Why are Bode Miller's tears such a big deal?

[takenchic]

Yes, because he's a man, but also, because he's a celebrity.

Why is this kind of things big news? Why is it that people love to hear about celebrities crying, suffering, etc.?

[Rocco-K]

I don't believe that people are necessarily moved by the fact that he is a celebrity but by the fact that he is showing pure, unbridled emotion and that combined with the background story of his brother's passing made a very powerful evocation of emotion that people can empathize with. Crying is one of our most powerful displays of emotion and people are naturally drawn to it; wanting to commiserate and help the person that is in distress.

It is not big news, but television knows that playing on emotion is what draws people in, and if you watched the interview closely you saw that the questions that the interviewer was asking were meant to trigger that catharsis of emotion from Bode.

In the end human emotion will always be big for television whether its acted out like in the movies, soap operas or in live interviews like we just saw.

[jmowen]

It's not so much the tears. It's mostly because the woman giving the interview (Christin Cooper) kept badgering the poor guy about the death of his late brother. The guy, already devastated from the death of his brother and custody battle with his ex, was already feeling down. So to have someone keep reminding him about his brother caused him to break down. Christin knew why he was emotional yet she kept going at him to get a reaction, which everyone wanted to see because it's going to generate of ton of publicity. Unfortunately, it was bad publicity for Christin and NBC. However, Bode is now loved because of being able to show that emotion.

[NightBlindness]

Its only a big deal if you make it a big deal... Like your doing now.

Also, who is Bode Miller?

[jmowen]

Olympic skier.

[NightBlindness]

Oh.

[kheserthorpe]

I haven't heard anyone make a big deal about his crying but I have heard people comment about whether the interviewer was being unnecessarily exploitative. And I believe he spoke up later in her defence. Actually NBC got a little of the criticism because the interview was shown taped.

[Hans222]

I don't think it's big news, there was simply an athlete who was stronger.

Of course, if you prepared to long for the Olympics and the result is "just silver" it may be a deception.

And if anything unfair or really bad luck would have hit him, okay.

But if you're second because a collegue was better, that's the life of an athlete.

[Anonymous]

Because men are not allowed to cry. We say they are but our reactions when it happens clearly show otherwise. Some things will never change.

[SaltandVinegar]

Its not a big deal