A distinction between squicks

[soc_puppet]

After a good deal of thought, I'm not entirely sure that "embarrassment squick" exactly describes the feeling of Oh God Please No I sometimes get when consuming media. It definitely happens a lot with situations that will and do cause characters embarrassment, but that's not the only time I get that feeling. I think I've narrowed it down to some sort of "bad decisions squick". I don't like watching (or reading, or whatever) when a character makes a decision that has a predictably terrible outcome. I can feel myself pre-cringe when it happens. It's possible, of course, that I have both, since I'm pretty sure I've been bad with flat-out embarrassing stuff happening to characters as well, but I've been having less trouble with plain embarrassment in some situations that don't involve characters making bad decisions. IDK, this may require more thought, but I might be onto something, at least for myself.

(This post is brought to you by me procrastinating watching the second half of the Miraculous Ladybug season four finale. Bad decision squick abounds! 😨)

Edit: Thinking it over, I'm tentatively calling this "shame squick", since I think that covers the bad feelings I get from both sets of circumstances pretty well. Embarrassment squick doesn't bother me as much when characters aren't shamed for whatever could conceivably be embarrassing, whereas with shame squick, I can pretty well anticipate the sense of shame and/or guilt I might feel if making those decisions myself.

Comments

[izzet_bedtime_yet]

Oh I definitely also have this kind of squick!

[mistressofmuses]

I get terrible second-hand embarrassment for characters. That's an interesting point about the "can't you see this will be a terrible decision!" feeling. And it's definitely worse for me when it seems like the character should know... if they're truly lacking the information, and only the audience knows it's a bad idea, it gives me less of the bad vibe. (Though sometimes not much less, depending on the quality of the writing.) I think this may be part of why "The Big Mis-" as a huge plot point in a lot of romance doesn't appeal to me...