Why People Call Movies 'Cheesy'

I figured this out today as I was riding my bike back to the arch building from getting a super healthy lunch to go. I remember the time and place when my older brother tried to explain to me what the word cheesy meant. He was using it in the context of saying that the movie King Kong was so. He said something along the lines of "corny, silly, predictable, childish". And I'm looking up the actual definition now and it is: "tacky, cheap, tawdry". But the way that I have used the word and how I've heard it used by others is something akin to these but not exactly the same. See, when I was little, I had this daydream that would often go through my head where I was sitting in the cafeteria with all of the other first graders, and I always imagined myself suddenly getting up, standing on my seat, and kicking off into the air, flying! I would always see myself up above all of the little kids, and they would all be amazed at me, thinking I was suddenly the coolest person and that they'd all want to be my friend! And that was this secret wish I had for a long time, that my sudden ability to fly would make me immensely popular with all the other kids. Now that I think back to it, it's kind of funny to me, because if that situation did somehow happen, just exactly as I'd wanted it to, wouldn't that be a bit too perfect? Just a bit too happy-ending? The same thing goes for the Lizzie McGuire movie, which stirred in many young girls such as myself the wish to be a pop star, thus spurring on the development of the Hannah Montana craze. When I look back at that movie, I still love it, because of nostalgia. But looking from an objective view, the ending is just TOO perfect, too contrived, too fairy-tale. But little kids like it that way. At that age, we've not yet learned that there can't be entirely perfect situations in life, and so those movies where everything works out perfectly in the end are just our bread and butter! But now that I'm older, I can see that it doesn't make sense for things to happen that way, and when I watch such movies, even stuff similar to High School Musical, I can see the silliness in it immediately. But back then, there was no such thing. Of course, anything I watched as a kid still holds the same loving regard in my heart as when I first watched it. But that's the thing, I watched it when I was very young and impressionable. I distinctly remember watching my seven-year-old nephew once, and I put on the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe, and when it got to the epic battle scene, he was all jumping around and cheering and exclaiming how "we" are going to win! It was quite adorable - kids do the darnedest things sometimes! But there wouldn't be anyone older than junior high age that would get that emotionally invested in a movie in such a way. Guys get into football games - this needs no explanation - but the same thing, the yelling and fist pumping, doesn't happen when they're watching a sports movie. It's just not the same, in fact, it's almost a social faux pas to act in such a way. Enthusiasm about movies is only ever expressed in sadness and crying, but hardly ever joyful excitement. One simply walks out commenting on how they're happy the two people ended up together. Often, in such a positive story line, many will actually express discontent about it being too unrealistic, so much so that it's rather annoying. These kind of people are what I call cynics, but nevertheless it's a more common reaction than one of ridiculous glee that little kids experience. And all of this is to say that the word 'cheesy' is one people use for something they see that is looking for a kid-like reaction that none of us adults are willing to give anymore. Yet we don't want to call it silly, because deep down we're having the exact same inner reaction; we just don't express it outwardly. So in reality, calling a movie 'cheesy' is a denial of sorts, saying that "I don't want to give them the satisfaction of an excited response, even though I'm feeling that way on the inside." And I am one of the most guilty of this, since I call such movies cheesy all the time. But now that I'm older and I hear people bashing the movies I enjoyed as a kid, it's made clear that the only difference is the maturity level of their social skills that impacts their reaction. Here's my point: let cynics be cynics, but don't stop enjoying things for what they're really trying to be - whether its intent really is to lift people's spirits or anything else - and not to be so negative in our reception of such things. Those who complain are the most unhappy people of all. I have NO intention of laughing hysterically when the 'good guys' win, but I think that seeing what's really happening on the inside can help to remember how you would have reacted if you'd seen a film as a kid. Odds are, the feeling is the same but the expression is the lie.