I certainly understand that tastes are different and some folks don’t go in for the heavier emotional content. This is especially true if you’ve been through some shit like illness, death in the family, etc. and you prefer to keep it light.
I think what Ebes was reacting to is the over-reliance on that arguably simplistic, catch-all word, ‘depressing’ which I think gets used dismissively too often. (I put the word ‘weird’ in the same category.) Might be related to the gap between people who prefer escapism over empathy, Hollywood over arthouse, movies over films, etc.
In a similar vein, I’ve noticed a ton of my young film students are quite dismissive and judgmental about ‘jump scares’ in horror movies. I try to point out that being startled happens to us in real life and it can be an extremely effective technique in managing fear in your audience. Don’t let cheap, clunky jump-scares turn you off to all bursts of sudden fright in the movies. And don’t let the notion of depressing movies turn you off to depth-of-feeling in movies.
That comparison might make sense only in my head. :D
I think the reason I like to advocate for emotionally heavy movies is they can help arm you for real life throwing hard things at you. Same goes for horror movies! They help toughen us up. You make it through and come out the other side.
Back on topic: I need to get around to seeing The Kingdom!