“Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.” – Mel Brooks
In a recent blog post, Roger Ebert writes about movies too painful to revisit:
I remembered it too clearly, perhaps, and dreaded re-living it. When I reviewed it, its situation was theoretical for me, and I responded to the honesty and emotion of the drama. Since then, I have had cancer, and had all too many hours, days and weeks of hospital routine robbing me of my dignity. Although people in my situation are always praised for their courage, actually courage has nothing to do with it. There is no choice.I used to smile at reader letters saying things like, “My husband is sick and I need a movie to cheer him up.” I doubted the Norman Cousins theory that laughter is curative (I still do). The experience with “Wit” was a revelation. Yes, movies can be immediate and real to us–sometimes too real. Sometimes they record events we do not want to experience, or remember. It is a tribute to their power.