Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Why Is Romance Yucky?

The shorter of the short people has reached the point where romantic scenes in movies are yucky. It's not that they are uninteresting, boring, or taking up space that could be used for something more exciting, rather they elicit a visceral and often vocal negative response. He does not have this reaction to real-life emotions, for example, when I come home from work and embrace and trade I love you's with TheWife. Indeed, he himself is quite generous with affection for those he loves. He does not see girls as yucky, quite the opposite, he gets along very well with the little girls in his class and on his teams. But when it comes to romance on the screen, it clearly elicits a negative emotional reflex -- it is coming from him, not by him. This, of course, is not unique to him. Why do children, especially boys, go through this stage? What is it about the romantic images, something that seems nice, a part of a happy, fulfilled human life, that causes this reaction?