I think something I always tend to disagree with a lot in literature, film, and tv is the: this is unrealistic argument. Not because it’s not possible for a story to be unrealistic, but often times when people use it, they are looking at it only from their own perspective. It is absolutely realistic for someone to cry, not cry, freak out, be calm, be angry, be numb, etc. But when we say, this is unrealistic because this person didn’t do it how we expect, is that a fair assessment? Something that is unrealistic is, for example, Grey’s Anatomy. Everyone knows many episodes of Greys can be over the top and completely inaccurate of actual hospital jobs. But that’s because there are facts and rules attached to a job description.
There are no rules when it comes to emotions. What I do think is that in can feel unrealistic to a character. If a character like Pai is used to numbing himself to his own Pai, I don’t think it’s unrealistic that he chooses a calm and level-headed response to Tim. If Duang is breaking down and losing his normal sunshine personality when he’s hurt, I don’t think it’s unrealistic. Mainly because those fit those characters. But when a character acts completely different than what emerge comes to know, those are times where saying it’s unrealistic makes sense.
But, in my opinion, saying an emotion is unrealistic just because we don’t like it, isn’t fair. Three people can be put in the exact same situation and get different things out of it. Just as much as people can watch a tv show and can have completely different interpretations. I’m not saying you can’t feel how you feel about a character and how they react to things. That be silly to say, of course you can. But sometimes we can put unfair bias on these characters and not realize. I’ve done this many times and have had to stop myself.
