Do you need to "grow up"?

[The Curmudgeon]

Time to get on the defensive...

I saw "The 40 Year Old Virgin" yesterday, and whilst it was a good, funny movie, there was an underlying moral in it that just stuck in the back of my throat.

*SPOILER WARNING*

So - the lead character is a loser. A nerd. A virgin. And so, of course - he reads comic books, plays videogames and collects "action figures."

Now, that stereotype I can handle - it's an old one, but whatever. What REALLY pissed me off was the end, where he agrees to SELL all his beloved stuff to start a business. When he tells his girlfriend how he really feels, that he DOESN'T want to sell all his stuff - I was almost dancing a jig. Yet, come the end, it turns out he DOES sell it all to pay for his wedding. The message here folks? He doesn't need all that kiddie shit - because our main character has GROWN UP.

Fuck. That.


** END SPOILER **

Is anyone else sick of people thinking you're a) retarded or b) childish for liking what is seen as "kids stuff?" I know from past conversations with you Dwellers that we're all, in some capacity, into comic books, video games and the like - and yet we're all, as far as I'm aware, not sad, demented losers or childish idiots.

I don't know about you, but the way The Curmudgeon is now is the way The Curmudgeon is always gonna be. Advancing years aren't gonna stop me liking what I like and how I enjoy spending my spare time. Does this mean I'm a "Big Kid?" No - because the things I like aren't childish. They only appear that way to people who don't know any better.

I hate this notion that as soon as we pass 18 we're supposed to suddenly become interested in the stock market and our idea of "kicking back" is watching The Game (and I don't mean the wrestler - that's FAR too childish an idea, apparantly) on a Sunday after walking the dog and doing the shopping.

You know, I can do the grown-up thing. The job, the paying rent, the being married, the (one day) kid thing - but I'm not about to give up what I enjoy doing simply because my age somehow dictates it.

Loyal Dwellers - who's with me?

[InvisibleWolfMan]

I'm accused quite alot of being childish for the movies I like, or the music I listen to or even the stuff I collect like the RETURN OF THE JEDI storybook that was an original from 1983 that was damn near mint I found from a trade shop. I still have action figures of Luke Skywalker and Boba Fett (from the 1997 SW figure line) and I just got the first season of KNIGHT RIDER on DVD as well as the PLANET OF THE APES Ultimate Collection Ceasar Ape head DVD set. All of this is to my wife's dismay. Yet I'm still the same person she lives with, the same person she loves and the same person that loves her back. I think part of life is knowing what you can leave behind as "childish" and what you take with you as "part of who you are."

And the only one who can decide that is you, not the rest of the world.

[trashcanman]

Nice post. I don't get this treatment much myself because: A) I'm quite antisocial and rarely speak in entire sentences to people I don't know, B) the people who know me well enough to know my hobbies can see that I'm not stupid or childish by the way I behave, and C) I don't cosplay, gush at people who don't share my enthusiasm for these things, or otherwise advertise my extreme geekiness to the public at large. There was a time when I abandoned things like Star Wars, Godzilla, and cartoons and (haphazardly) tried to be someone more socially acceptable; something I never will be. Those were the most unhappy days of my life. Discovering that these sort of things still gave me enjoyment helped me accept who I am. Whether or not anyone else accepts me is their own damned business and I really don't care about that.

[Tumuli]

I'm with you...