Eye Wonder Why

There are a lot of things you see in movies and just accept that they happen. It's called suspension of disbelief, and permits you to go along with song and dance numbers as well as aliens, among other things. It's only fair that you meet the filmmaker halfway so that they can tell their story and you can have a good time. Sometimes though, I just can't get there, and it's not really the things you would think are tough to swallow in the course of a story.

There's something that you see people do in movies all the time, and I really don't know what for. Some cherished loved one will die (or "pass away"), and the protagonist will be overcome with emotion, adding depth to them. As we connect more to this suddenly vulnerable person, we see them pass their open palm over the face of the now-corpse, leaving the previously open eyes closed. We just accept that this is the thing you do, along with calling the authorities and arranging a funeral. Well, I just can't take this eye thing unless I'm furnished an explanation.

Is it just "I'm going to lose it if I have to keep looking at this stiff eye to eye"? I guess I can understand that, and if that were what I was feeling I would probably do it. The intention though usually seems to be more tender and loving than that. It seems unlikely then that it's about revulsion, given that the character doing this thing is never stifling vomit or very agitated. I can't imagine I would close the eyes out of tenderness or any such reason. I'm going to leave that thing alone.

I suppose it has something to do with allowing the dead to retain some measure of dignity. This is just one more way I'm different. I'm not going to go manhandling the remains of a loved one. If I were in one of these movies (as you may presume I'm thinking when I describe my actions and reactions herein), I would probably do the thing where you cover them in a blanker, but not a jacket or anything else I intend to use again myself. I have a thing about the clothes of the dead. You use your jacket on the corpse.