movie scenes

I didn't write about it at the time, but a few months ago, I finally decided to sit down and force myself to watch some movie vomit scenes I usually avoid. I had seen most of them, but I tend to hide even from those I've already seen by covering my face or leaving the room, just because they make me uncomfortable. But two scenes I saw for the first time, the scene from Drop Dead Gorgeous and the scene from Bridesmaids. I had heard about how graphic these scenes were from other people before seeing the movies, so I made sure to always leave during them.

The Bridesmaids one in particular has already become a frequent mention on emetophobia forums. I've seen a bunch of threads talking about how awful it is, other people disagreeing and saying it's funny, debates starting about whether vomit should ever be shown on TV or in movies.

Of course it should. I may sit around at home and complain about it and get really angry and say it's completely unnecessary. But so is everything else in shows/movies. I'm choosing to watch, and I know what I'm getting myself into. There's no way of knowing what will pop up. I also don't particularly like excessive gore. And I hate how movies about babies almost always include some disgusting poop-related scene. Oh well. Other people like those things and think they add to the drama and/or comedy. Vomit is a somewhat extreme act that can be used for either purpose. Of course they're going to keep taking advantage of that. It's up to me to desensitize myself as much as possible.

I was pretty surprised at how nervous I was. I watched the scenes without any volume at first. Which I would highly recommend, because that made them totally manageable. Once I had seen everything that happened without having heard any of it, I watched them again with a little volume, and then a few more times with normal volume. They were definitely unpleasant. I can't say I ever enjoyed them (even the Bridesmaids one - I didn't think it was that funny), but it was easy to get to the point where I could tolerate them.

With new movies/shows, I won't be prepared. I won't know when the scene is, and I may not have heard the basics of what happens. And a lot of times they like to surprise you when it comes to vomit, to have it come out of nowhere. But I feel like this desensitization exercise has a broader effect than you would think. I haven't been flinching as much when I encounter new TV/movie vomit.

It also helps (with vomit, gore, any gross thing in movies) to remind yourself every time that it's fake. Of course you already know that, but actually thinking about how they did it takes away much of the ickiness. I don't know what they use to make movie vomit, but I'm guessing it's usually some mixture of food. This website talks about how they use a vomit machine to project tomato soup in one movie.

Plus with Drop Dead Gorgeous, Denise Richards is in it, and knowing that she has emetophobia makes me feel oddly comforted about the scene in that movie. I guess it's knowing that someone is involved who understands how I feel (although I don't think she is actually in the vomit scene). Who knows? This may be true of other actors/actresses as well, and they just haven't come forward about it yet.