screen too. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/48 "2009-08-04T14:50:13Z")
Meet the Parents - such a stupid, cringe-inducing movie. There is an episode on Battlestar Galactica which just made me shut the whole show off. And I have a hard time watching borat and enjoying it now, now that I know how much of it was just plain old a trick on the people in the movie. I won’t be watching Bruno, either. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/49 "2009-08-04T14:55:05Z")
I can watch anything (and nothing listed so far in this thread seems all that off-putting to me) that’s a movie or in any other way a fiction. What I _cannot_ watch is surgery, specifically heart surgeries in medical documentary-type shows. Seeing the heart all beating and exposed just squicks me out to the highest degree. I start feeling my own heart beating in my chest, I notice my breathing…ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/50 "2009-08-04T15:00:45Z")
Another “any rape scene.” Particularly **Bastard Out of Carolina**. :: shudder :: I really enjoyed that movie, right up until that scene. Now I can’t watch it at all. Also, any scene in movie/TV where the dog dies. Finally, I won’t watch **Intervention** because that stuff just hits too close to home for me. I’ve lived it; not interested in voyeuristically watching other people’s lives torn apart by addiction. Speaking of which… the detox scene in **Ulee’s Gold**. Love the rest of that movie, but I have to walk out of the room when they bring the mom home. BTDT (I was the kid, not the mom). ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/51 "2009-08-04T15:01:14Z")
_Sin City_. I got halfway through and turned it off. It was just repulsive, and I felt almost physically ill. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/52 "2009-08-04T15:05:22Z")
I’ve seen all the titles mentioned that I expected to see mentioned in this thread except one: _Happiness_. I’m surprised. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/53 "2009-08-04T15:16:49Z")
**Requiem for a Dream.** The absolute best movie that I will never watch again. The characters in it were so freakin’ pathetic and Ellen Burstyn’s part was heartbreaking. Due to issues in my own past I actively avoided movies depicting introvenous drug use formany years. I put off watching this movie until about a year ago and while the drug scenes were a little squicky, it was just the overall feeling of futility and despair that really did me in. I’d really like my boyfriend to see it, as it’s such a great peice of work but I unfortunately will not be watching it with him. ---
**Author:** ![3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/47e85d/32.png) [@3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3_20_59_or_bust)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/54 "2009-08-04T22:49:43Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > You may joke, but there was an episode with a giant spider that gave me nightmares for years. > > I also cannot watch the original _Fly_ due to my giant spider issues. > > (Strangely enough, I have no problem with real-life big spiders. It is just when they get to be the relative size of a Volkswagon that it sets me off.) You must love the Harry Potter movies. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/55 "2009-08-05T01:20:02Z")
Anything that involves extensive terror and pain and suffering. I really have a hard time with that shit because some part of my mind doesn’t process that it’s fake. Even though I know they are actors, I can’t stop thinking about the real people in the world who have experienced things like that. I don’t even bother with horror movies for that reason. In the psychologically uncomfortable vein, I really dislike movies with the common ‘‘misunderstanding/lies’’ theme. I can’t stand that tension. A really good example is _Ever After_. It’s a fine film, but there are parts where I get all squirmy because I can’t stand the inevitable falling out between her and the prince. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/56 "2009-08-05T08:47:45Z")
1. Rape scenes in general. I was very uncomfortable in that particular episode of Sopranos. However, the episode itself was very well written, in fact it was one of the best that season, which lessened the impact. 2. Psychological torture, total breaking down of another man’s character, etc. That is really tough. The difficult part is that it’s more subtle and difficult to avoid then, say, the poking out an eye (I hate the thumb thing in Bladerunner, btw). It’s usually buried inside the plot and sticks with you long after. Prime example: Beecher/nazi beef in Oz. 3. South park. I know there are pieces of good and funny material in there. But I also know that if I watch an episode and enjoy it, sooner or later there will be something to gross me out or make me feel the joke is ruined. So I’ve more or less just skipped the series completely. 4. Nails. Human nails. It’s one of my phobias, can’t handle anything with them. ---
**Author:** ![mecaenas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/91b2a8/32.png) [@mecaenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mecaenas)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/57 "2009-08-05T13:18:50Z")
I feel discomfort sometimes with Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Office (original), and Borat but the thing I CANNOT watch is the Torture Porn that has flooded the “horror” genre over the past few years. I used to enjoy a good horror movie where the tension and dread builds and the fear is palpable. But lately it’s all 1-dimensional souless characters with cheap scares (e.g. sudden LOUD noise + flash on screen) plus copious amounts of gratuitious gore and mutilation - I’m not scared or tense, I’m just grossed out and frankly can’t wait for the fools to die. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/58 "2009-08-05T16:46:29Z")
I thought of another one: _[Beyond the Mat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Mat)_, the wrestling documentary. I went to see this with the spouse and ended up leaving the theater for the last part of it because I couldn’t watch anymore. It was one of the most depressing things I ever saw. Especially this part, which was where I left: (from the Wikipedia article): “Later in the film, in a scene from the 1999 Royal Rumble, he [Mick “Mankind” Foley] is shown taking multiple shots to the head by The Rock with a steel folding chair, while his wife and young children watch in horror from the audience.” The kids were very young–three or four, IIRC. They had no idea it was fake, and they were getting hysterical watching their father getting whacked bloodily with a chair. Mom didn’t even take them away. I’m normally not super-sensitive to kid issues, but I just felt so sorry for these little girls. Between that and all the washed-up, drug-addled wrestlers whose bodies had just been beaten to crap over the years, and I just didn’t want to see anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/59 "2009-08-05T17:39:11Z")
I must be the only person on the face of the earth who wasn’t really bothered by the Six Feet Under episode where David gets kidnapped. I saw it twice - the first time it struck me as being like fanfiction, beating the crap out of a character to generate interest. Then I read the TWoP recap, watched it again, and was annoyed by how easy it should have been for David to escape. The kidnapper actually got out of the car, leaving David sitting behind the wheel. Why didn’t he just drive off? Bewitched, on the other hand, makes my skin crawl. ---
**Author:** ![vandal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/858c86/32.png) [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209/60 "2009-08-05T18:46:41Z")
Black Hawk Down. The scene where SFC Shughart and MSG Gordon are asking to be inserted, knowing that they will surely be killed, in order to secure the crash site and protect any survivors, is hard for me to watch. I’ve seen that movie at least 20 times, and every time that particular scene comes around, I’m always pulling for them, even though I know what will ultimately happen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-or-tv-that-make-you-too-uncomfortable-to-watch/505209.md?page=4)