Why so serious?

I have a confession to make. I think I might be a masochist.

No, that doesn't necessarily mean I have an unnatural attraction to fuzzy pink handcuffs. It just so happens that my tastes in regards to entertainment appear to be contradicting each other.

I'm a sucker for happy endings. Really, I am. Despite the front I put up of being EMO and SCENE I'm actually quite warm and fuzzy inside (hur, hur). So when I watch something, I invariably find myself rooting for the protagonists (and since I'm also a sucker for romantic dramas *gasp* this means I want the protagonists to FALLINLOVE/GETMARRIED/HAVEKIDS).

However, the shows that I end up loving are also invariable EMO BAWFESTS. Saikano. Byousoku 5cm. NHK. Elfen Lied. KgNE. Sola. These shows all have one thing in common. The actors either FUCKUP/DIE/DOESNOTGETTHEGIRL. The fact that I'd been hoping with all my heart that there be a happy ending does not help matters at all. It just makes the SAD EMO ending all the more SAD and EMO. And causes me to obsess over the show for several days. Until I find something else to emo over, after which the cycle continues.

So why do I keep doing it to myself? See: masochism.

In Poetics, Aristotle writes about catharsis, the emotional cleansing or purification of the audience upon the ending of a tragedy. Strange, that. Upon the completion of a tragedy I tend to find myself RAGE-ing at the world at large. Then advertising said tragedy to everyone so that they can all share my grief. Say, maybe I'm a sadist as well as being a masochist.

Incidentally, I seem to have a penchant for liking moeblobs/tsunderes/tragic heroines in general (see: Lucy, coma-girl, Akari). I wonder what my psychologist would have to say to that, eh? Actually, I think I have a feeling what he might say. And I also have a feeling I probably won't like it.