Your opinion on TV-crying (and generally expressing strong emotion in public.)

[Lynx]

I'm from Sweden. Maybe because I'm used to our peculiar ways, I find tearing up on TV more annoying than others do. People here generally don't enjoy showing overwhelming emotion in front of strangers, and if someone does, it means either 1. something awful has happened, or 2. they're drunk out of their minds. I very rarely see someone pull off a sob story about their rough childhood on Swedish reality TV, I think many find that it's too private. But I watch literally any American reality show, and five minutes into it someone is always bawling.

Are people really this sensitive and open with their emotions outside of the chilly North? Am I an evil ice queen if I think this is a cheap PR trick?

What's the traditional mentality about showing emotions in your country (both IRL and on TV)? Do people make a show out of them or bottle them up, or do you have some sort of healthy middle ground?

EDIT: I realize now that I was kind of unclear. I absolutely don't mind crying as a part of acting out a script, i.e. in a movie or fictional TV show. What I was referring to mostly was real live crying, as in reality shows for example.

 

[Amethyst Wind]

Crying CAN be done well but it takes effort. Same with laughter or anger or depression or any emotion really. The actors and director really have to sell it. The situation really has to call for it too. Drop-of-the-hat emotions are rarely done well.

Reality TV shows are gold for the idiots who think they can become stars by going on and hamming it up, so they over-exaggerate everything to make themselves less ignorable (not more watchable, just less ignorable).

Frankly I've never been in a situation where I've been sad enough to cry in public but I have been in one where I've been shouting in public (I was told I had three more weeks to live in an apartment in a country half-way around the world from my home but then I had the police show up at my door trying to evict me that day).

It's situation-based in reality. It's just bad acting in reality TV.

 

[AnarchistFish]

Lots of people still think that kinda stuff is pretty fake although I think us in Europe are a little bit cynical about it.

Saying that, I see a lot of people who are quite open with their emotions, but then there are a lot of others who cringe at that sorta thing. You see it on facebook a lot

 

[mParadox]

Watching actors bawling on TV really really makes me appreciate their acting abilities.

Emotions are hard to pull off, especially ones which are well... sad. Crying, screaming and all that.

And to make it look real! It's unbelievably awesome. Case point: Skylar White in Breaking Bad. >.>

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Here is good crying. Say what you will about Avery Brooks overacting, but he is fantastic in this scene.

 

[shadyh8er]

I absolutely don't mind crying as a part of acting out a script, i.e. in a movie or fictional TV show. What I was referring to mostly was real live crying, as in reality shows for example.

I doubt people are really that emotional, but then again it depends on the person. Like I'll only cry over a work of fiction if it's REALLY powerful, or if it hits a soft spot. In the real world, if someone's not dead, dry eyes for me.

 

[Dagda Mor]

I just don't like emotions in general, much less displays of them. When you get right down to it, most things that can be considered 'wrong' occur due to a lack of forethought or an abundance of emotion, usually a combination of both. That's not to say that nothing good comes from it, but I just don't think that emotion is worth it.

 

[loc978]

Being from the middle of nowhere in the northwestern US, I grew up with a very stoic attitude. I too get annoyed by people playing the drama queen over social crap in public... but it's become very common in the US at large over the last ten years. My stiff upper lip is now seen as old-fashioned and unhealthy, and I just see a bunch of hypersensitive overgrown children. Can't actually say I'm right and they're wrong, but I generally don't think much of their priorities.

TV, though? Can't really comment on it. I don't watch much, definitely not much "drama".

 

[Tyler Trahan]

It does bother me as well. I mean honestly I'm totally fine with helping friends who are sad, upset or otherwise but when I see people sharing with strangers of the world that something absolutely sucks it does irritate me. I've gone to school the day of a funeral, I've been broken up and didn't feel the need to air out my issues with anyone walking by instead I keep it either to myself or in a very close circle of trusted people. These strangers don't need to know your private woes (I can't imagine sharing MY sadness with strangers), and if things are really that bad you should find a quiet place or a close friend and try to settle yourself down.
I don't see the need to go on TV or being incredibly emotional in public for most reasons. A good example of an exception would be just recently my favorite professor (and someone who I'd say was a close friend) passed away suddenly and my friends and I found out at the same moment. My friend Grace was openly crying, a few tears of my own shed and my friend Seth ALMOST cried which is big for a guy who saw most of his close friends die in a cancer ward. That is totally ok, but I've seen people be incredibly emotional on TV or in public for far less legitimate reasons and it honestly boggles my mind. I can't imagine bothering people with my petty emotional bullcrap so it astounds me when I see people weeping in public for things that I think arent THAT big a deal.

 

[Happiness Assassin]

I generally don't show emotion, but I really don't have any problems with this. In fact, I actually wish I could show my emotions better, as years of repressing all emotions to act as a calm emotional foundation for a family where everyone has a mental illness has caused me to be unable to open up in any meaningful way with others and will probably keep me from connecting with anybody later in life. No, I find expressing yourself to be emotionally healthy and I encourage it, as the alternative could be fare more damaging.

 

[Mossberg Shotty]

Well, I'm from an Irish background so I'm pretty familiar with the second scenario. But as far as people crying on TV for almost no good reason, I've never really understood it. I don't know what kind of experience you've had with American TV, but I have to assume you've seen 'The Jersey Shore' at some point. That would definitely explain it.

 

[saintdane05]

Crying on TV looks fake because real crying looks ugly. The average person's eyes well up, they drain of color, and the start heaving uncontrollably.
Trust me, I know.

Here, is what good crying looks like.
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