I have two ways to get me through films that are painful.
I get annoyed if I am watching a movie or TV show and I see the characters do something dumb. It makes it painful to watch. I can accept them doing dumb things if it has been set up as part of their character. But when someone is carrying the idiot ball, I am not going to enjoy it.
I also have trouble letting go of tasks/missions. I want to finish things that I start. I realize the Big Bang Theory actually did an episode on this called The Closure Alternative. Closure is as descriptive a word as necessary.
If I start a book, it will annoy me if I don’t finish it. Even if it is a terrible book. Heaven help me if it is a terrible book in a series. I would like to think I’ve gotten better over the years.
The problem that I am having is that a movie may get painful from idiot ball usage, but I still feel the need to finish it. This is less of a problem with television shows than movies, because a good television show will have more time to bring up plausible reasons for things to happen, or the show will be over soon anyway. A film has to move things along quicker and doesn’t have the opportunity for character development.
I was watching a film that I expected to be bad, The Late Bloomer. I don’t mind bad films so much as long as the characters are true. The movie was predictable and I don’t mind that. Except when it decided to do predictable idiot-ball usage. Where a child gives the adult dating advice which is “be mean to the girl”. Ugh. Classic idiot-ball.
Then I had a realization. It was a predictable movie. I knew exactly what was going to happen. I knew it so well, I didn’t need to watch the painful scene. I simply fast forwarded through the scene and then continued with the rest of the film. I got my needed closure and I had a better time.
My other method of getting through films is less noble. If I can see that something bad is going to happen, either because it is a suspense/horror film or because the classic arc requires a tragedy to setup the third act, I will get stressed. The solution is to quickly scan the wikipedia entry on the film at the appropriate time. It give a synopsis and knowing what bad thing will happen makes me relax a lot more.
I actually get to enjoy the film.
I think this is true for a lot of people. It’s why trailers spoil entire movies. People like to know what will happen.