# What scares you more in books/movies: social embarrassment, or horror/gore? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 30, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182 "2012-08-30T19:41:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/1 "2012-08-30T19:41:56Z")
I realized I don’t mind horror, supernatural stuff, or tragic events in books/movies. But show me a character that does something embarrassing, something that might cost him his job, his friendships…and depicted in a real way, not for comical relief. And I slap my hands before my eyes and refuse to look. It’s just too scary. That’s why I don’t mind Stephen King books. People might die, might be horrible to one another, but social embarrasment is absent in his books. Anyone else feel this way? Strangely, I don’t feel that way here on the Dope. ---
**Author:** ![Gd8909](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Gd8909](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gd8909)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/2 "2012-08-30T20:05:46Z")
I don’t find either scary, but when someone does something embarrassing, even if I laugh, I feel squeamish for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![diggerwam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@diggerwam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggerwam)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/3 "2012-08-30T20:22:13Z")
I avoid movies like meet the parents. Those movies invite you to laugh at other peoples discomfort. To me that just isn’t cool. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/4 "2012-08-30T20:30:48Z")
I’m the same way. I often turn the channel if someone’s about to socially fail somehow. I find it too hard to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/5 "2012-08-30T20:42:33Z")
> [@diggerwam](#): > > I avoid movies like meet the parents. Those movies invite you to laugh at other peoples discomfort. To me that just isn’t cool. Agreed. I read all kinds of horror and gore (barring sexual violence) but I cannot read or watch crap like Meet the Parents. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/6 "2012-08-30T20:49:28Z")
Social embarrassment, totally. It’s probably my own baggage, but I hate seeing people in awkward social misunderstandings, especially when romance is involved. Horror and gore? Meh. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/7 "2012-08-30T22:00:54Z")
I enjoyed _Fraiser_, but had to turn away from it at least once an episode… ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/8 "2012-08-31T05:02:50Z")
I guess so far I’m the odd one out in that horror/gore scares me more. Like the rest of the thread, I do get a bit uncomfortable watching really outrageous social embarrassments. But after the movie’s over I can easily forget about it; social awkwardness doesn’t stick with me and my imagination afterward like horror does. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/9 "2012-08-31T05:31:47Z")
_Welcome to the Dollhouse_ was like a horror film - cringe worthy from the start. _Saw_ type movies I find stupid, but not horrific. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/10 "2012-08-31T06:10:39Z")
Social embarrassment. Unless the target is really villainous, then it’s perfectly fine. ---
**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 31, 2012, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/11 "2012-08-31T06:11:59Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > I enjoyed _Fraiser_, but had to turn away from it at least once an episode… You and me both. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/12 "2012-08-31T06:24:25Z")
I can watch social-embarrassment movies. I hate 'em, but I can physically sit through them and watch. I cannot watch modern horror. Simply physically can’t. Unless I were chained to the seat, I would have to get up and leave. In abstract terms, I admire horror a little more…ETA: no, a lot more. There is more craft, more creativity, more inventiveness. Social-embarrassment scenes can be written by any idiot, but, say, Alien: that was a damn masterpiece. (Which…I’ve never seen and never will.) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/13 "2012-08-31T15:55:37Z")
It’s easy for a horror movie to startle me or to gross me out. But no horror movie has ever unnerved me as badly as Jon Favreau’s repeated phone messages to a woman he just met in the movie _ **Swingers.** _ That scene was truly horrifying- because I KNOW there’s no chance I’ll ever be attacked by a vampire or zombie. But at the time I saw the movie, I was newly single, and I could all too easily imagine myself embarrassing myself the way Favreau did. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/14 "2012-08-31T17:31:11Z")
I, too, avoid entertainment that focuses on social embarrassment and discomfort. To me, that includes most reality shows, too. (I also avoid horror movies and TV shows because I scare easily… except for _Supernatural_ which is delightful.) ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/15 "2012-08-31T17:33:19Z")
I agree with the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/16 "2012-08-31T17:46:41Z")
Social embarrasment does it to me. I find it hard to think of it as entertaining. I won’t say I’m scared of it exactly, more that I find it painful to watch. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/17 "2012-08-31T17:52:27Z")
Social embarassment, definitely. I can tell myself that the horror and gore are fake or just part of a fictional account, but social embarassment just hits too close to home for me. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/18 "2012-08-31T17:53:24Z")
My unable-to-watch list runs from worst to least bad: Psychological horror Social embarrassment Physical pain and suffering Gore. Consider the movie _Cloverfield_. The most difficult to watch part for me was the scene in the subway tunnel. The second-most-difficult was a small scene near the beginning where the group passes an ambulance with someone screaming inside. Then there’s the part at the beginning where the camera operator is being a douche. The gore rates last. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/19 "2012-08-31T19:16:20Z")
I’d say usually embarrassment. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182/20 "2012-09-01T08:26:41Z")
I love horror and slasher flicks, the gorier and more realistic the better. But I can’t say the same for certain scenes from \*Dan in Real Life, \*_40-Year-Old-Virgin_, or _Meet the Parents_. However, I wouldn’t say social embarrassment scares me. It just makes me identify \*very \*strongly with the character in question. I feel bad for them, and the “comedy” becomes a tragedy. At a certain point during these humiliating scenes, continuing to watch just completely ceases to be entertaining. Because, who on earth \*hasn’t \*been made the laughingstock or scapegoat at some point? It’s just not funny. Exceptions are made for schadenfreude, which is why I like \*Always Sunny \*so much. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scares-you-more-in-books-movies-social-embarrassment-or-horror-gore/633182.md?page=2)