For whatever reason, there’s something funny about seeing someone you know in a completely different context. You know something about them that others don’t, but because of the way they’re being portrayed, others will never know what they’re really like.
It’s like having a friend who’s, like, the biggest goof, and then seeing them upload a picture of themselves in a suit and tie on LinkedIn. The incongruity between the laugh-a-minute lad you know and the this-means-business persona they’re trying to project can be weirdly uncomfortable. You’re privy to knowledge about them that, if more widely known, would throw their characterisation to the wolves.
I remember experiencing this specific form of cringe while watching John Wick 4 in the heart of Paris. I was in a packed underground cinema in Châtelet-les-Halles, a shopping mall connected to the busiest public transport hub in Europe. The moment the City of Light appeared on screen, the audience burst out laughing. But it wasn’t a ‘haha’ sort of laugh, as if they were responding to a joke. It was more a low-key giggle upon seeing the city they were currently inhabiting in a totally unfamiliar light.
