Tears and TV

[azdak]

nineveh_uk has been writing haikus. Apparently they "should derive from spontaneous, concrete, personal experience in a certain moment of heightened awareness". And since there is not a lot of personal experience going on outside the home these days, here is mine:
SPOILER for Nirvana in Fire

Mei Changsu
dies and Prince Jing weeps.
My own eyes are dry.

This is not a criticism. Nirvana in Fire is terribly sad in many ways, but not in ways that make me, personally sad. Quite the contrary, I thoroughly enjoy wallowing in the character's emotional agonies. What did make me cry was The Story of Minglan and I didn't enjoy feeling those feelings at all - a child's traumatic farewell to a dying mother strikes a chord of "This has really happened to some people" in a way that the specifics of Mei Changsu's fate do not. But I also very nearly cried at the scene where Minglan leaves her father's house to get married and her grandmother momentarily breaks down - the relationship between Minglan and her grandmother is AWESOME, even more awesome than that between Minglan and Gu Tingye, and the actress playing the grandmother is terrific. Hmm, perhaps I should try writing a haiku about how Minglan's grandmother is worthy of my tears.